New Florida phone numbers

Ralph's new number is 352-561-6820 and mine is 352-561-6821. All old numbers that started with 865 area code are obsolete. In fact, all old numbers are obsolete!

Florida!

Made it to Orlando safely, all flights on time, no lost luggage. Just the usual miseries of traveling for 30 hours. We spent 2 nights with my parents, then a night with friends in SC, a night with my brother in NC, then picked up Charlie in Knoxville and headed back to Florida. Our tenants moved out yesterday morning (Friday) and we moved in a few hours later. They took excellent care of our house, which was a blessing. Been busy ever since emptying out our storage unit and getting stuff unpacked. It is so good to be back in the USA!

Shiftless, smiling, initial summarizing

Yesterday morning, after a night of sleeping with my cell phone at bedside (on call), having worked from noon til 10:30 pm; I awoke with no more shifts to work. The contract completed. Medicine a bit different from my training, learned and experienced. This was goal one.

The adventure, the new territory to explore - been here, done that. Amazing. And awesome.

New peoples met - conversed with; friendships made. So many stories about unique characters - Kiwi uniqueness: (Example - An eleven year old boy, knocked off his bicycle (here called a "push bike") and run over by a car. When asked what is your biggest problem; responds in no panic, with no tears but with a true Kiwi/British accent, "I can't breathe quite proper." - Both lungs were punctured and bruised as well as a bruise to his brain. His phraseology, demeanor, uniqueness - just memorable. He did well, I'm told - was flown to another trauma center after stabilization.)

Having experienced the different, somewhat exotic now we return; anxious to resume the familiar.

From a book just read, "Everything You Need to Know About Retirement" (paraphrasing): "The adventure can be listening and hearing, finding the rhythm in each new day - the adventure that waits there; it can be more than enough." These are to be our next adventures.

And they begin.

Winding Down

Just sent Ralph off to work his last shift here. This is an historic day for us as it's also his last shift before retirement. And he's got call tonight.

We have 48 more hours before we leave for the airport to start our long trip home. We arrive at the Orlando airport in the wee hours of Sunday morning, the 27th, then will spend the rest of the night in an airport hotel. Raymond and Faith will pick us up late morning and take us to Brooksville where we will stay with my parents for a couple of nights. Our house is rented in The Villages until April 1st. We will head north on Tuesday the 29th, stopping to visit some friends and family along the way, before arriving in Knoxville Thursday. The plan is to get our sweet Charlie (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel for those who don't know him) back from friends who've been keeping him since September. Back to Florida on April 1st, and getting our belongings out of storage. Then we will fly out to California 6 days later for David's wedding. Not sure that we will feel like we've gotten "home" until mid-April!

Really going to miss NZ and the people we have met and the friends we have made. We'll be trading the threat of earthquakes for the threat of hurricanes (at least hurricanes come with plenty of warning!), and open screenless windows for central heat and air. We've just finished with summer here, but get to experience it again in the US.

I've been treated to lunch twice this week by some very special friends. Yesterday two of my friends from church took me out to a cafe. The picture was taken by a waitress.

Continuing travels - National Park

Traveling in New Zealand, North Island, must include Tongariro National Park. Only about 2 and half hours drive, we have been trying to find that difficult moment when weather, time and absence of other priorities converge to make it optimal - (possible would be too easy, we go for optimal). And so it was yesterday. I drove up, northwest. Mary drove back. We did it in a single day.

Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe were awesome, majestic, huge and all those other words that describe individual mountains. Ruapehu is the tallest with multiple peaks at about 2900 metres (note the British spelling - we're Kiwi's now). Ngauruhoe (aka Mt Doom) is a classical volvanic cone. Though there was a fairly magnificent eruption of Ruapehu in 1995, these mountains behaved themselves while we were there.

We tramped (the Kiwi word for hiking) about 6 miles (kilometre is just too hard to spell, to get better views and go by Taranaki and Tawhai Falls. Taranaki Falls is the taller seeming to come right out of the rocks to fall as a wide curtain in front of a cave like area into a green pool. Tawhai Falls is shorter and is more like a stream coming over a classic pastoral falls. Tawhai reminded me very much of Abrams Falls in Great Smoky Mountain National Park back home (home - yeah thinking more and more about home - 2weeks and we'll be there). But this park is not comparable to anything back home. The mountains, the falls, the green rolling hills and mountains on the drive.

