It is surely a significant new year for me. Am winning battle with depression and weaning myself off of the medication. Yay!!!

Have torn my ACL. Sigh. The docs will put me back together on Jan. 19th. On the minus side, surgery. On the plus side, pre-surgery therapy has led to the loss of 10 lbs over the holidays. Who knew?!! Also, I've begun a new, sedentary hobby -- cow-seeing excursions -- which will get me through surgery recover and give dogs, camera, and me the opportunity to roam all over the area.

I've been happily motoring along country roads for the past few weeks, windows down, pups in the back. We have discovered many new and interesting grazing creatures (collectively classified as "cows"). We've seen black cows and brown ones, spotted cows, long-horned ones, and huge gray ones with strange fleshy humps, goat-cows, llama-cows, horse-cows, sheep-cows, gazelle cows, and donkey-cows.

I've started bringing my camera. Cows of all varieties are very expressive when faced with hysterically shrieking herding dogs hanging out of car windows right in front of them.

And there are loads of moody, abandoned, dilapidated buildings begging to be captured on e-film. Historical landmarks -- also very cool -- provide interesting side trips. I've found a teeny tiny historical mini-cemetery on that I'll visit when the weather is nicer.

Despite upcoming surgery, there are so many new and interesting things to look forward to. I wish everyone a joyous, relaxing, new year of exploration and discovery!