As always New Year's Day, I got up early, took a long walk just to see what the new year looks like. Had a friend here from out of town. We got coffee, headed to the river. As soon as we got there, we saw two redtails swooping through the sky together, which probably means Pip's found a boyfriend; a loon, or possibly two, fishing in the river (loons dive and can swim far underwater, so you can't be sure the one that just came up over THERE isn't the same one that went down over HERE); the pair of American Black ducks who seem to be staying the winter, which hasn't happened in a long time; and assorted mallards and gadwalls. Downtown we went out on a recently-finished pier, saw the lightship Nantucket, which is docked there. Continued down to the Wintergarden, back over east, up to Chinatown, where we stopped for tea and sesame buns. Then way over east, up through Alphabet City and the East Village, finally working our way back west, stopping for a late bistro lunch. Conclusion: the year is looking pretty good. Now if these congressional clowns will just step away from the damn fiscal cliff...