~{nilheadimage~=141656~} 
Our week has been dominated by the ~{purplepost~=1195~;text~=sad news~;target~=doug~} of Sunday, which is never far from our thoughts at the moment.

The last blow from the Year of the Rat...

The countdown to the New Year continued all week:

~{nilimage~=141639~;dir~=H~;alt~=pineapples~;caption~=Pineapples over Padungan~}
~{nilimage~=141657~;dir~=V~;alt~=cat~;caption~=Guarding the CNY flowers~}
~{nilimage~=141642~;dir~=H~;alt~=28thday~;caption~=Fireworks from the monastery on Tuesday (the 28th day of the last lunar month -- the day that's traditionally dedicated to the big end-of-year cleaning session)~}
~{nilimage~=141644~;dir~=H~;alt~=28~}
~{nilimage~=141652~;dir~=H~;alt~=builders~;caption~=The builders work on regardless...~}
The local fireworks on ~{purplepost~=1173~;text~=1 January~;target~=1jan~} were pretty impressive, but yesterday evening's by far surpassed them. There were pyrotechnics happening fairly constantly from the late afternoon, and come midnight, the city exploded.

May every bang and every flash, every rocket boom and every firecracker salvo, play its part in scaring away the evil monsters that have us all in their grip at the moment... 

~{nilimage~=141647~;dir~=H~;alt~=fireworks~;caption~=Celebrating the arrival of the Year of the Ox~}
~{nilimage~=141648~;dir~=H~;alt~=smoke1~}
~{nilimage~=141649~;dir~=H~;alt~=smoke2~}
~{nilimage~=141650~;dir~=H~;alt~=flashes~}
~{nilimage~=141651~;dir~=D~;alt~=abstract~}
So today is the first day of the Year of the Ox. I don't know that anyone is ~{link~= https://www.oprahmag.com/life/a35394134/year-of-the-ox-prediction/ ~;text~=foretelling~;target~=foretelling~} anything dramatically and immediately better. But at least it's different.

If we keep our heads down, and go slow and steady like the ox, we may emerge into something brighter next year...