My year-end (mostly) Staycation™ came to it’s inevitable end yesterday.

The break was actually pretty relaxing, when I consider things. We all decided to make Christmas itself pretty low-key; the end of the year was way to hectic and crazy, with sewing projects and obligations and not as much money as we’d like and such, we didn’t even get the tree up until the 23rd, and it basically came down the Friday after Christmas, in no small part because the kitten knocked most of the lower branches off as it was. We did gifts on Christmas Eve, intending, and actually succeeding at sleeping in, which we all needed. We spent the afternoon with friends out east a bit, eating, drinking, and being low-key merry; 2019 was pretty rough on so many of my social circle, we all just enjoyed each other’s company and took a breather from things for a while.

New Years’ was likewise a low-key affair. While my teenage son did go out to a friends’ for the evening, the rest of us sat around watching some stand-up comedy on Netflix, drinking a couple of beers, and retiring by 10:30, succumbing to the siren song of slumber, or something poetic like that.

The time in-between; that week between the two holidays where nobody quite knows what day it is, was kind of a blur. On those relatively insignificant days I spent my mornings out hiking along the river, mostly enjoying nature and early morning goose antics, and doing wizard and pokemon things. I like my time in the woods, whether on feet or wheels; it’s part self-care, part spiritual practice, part stumbling upon a couple of teenagers getting to second base on the marsh walk overlook (like what happened this afternoon when I walked a couple of miles after work). Some days it’s rapid, some days it’s leisurely, but it’s an experience I’ve kind of come to depend on in support of my mental health.

Otherwise, I ran errands, cleaned some stuff, watching The Witcher and finishing Mindhunter over the course of the two weeks, and catching up on reading.

Beyond getting together with our friends as described above and venturing into the city a couple of times (where I got that tattoo for my holiday gift), the only other adventure was down to NC last Friday afternoon for relaxing evening of music and jokes and fun at bandmate Scott’s “Bardic Circle.” In spite of the rain along I-85, it was exactly the adventure I needed, just sitting around making music with my friends. That’s my other spiritual practice.

Speaking of making music, the Marscon schedule got posted this afternoon, and it looks like I’m going to be really busy (my many obligations will get their own post before long), but that’s perfectly fine, because I’ll mostly be engaging in that second spiritual practice again, and it seems I (yes me, apart from all those bands I play in) have fans who I can’t disappoint. Mostly, it’ll be hanging with friends having a laugh over drinks and guitars.

…and I can’t think of a better way to spend a weekend.