Privileged to be here, now.

Two Minutes of Silence Across New Zealand at 12:51PM

Today was the one week anniversary of the Christchurch earthquake. All across NZ people gathered to mourn and show support for the people of Canterbury at exactly 12:51 pm, time of the devastating quake. I joined hundreds of people in front of All Saints Church on the town square in Palmerston North.

The other picture I took last week while walking a downtown street. Heard a statistic on our travels that sheep out number people here, 10 to 1, and I believe it.

The Earthquake Adventures of Marji and Freddie Barron

End of the story first---They made it safely back to Knoxville yesterday, thank God!

They arrived at their Christchurch boutique hotel, the Charlotte Jane, around noon on Tuesday. The Charlotte Jane is a two story, wood structure building. After checking into their 2nd floor room, they were preparing to leave it and walk the mile into the CBD (Central Business District) when the earth started shaking. Marji says it was very loud, very powerful and seemed like it lasted a long time though probably wasn't more than 20 seconds. They could not have walked if they wanted to and were thrown to the floor. Everything in their room was also thrown to the floor---the TV, lamps, end tables, etc---and they were rolling around trying to dodge them. When it stopped, they heard their hostess downstairs yelling for everyone to get out of the building. They rushed outside with the other guests and found their hotel's chimneys swaying, but otherwise looking okay structurally. The place was a mess inside with broken dishes, bottles, etc. They remained outside for the next 8 or 9 hours, returning to their room only for quick bathroom visits and flushing the toilet with pond water. There was no water or power, and a constant flow of stunned people moving up and down the streets. Initial impressions from the locals were that it had to have been a quake greater than 8.0 since it was so much worse than the 7.3 quake in September. (This one turned out to have caused greater damage because it was shallower and almost a bulls eye on Christchurch CBD). They also began to get reports from people who had been in the CBD as to the devastation there. Hotel staff couldn't get home and they couldn't reach loved ones on the phone either, so they took care of the guests. The Barrons and the others were fed a delicious meal of lamb shanks and some vegetables. Amazing.

They debated sleeping in their rental car for the night but decided to sleep in their room instead since the hotel looked pretty solid structurally. The power came on about 9:30 pm and the TV worked despite its fall to the floor. They slept fully dressed, with shoes on and the TV on. Actually didn't sleep very well as the aftershocks continued all night long and they were prepared to run for their lives again if necessary.

Marji and I were texting throughout that day and I was updating her on the news as it was reported on TV. We weren't sure of the conditions of the roads for them to drive out of Christchurch. I began trying to get them a flight on Air New Zealand out of Christchurch to anywhere, but the Air NZ website was overwhelmed and I couldn't get through on the phone lines either. Kept trying right up until bedtime. The next morning I had to be at the thrift shop to work (only one there that day so had to go) and Ralph had to be at work. The Barrons were getting ready to go camp at the airport early to try and get on a flight when their hostess was able to get onto the Air NZ site and find 2 seats left to Wellington at 10 am. She asked them if they wanted them and they did! They had to drive about 5 miles to the airport and found the road to have "moguls" in it that were not there the day before when they came in, but it was driveable. By the time I finished work at the thrift shop at noon and reached Marji by text, they were in a rental car from Wellington and driving to our house.

Updating re Freddie and Marji Barron

They were able to get on a plane yesterday (Wednesday morning, NZ time) at 10:00 am to Wellington. Upon arrival there they could not get a flight to Auckland, BUT they saw that they could get on one today out of Palmerston North, which is our town. They rented a car and drove the 2 hours to us where we were thrilled to see them alive and well and host them another night! As I type this, they are in Auckland and their flight to Los Angeles is scheduled to leave in over 3 hours.

The Barrons have a lot of stories to tell of their terrifying experience, but they were extremely impressed with the Kiwi people through it all. People stayed calm and orderly and helped each other out. The airport was full of employees doing their job and keeping things smooth. Leadership here is amazing. We watch the press conferences of all the people involved from the prime minister to the mayor of Christchurch to the police chief and on and on, and they all invoke confidence, control, authority, calm and a feeling that everything that could be done is being done in the right way.

