Happy New Year all! Here’s hoping 2017 brings everyone some peace, some rest and some laughs.

This is the first New Year in several decades I haven’t worried about the gunfire, sirens, fireworks or had to listen to the music next door get louder and louder as midnight got closer. For the first time in 30 years, the evening was quiet. We watched Doctor Who and Star Trek online, stoked the wood stove and relaxed, pretty much forgetting it was New Year’s Eve altogether. It’s never been big on my holiday list anyway, but one of the hardest to ignore in Los Angeles. When midnight passes, and you don’t notice it until you’re checking Facebook and realize it’s two hours into 2017, it becomes one more reason to be thankful we moved out of the land of the loonies.

May the coming year bring us all peace, safety, fast bandwidth and dry wood. Lots of dry wood.