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I don't do New Year's Resolutions. There is an undercurrent of cynicism about them that implies that giving one's word, even to oneself, is really not a big deal. I don't want to follow that way of thinking. Promises to myself or to the universe can never be a joke to me, because as a heathen my word and my honor are real things that affect real life. Nonetheless, I find myself making new starts in several areas of my life anyway.

It's only a few days into 2022 and I've found myself making a change in what I (and my housemate) give to the landwight, after discussing it with the gnome. I also am going to do some garden tasks to arrange things properly. For example, recently there was a killing frost so the morning glories are dead for the season, and I will be able to clear out the planting bed where Margaret temporarily buried her pet snake Narcissa, because her family had not yet gotten a house at that time, and I made plans to clear the planting bed tomorrow and have her family come move Narcissa this weekend.That was always part of the plan since it was supposed to be temporary in the first place, but I am now motivated to actually get the clearing work done while I do the other garden things I need to do tomorrow.

I do not remember much changing in my life when I was growing up. My parents living room furniture never altered. The house looked the same except that once after years of my mother's complaints it was painted red. We never moved; my father kept the same job, the list goes on. World War II brought certain kinds of changes, yet nothing close to what we have recently gone through with the advent of Covid 19.

 This experience could be called a kind of war, yet the conflict is not between peoples but between all of us and an invisible, yet deadly foe. The rapid changes we have all endured have been part of the battle, weapons to fight this insidious and life-threatening enemy. The normal days we have all been living have been whisked away, replaced by a new normal that includes masks, frequent hand washing, and social distancing.