People make New Year's resolutions—as an evaluation of the year gone by—in an attempt to do better in the following one. I tend to do so on my birthday, October 19.

On the one hand, this year I've reached one particular milestone that, I hope, will be in some libraries long after I'm gone. In terms of image-making, specifically, practice makes perfect, and my photography has improved dramatically.

My illustration, on the other hand, had to be put on the back burner. Thus, changing this is up to me at the expense of other endeavors...or sleep! This has also been an exceedingly stress-filled year often (but not always) without the payoff of concrete, tangible benefits. As a result, I seem to be at a crossroads without seeing things clearly just yet.

And so I head for another walk in the autumn mountains that look as subdued as I feel. As does my basset. (The latter is misleading, of course: all it takes is introducing a deer, turkey, or even a small rodent into the hiking equation!) An objective correlative of sorts. I remember this term from high-school English.

One gets a better view from above the heavens, and breathing is easier, too. Or maybe that's just the techniques I learned at Pilates.