December: Birds & Blooms

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I shoot lots of both! It’s a fitting way to end this special edition of #YearInReview, giving you a glimpse of my world for the past two years. December 9, 2022 – The older I get the more I prefer the dead and dying flowers. That’s not at all a morbid thought. Truly, it’s not. I love so much the shapes they take as the petals dry: twisted, crinkled, yet graceful. Their colors reach a peak of intensity. Their age spots dignify them. May I age so beautifully, eloquently. December 26, 2023 – Goal achieved: An American Kestrel (Falco sparvarius)…

November: Chicago

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It’s a good month to go to Chicago: not yet so dreadfully cold as to keep me indoors, and hotel prices have gone down! November 26, 2022 – Downtown Chicago decks out for Christmas. One thing you can always count on is a huge Christmas tree in Water Tower Square. Adam, one of the photog friends I hang out with in Chicago, polished this big silver ball with his sleeve before we took our selfies. Sadly, I didn’t quite manage to get our reflections in focus, but I really like the photo anyway. That’s the Water Tower behind us, a…

October: Foraging

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Everything’s gotta eat! When I am out with my camera, I especially appreciate catching critters in the act of foraging. These are not always the “prettiest” pictures. Critters in the act of capturing and consuming each other can be a bit disturbing. But they are real and beautiful in their own way, and they tell an essential part of the story. October 22, 2022 – Banana spiders (Trichonephila clavipes) rule in the autumn woods in Louisiana! This web at Black Bayou Lake NWR spanned a 5-foot opening between shrubs next to the boardwalk trail. It is constructed of golden thread,…

September: Sense of Place

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Born and raised in Iowa. It will always be Home, with a capital H. Living the good life in Louisiana. Loving my adopted home. Two places so different, so beautiful. I am enriched by both. September 1, 2022 – “Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and a filé gumbo, ‘Cause tonight I’m gonna see my ma cher amio. Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o, Son of a gun, we’ll have big fun on da bayou.” If you’re hearing Hank Williams’ voice right now, please be aware that when he sings “bayou” and pronounces it “bayoooo” with a drawn out…

August: Dog Days Fun

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Come along now for a visit to a national wildlife refuge I had never visited before, and join me for a fun, heartening, and educational baby turtle release on the bank of the Ouachita River! August 1, 2022 – Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge is 24,000 acres of marshes and forests waaay down in the toe of the Louisiana boot, on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain. I don’t make it down that way very often, so when I had to drive I-10 and I-12 from points farther east all the way to Baton Rouge, I took a little…