Today is the beginning of the new year on the Julian calendar, not to be confused with the start of the Church calendar in September. If the rest of the winter continues as it has been lately, we will be in for some surprises. Today I noticed, once again, the cherry trees beginning to blossom, when they usually begin somewhere in the beginning of March, at least in this area. There is no snow, it is warm and, in fact, the last several times that I have driven in the Jeep, I have had to turn on the air conditioning because it was simply too hot inside, or else I had to open the windows for a few minutes—can you imagine that? In January yet! I visited my family doctor this morning, and we spent more time talking about the ink that he uses and how he makes it, rather than on my health. I am not complaining because he is a good doctor but, one with broad interests and interesting with whom to converse.