the sun goes down on 2018

9 years of end-of-year sunsets in New Mexico: this time it's the hills of Los Feliz, Los Angeles.  In the past, I've just had to look over our back yard wall; this time, I went checking sites a week ago to see where the best sunset view would most likely be ... We're the side of Los Feliz that gets magnificent dawns, and then the evening glow of sun on far mountains - but there is this one spot where you can see to the sea (I promise that's on the horizon), and watch the sun go down (I was waiting for some nervous commentator on NextDoor Los Feliz to post "strange woman hanging around at the top of Amesbury; looks like she's taking pictures of property and cars.")

Ah, 2018 ... I will be glad to see the back of it.  To be sure, the first few months were fine, but after Alice's cancer diagnosis in May, and subsequent treatments; and then my mother's increasing infirmity and death ... things did not go well.  But Alice has just five radiation treatments to go - and about six more infusions of targeted therapy-drugs - increasingly uncomfortable, but she's getting there.  I have to say ... I could do with a week, a month, whatever - of vacation, and the thought that the semester begins again in under a week is causing my heart to sink.  All the same, I found in 2018 that I've got strong reserves of patience, and a fair degree of resilience (unless I'm kidding myself, and everything's repressed ...).  So - having ended the year not just by looking at the sun setting, but by giving large chunks of end-of-year money to a range of good causes, I'm determined to look forward with optimism: not just personal optimism, but to a better political year, too - in the US, in the UK.  Please ...