Happy New Year from Solana Beach, California, where this photo is the view from my temporary "house swap" winter home. It's almost 3pm here on New Year's Eve, and almost midnight in Florence. Yet that is where my thoughts are. I can see, hear and feel the celebration, the music and fireworks taking place in Piazza Signoria at this very moment. Where I've rang in the New Year for the past 3 years. I miss it, I miss everyone, yet looking forward to celebrating New Year's Eve later tonight from a very different perspective, at a beach party on the bluff at Dana Point in a world far away from Florence.
To all my friends near and far, I wish you all a serene and happy 2012.
