It is always easy to curse a past year and look forward to a new one but I awoke this morning thinking of the good things about 2009 and discovered a lot of them! I am still alive and relatively healthy and that from a guy who has a tendency to burn his candles at both ends always amazes me and puts me in good humor. I retired in 2009! after 47 years of paying into the system I get a little back! I "became" an "artist"! In galleries, selling "stuff", the works! With a little help from my friends I have discovered painting and although, so far, I just do colors and shapes I am having a lot of fun with this new medium! In 2009 I joined ArtWanted and opened my shop to you folks, offered tours of my garden, and bit by bit, much like painting, one stroke at a time, opened myself to you, and some of you to me! That is wonderful, life doesn't get better than that! I have friends all over the world! It is in sharing that this happens and I thank so many of you for this experience. After letting it go for 30 years I rebuilt my greenhouse and shared my wonderful garden abundance with many of you: next year my goal is to do it more and better and send off, all around the world, a lot more dried tomatoes! 2009 and my children, although scattered across the country are doing fine and I have the same wife who after 42 years, still manages to keep my life on a reasonable and even keel. Oh, I welcome 2010 with open arms and I know it too will bring challenges, present obstacles, give us opportunities, tears and joy. Yeah, Happy New Year!