Awhile back when I started my first paperwhites I pulled a photo from the internet for a blog entry. Now mine are finally about to bloom.

I know a lot of people don't care for the fragrance but I came to love it when I was exposed to it years ago at Williamsburg and Winterthur. But then I like the smell of boxwood too so I must have lived a past life in Colonial America.

As for the coming year, I don't remember ever feeling such a sense of uncertainty before on a New Year's Day.

For the people who actually pay attention to real events – those, for instance, who know the difference between Narnia and Kandahar – the final hours of 2007 leading into the fog-shrouded abyss of 2008 must induce great racking shudders of nausea. Has there ever been a society so exquisitely rigged for implosion? The whole listing, creaking, reeking edifice stands like one of those obsolete Las Vegas pleasure palaces awaiting a mere pulse of electrons to ignite a thousand explosive charges perfectly placed to blow away the structural supports. JHK

I do wish everyone "Good Health and Fellowship" in the new year; I think we're going to be really lucky if we have that much.