Wow! I am still in awe. Due to the charity of dear friends, I was able to spend 5 days in December in their second home on Dauphin Island. And I am still in awe.

Dauphin Island is the barrier island that helps form Mobile Bay. About 6 1/2 miles of the island are settled and constitute the town, another 6-8 miles are still in their pristine, wild state, and the town area is dotted with lovely little natural areas. The only one I was not able to visit was the Audubon Bird Sanctuary; it was closed due to hurricane damage.

But really, all of Dauphin Island is a bird sanctuary! I added several birds to my life list of bird sightings while I was there, and it wasn’t even migration season. I took my kayak along and spent two half days paddling the salt marshes on the Mobile Bay side of the island.

I spent one full day walking as far as I could down West End Beach, the wild end of the island. I had hoped to make it all the way to the end, but it was too far. When my phone kindly informed me that I was 4 miles from my car and it was 12 noon, I realized that I had to turn and head back. I ended up walking 10.3 miles that day.

I took hundreds of photos and many are well worth sharing. But the two that accompany this post are the ones that have already been invited into juried art exhibits. The palmettos on Dauphin Island are small trees, tall enough to get under. Twice I found them with the morning sun shining through the two-tone leaves.

Palm Psalm will be printed, framed and shipped to a show called “Luminosity” at the Cape Cod Cultural Center. Palm Psalm II will be in an online show, the “2020 International Photo Competition,” sponsored by the University of Southern Mississippi Museum of Art and School of Performing and Visual Arts.

So that’s the year 2020, as represented by one photographic highlight per month. Thanks for following along.