2007: Year in Review

Are you bored? Do you want to be even MORE bored? Then you can read this!

Last year, I made a mosaic that summarized my year in photos. It was fun to look back, so I decided to do the same thing this year.

January (PHOTO - Blackwater Falls in the Winter):
January of 2007 was an unusually warm month. The ski resort where I live had to close down for a few days because it was too warm to even make snow. Adam and I went to our cabin in West Virginia over Martin Luther King weekend. Normally, Blackwater Falls is covered with hanging ice. This time, the water level was higher and the flow was slushier than I’ve ever seen it before. We got a little snow later in the month, but it was short-lived and the weather warmed up again. We tried to make the most of the warm spells, and spent quite a bit of time hiking in Shenandoah National Park.

February (PHOTO - My First Shot with My 10-20mm Lens):
In February, I started taking lots of food photos and posting them on Flickr, along with recipes. I did this mostly because I was bored with photographing my dogs and birdfeeders. It turned out to be a great way for me to keep all my recipes organized. For Valentine's Day, Adam gave me the Sigma 10-20mm lens I’d been wanting. He gave it to me first thing in the morning. I was so excited that I went outside in my pajamas and snow boots. I wanted to play with the lens so badly I couldn’t be bothered to get dressed. I’ve gotten so much mileage out of that lens this year! February was also the month when a gigantic black bear started visiting our deck. It all started on Valentine’s night – we had an ice storm and there was a ton of birdseed and peanuts frozen to the railing of our deck. I had left it out for the squirrels and birds. I guess the bear was hungry and desperate because he climbed onto the deck and was systematically prying nuts and seeds from the ice. When we tried to scare him off by banging on the sliding glass door, he barely gave us a sideways glance. Adam had to open the door and shout at him before he ambled back into the woods. He came back for several nights to come, until he figured out that we were no longer leaving food out. I never got any good photos of him - they were all "bigfoot quality."

March (PHOTO - Crocuses Through the Snow):
Most of March was warm and flowers started to bloom early, only to be killed by an unexpected snow storm. Adam and I spent a lot of time in Shenandoah during the month. I also went hiking with Simplygeeky (her first hike ever) on one memorable foggy day. We had set out to photograph waterfalls in Whiteoak Canyon, but somehow ended up along the Rose River instead. The entire area was shrouded in fog and I think we both got some really nice photos that day. Later in the month, I also made a trip to the National Zoo.

April (PHOTO - Farmland Fog):
I didn't take many photos in April because Wookie was very sick for much of the month. He ate an IAMS tartar treat which did not digest properly. We spent a lot of the month shuttling him back and forth to vets. We had a snowy Easter, but spring started for real just a couple weeks later. I chose this foggy farm scene for April. It was my favorite shot from the month.

May (PHOTO: Iris):
In May, Adam and I went hiking almost every weekend. We hiked extensively around Canaan Valley, West Virginia. (We spent the last week of May vacationing at our cabin.) We hiked Big Schloss in George Washington National Forest. We did a ton of short day hikes in Shenandoah. Flowers were everywhere during May. On Mother’s Day, my parents brought my grandmother to Skyline Drive and met us for lunch at Big Meadows Lodge. That was the last time I saw my grandmother. She passed away in September.

June (PHOTO - The Grand Tetons):
For Father’s Day, I went on a father-daughter hike with my dad to the old Rapidan Camp in Shenandoah National Park. While I was waiting for him to meet me, I walked around Big Meadows in hopes of finding fawns to photograph. I got very lucky because there were fawns everywhere – including one I almost stepped on because he was camouflaged so well. At the end of June, my parents and Adam and I spent ten days in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park. It was my first visit to that area. The scenery and wildlife were unforgettable. We'll definitely go back. We saw all the big scenery attractions. We were also lucky enough to see almost every animal possible - moose, wolves, grizzlies, black bears, elk, pronghorns, bighorn sheep, bison, eagles, osprey, coyotes and lots of mule deer. In fact, we hit a deer with our rental car on the trip, and even now (six months later) I am still fighting with my insurance company about that accident.

July (PHOTO: Swallowtail Butterfly):
My least favorite month of the year is July. It's too hot, too hazy and feels like it drags on forever. We did a little hiking in July, but spent more time sitting inside in the air conditioning. Bears destroyed my birdfeeders in July -- right in broad daylight. I really didn't take many photos during July because I was so busy sorting through my shots from the Tetons and Yellowstone. In fact, I'm still finding shots from that trip that I've never seen before.

August (PHOTO - Red Chairs at the Indian Point-Blagden Preserve):
We escaped Virginia's heat on our annual trip to Bar Harbor, Maine. I've visited that area of Maine since I was a kid. It's my favorite place in the world. No matter how many times I go there, I always find something new. We hiked, biked, ate lobsters, went whale watching, and I dragged Adam all over the island at the crack of dawn so I could get better photos.

September (PHOTO - Fall Huckleberries at Dolly Sods Wilderness):
In September... my grandmother died, I had a severe attack of vertigo from an inner ear virus, and I found out my brother's reserve unit was going back to Iraq. It was the worst month of the year. We still managed to get away for my birthday weekend.

October (PHOTO - Slow Down and Enjoy the View on Skyline Drive):
Mid-October is normally the peak of fall color in our area. I kept waiting and waiting for the trees to change, but they waited until the end of the month to do so. Adam and I traveled to Asheville, NC for our 10th anniversary. We had a great weekend visiting the Biltmore Estate and driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The western North Carolina Blue Ridge range is a lot bigger than the Virginia range. A lot of the mountains are around 6,000 feet, which is pretty tall for an easterner. I got a lot of fall shots I liked, but my favorite from October was this time exposure from Skyline Drive. I always amazed by how many people go speeding down Skyline Drive. The speed limit is 35mph in most places, yet cars from D.C., Maryland and Northern Virginia go flying by at 55mph. I don't understand why you would come visit a scenic area if you intend just to fly through without slowing down to enjoy anything.

November (PHOTO - Clouds Over Calf Mountain):
The beginning of the month was autumn's peak this year. I got up insanely early every weekend to get out and shoot photos. One morning, Simplygeeky and I decided to go someplace new - Sherando Lake. It was so miserably cold and windy, the light was terrible and I was convinced that I didn't get a single photo worth keeping. I was glad to find a few good shots when I got home, including the one in the mosaic from Calf Mountain. Adam and I were supposed to go out of town for Thanksgiving Day, but we had a sick dog and decided to stay home. I cooked a turkey, even though I don't like cooking turkey. We were able to spend the morning of Thanksgiving walking along the Massanutten Ridge where it overlooks the Page Valley.

December (PHOTO: Lake Shenandoah Sunrise):
I know the month is barely underway, but I was so happy with my shots from Lake Shenandoah that I decided to make my "year in review" a little early. The only photography project I have left planned this year is my annual pug Christmas photo shoot. I'm hoping that will happen this weekend.

For those of you who made it to the end of this monstrosity of a caption -- thank you, you're very tenacious! You now know more about my year than you ever wanted to. Thanks to all my Flickr friends for taking the time to look at my work and give me your feedback. I have a lot of fun sharing with you all.