This is a small country of 4 million people and Christchurch is one of its larger cities of about 300,000 and certainly the largest town on the South Island. This is a major blow and affects everyone. And the tremors continue.... Please pray for the folks here.

Picture is of Christchurch Cathedral that we took the week of Christmas. It's the centerpiece of the city and Cathedral Square the heart of town. It lies in ruins now, with over 20 people dead within it that they haven't been able to reach yet. Another 25 or so were pulled alive out of it the first day.

Christchurch Earthquake and Us

Thanks for all the e-mails of concern. We are fine! Christchurch is about 350 miles from us, as the crow flies. We passed through that airport Saturday on our way home from traveling with Freddie and Marji. They continued on for another week of vacation in NZ. Unfortunately, they arrived in Christchurch by rental car yesterday maybe an hour before the quake. Really rotten luck for them. They are supposed to fly home Thursday to Knoxville from Christchurch. They are also fine. They are in a small boutique hotel a few blocks out of the city center. We have been texting with them and trying to help them get out of Christchurch. Phone calls don't go through, plus the officials ask people to text rather than call. They were without power but it was restored last night. The Christchurch airport was closed yesterday but they have announced reopening at 8:00 am this morning (It's 7:41 am as I type this, Wednesday morning). Freddie and Marji plan to camp out there and get on a flight to anywhere, eventually making their way to Auckland for their flight to LAX. Driving out of town in their rental car to another city is a possibility, but roads are heavily damaged so don't know if they could get anywhere.

Our prayers are with the people of Christchurch. It's on the TV nonstop here and looks as if the city (at least the downtown area) is destroyed. Reminds me of New Orleans and Katrina.

more pics from last week - sorry can't stop

Play match the caption:

From our window at Hawke's Bay

Art Deco week kids at play

Bus driver in Fjordland stops for Kea (South Island Parrot)

Gannet chick asks for supper

In Fjordland, Milford Sound a 150 meter waterfall in background with 9 storey cruise ship in foreground

Further pics for Friends, Feasting, and Fjords

These pics were meant to have accompanied the Rotarua, Hawke's Bay etc narrative but were limited because of picture size. Do try to click on the pics in the prior post, Mary and I are in the back row of the jet boat.

Wishing you were here.

ralph

Friends, Feasting and Fjords

For the last week we have seen, reseen, and explored more of New Zealand. And in this we have not been alone. Marji and Freddie Barron joined us in our most recent adventures. Together we explored the thermal features of Rotarua, the viticulture of Hawke's Bay and checked on the progress of the Gannett colony, then flew to beautiful Queenstown for jetboating, then bussed to Fjordland National Park a World Heritage Center. All in a somewhat adventuresome week.

Our first time to Rotarua. The thermal features are similar to Yellowstone in the USA but much younger. There are pictures in one of the valleys where we walked of a before and after eruption from only 60 or so years ago where villages were covered and new steam vents created as well as old ones blown to pieces. The steam, the colors, the mineral formations all an interesting and beautiful variation to the mountains and streams. While in Rotorua, I experienced the Hangi - traditional Mauri feast similar to the Hawaiian Lua. There was a village and food cooked in the ground as well as traditional dancing and village demonstrations. And on the edge of town we went to a farm - to be educated re: sheep with personal introductions to 19 varieties and a sheering demonstration. Then we were taken around the farm where we met traditional farm animals Angus cattle, pigs etc as well as Alpaca, Ostrich, deer and elk - all of which have been at various times given roles on Kiwi farms. (You may also find a picture of Mary with a Kiwi fruit on vine.)

Then we drove to Hawke's Bay and arrived as they were getting ready to celebrate Art Deco week with cars and folks dressed all bout town as though it were the 1930's. We however ate and dined as if there were no tomorrow: Our guide took us to Vidal's for appetizers, to a Te Mata Peak Park for scenic overlook and sparkling Sav Blanc, then to Craggy Range's Terroir Restaurant (recently graded in the top 20 winery restaurants worldwide) for main courses (the lamb was gooood), ending with dessert this particular evening at The Mission founded by monks and the oldest winery in New Zealand. Classic conspicuous consumption - a time and place for all things. Next day in Hawkes Bay we revisited an earlier experience with the Gannett Colony (see earlier post). But the colony was in a totally different stage as we watched chicks try to spread their wings and parents feed their young chicks. Awesome still.

