But plain old photos wouldn't be much fun. Not when I can jazz them up a bit with some creative editing. It's special effects time!
I have 12 pictures here. Ideally, there would be one from each month of the year. But events aren't evenly spaced like that, and as a result the photos here are heavily tilted toward last summer's adventures.
Not this one, though. Turn the hands of time back to last April ...
That's when we drove down to Detroit to visit my son and his girlfriend at their place; he had moved to this apartment in early 2010, and we didn't go down there that year. In spring 2011, we did. We saw that they were happy together, and that his cat and her dog were getting along ... well enough. Last summer, they officially became engaged, and the wedding is planned for April.
(By the way, they are laughing about something on her cell phone. Seems they have cell phones surgically attached to their hands.)
Here is a sad story ...
As you can easily see, these are robin eggs, reflected in a hand mirror. I was standing on a chair on my porch, holding the mirror in one hand and my camera in the other. Looks just like nature, don't you think?
Long-time readers know that we have had robins raising families on our porch several times. So it seemed here. The nest was built in May, and, sure enough, before long it was occupied by three eggs. Mother Robin tended them carefully. But in early June, we had an unusually severe cold spell--temperatures dropped into the low 20s. A day or so later, I saw Mother Robin perched on the edge of her nest, looking inside, tilting her head at times. Almost as if she was listening for something.
That was the last time we saw her. The eggs and the nest stayed there until a month or so later when my wife cleared them away. One of nature's little tragedies.
Here is nature bigger than life ...
This has to be a world record musky! We found it on the grounds of the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame, in Hayward, Wis., which we visited late in July. Actually, we didn't go there to see the fishing hall or the big musky--it was part of a long trip with my wife, with a quilt show as the destination. I still plan to write a full report about this one (over six months after the fact) because that's the time we stayed at the Radisson. A night to remember, for sure!
Anyway, it was getting dark (after 8:30 p.m.), and the hall was closed, but the big muskie was rising above the treetops, Godzilla-like, and how can you not take a picture of that? I sure couldn't. Note the railing inside his mouth--you can walk inside the 200-foot long fiberglass musky to an observation platform in its mouth. I'm sure many parents have taken many pictures of their kids inside the musky's mouth, waving down. "Hi, Mom!" Such is summer.
This was summer, too ...
The sensor for our thermometer was on the west side of the front porch, and it said 100F (38C) during a brief but intense hot spell in July. Our analog thermometer on the east side of porch read 98F (37C), so it must have been pretty close. We didn't have a lot of hot weather last summer, but this was the exception.
As summer moved along ...
... it was almost time for the county fair, and my wife finished a project she worked on for three years (on and off, between other projects). This was taken on a windy day, and I also shot a video of her holding the quilt--the wind made a lot of noise on the camera's microphone. I have been editing the video on and off.
The quilt did pretty good at the fair. It took the red ribbon for second place.
I made a special friend in 2011, and here we are ...
This is me and my friend, K. We went to a national forest campground in early August for a swim and a hike--here, we're taking a break to enjoy sitting by the lake, and I amused myself by playing with the camera's self-timer. The lake, we found out later, was a bit cool for swimming--it happened after a spell of cool weather. This summer, we'll go back there when it's warmer.
We had a great time during a busy day, and we didn't get back within cell phone range until after 8 p.m., when we found out we had been missed--we hadn't checked in as we said we would. After dinner at Subway she drove west, and I drove east, to our respective homes.
Another first-time experience ...
Over Labor Day weekend, my younger son wanted to go to the off-road races at Crandon, Wis., and we went there on a cool, showery afternoon. It was the first time I have ever been there to see the racing action on a twisty, hilly course. Even the camera got twisted up, it seems.
My wife learns from experience ...
The year before, she planted her sunflowers near the alley. About the time they were going to bloom, the neighborhood deer came along and had them for midnight snack. Sadder but wiser, this year she planted them next to the house, and, despite occasionally cool summer weather, they finally bloomed in September. Two of the flowers here were a little taller than me. She remembered to harvest some of the seeds; more sunflowers in 2012.
In fall, K and I went natural again ...
This time it was in mid October and quite a bit cooler. We went on a nature hike to admire the fall color of the maples, and we sure saw a lot of yellow and red leaves. All we had to do was look down. That's the trail, running right down the middle of the photo.
I got a new car this year. In November I got a nice, fluffy white coat for it. Eight inches thick.
Here's a fall ritual at our house ...
It happens on Sunday afternoons: I'm watching the Packers game on TV with two sleepy females next to me. That's Charlie on my lap--when I put a quilt on my lap, it's her invitation to stroll over, hop up, curl up and take a nap. My wife never needs an invitation.
Enough looking back. What lies ahead in 2012? What does the crystal ball show? ...
Beats me. Nobody knows. That's probably just as well. But I think this is something in my wife's future. She pieced this windowpane quilt over several months and then laid it out on a bed in our spare/guest room upstairs. When the inspiration strikes, I'm sure she will be working on it again. (Lower left: What it will look like when finished.)
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