Happy New Year, С Новым Годом, あけおめことよろ from the end of the world, where mountain lions roam, and where lakes turn pink at night! (Yes, these are real colors. Sometimes the tint is so deep that it's blood-red, but that would probably be somewhat unsuitable for a celebratory e-card!)

I wish you all good health and well-being—physical and otherwise, because everything else we can and should accomplish ourselves.

If my 2011 was about major transformation, at times, traumatic, and 2012—about tying loose ends, then 2013 was, unexpectedly, focused on people and places.

I draw my energy from within and generally prefer solitude. However, in 2013 I've met a number of those who are valuable, and to whom I can show loyalty; occasionally, it even seemed that some I was not even supposed to encounter at all. Visiting my home, physical and spiritual, for the first time in four years also fits into this equation, as does finding new creative inspiration in music and Nature.

My greatest loss in 2013 was my best friend, Sharikov, a dachshund I adopted when I still resided in Toronto. Despite living up to his naughty Bulgakovite name, it seems that at times he was my only support—as dogs often do. I know he is giving swans hell in doggie Valhalla now!

As for 2014? I know what I have to do.

I think...