I’d like to wish all family, friends, regular readers, commenters and all other visitors Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, A Happy New Year or any other Holiday Greetings you prefer! As usual, I prefer Happy Newtonmas because Isaac Newton was born on December 25th, but I’m very democratic in that respect and let everyone celebrate the the holiday they like.

Soooo. 2021. It started on a sour note, muddled along during Spring, got a little better during the Summer and then went completely to hell in the Autumn and Winter thanks to Corona. Even our extended family got hit by the virus in time for the holidays thanks to the still not closed down schools. Still, we’re all double, if not triple vaccinated except the kids and we’re all as careful as possible. We’re not even in a proper lockdown like last year, just a muddle of 2G and 3G restrictions with vague promises of further ones along after the Christmas holidays, which could be too late to prevent it getting much worse. What will happen in 2022 with Omicron gearing up is anyone’s guess, but it will be neither fun nor pretty. The only thing we can do is be careful, get vaccinated and not take any risks.

There were still a few good things happening for me in 2021, but they mostly all can be filed under self-care to stay as happy and healthy as possible in a bad situation. I actually acquired two new guitars this year which I always wanted to get but was never able to afford before – I’ve actually got a blog post about my various guitar adventures in my drafts which I will probably complete soon. And I already wrote about the fun I’ve had with the Lego Space Shuttle this summer, the building I even documented in a series of Youtube videos. There were also the surprisingly successful CosmoQuest Con and Hangoutathon, with me even appearing on screen in the second one! Of course I still had a lot of fun with my photography  and even though I haven’t taken as many photos this year as before, I still have enough to post my usual couple of shots over on the Photography Blog – and the Camera Store I work for part-time is also still very much alive.

Fortunately, I was once again able to make it safely to my family in Berlin thanks to an inexpensive first-class train ticket. But as mentioned above, due to one of my cousin’s kids catching Covid in school, visiting the extended family has been made almost impossible, but keeping us all safe from Corona is more important.  The weather is cold, partly grey with some occasional sun and a threat of snow – not good for taking photos, but I already took a quick round of photos I’ve already started to post. And there will also be an attempt of analog photography too if I really get around to it – at least I brought my late mom’s trusty Praktica.

While it’s going to be quiet here on this blog now for at least mid-January, of course I’m always posting my usual round of daily photos over on my Photography Blog and you can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook and of course Instagram – although I have abandoned MeWe because there was just nothing going on there.

Have a nice end-of-year holiday, everyone – and thank you especially to everyone who helped me to get through this difficult year! You know who you are and it would have been much more difficult without all of you!

MERRY NEWTONMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!