Thursday, December 31, 2020

A Year in Pictures

Well fuck. This post is a long standing tradition, and in a way it is a quasi-historical view of the year. Or my year. Or a version of my year. 

As Tracy Chapman once sang: "write it down but it doesn't mean, you're not just telling stories". 

And as Bread sang, "if a picture paints a thousand words......"  Well. I'm not painting you, because, well.......

Like most years, I try not to use images I have before - though some might be; or might be similar. Some will come from here. Some from my FB feed. Some from my Instagram page. Some no one has ever seen.  In the past, it was usually is 2-3 images per month, but.......2020 was an eff'd up year and we didn't get out and do much.......obvi.  

Selections might be a bit more sparse for this 2020 edition. 

So let's get going. 

January 2020 - Hike up in Lake County. 


January 2020 - Beachwood park on a very icy day. Everywhere. 

February 2020 - Section 3.  Lot 3.   I used to walk through this cemetery daily, as my office was adjacent 



February 2020 - a screen capture (along with my comment) from a Facebook post. It should be noted, that I was completely on the mark. 

February 2020 - 30 year hug.  This what it looks like when seeing my friend Craig for the first time in 25+ years. I was so grateful a random photographer captured the moment.   (Morty - that's Michael Foley to the right.)


March 2020 - snagging all the antibacterial wipes the store had. Oddly, not for me, but for a conference I was hosting that would never happen. 

March 2020 - work event at Browns Stadium. I went stag. 


March 2020 - cousin tea.  As it would turn out, it would be the same day Ohio would be put on Shelter in Place. 

April 2020 - PAYDIRT!  A store that had TP, albeit, no-name TP.  Still beats using your hand, I suppose. 

April 2020 - Oh yeah. We moved.  

Same zip, new digs.  Similar age to our other house, but everything was in A-1 shape. I didn't mention it because it seemed weird. We purchased right before the major Covid shit happened and closed after everything was locked down. 

I figured maybe you noticed new surroundings with some of the Sophie and Shep pics. We miss the old 'hood, but the new one is nice. I'm not missing the old house. 

May 2020 - Did you though?  Did you??

May 2020 - "Zoom*" drinking with friends.  Every Sunday.  One hour.  Two drinks. Infinite number of laughs.  

I say this not lightly.  These three helped me survive 2020, no question about it.  ....and we do this every Sunday now. Loving it. 


*we tried Zoom. And Houseparty. And FaceTime.  Facebook Messenger seems to be the best / easiest solution. 

June 2020 - Cousins reunited. Appropriately distanced and masked. 


June 2020 - White Coats for Black Lives. 


June 2020 - I took 710 and Shep to Salt Fork State Park for the former's birthday. We all took a walk near sunset. It was the first time we'd left the house since March. 


June 2020 - the stone setting for my mother. 


July 2020 - Shep and myself taking a hike break at an arboretum. 

July 2020 - as seen on the way to a drive-in funeral.  Yes. I stopped the car, got out, walked around and took the pic. 

August 2020 - the new dishwasher both soothes and spurs my OCD.

August 2020 - Getting temp screened at work. Daily.  96F is my norm.  98.6 I consider a fever. 


September 2020 - Vacation in NC.  After two hurricanes and one tropical storm in 12 months, at high tide, there is no beach left at Wrightsville Beach. 


September 2020 -  Late afternoon sun hitting the tops of the trees next to a reflective Shaker Lake.  ...whilst walking Shep. 

September 2020 - the entire year summed up in a singular image. 


October 2020 - Not my image.  Friend Jeremy (left) eloped in Colorado.  Covid cancelled their actual wedding, so I was denied a piece of wedding cake and the opportunity to see him marry Calvin.  ....but mostly the cake. 

October 2020 - Halloween display. Done very well. 

November 2020 - Determined voter.   He was one who fucked up his ballot, so this was his second try. 


November 2020 - "....but you should see the other guy!"  I paid him to do this to me. 

December 2020 - Blobby goes down hard.  

Three days before the end of this shiteous year, at 06:30 walking into work, I hit a patch of ice hidden under some snow and went down. Hard.  That is basically my body outline. I should be happy I didn't break anything or really slam my head. My clementines went flying (and as I had to point out to my friends, that was not a euphemism).    ....and even worse, next time I'm at the doc and they ask if I've fallen in the last year, I have to switch that answer from 'no' to 'yes'.  Bother. 


December 2020 - Exactly !!!!!  

Good Riddance. Vaya Con Dios. Au Revoir. Sayōnara. L'hitraot. Ciao. Aloha. Arrivederci. Auf Wiedersehen. Adiós........

6 comments:

Raybeard said...

Much poignancy in your pics, B. Let's hope this time next year there'll be a preponderance of happy ones.

Sings, though you prob'ly won't know the [slightly adjusted] song -"That was the year that was. It's over, let it go......"

And just to be sure let's give it a damn good kick up its arse.




James Dwight Williamson said...

Interesting things before I knew the blog , I hope the one drinking pic is 710 , as If that’s my business! If your Clementines went flying you must wear boxers, that’s what single men think about. Thank you for being a very happy addition to my 2020. I love all the pics , a very hard year it looks like. But here you are and here you’ll be . Glad you have survived 2020, Hopefully back to a normalized life if not perfect by Thanksgiving 2021. Again you are such a responsible multifaceted fellow, 710 seems pretty exceptional too. And that Shep and Sophie Wow!
Happy’Nother Year!

BosGuy said...

Loved the photos and recap. Sorry about losing all those clementines and hope you are a.o.k. now. Au revoir 2020. I'll never buy a bottle of Champagne with your vintage.

Be well Blobby and have a happy and healthy 2021.

Travel said...

Great year in review. I missed that you moved. Love the clock in September. Be careful about falling, at our age it is a slippery slope to losing more than you clementines.

anne marie in philly said...

I didn't know you moved. 2020 has sucked major ass; I will be glad to see it go tonight. hope your nose is healing. HNY to you and 710 and the furkids.

Ur-spo said...

Oh this is well done!
I enjoyed these.
thank you.