Newport, RI

Many of us spend the last couple of days of the year preparing to welcome, or hail the New Year. We raise a glass to forthcoming Halcyon days, times of happiness and prosperity.

GHL on a Hobie Adventure Island, Pettasquamscutt Lake, RI

Most of us harbor vivid imaginations, left overs from childhood when imagination and curiosity were the vital ingredients of happiness. Sailors of yore imagined a blissful land where there is perpetual mirth centered by a fiddle that never stops playing for sailors who never tire of dancing. This nautical nirvana known as Fiddler’s Green has as many longitude and latitude locations as there are dreaming sailors. Time spent in Fiddler’s Green are halcyon days, calm and ruffled times when thoughts about work are forgotten and ways to relax and play are remembered and practiced.

Photo courtesy of Fiddler’s Green in Orlando

Few among us have ever been to sea long enough to yearn for a landfall that rivals paradise, yet most can imagine a Fiddler’s Green where dreams are possible, the music doesn’t stop and dancers never tire.

New Year’s Eve is a great time to envision places to visit, quests to test our mettle, and adventures to chart. These are waypoints on the upcoming voyage around the sun. Some waypoints will be simple ports of call to replenish our stock, fix what’s broken, and take refuge from storms. Others waypoints will fuel our desire for more time and resources to raise the sails, savor the sunshine, shoulder through waves, and soar with the winds.

Solana Beach, a true Fiddler’s Green

And so it is we leave 2013 astern. My wish is that we all may sail our imaginations to Fiddler’s Green. Hail the 2014 New Year!