2013 in review

ickens had it right: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  It seems like every year lately I’ve summed up the year as being full of horrible stuff interspersed with some pretty good stuff, and expressed the hope that next year can only get better.  And yep, once again there’s been some pretty horrible stuff in this year.  But there’s also been a lot of good stuff, and most importantly, the good stuff has come from my own determination to turn my life into something wonderful.  So instead of hoping that next year is a better one, I’m going to say that I’m going to make sure that next year I continue to make my life what I want it to be, and that I’ll keep surrounding myself with what gives me joy.
Anyway, returning to 2013, here’s the first lines from each month (usual proviso: first lines that actually contained content and not just an excuse for not posting…)
January: Now that the grey and horrible weather has ended, I decided to make the most of a bit of sunshine to go for a walk with my camera this morning.
February: A mysterious gift of marmite just appeared in our hallway.
March: Still here, and still coping, though it’s very much a case of two steps forward and one back.
April: Mojosmom’s suggestion of a peach cobbler sent me off to Google.
May: I went to another class at Make Cafe last week, this time on paper piecing patchwork. 
June: It’s been a busy couple of weeks.  Fuzzle was here for most of the first week – it was great to see her, and we had loads of fun.
July: I’ve got a large wintersweet bush in the garden, and for about 10 months of the year it’s an ugly, scraggly looking thing that I’m tempted to just rip out.
August: The last couple of weeks have been very long ones, full of drama and a total emotional roller-coaster.
September: It was a gorgeous sunny day yesterday (as it is again today), so I went for a long walk with my camera, looking for spring.
October: I seem to have drastically expanded my social circles all of a sudden, joining two new groups in the space of just a couple of weeks.
November: I’ve had Goldenwattle staying for a few days, on her way round the country.
December: It’s been a strange sort of week.  We knew we’d be shifting offices sometime this week, and that we would have to stay away from the office on moving day so we didn’t get in the way of the movers, so we’d talked about having some sort of team field-trip, maybe involving a site visit to one of our content providers.
And in pictures:
January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

Yep, looking at that lot, I reckon I’ve done a pretty good job of surrounding myself with joy this year.