This Is All

cherry tomatoes from my garden

It's that time again when we can wipe our slates clean of all things passed and start anew with fresh resolve and resolution. This year has not been an easy one for many of us, with all that is going on in the world. I've had a few ups and downs, stops and starts, a shade too many periods of emotional turbulence, lightning and stormy weather caused by nothing more than a nondescript drop rippling the surface of a distant ocean. And then, this year has also been one of the most grounding, as a colleague, slightly drunk and more than a little rowdy, summed up in one profound statement: "This (life) is all you get."

Let's help one another to make those resolutions for the new year and a final cheer for 2009 (for me, a year of firsts) and some of the highlights:
- Giving in to impulse and buying my first digital SLR camera,
- Meeting a very lovely Cassandra on a market tour, chatting away idly for hours like old friends and then saying goodbye without getting her number (so stupid!),
- Completing 'The Science of Baking', a 2 year correspondence course run by the Bread Research Institute of Australia, in 8 months by studying laboriously on the train ride to and from work every evening,
- Discovering with horror, the unfortunate depth of my suspected 'minor' seafood allergy,
- Digging up the front lawn to make way for a small 1.5 x 2m vegetable plot,
- Presenting a pastry chef friend with bright yellow nasturtium flowers, picked from my garden, which ended up on a restaurant dessert,
- And uncovering the first hairy, little muncher burpless cucumbers hiding amongst scattered pea straw.

I have my fingers crossed that 2010 will bring just as many exciting moments and cucumbers (of course!) to fruition, and hopefully also a little more personal growth for myself, friends and those around me.

Happy holidays everyone!