Next we flew from Hawke's Bay to Queenstown by propeller jet arriving just in time to make our scheduled trip downriver on Shotover Jetboat with several 360 spins and a bit of cool wetness. Then the next day was our longest touring day of all our New Zealand adventures. Leaving at 7:30 am returning at 8:30 pm we traveled, on an unusual almost 4 wheel drive touring bus with overhead windows to see above us, to Fjordland National Park and then cruised around Milford Sound on a small cruising boat for about 2 hours. Mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, fur seals, and dolphins drafting on the boat's wake. (The preceding is not a complete sentence but it made a very complete afternoon.) The Barrons continued on and the Kensells returned to Palmy. Before we left Freddie said, "We'll have to do this again when you return to NZ next year." I laughed and Mary sent me a "don't even kid about it look." For now, the adventure continues.

We returned to Palmy for about 9 loads of laundry - with a slight further delay since half of our luggage went on adventures we did not.

Sweet as......

Love some of these Kiwi expressions---"sweet as" and "right as" are not followed by another word. And then there's "good on ya" which translates to "way to go".

I've been making some new Kiwi friends, primarily from the church we've been attending and volunteering in the thrift shop run by the church. Tomorrow I've been invited to the home of one of them for lunch after. These ladies have been so warm and welcoming to me and I'm going to miss them.

The Super Bowl here started at noon on Monday. Ralph had to work but I was invited to the home of the new American doctor in the emergency department to watch the game and have lunch. Leonard and Sharon are here for a year and brought their two young granddaughters along with them for the cross cultural experience. Had a great time with them.

Our friends Marji and Freddie from Knoxville are coming Saturday for a week. They've been cruising in the South Pacific for the last 10 days or so. We will travel with them about NZ for a week---going to Rotorua and Hawkes Bay (North Island), then flying to Queenstown and a side trip to Milford Sound (South Island). Really excited about their visit!

I've said too many times that we'd probably just be figuring out how to live here and getting to know people when it would be time to go home, and I think that's going to come true. We are returning to the States almost two weeks ahead of originally planned. Found out that the tax consequences in NZ are just plain awful if you stay over 183 days, which we would hit on March 28th. So....we're flying back the 26th and 27th. This has been a fun and unique experience, but we're also looking forward to being home again. I might be one of those folks who kisses the tarmac.....:)

Cheers!

Mary's point of view......

Queenstown is almost too pretty to be real. We flew into Queenstown for our Otago bike trip and out of Dunedin to go back home to Palmerston North. Dunedin is also gorgeous. It reminded me a little of San Francisco in that it is a seaside hilly city. Wish we could have had more time to enjoy it and the Victorian architecture.

I had myself in a dither before we left for the biking trip because the instructions said to bring "torches" for the tunnels we would pass through. Now, we've had several train trips here and have passed through mountain tunnels on said trains that were 8 kilometers long. Turns out that there were only 3 tunnels on the biking portion and the longest was about 250 meters. You could see the light at the end of the tunnel on 2 out of the 3. Still made me claustrophobic, but not the stuff of nightmares.

Really did enjoy the biking despite my sprained thumb and Ralph's inability to keep up with the vigorous pace I set! :) Scenery was breathtaking most of the time. The population in Otago is very sparse. We would periodically pass through towns about every 10 kilometers that boasted populations of 800 or less. Sheep on the trail outnumber people by (made up statistic here!) 1000 to 1. That's probably true in all of NZ also. The folks we met were hospitable and kind. I asked one of our hosts about schools for the kids. In his town of Middlemarch, there are 54 children in the one school building, ages 5 to 13. And they also come from the surrounding towns. After 13, kids either have to go to "college" (high school) by bus a few hours away or off to boarding school. He gave us the impression that most go to boarding school. Weather in central Otago tends to be extreme for geographical reasons---they have the coldest NZ temps in winter (accompanied by lots of snow) and the hottest ones in summer. Guess that makes long bus rides to school a less popular option also.

We passed a post on our bike ride that marked the 45 degree latitude line. That meant we were equi-distant from the equator and the South Pole. Another sign that we are a loooong way from home!

