A Picture-Walk Through the Passing Year

Inspired by Barb Dalton

Did you catch Barb’s “2023 In a Nutshell” photo collection? If not, I recommend it. It was wonderful to walk along Barb’s year with her, month-by-month, seeing and reading about some of the most memorable events.

Barb inspired me to revisit my own library, searching for one image to represent each month of the previous year. What a challenge! And what a great way to look back and recall beautiful moments, too.

Here goes…

January

January 2023 was our first full month with Benny, whom we officially picked up from the animal rescuers on December 21st, 2022, just after midnight. As I began to peruse my photo library for the year, I realized that it would be quite easy to make a story of “The Best Benny Photos of 2023.” Man, I took a bunch— and they are so good! But I’ll do my best to leave it at just this one, as he was a highlight of the year from its beginning.

Also of note in January are my husband and son’s birthdays (not pictured).

February

February is my birth month and last year it was a snowy one. I was glad for that— I love snow. To be honest, I don’t remember which corn field this is (there are so many around me), and it’s hard to get the lay of the land with all those fluffy white flakes muddling up the view. Still very pretty though.

March

In Massachusetts, March features celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day, beloved of Irish-Americans. My late grandmother often dyed things green for this holiday, so I opted to dye these Irish soda muffins in her honor. I brought them to my parents’ house, where we feasted on corned beef and cabbage, too. I also put a green silk scarf on the dog but, again, trying not to make this all about dog photos.

April

Truthfully, it was really challenging not to choose a dog photo for April— he was very photogenic this month. We must have been feeling glad for the warmer weather as we took him for numerous walks down the dirt road near our house. On this particular day, I took several photos of the soft, rippling clouds above. Oh, the sky was beautiful. I wished I could swim in it.

May

In May, I cared for my mother’s chipmunks while she was away. Yes, you read that right! She feeds the chipmunks, birds, and squirrels outside her front door every day, twice a day, and they are so comfortable with her that they’ll actually hop up onto her lap and she can pet them.

Since these little cuties are accustomed to her care, it was important to continue the generosity in her absence. I followed a specific pattern and schedule of seed placement so as not to disrupt their very adorable routines.

June

In June, we went for our first camping trip of the season, and the mountain laurel was in full bloom. So pink! My son was especially fond of the fire tower on top of the mountain this year, so we spent a lot of time up there. In addition to gorgeous pink blooms, we also saw bees, butterflies, and blueberries, and basked in many breezes.

July

We were back to the campground again the very next month for another long weekend in the tent. This month, I also received my first copy of my very own poetry chapbook! Publishing my first chapbook was probably the event of the year for me, and I thought about choosing a photo of me and my book together for July. Then again, I really can’t ignore moss and mushrooms. What a dream.

August

August was a time of abundance. In ancient Celtic tradition, Lughnasadh falls on August first, marking the first plentiful harvest. We transitioned away from summer and looked toward autumn, closing out the vacation months with a trip to the beach for my son and nephews, before their school years began again. It was my elder nephew’s idea, and a good one, too.

The water was freezing cold though, as the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast tends to be.

September

Following Barb’s lead, I got a new tattoo in September (but not my first one). My first tattoo is twenty years old now! I got that one when I turned 18 and my dad turned 50 in the same year (he got one, too).

Anyway, this is Maude. She is magical and ferries souls between life and death. Isn’t she lovely?

October

October is my favorite month. I live in maple country, scarlet red, glistening with early frost, and dotted with smiling jack-o-lanterns. It’s the most perfect time of the whole year.

The most amazing moment of October 2023 for me was seeing my best friend of twenty years who lives in the midwest but was out visiting another friend’s new baby. So I got to see multiple friends and meet their kiddos! But I won’t post their photos publicly, so you’ll have to make do with this field of sunflowers. This is just down the street from my house and one town over. My husband and I stopped to admire the flowers on our way home from a breakfast outing one Sunday morning. He says this looks like a picture from a sunflower family reunion, with all of their faces pointed at the camera.

November

I may get kicked out of the U.S. for saying so, but Thanksgiving is not my favorite holiday. More specifically, Thanksgiving is actually my least favorite holiday. But one good thing to come of it is my mother’s famous teddy bear bread. Each year, my nephews can hardly wait to rip poor teddy apart and snack on his ears, feet, belly, or skull (yikes). When one of them stuck a fork in the side of the poor guy’s head, I had to snap a quick photo. It was a whole mood.

December

The year ended in a fog. I mean it— lots of foggy mornings. On one such day, my husband and I took a walk around some local watershed lands in a light rain and made plans to build a stone hut in this swamp. I think I’d make a lovely swamp witch, what do you think?

Looking forward to it already.

Now it’s January 2nd and I’m back to my day job in about twenty minutes. I begin the work year feeling grateful to Barb for inspiring this joyful memory walk. Grateful, yes, but still not necessarily ready to face the work day. Ah well— I’ll dream of my swamp hut as I go.