The Months of 2020 in Pictures

I've been going through all the photos I took last year, approximately 4,160,  trying to choose just 12, one from each month, that I think is my best shot or is in some other way significant. A quick look at my Instagram account shows me that many of the ones I was considering for this blog post have already been shared there. Oh well, I might use them again anyway. 

January 5, early evening icy glow on the pond.

February 22, pretty in pink.

A wonderful impromptu lunch visit from granddaughters Katrina and Alyssa, Alyssa's husband Evan and great-grands Rodney and Brynley (youngest two of Katrina and Brad's) and Lily and Maverick (Alyssa and Evan's two).

Significant because it was the last time I would see any of them for the rest of 2020. We didn't go to Brynley's 3rd birthday party in March due to Covid-19 restrictions. 

I have the beautiful water color Brynley painted for me and pictures on Facebook to hold me until I can hug them again.

March 21 - Spring Begins, Grackles return. 

 

"Spread your wings and fly away.....

He sings the song he always sings and speaks to me of flowers that will bloom again in Spring."

(Paraphrasing lines from Anne Murray's Snowbird.)

So many pictures of spring flowers in bloom, green grass, ducks and geese and even a surprise visit from a white heron, to choose from.

But it was a snow squall on April 15 that bowed the heads of the daffodils and dusted the spiderwebs that caught my attention. 

With all of May's lush fullness and 485 photos to choose from, it was hard to decide on just one. 

I realized it had to be from our May 6th outing to Red Haw State Park to see the Redbuds in all their glory. I had wanted to go there for a long time and decided this was the year - needing an outing as we were. Then I feared we had missed the prime dates to experience them. 

So one of my Redbud pictures had to be the May photo. (But which one!?) There were others with bluer skies and more trees showing, but I like the simplicity of this one Redbud branch reflected in the lake.

A month later, June 6, with a reason to be in my home county of Adams, I left early and took my camera.

I have always liked photos of streams, rivers. I had three locations on this trip, the West Branch of the 102, Walters Creek and the East Nodaway River.

For sentimental reasons, I almost chose the pic of the 102, taken, as it was, from the bridge just south of where we once lived.

But this one of Walters Creek, east of Quincy, was the better picture, with the added bonus of an unknown bird caught in flight.

July 20 - An early morning picture of my Ditch Daisies.

I call them that because I dug a few out of a roadside ditch and transplanted them. They have not only survived, they have thrived.

And these migrated twenty feet away from the original patch.

I love them so much. Just to look at them makes me happy.

August 16, close to home, down at the pond for another favorite theme - sunlight and shadows.

September 20 - Autumn begins with a morning walk on the trails at Green Valley State Park/Lake.

And a close up of dew on a meadow mushroom.

"Listen the wind is rising and the air is wild with leaves...."

October 9 along the Ringgold Trailway near Poe Hollow with the last quarter of the Harvest Moon hanging in October's bright, blue sky.

November 18 - My 77th birthday was literally 'a walk in the park'. 

With temps in the 60's, I enjoyed a solitary hike on one of Green Valley's grass trails along the northwest shore of the lake.

The wind was blowing the water so hard it not only crashed against the rocks, it created swales along the shoreline.

It seems fitting to end the year with a sunset photo. We do get some very beautiful Winter sunsets like this one taken on the 26th.

2020 was a difficult and challenging year for everyone because of the coronavirus pandemic which affected the whole world. But we were more fortunate than most because we are retired. We could chose to stay isolated at home.

Naturally there were times I got a little stir crazy, but I was still able to go for walks, enjoy the changing of the seasons, use my camera to document all that colors and creatures and plants that caught my eye. 

I could Facetime with family members which actually brought me closer to my 8-year-old great-granddaughter, Lily. What a joy and delight she is.

The year may have been harder than most; bleaker than any I can think of, but I am still grateful for having been there.

"That which does not kill us, makes us stronger." (Friedrich Nietzsche)