From the end of our bike ride we took the Taieri Gorge Railway to Dunedin. They bill it as the 4th most spectacular train ride in the world. Don't know if it is, but it was certainly stunning. From The Lonely Planet, "With narrow tunnels, deep gorges, winding tracks, rugged canyons and more than a dozen stone and wrought-iron viaduct crossings (up to 50 m high), the scenie Taieri Gorge Railway ...". I'll try and attach a picture Ralph took out the window of the train, but doesn't do it justice!

One delightful thing about flying in NZ is the total lack of security at airports. Well, they do have it at the big ones like Auckland, etc. but flying domestically is a breeze. You just show up 20 minutes before your flight, 30 if you have luggage to check, and walk right on the plane! In Palmerston North we live about a 5 minute drive from the airport, so that makes it even better.

In other news, I've started volunteering in a church thrift store and enjoying it very much.

Otago Central Rail Trail WE did it!!!

Four days, 150 kilometers (or kilometres), luggage transport, meals, lodging and weather - it all came together and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Mary also survived it.

Cycle Surgery provided fat tyre knobby mountain bikes with shocks and panniers. They also took our regular luggage from one stop to the next while we were riding.

Mary did catch a pannier at a gated bridge crossing that caused a bit of a fall on day one. It caused a bit more caution at similar crossings and bravely she pressed on, with minimal medical attention. Preferring recumbent cycling myself, it was necessary for me to surgically remove my underwear at the end of each day's ride. Day one 32 km, day two 34, day three 34 and day four 50 km or thereabouts. The only real low was toward the end of day two after long slow uphill grade it was tiring, Mary was struggling and we were passed by two turtles and a snail. It wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't turned around and waved as they went by. These were the only real lows.

The food was usually at or near the place we stayed and the cooks were good, with one exception. At the Omakau Commercial Hotel, no cook, must have been a real chef. I had pork tenderloin stuffed with onion jam wrapped in bacon with au jus over fresh vegetables --- outstanding.

The weather was cool to fine. One evening at Oturehua, our host started a wood fire in the stove which added to a very pleasing atmosphere at his place (picture with Mary and rather relaxed dog, named Dillon).

The scenery - mountains, bridges, rivers, tunnels, birds, sheep, bees (honey hives), friendly people, blue sky --- well, it's why we came. No picture captures it - only hints at it.

The escapism, relaxing, calming, mind mellowing, exhausting pleasantness --- well, it's why I did it. Ride your self powered bike by a field of bleating sheep in a green pasture, ride under a bright blue sky, head towards mountains that touch the slow moving clouds; in a scene where everything seems momentarily special; and maybe created just for this moment to be as it is. Know how special the moment and the experience are.

At the end lay down and rest on a picnic table. Just that tired.
So it was.

Another New Favorite City (NZ ?Favourite?)

Just a few days ago we made it to a city in the central South Island. It is on the edge of a LARGE (in length, width and depth - quantities likely to be known by other blog coauthor) lake. The city so beautiful and grand-- "tis fit for a queen" - Queenstown. Population not too large - maybe 8,000 with about that many tourists on any given day. Surrounded by mountains - it seems surreal. Good food, relaxed pace but the adrenalin crowd comes here for skiing, bungee, white water etc. The real South Islanders, it seems, take exception to the changes the tourists have brought and say with its sky high prices and glitz "it's not the real New Zealand." But there's a reason the rest of the world likes it here --- and so do I!

Marching into the New Year

We're enjoying sunny days in the 70's here and not missing all that cold weather and snow back home! Well, maybe a little. I love snow at Christmas. Ralph is in the middle of working 9 days straight, a result of trading around for time off. They've been very short staffed at the hospital, but have another American that just started work this week and a doc that's been on maternity leave coming back soon. This is prime time for vacations here, as the kids are out of school until Feb. 1st for summer break.

We leave Wednesday morning for a 6 day trip to Otago on the South Island. We're going to be bike riding the Otago Central Rail Trail, flying in to Queenstown and back home from Dunedin. This rail trail is reported to be not too hilly (please God, let it be so!), passes through breathtaking scenery and is 150 km long (90 miles). It will take 4 days of riding. We've been riding bikes locally trying to condition the body for the ride. We are both very excited about this trip and feel like we're due a break on the weather when we travel. Stay tuned for how that turns out. :)

Thanks to everyone who sent birthday greetings. It was fun to stretch it out to 2 days with the time differences! We got a boatload of Christmas cards on my birthday, January 11th. They had been mailed between Dec. 9th and Dec. 22 and all came at the same time. This whole country shuts down over the holidays. Most businesses were closed from Dec. 24 to January 5th. In an 11 day time period, the mail was delivered 4 days only.

