It's the last day of 2025, and I daresay all of us are looking forward to the next year!  My final adventure of the year was somewhat painful.

I took a bad fall on Christmas Eve, thanks to a river rock that rolled, and a dog who put pressure on the end of the lead at the same time.

The only thing broken was my face.  Well, almost.

I had wrapped the trunks of all five of my front yard trees in solar rope lights.  They all have small solar chargers.  So my dog, Luka, and I went off for a walk around the block to look at Christmas lights.  When I turned the corner on a return to my street, I discovered one of my trees was no longer lighted.  So I went to investigate.  I thought perhaps the charger had gotten flipped and did not recharge during the day.

I live in Tucson, Arizona, and we use many rocks, stones, and boulders in landscaping rather than lawns.  My front yard is a mix of river rocks and lava rocks.  Beneath the tree I was checking on the footing is rounded river rocks.  I squatted, a rock shifted under my foot, the dog pulled, and I did a face-plant.  I smacked my cheekbone off a big lava rock, and lay there face-down telling Luka over and over that I was okay.  He couldn't figure out why I was lying on the ground.

Inside, I discovered I'd sustained a large, bloody cut.  I called a friend and said:  "So, what are you doing?"  She picked me up, and we went looking for an open urgent care office.  On Christmas Eve.

Nope.  Next thought was a few butterfly strips or steri-strips.  I had none, so next we went looking for an open drug store.  Eventually we found a Fry's store on the verge of closing and we ran inside to look at first aid supplies.  There were no butterflies or steri-strips.  The best we could do were small bandaids.

The next morning, I got online and checked several urgent care offices.  None open on Christmas morning.  So I gritted my teeth and drove to the ER.  The cut was large enough and bad enough that I knew it needed something to close it.

Two hours later I was set free after a CT scan to make sure I had not broken a bone in my face (I hadn't) and with my cut glued closed.  The doctor helpfully told me that the exterior incision for her C-section was closed with surgical glue.

I have never experienced a black eye, so watching how this thing developed was interesting.  The bruising slowly made its way down my face, and then began to turn a yellow-green.  It resembled a lava flow.  As of today, Day 8, the bruising has reached my neck.  One whole side of my face is still purple, yellow, and green.

But despite all the colors, the cut itself is healing very nicely.  Once the glue is gone I'll go to work with scar cream and see how that turns out.  But even if it leaves a scar, I'm okay with it.  One of the advantages  of growing older is that some things really don't matter so much anymore!

As for 2026?  A new book!  Either another Sword-Dancer novel, or the first volume in a romantasy series.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!