Happy 2009!

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year and that 2009 is filled with friends, family, fortune, curiosity, pursuit of passion, and good health. Yesterday, while playing Mah-Jong, I found the tile above, fācái (prosperity), to be particularly apt.

I also learned recently of a fascinating phenomenon called the frost flower when thin layers of ice are extruded from long-stemmed plants in autumn or early winter. They are very pretty.

First image shown under GNU Free Documentation License. Second image is in the public domain, both are taken from Wikipedia.