January - December - 2023 Through My Photos

 

January 18 - Moisture on the bare limbs of the Oak tree.

February - A trip to the Children's Museum in West Des Moines to celebrate the 2nd birthday of my youngest great-grandson, Louis.

Pictured here with another great-grandson and cousin of his, Greyson.

What a fun day it was.

March 14 - A sun pillar during sunset.

April 14 - At one of the most beautiful and joyous weddings I've ever attended - that of my granddaughter Dominique and her husband Ian. My great-grandsons (Dominique's nephews) Greyson, left and Ayden, right, were the flower bearers. The burros were part of the owners' berry farm and celebration venue.

May - While working in my flower beds - one of the largest garter snakes I've seen here - and possibly ever.

No I wasn't afraid of it - but it's sudden motion did startle me. 😅

June 6 - A Tuesday. The first and last day I walked at Lake McKinley this year.

The picture is of Boneset amid some rocks along the shoreline. I was enjoying my first walk of the season after successful PT for vertigo. Minutes later, my accident/fall and the end of my outdoor walks for the rest of the year. 

What an experience, including a life flight to the trauma center in Des Moines.

July - Three turkeys in the back yard.  Their iridescent feathering is a delight to witness close up.

August - Rain drops and a spider's web combine and link two of my rocks. Part of a geode? on the left, petrified wood on the right.

September - A Great Blue Heron down at the pond.

This is not an unusual sight, we see them often, but I do think this was a good photo - caught as it was in the sunlight and amid the grasses.

October 20 - Not a walk in nature but a drive around town searching out and photographing the colors of Autumn.

This one, the red leaves of Virginia Creeper on the shaggy gray bark of a tree.

November was a big month for me - celebrating my 80th birthday with almost all of my family members. I could have shared a photo from that day.

Instead it is this one of a coyote trotting past our deck. I had seen it, the first one ever around here, a few days earlier in the field across the pond. But this close?! Wow!

December - It was hard to chose between this photo of the waning full Cold Moon taken this morning and one of some tracks in the fresh snow of a few days ago.  But I went with this one because just like the moon, the year is almost over.

Two things have cut down on my picture taking, one the accident in June and two, my trusty little Nikon Coolpix S7000 camera no longer takes the sharp photos it used to. So maybe there is a new camera in the offing in the new year. That would be a no brainer of the same camera was still available.

But the new year is yet to present itself and who knows what lies in store. May we all have more ups than downs and more acceptance of what is instead of worry for what might be.