Happy New Year Everyone!

Now home in my little nest. Even put away the luggage.  Suffering from a nasty cold I managed to pick up on the journey home. Fever, runny nose, and general disorientation make me want to stay on the sofa and hang out with Lawrence Welk.  Those of you of my generation know who Lawrence Welk is.  However, my colleagues have other plans.  One friend in JB celebrates her birthday today, so we are gathering for dinner at TGIF and then to the Zone for dancing and frivolity.  I think I will be able to pass on the Zone portion.  But my decline for the other was not accepted. I am so sick I cannot drive, so I have a colleague picking me up en-route to the gathering.  After dinner they have all accepted the fact that I will fade. Dropping me off at the birthday girl's condo to let me go back to bed. I was also invited to lunch at my driver's home to meet his family.

Where else in the world would you hire a driver and then be invited to their home for New Year's Eve lunch?  That is the kind of place I live in.  Kota TInggi is home to me for now for so many reasons. I could move to JB but the same community and feeling of belonging does not develop in a big city.  Since my recent trip I have developed a wonderful friendship with the neighbours too. The kids peer across my wall to see if they can see me.  Before I left they were too shy to even acknowledge my presence. Well maybe the spider man stickers I gave them was a factor. Or the books I promised them once they arrive. And Ya and I exchange recipes and information now. She is a master of Chinese medicine - I think I should ask her how to speed up the recovery of this cold. I am growing some gigantic peppermint plants on my wall. She pointed to them and tried to explain how they grind them (I think my mortar and pestal may become useful again) and make some kind of tea or whatever which heals 'something or other'.  I told her to use them whenever she needs to.  They have become so dense that they make a screen from the road. She also moved some of my plants outside the wall. So the perfume from them - even with this cold, is so heady and beautiful I love being out there.

Life is good. I have a wonderful family, incredible friends, a job I love.  Not sure it could get better than this.  Of course being near my family would make it perfect. But probably not. I have learned that if I have that option I do not appreciate their presence to the same degree.  So, our distance makes the reunion so much more precious.  I cannot take any of them or my dear friends for granted ever again.

Wishes for all of you reading my thoughts to have a life as wonderful as my own.  May you be blessed with the desires of your hearts and the abundance of the universe in 2012 and always.