New Year, New Commitment

Ecclesiastes 1:9
New International Version (NIV)
"What has been will be again,
    what has been done will be done again;
    there is nothing new under the sun."

...and so it is with this blog it would seem. My intentions last year and the year before (and the year before that) were to write actively here. It didn't happened. It looks like there were approximately 6 months between posts last year. Not acceptable. I do not expect to hold to any particular schedule, but certainly I am committed to posting more often than every 6 months. So, here I go...

On this first day of 2014, I woke up at 4 a.m. but slunk back to sleep until just before 8 a.m. It wasn't a comfortable sleep and I didn't want to get out of bed; however, my two little dogs, Penny and Bridgette, insisted since they had "needs" to be met. I rolled out from under my warm blanket, donned my "dog-walking" clothes, and walked out the door into a very bright sunny day. Both dogs tugged on their leashes as if they were late for an appointment. Maybe they were. I had adopted them a little over a year ago and it has taken all of that time to socialize them. Recently, they've shown affection and interest in people and other dogs, so I decided this would be a good day to give them their first experience at the local dog park.

Bridgette was the femme fatale of the Poway Dog Park today. One slightly larger Wheaten-like Terrier could not keep himself away from her. Bridgette was a bit confused about why that dog kept trying to jump on her back but never objected. She looked around at people as if to say: "Hey, what's going on here?" Eventually, people took turns holding Bridgette to keep her from being accosted. I envisioned the other dog roaming the streets of Poway howling for Bridgette. Penny enjoyed being off-leash for a while but after a few sprints around the field, she hung out close to me. Both dogs, but especially Penny, still show me how grateful they are that I saved them from the shelter. They have turned out to be true gifts to me.

Philomena - the movie
I had wanted to see Philomena for quite a while. In fact, I would be inclined to see just about anything with Judi Dench. She was magnificent once again. I knew the movie was generally about a mother's 50-year search for her son. Oh, but this movie was about so much more - cruelty, grief, but ultimately, forgiveness for the actions of one of the perpetrators and also for Philomena herself. Despite the dark side of the movie, there were moments of unexpected humor. This movie was was based on a true heart wrenching story.

The bookstore
I can't resist browsing a bookstore. I am certain books give off a certain scent that makes them irresistible. This is in addition to the good stories and excellent writing within them, of course. I had received an unexpected gift certificate to Barnes & Noble for Christmas, so since I was near to the store after watching the movie, I had to go in. Christmas merchandise is 50% off, but I wasn't looking for any of that. Just books. On the new paperback table, I found a new novel by Alexander McCall Smith, the entertaining Scottish author. I loved his Isabel Dalhousie series ("The Sunday Philosophy Club") - I think mostly because it is set in Edinburgh, one of the cities of my heart. Smith has several series going, but I have not read a novel of his outside of those series. It is certain to be a great story. Smith is just brilliant with a wonderful sense of humor. I still have a few other books to finish, so I'll try to resist digging into Smith's "Trains & Lovers" for a little while.

I had several ideas about what to do when I got home. The idea that won was buying the ottoman I had seen at Home Goods a couple of days ago. It was on sale for $50 (reduced from $150). It looks great in my living room.

I took Penny and Bridgette for another walk around the familiar complex grounds where we live. I thought about going for a walk on my own (another idea in my head) but at the end of this day it was a choice of a walk or writing this post. This post won.

Hoping 2014 will be a good year for the world and the people who inhabit it. It's nice to have a fresh start whether it comes in yearly, monthly, or daily chunks. My fresh start is my writing on this blog.