Holidays! Year's End and Sunrise Photos

ear's end... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!

Denise Covey has some yummy dessert and drinks that I've just partaken of, and it's feeling quite festive around the blogosphere.

Not exactly the right time for a year-end review of tasks and goals, is it? That can wait 'til January.

Instead, I'll do a quick recap of some of the other events:

Back in January, I held a contest to celebrate my 900th post! I'm now at 970 and for 1,000, I'd really like to compile a list of all my posts sorted into groups, especially all the book reviews. I need an intern to copy all those reviews over to Amazon!

This needing an intern thing is an ongoing issue for me. I noted in a book review post: "The trouble is, because I've been reading since long before the Internet, I find my Amazon, Goodreads, and LibraryThing profiles are not an accurate representation of all the books I own, have read, and have enjoyed. LibraryThing comes the closest, but there I have over ten accounts, and also a second job for my intern -- since I created those catalogues, I've obtained at least 500 more books!"

On that note, I also updated the I need an intern list!

One fun post was the recap of photos or portraits of all my characters' faces; I've actually got a few new images from this year's NaNo story that I'd like to share, except that one is a real person and the other is a friend's family photos shared privately. Will see about getting permission in the next little while.

I made a Canadian rock playlist on YouTube!

Here's another Canadian band, doing a Turkish-inspired song:

Whisky Trench Riders

I put out a call for help in February...and in March shared some favourite songs for the international day of happiness!
I also posted about 14,000 happy things.

I put an end to my 180 books to read by 2015 list...and had a great time with this year's A to Z Challenge! This year's theme was the Reading Challenge questionnaire.

I featured two guest posts this year, one by Misha Gerrick and one by Mark Koopmans. Thanks, fellow bloggers!

We're also getting closer to identifying this mysterious object in Bardstown, Kentucky.

Tolkien's birthday toast is on 3 January!

"Each year on 3 January, the Tolkien Society encourages Tolkien fans from across the world to celebrate the Professor's birthday with a simple toast-drinking ceremony.
The Toast
At 9 pm your local time, we invite Tolkien fans to raise a glass and toast the birthday of this much loved author. The toast is simply:

The Professor!

All you need to do is stand, raise a glass of your choice of drink (not necessarily alcoholic), and say the words "The Professor" before taking a sip (or swig, if that’s more appropriate for your drink). Sit and enjoy the rest of your drink."

Images that come up when I search for this blog and Tolkien's birthday on Google

I also shared lots of photos of trips to Paris, Neuchatel, Rolle, Morges, and more. Here's the village of Founex at dawn:

Wishing you all lovely sunrises!