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RETROSPECTIVE

A Farewell To 2024

It flew by in a flash

Janice Macdonald
Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age
7 min readDec 31, 2024

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Avignonet-Lauragais, France, January 1 2024 (All photos by author)

“This year has gone by quicker than any year I’ve ever known,” my partner said this morning, the last day of 2024. “It will only get worse,” I replied, “That’s the way it goes with age.”

Nothing like a bit of gloom to wind down the year.

Then I asked if he’d given any thought to how we might spend New Year’s Eve. He hadn’t. Neither had I. Which probably means dozing off in front of the TV, maybe being woken up at midnight by the sounds of village fireworks. That’s okay.

Last year, we went to Bordeaux —La Cité du Vin and dinner reservations. Then a five-hour plus drive home on New Year’s Day. It was fine, but I left my prescription glasses at the restaurant and no one could find them.

Herepian, France. A local restaurant established in 1860

Closer to home — in fact, just a few villages away — there’s L’Artichaud, a restaurant we both like. We ate there a few times in January, but the last meal was so forgettable I can no longer remember what we ate, so we stopped going. Established in 1860, I thought perhaps it had run its course, but now it’s re-opened under new management, so we’ll have to give it a try. There’s a…

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Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age
Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age

Published in Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age

“The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes.” (Frank Lloyd Wright) Non-fiction pieces, personal essays and occasional poems that explore how we feel about how we age and offer tips for getting the most out of life.

Janice Macdonald
Janice Macdonald

Written by Janice Macdonald

At 68, I started a new chapter in my life: I moved to France. Alone. It turned out to be quite the page-turner. Still is — even when age insists on a part.

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