It was ten years ago that I spent New Year's Eve alone in a tent on the coast. That is still the best New Year's I've ever had.

We've had a string of days with high blue skies and brisk temperatures. I want to stay indoors indulging the long-denied need to hermit, but the beauty of the brightness is too tempting. We walked out for coffee and lunch and found that most places in our neighborhood were open even though it's one of the big holidays. Lines backed out of Cafe Presse in the early afternoon. Hipsters and out-of-towners stranded here stood with sleepy eyes and tousled hair looking for a first meal to assuage their hangovers. I thought of how there are no real holidays anymore, when the whole world shuts down and you have to survive on the contents of your fridge. We never have to plan for scarcity.

In the late afternoon, as the light began to cant and yellow, I went out with the rented Mamiya to take a few shots. There weren't many cars on the road, but the sidewalks and shoulders were crowded with walkers, runners, and bikers, all getting a confident start to the new year, surely. I had only about an hour and a half of light, which was about all the cold my fingers could take. So I came home to warm up, and in the last light of the setting sun, suddenly decided the Christmas tree had to go. I thought I could make it painless if I raced to dismantle it before the last of the natural light, and I'm satisfied to say that it was a good strategy. I was sweeping up needles in the dark, but the tree was out the door in the last minutes of the blue hour and the ornaments stowed before I clicked on the first of the indoor lights.

So far, I haven't even been tempted to browse the web. I feel the impulse, but it's easy to redirect to something else, such as working on photo files I need to organize or tidying up something in the house. I notice the urge most when I come home from somewhere or want a little break from housework, and when I'm working on something on the computer that is sustained and that requires a lot of mental focus. So I set a book next to the keyboard, and I when I feel like browsing, I pick it up and read out loud for a little while. We'll see how that goes. The test will come when the work and class schedule begins.

One more day of bliss.