Here January is half over and I have not written once about the excitement and promise that a new year holds. This is unusual for me because of my fondness for the period between Christmas and New Year's Day. I look forward to that one week every year, a time to reflect and to plan. The week flew by particularly fast in 2012. There was flu in our house of six, Christmas Day, a litter of eleven pups … the quiet moments were few in number and short in duration. Still, when I did have time to simp…