Happy New Year! Here are the top 10 reasons to have a Happy New Year.

Last night, Mr C and I attended a wonderful concert at Trinity Cathedral. There were two string quartets, a quartet that sang a hilarious song about Chili Con Carne, and couple of jazz musicians, a Renaissance Band, the Portland Symphonic Girlchoir and a beautiful soprano Cantor, who recently moved here from Manhattan, as her husband is the new Rabbi at the neighboring synagogue. She sang some show tunes and some Hebrew music. At the end of the concert, we were given candles and the lights were dimmed. The Cantor sang from Ecclesiastes – To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven…, and then a bagpiper marched up the center aisle and then played Auld Lang Syne. as we sang along. It was a wonderful experience. There was standing room, only. It was a fund raiser for a couple of programs in Portland that serve the homeless.

During the program, Cantor Ida Rae Cahana, taught us a Hebrew song for the new year. I think the words were wonderful. Here they are:

Return again, return again, return again to the land of your soul.

Return to who you were

Return to what you were

Return to where you are born and reborn and reborn.

This seemed so meaningful to me in a world where we are always trying to be something new or different. Be authentic!

I leave you with this photo of my Christmas tulips. Every time I looked at them, I thought of how my mother would never have believed that we could have tulips at Christmas!