Picture a Day project: 2011

Over the course of this past year, I've been doing a 'Picture a Day' project over on my personal FaceBook. This started as a way to keep in touch with my daughter as she was away at college, so she could see what was going on at home. It kind of took on a life of its own. Some of the pictures are posted because they're pretty. Some are posted to document what is going on day to day. Some are pretty stupid, snapped at the last moment because I forgot to take one of something interesting. (The dogs are always good for a last minute subject.) But over all, the practice has helped me train my eye to actually look around and see what is going on in the world around me.

Anyway, I thought it might be fun to pick one picture from each month, and post them here as kind of a year in review.

January: I was wandering around downtown Phoenix at night, after a friend's graduation. This statue is one of the ones outside of the Herberger Theater.

February: For years now, February has meant Estrella War. Estrella is a large (around 5000 people give or take) week long Medieval historical recreation event that my family enjoys attending. This is my son at sunset, looking at one of the camps along the road.

March: I did my first big order of hand painted silk scarves, and kicked off a whole new line for my Tangible Daydreams shop. This set of scarves went to the singing group Celtica.

April brought lovely weather to the Phoenix area. We started taking regular hikes at the White Tank Mountain regional park. This is a hedgehog cactus that was blooming along one of the trails.

It was still beautiful in May, so this is back at the White Tanks again. This is a cholla cactus, against the setting sun.

June: Road trip! Not all of Arizona is cactus, and it pays to get out and around--especially when it is getting hot down here in the valley. We took 89A from from Flagstaff down through Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona. This is Oak Creek.

July: The SCA (historical recreation) practice had moved to night time, to beat the desert heat. Here is my local group's ballista, aiming at the setting sun, waiting for it to get cool enough to play.

August: My family went to the theater. This is my husband and son, testing out my new hand painted silk ties. The ties ended up being another great addition to the Tangible Daydreams shop.

September: By this time, I was getting good at finding pictures wherever I went. This is simply one of the peacocks that wanders the grounds of my local library. I came out from getting my books, and spotted him posing against the flowers. Quick! Hand off the books to my sweetie, grab the camera out of my pocket, and I've got the shot the instant before he wandered off.

October: And sometimes, you have some advance notice and can get in the right place in the right time. We're back to the historical recreation. This is my consort swearing fealty, after getting the highest award for service that the group can give. He was surprised--but I knew enough to bring the good camera to the event, just in case.

November: Sometimes it pays to look behind you, too. I work at the community college as a model for the drawing classes, and we had set up a costumed pose out under the trees. This bed of flowers was behind us all, away from the direction that everyone was looking. But they were lit up beautifully in the afternoon sun.

December: I don't get snow here in Phoenix. So a field of fluffy white cotton on a blustery grey day is about as close as I get to winter.


I think I'll keep going on this project. I wonder what I'll have for a year in review come this time next year...