Year Number Forty Three

Only three weeks into 2016 and all is bright here.

Thanks to everyone who made my 43rd birthday so special.

It's a new year for me and we had a fresh coating of light snow

to freshen things up. I'm taking it as a sign of more brightness ahead.

42 Candles

Thanks to everyone who helped me blow out 42 candles by taking me out, 

giving me a gift, sending me a private message, a tweet, a text, making a Facebook

 post or sending me any type of greeting (printed, written, photographed or typed).

The Birthday Party

My 40th birthday was spent with family and friends. 

As is always my preference, this involved a home-cooked meal.  My Mom and Dad hosted a cast of very special characters to celebrate this milestone with us on an unseasonably warm (and foggy) January night. Many thanks to my folks, Scott, Steve, Janie and Kristen for the dinner, desserts, camaraderie, laughter, love and gifts. As always, the real gift is in being able to be together late into the night and enjoying one another's company. In addition, a special thanks to my departed (and still much loved) grandparents for making their presence felt in my life (and also in my home) in the days leading up to this particular mile marker on my life's highway. Thanks, too, to all who sent me emails, tweets, cards and Facebook messages to wish this Art Skool Damaged kid well as he enters a new era.  Cheers!