It’s my favorite post of the year!

Happy New Year everyone!  I typically post these on Dec 31st, however since New Year’s Eve fell on a Saturday this year, I thought I’d just let this post be my Picture of the Week this week as well.  Something else different for this year is a “Runner Up” gallery, full of some of the other images from this past year that I also really like – some of which I haven’t published yet!  My good friend Bill is always encouraging me to share more images, so instead of my typical “Rest of the Best” image, with only thumbnails, you can click on the images to see them, or just thumb through them.

As I get ready to create this post every year, one of the things I do is read through the previous year’s post to remind myself what all I’d said.  It’s a wonderful time of further reflection, and to me, a great way to add some context to the things I’ve experienced this year.  Last year I mentioned having not traveled abroad for the first year in quite some time, and in 2022 we managed to leave the continental US not once, but twice; visiting both Hawaii and Poland.  Poland in particular was such a wonderful trip.  We got to visit many of our friends there AND attend the wedding of our dear friend Nico. It was such a sweet, sweet time.  Both us and our friends commented multiple times that it was a great reminder of life before the pandemic.  While on that trip, I experienced something I hadn’t experienced in a while.  I was content.   I wish I could say I carried that feeling throughout the entire year, but alas, life crept back in soon after we returned home.

Like 2021, 2022 was a year of loss.  Holly’s uncle Tommy passed away this past June, leaving a sizeable void.  Holly was especially close with her uncle, having served as his caretaker for the past several years.  She’s commented multiple times since his passing that she hadn’t realized how good of a friend he’d grown to be in her life until he was gone.  Uncle Tommy was such a fun person to be around.  Funny, mischievous, and above all, caring.  Tommy was a proud veteran of the United States Air Force, for which he served in Vietnam.  Below is an image I created in his memory of his favorite hat – he is greatly missed.

On a more light-hearted note, Holly and I had a good deal of success this year with our garden.  We had beans and okra coming out our ears for a while, and we managed to keep the vermin out of the corn and watermelon long enough to enjoy the fruits of our labor.  The apple trees managed to regain the growth they lost from the “deer incident”, and was able to get fruit off my muscadine vines this year for the first time.  We enjoyed that so much that I’ve added two new vines to the garden, which I’ll get to play with in the coming years.  Also, after two years of waiting, Holly and I finally got our pool put in!  It, of course, went in just ahead of the cool temps, so we never got to get it in this year, but we’ve enjoyed looking at it and are looking forward to warm weather in the new year.

From a photography perspective, I actually took more pictures in 2022 than I have any other year – ever!  Like last year, which was my previous high water mark, I have no idea how that happened.  I suppose I found a lot of inspiration everywhere I went.

Well with that, I’ve rambled enough.  Let’s get to the pictures!  Holly and I hope you all have a blessed New Year!

–Dan Thompson