Tuesday, January 01, 2013

Happy Circuit Around the Sun, 2013!

Yes, we've made another turn around Sol, and congratulations to all of us! I hope you have all had a terrific holiday season, and are in good form for the start of another circle. Here in the Carver household, we had a great Christmas with my brother and his wife visiting from Florida, and several other good friends on hand. My sister-in-law Youngmee didn't exactly get her wish for snow while visiting, though. Oh, we had a little dusting, but the real snow waited until a day after they'd left. Next year!

As I look back on 2012, I see a time of transitions for the family. Allysen, ever looking for adventure, started rowing with a local community boat club last May, and turned overnight into a crew enthusiast (despite having to get up at 4 a.m.). My sister Nancy got married, out in Ohio, and we all traveled out for that happy event. My daughter Lexi went from a Masters program in mechanical engineering to a PhD program, and back to Masters (due partly to will o' the wisp promises of funding from the university). Her sister Julia finished her homeschooling with a GED, spent some time in the summer as an editorial intern, and pondered her future direction. And I...well, I made good progress on the new book. 2012 was a good year for ebooks, and saw exciting growth in my audience to the UK. When sales in the U.S. slumped a bit, my friends in Britain came through and turned it around for me! 2012 also saw four of my books become audiobooks, with more on the way.

I look ahead to the new year with excitement and more than a little apprehension. Last year was just a warmup. In the coming months, we're helping Allysen's mother move from her longtime home in Puerto Rico to a really good continuing care community in a town near us. That's a huge undertaking that will involve all of us. We also have to gear up for work on our house. It needs a new roof, and we'd like to add a modest dormer for more room while we're at it. Once that's all done, we're having a solar-electric array installed on the roof (more on that later). Among other things, this means moving everything out of our attic, and probably out of my office. All while I'm trying to finish The Reefs of Time! Pray for me.

All that said, life is good. And I hope it is for you, too. Happy New Year!


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posted by Jeffrey A. Carver @ 3:21 AM   3 comments

3 Comments:

At 1:27 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Happy New Year, Jeffrey! It’s that time again when we start fresh, when we are given a clean slate, a chance to pull ourselves together and start focusing on the things that are most important. While most of our resolutions don’t really go that well, there are exceptions. I can also see that you’re going green with your soon-to-be solar electric array! Good for you! Think of it as a long-term investment. You may be putting a lot of money in the beginning, but as time goes on, think of how much money you’ll be saving from your electricity costs. It practically pays for itself!

Sasha Herrick

 
At 9:51 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

I checked your recent posts and couldn’t find any update on your solar-electric array on your roof. You’re probably busy with writing your book that you couldn’t spare a time to work on its installation. I like the idea of putting up a solar-electric array since it will conserve electricity and is nature-friendly too. It’s a long-term investment, so I wish you can get it done soon.

Karen Burgess

 
At 1:32 AM, Blogger Jeffrey A. Carver said...

Thanks for the encouragement re the solar panels. It'll happen probably in late summer or early fall. The reason is, we need a new roof first. And before we have the roof done, we would like (if we can swing it) to put up a modest dormer to add a couple of rooms on our third floor. And before we can do that, we have to finish moving my mother-in-law from Puerto Rico to Massachusetts and sell her home in process. So, er, we've had rather a lot on our plates. :)

 

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