Welcome to a new year. In a way every year is momentous, but it is a bit surprising to find ourselves one quarter of the way through the 21st century. For people my age, it seems like we were just welcoming the turn of the century. However, for anyone younger than 25, their entire life has taken place in this century. I can amuse myself from time to time by thinking about how I imagined the future would play out and how it actually played out. I don’t think I could have imagined that I would be living in the Pacific northwest, a 15-minute walk from the Salish Sea and a 10-minute drive from the Canadian border. Whenever the fog lifts to reveal the mountains, we can see Canada from our bedroom window. I have long imagined that I would be a grandfather, but the reality of five grandchildren seems like a blessing and a bit of a surprise. Retirement definitely is different than I imagined. Not worse, but different. The list can go on and on.

Each time that we have moved, it has taken us a little while to slide into the local traditions and activities. We are finding the rhythm of our community bit by bit. Last evening we walked down to the beach for our community’s Ring of Fire and Hope celebration. Each New Year’s Eve families gather on the beach in the dark and at 7 pm they light red flares and plant them along the shores of Birch Bay from the Village to the State Park. We had heard the event described by friends, but the other years that we have lived here, we decided to take a pass. We’re not much for crowds these days and we know better than driving our car down to the bay when there is a big event going on. This year, however, we thought we’d take in the tradition and have a look.

We didn’t light any flares, we just went down to the beach to see others do so. It is possible to pick up a free flare from the Chamber of Commerce. Flares are standard fare in marine emergency kits, and can be purchased wherever boating supplies are sold. However the Chamber provides one flare per family for those who sign a waiver of liability. The flares are supposed to be biodegradable, but I suspect that they have some environmental impact. I know that many contemporary boaters now carry LED flares that do not require combustion. Those may also be reusable, but I don’t know. The flares we could see were the traditional type, sparked with a match or lighter and placed int he sand to give out a red glow for 15 minutes or so.

There were also hundreds of paper Chinese lanterns released around the bay. They are fun to watch and are fairly dramatic. Last night we had a slight offshore breeze that carried the lanterns away from the shore. We watched as the tiny lights rose and eventually disappeared. When I got home I checked on the Internet and, as I suspected, the practice has some negative consequences. The lanterns can cause fires, though that was unlikely last night. They were headed out to sea and the land around here is wet enough that setting an unintentional fire is a low risk. However, they do have wire frames in which wildlife, including marine animals can become entangled. And they leave behind litter in the form of paper, candle wax, and the wire. As pretty as the lanterns are, I think we’ll refrain from participating in their launch.

Actually, when it comes to pyrotechnics, we enjoy observing, but don’t feel a need to light the fuses ourselves. That applies to fireworks, too. Most years I check out the spectacular fireworks displays from the Sydney Harbor in Australia and perhaps a display from New Zealand. I’ve also watched videos of London and other large cities. I don’t know of a professional display around here, but there are a lot of amateurs who blast off fireworks. The fireworks look pretty impressive when launched over the bay with the reflection in the water. And it is easy to obtain fireworks around here. The county has restrictions on the sale of fireworks, limiting such to the time around the July 4 holiday. However, those restrictions do not apply to the sovereign indigenous nations and we live just a few miles from the reservation, where people have for many years earned a living by selling things to settlers. Fur trading has been replaced by tobacco shops, fireworks, gambling, gasoline, and other commodities that are regulated or taxed off reservation. We don’t go in for the casinos, smoke shops, or fireworks warehouses, but we buy most of the fuel for our vehicles on the reservation, taking advantage of the lower prices. And we purchase most of our fresh and smoked seafood from the reservation, honoring the fishing rights for which our Coast Salish neighbors have had to fight so diligently.

After the Ring of Fire and Hope, we walked home in the dark. One advantage of living in the Pacific Time Zone is that the ball drops in Times Square in New York City at 9pm local time. I feel no need to stay up to ring in the new year even though I can count on being awakened by the fireworks that are saved for the stroke of midnight around the neighborhood and all around the bay. It wasn’t very dramatic and loud this year - nowhere near as loud or long lasting as July 4.

On the agenda for today is another Birch Bay tradition to which I look forward. Each year, the emergency preparedness officials of our county test the tsunami warning sirens at 12 noon on New Year’s Day. Here in the bay for more than four decades, locals have rushed into the water for a short swim as the sirens are sounded. Last year I participated in the annual Polar Bear Plunge, and I’m planning to take the step for total immersion again today. Who knows? It may be the start of a new collection of t-shirts.

Happy New Year to you.