Farewell 2010

With temperatures in the mid 40's this afternoon, I had the pleasure of ending the year with a scooter ride. It was of usual length and I rolled along familiar roads, but it was a good ride in that I sat atop the saddle with that typical grin I wear when I'm on the BV, God's in His heaven, and all's right with the world.

I had one of my favorite, old cameras with me, having fixed its broken zoom function a couple of weeks ago with a few tiny pieces of electrical tape bridging the gap between the external button and the functional spot on the PC board that needed to be filled. I'd missed using it because I never really came to love the Olympus that had taken its place while it was in dry dock. The Oly tends to shoot dark and, as with all of the brand, has a difficult time focusing in low light. As you can see, the old one still does nice work, subject matter notwithstanding.

Before I took up the pen (i.e., took a sip of soda before starting to type here) I gave my posts here from 2010 a second look, poring over some in their entirety and skimming the others. Most noteworthy right up front was that I wrote just a little more than half of what I wrote last year in terms of the number of posts. I'm not sure why that was though I suspect it's because when I'm most serious I tend to clam up. This year, with only its few hours left, had more than its share of seriousness with which to contend, and the issues that were faced were not the of sort which I chose to share here. I didn't feel disappointed in myself for writing fewer posts. I wrote the ones I felt like writing when I was in the mood to write and in doing so I fulfilled whatever it is in me that gets its due when I crank out something I like. And I knew there wasn't anybody out there pouting over his coffee on the many days when I had nothing to share here. If I felt that anybody was hurting on the days that I didn't or couldn't produce anything, I'd shut this whole pony show right down completely 'cause it would have become work rather than a labor of whimsy.

My life would be much easier if I weren't a hopeless Romantic of sorts. My perception of pathos is painfully remarkable. As I took up the camera this afternoon and caught this scene through the viewfinder, all I could think of was that the scooter looks so sad being at the picnic grounds in the winter to see all the tables bare and alone inside the pavilion. Where are the people and balloons and plastic forks and knives? Where's the laughter, and frivolity, and camaraderie? How easy it was to "blame" the scooter for feeling these things when I knew that I was merely finger pointing, but with my own heart contending with closing another year of my life, it was just better to pretend it was the BV being so darned pathetic.

It was in August, just as school was about to start up again that I wrote, "All too soon Halloween will come and after that things will rush by. Thanksgiving! Christmas!" And here it is! Christmas vacation is almost over and can the telltale signs of Spring be all that far off? By shifting my own position and point of view and moving the scooter just a few feet backward, the view is now one of joyful anticipation.

Once again, the wonder of anthropomorphism paves the way for all sorts of emoting. Now we see the scooter "looking out the window" and thinking ahead to the days of warm sunshine and merriment in abundance.

It looks ahead, into tomorrow, into 2011, with childlike glee. As do I!