So Long 2020

A Family of Canada Geese

I was looking through a collection of the year's photos in the paper the other day and I was shocked at the number of major, traumatic events that I had completely forgotten. They seemed years ago, and yet they happened sometime within the last 12 months. To say that this has been a tough year is an understatement. All of us feel dazed and tired, and no wonder. Our world has changed completely, and even if you're not struggling merely to survive or keep a roof over your head or feed your family, you also have had to develop coping mechanisms to deal with the stress of this constant state of emergency. We can't be with our family and friends. We can't do the things we're used to doing, like going to school and work. Our government is in turmoil. Nothing is normal. So people meditate or go running, or read lots of books, or watch everything on Netflix, or play music, or write, or knit or sew or cook. Whatever it takes to get through this. It's all better than "doom scrolling", which I have been guilty of quite a bit during this "Dumpster Fire" of a year. My personal plan has included lots of baking (I've definitely put on the Covid Extra 19), sewing face masks, and trying to stay connected to my family and friends online. But the most therapeutic practice for me has been to take photos in the woods and in my yard. This is an assortment of images from nature that have brought me peace this year. I hope they do the same for you. Let's hope for a better, safer, kinder new year. 

Baby Phoebes on a Branch

A Barred Owl Watches me from High

A Turtle Basks on a Log

Flowers on a Beautyberry Bush (Calicarpa americana)

A Great Big (Blue) Fishing Spider in a Hollow Tree

Black Rat Snake

Bloodroot Bloom (Sanguinaria canadensis)

A Brown Creeper

Brown Thrasher Adult feeding its Young

Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) and a Milkweed Bug

A Very Cold Cardinal

A Gray Catbird Chatters from the Bushes

A Flock of Cedar Waxwings Sunning in a Treetop

A Chipmunk Scurries up a Tree

A Monarch Butterfly Chrysalis With Shiny Gold

A Column Stink Horn Fungus in the Leaves Looks like an Alien Being

Cottontail Rabbit

Vivid Blue Eastern Bluebird

Eastern Meadowlark Stretches to Look Over the Tops of the Grass

Eastern Phoebe with a Katydid

Towhee Gives me the Stinkeye

A Pair of Feathers from a Northern Flicker

Fox in the Woods

Tell me these Oak Leaves Don't Look Like Frog Feet!

Frost Rimmed Leaf

Full Moon

Stunning Yellow Goldfinch

A Great Blue Heron on a Frigid Morning

Great Purple Hairstreak in our Butterfly Garden

Green Anole with Blue Eyeshadow

Green Treefrogs 

Hermit Thrush has Caught a Hornet for Lunch

Horned Grebe with Fiery Red Eyes

Carolina Jessamine After the Rain

Jōrō Spider, Black Morph (solid black legs)

Kingfisher

Lacy Leaf

Late Season Monarch Feeds on Salvia

Least Skipper Feeding on Wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia)

Frilly and Hairy Textures of Lichen

Mantis Waits

This is Not an Alligator (Made You Look!)

Orchard Oriole Sings 

Pollen Rings on the Lake

Raccoon Stares at me Through the Poison Ivy

Red-headed Woodpecker

Red-spotted Purple Butterfly Sucking Minerals from the Wet Sand

An Early Winter Robin

Fancy Rose-breasted Grosbeak Male Visited our Yard

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Rests

Scarlet Tanager, Bright Red Against Green Leaves

Great Big Skink (Its front leg is just underneath)

Snapping Turtles Have Interesting Eyes

The Orioles That Visit Our Yard Didn't Care When it Snowed in February

Pretty Little Song Sparrow

Blue Spots and Yellow Strips on a Sulphur Butterfly Caterpillar

Dozens of Swallowtail Kites Showed up Put on a Show at a Local Farm, Feeding on Insects

Tiger Swallowtail and a Bumblebee Share a Thistle

A Tufted Titmouse Has Found a Spider's Eggsac

Metallic Woodboring Beetle 

Wood Thrush Sings and Sings

Giant Leopard Moth Caterpillar Shows Red Stripes When Curled