It’s here! .. it’s 2014! Happy New Year! My family and I 
did not make a fuss about it in Stellenbosch, all of us retiring to bed well before midnight. I did hear ‘Ob-la-di Ob-la-da, life goes on’ from celebrations at a farm or wine estate close by our house, but not enough to keep me awake.
In South Africa there will be a general election in April (but Pres. Zuma is likely to get elected again despite his unpopularity), and in the USA there will be mid-term elections in November. And Obamacare is kicking in for real with the newly insured.
P.S. The protea flower arrangement is from the lounge at Cape Town International airport. I have started my journey back to the United States, but will stop over in Munich for a day or two first.