New year, moments of beauty, and snow pants

Happy 2014!  I'm not sure what to say about 2013; it was long, challenging, heartbreaking, and surprising.  I get tired just thinking about it...I think I'm still recovering from the year that kept me guessing right up until the very end.  Nothing really went the way I thought it would.  Things I thought might go reasonably well ended up being crazy fantastic, the difficult things were harder than expected, and some stuff came out of left field.  (Ahem: I'm now living in the prairies.)  I think it might take until the spring to get my energy back fully, but that's okay.  Winter is for resting.

But not too much loafing around, because there are beautiful things to experience.  Like this...

To help ensure I get more of these gorgeous moments without risking frostbite or hypothermia, I coughed up the cash for insulated winter pants (colour: bright pink.  I had to break out of my black rut).  I think they're really just snow pants, but we won't tell Sport Chek and burst their bubble.  The pants work dandy: I walked for an hour yesterday and didn't get chilly until the very end of my jaunt.  Swish, swish, swish...I feel like I'm 6 again.  I'm very happy to know I can still go out for fresh air and exercise even when it's very cold.

Other beautiful things: there's a fantastic art exhibit going up in the library gallery this weekend.  The artist, Alexa Hainsworth, does huge textile creations, I don't even know how to describe them, but they're amazing.  I can't wait to see what it looks like after she's done installing her work.  The gallery reception is this Thursday, I'm responsible for overseeing it, and I'm willing to bet it will be a busy night. 

And Downton Abbey is beautiful too.  I crammed in three seasons in a week (the holidays were good for one thing...) and was riveted the whole time, which is unusual for me.  I'm one of those take-it-or-leave-it TV watchers.  The fourth season starts tonight and there was rumour of a library staff gathering to watch it, but I think it was too darn cold today for anyone to leave their houses, snow pants or no snow pants.  Hopefully someone PVRed it and we can all catch up later when the threat of frozen eyeballs passes.   :)