On confetti in the snow, and saving the world

I set my alarm for 6:50, except I actually set it for 6:50 PM. Miraculously, I still woke up in time to catch the bus, although not in time to shower. But even getting dressed and wandering out the door into the darkness, it somehow felt like 7:20 PM, and I had this weird feeling that I had slept through a whole day of work--even after I checked my phone and didn't have any messages.

I walk to the bus stop along the top of the river valley and this morning someone had distributed metallic confetti along the sidewalk. When I saw the first heart I thought someone had lost an earring, and then I noticed dozens of tiny stars and hearts glimmering in the snow.

It's a new year, and by some miracle I remembered to bring my re-usable coffee mug to Tim Horton's. 2009 is the year I save a tiny grove of trees that would otherwise be turned into paper products.