The Weather Pixie said it was 59 outside when I went for the lake walk. That girl lies. It has to be pushing 70 out there already, I wore a long-sleeved cotton shirt and was way too warm. Rumor has it we will return to more normal weather at the end of this week, and that will be welcome.

I think my lake walks will have to take place when I get home from work in the evening - Murphy doesn't like to walk in the dark, and the walk takes roughly 40 minutes, so I really couldn't get it in before I need to shower and get out the door for work without walking at least half of it in the dark. Which means carrying a reluctant dog. He's nobody's fool - he knows he's a bite-sized morsel, and though we have never had an alligator sighting at that lake, I am well aware that there are only two kinds of lakes in Florida, the ones with alligators and the ones that probably will have alligators one of these days. This is a natural spring-fed lake, not a prettied-up retention pond as in so many new subdivisions, and springs are sort of like alligator subways - they use them to travel from lake to lake, and breeding season is around the corner. I share the dog's concern about walking in the dark. Afternoon walkies it will be. Dinner can be late, those cats can live off their fat quite nicely.

My quasi-winter-break (one very quiet partial work day in 11 days) is over, and tomorrow the new year begins in earnest. I'm ready for it. It's more than the symbolic start of a new year, I think the timing of the calendar is coincidental. I feel like some sort of barrier was broken over the month of December, and I'm really ready to take on my new life now. I've been making changes in my life all along, of course - refinancing, changing jobs, necessary things to position myself for the future. But somehow in December my very depleted batteries recharged - I really felt it on the trip to West Palm Beach and the happy news of winning that performance award. I'm not sure why that was the trigger, maybe it was as simple as getting out and having fun and feeling appreciated, but since then I've had more definite goals in mind for myself both personally and professionally. I've had an attitude adjustment, and it feels really, really good. It's very, very strange and rather scary to realize I'm 45 years old and starting out on a new life, but I'm ready to get on with it. I feel ready to jump headfirst into living again.

My only knitting accomplishment was a couple more rounds on the French Market bag. This weather has totally thrown my knitting urges into chaos - do I think hats and gloves for the cold weather that will probably slam us next month, or is this not a fluke and I should be thinking cottons and linens instead? Should I prioritize a
Shapely Tank in cotton, or would a felted bucket o' chic make more sense in a couple of weeks? Who knows!