Last month we discovered a church that we like very much and have visited there 4 or 5 times. People are friendly and God's presence is strongly felt.

While Ralph has been slaving away at the hospital, I've been working on our taxes and getting myself worked up over all the complications this year from our situation. Foreign tax credit, anyone? And I really got churning when I started reading more about NZ taxes, so much so that I had an appointment yesterday with a tax accountant. Their tax year is a fiscal one, ending March 31st. I needed Tylenol when I left his office, a product not sold in New Zealand by the way. :) It's going to be messy and expensive, but the accountant will be a big help.

Where ever you go there you - age

As we enjoyed a recent evening walk, we came upon a sign. Only with much effort was I able to reassure Mary that this was not placed in honor of the impending (3 days till 1.11.11) anniversary of her birth.

Are the Kiwi's agist?

There is very much a youth oriented culture here.

Family

And for one week there were three Kensells in New Zealand. Not quite like 1979 to 1982; though the "family" was the same (before the rest of the family became), the place and the people are now different. I worked while they toured but it was good to be with my ladies, before they left and after they returned. We walked the town and the river walk; had good meals at "home" (home - where you and your family live and are together).

Kelly in New Zealand!

Kelly left snowy Chicago on the 25th of December and arrived here the 27th. She and I flew to Christchurch the next day for a 4 day sightseeing trip ( Ralph had to work). Between the time Ralph and I left Christchurch on the 23rd and my arrival back there with Kelly on the 28th, Christchurch experienced another aftershock earthquake of over 4.0 on the 26th. The really big one was Sept. 4th when the city was rocked by a 7.1 magnitude, greater than Haiti's, but what a difference good building codes make---no loss of life. Anyway, lots of buildings were fenced off downtown for inspection or awaiting repairs. Some were that way from the September quake and others from the one on the 26th. Shopkeepers who were open were busy putting merchandise back on the shelves from the floor and sweeping up plaster, etc. The day after we left, Christchurch had yet another 4.0 quake. Glad we missed these, but we did experience lots of smaller tremors while we were there.

In Christchurch we road the tram, visited the Canterbury Museum and Art Gallery, went punting on the Avon (funky boat ride on the river through the heart of the city), saw Mona Vale, and spent an evening at the Tamaki Maori Village. The latter included a traditional hangi (Maori underground cooking) for dinner and an outdoor drama. We were picked up for this in a double decker bus at our hotel with a group of about 30 students from VA Tech, University of Maryland and Texas A&M. The picture with our tongues hanging out is at the Tamaki Village. The face is representative of traditional Maori war faces and also their haka.

We left Christchurch on the TranzCoastal train heading north. And wow, what a ride! It parallels the sea for about 100 kms and the views are breathtaking. We stopped for a day in Kaikoura to go on a whale watching expedition. I'm going to have to come up with some new words to describe the scenery in parts of NZ. Kaikoura has to be one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life. It's a little coastal beach town of about 3,000 residents, situated on a gorgeous peninsula. It has very high mountains that are snow capped rising right out of the sea. Reminded me of maybe the Grand Tetons sitting right on the edge of California. Unfortunately I forgot the camera on this trip and my cell phone battery died (yeah, left the charger at home) before I got a good picture with it! So go and google for pictures of Kaikoura.

The whale watching boat ride was pretty wild. The sea was rough and the boat is fast and it was literally gut-wrenching. But---we saw two sperm whales up close and personal! We also saw a school of around 100 dusky dolphins who put on quite the show for us all around the boat. Also saw a couple of albatross on the trip. Back on land, Kelly and I took a long walk along the coast to the seal colony and enjoyed watching them bask in the sun. The weather was mid-70's and sunny.

We returned home New Year's Eve via the train, then the ferry from the South Island to the North, then the bus from Wellington. Palmerston North had a family event all evening and into the new year on the town square that started at 6:00 pm with music, food and fireworks but we were too tired to go. But we were wide awake and having dinner when the east coast of the USA welcomed the new year so I'm counting that!

Been enjoying watching college bowl games this weekend.

Happy New Year to everyone!