Ringing in the New Year

I've never been one for going out for New Year's Eve, having ushered in most of my 50+ New Years right in front of the TV.  A noteworthy exception was when I was a senior in high school and got a last minute call to play as a ringer in a band.  I had a fever over 102°F and was too dumb to tell the guy, "No!" when he called mid-afternoon, and then nearly fainted while tuning the instruments and then suffered the indignity of waiting for my Dad to pick me up.

This year (Okay, last year, technically.) was going to be a noteworthy exception!  Although I'd already had travel plans for the week after Christmas, I nudged them a little to ensure that I'd be able to attend, "The Burning of the Bush," a New Year's Eve party to be hosted by Carl and Megan of our local scooter group, D.I.S., - Disorganized Individual Scooterists (of NEPA), at which it was promised that we'd get to see some Christmas trees going up in flames.

Although it came at the end of a four hour drive back to the valley from Somerset County, the party was wonderful!  I felt truly honored to have been invited, especially seeing that most of the other guests were Carl's and Megan's own family members.  Although it took us about five trips around the block before we figured out which was Carl and Megan's driveway, we had an excellent time, laughing most of the evening at various antics and over things that were said.  What a great bunch of people with whom to have greeted 2014!

And this...

... was a decided bonus!