Ending 2022

 I didn't get notified that a New Year's Eve Eve party was called off.  It was obvious when I arrived, but I rang the bell anyway and got to hang out with the Hess/Kraskows for a nice quiet evening.

 The last day of 2022 included a trip to East Shore Park to watch the well-dressed ladies take a dip in the lake. 

  They melt my heart.

  Several of them went back the next day to start the year the same way except for the get-ups.

  I decided to meander to return home on the 31st and took a route that included what I thought would be the last-new place for me of the year.  It's a hillside I've been looking at for almost 20 years on my commute and walks around town. 

  Might not look like much, but I enjoyed it immensely.

  What do you know?  That led to checking out an apartment building along Cascadilla Creek and a stairway I'd never seen.  It's good to take advantage of the students being away.

  Never saw this view of the upper gorge before.

I figured I needed to share the experience of getting to a new place right in front of us.  I persuaded Siyu to leave her restaurant for ten minutes and see what she could of Cascadilla from above (the gorge trail is closed for "winter").  When we crossed the street outside the De Tasty Hot Pot, she said, "I've never been here before."  She agreed to walk the whole gorge with me in the spring when it reopens.  If you haven't been to De Tasty Hot Pot, get there in 2023, it's the best Chinese food in Ithaca.

 Later that day, I went to the real last-new place of the year and explored a section of the city's natural area along Six Mile Creek that I'd never been to.  There are still more right out the door...