I Still Can't Believe It

...someone says that your photos of Malta and Gozo are better than the ones from their own Tourist office? Not to toot my own horn or anything, but my friend/tour guide from Malta asked to use my shots on his website. Not bad for someone using a point-and-shoot camera and who is often accused of framing things in the center too much. The complete set is here if you'd like to browse. ...you get the week between Christmas and New Year's off work? I still have to check emails and respond to urgent ones, but it's likely few people will be in their offices to send me emails, so I'm looking forward to a Holy Week of Vegetation. ...it snows 8 inches? I may be alone in this, but I have to say, snow is an integral part of winter and I for one, am happy to see thick layers of sparkly whiteness covering foliage and fences in the yard. It's not so great for driving, but neither is bucket-dumping rain so I say, let it snow. ...shoveling your driveway is the most exercise you&#

Not to be all bah humbuggy or anything, but I have to say December has been an exceptionally hard month and we haven't even made it to the extended family parts yet. My close family is the coolest collection of people I could ever hope to be a part of it's true, but the extended family can get a bit...contentious. I'm know for a fact I'm not alone in the feeling that Christmas and the holiday scene in general, is stressful. People are stressed this time of year and if you need any evidence of this, just try and tell me you've not noticed about 100x the amount of head-up-their-ass drivers on the road lately. For the most part, people suck at driving, it's true. But if there's been one little old lady driving 20 mph under the speed limit in the last week, there's been 52 of them in front of me and I don't even drive that much. But add to that an entire host of personal issues going on with my marriage, my job, and my mental health, and you've go