Year In Pictures

Hey, Friends.

I know now is the time when everyone starts writing up their year in review, reflecting on the past and looking toward the future. I'm not going to do that - not really.

2017 was a shitty year. I'm not talking about politics (although that does contribute to it). Everything and anything that could go wrong seemed to feel the need to do so this past year. There were good things too, of course. I'm not trying to get all maudlin on you. Let's just say I'm looking forward to the new year and leaving this one behind.

So, rather than rehash the entirety of the year, I decided to do it with pictures. I know, I know, that everyone does that "Best 9" thing on Instagram. I'm guilty of having done it as well. Mine always seems to come out with a group from the same time period, so I decided to go back and find the picture with the most "likes" from each month. Since you seem to enjoy reading my ramblings here...well, I assume you do since you keep coming back...I'll give you the story behind each one. Okay, so I'll give you as much of the story as I remember. Don't get too excited. Sometimes it wasn't much beyond, "Oohh, that's pretty!" or "That looks so cool."

Ready to go on a year long adventure with me? Let's do this thing.

JANUARY

It's a turkey in the snow. I took this from the window next to my desk at work. I love the turkeys! They wander around the property at work all of the time. I don't get turkeys by my house. Work is like my own little wildlife safari some days.

FEBRUARY

I have no clue. We shall label this as "Oohh, pretty!"  I thought I knew where I had taken it, but looking closer that can't be right. 

MARCH

It snowed last March. A lot. That would be my house, flying snow courtesy of my Dad and his snowblower. That would also be my abandoned shovel sticking out of the ground, waiting to dig out the snow underneath my car.

APRIL

I made this!  My friend and I went to Paintbrushes and Party to do this very cool Hamsa Hand painting. We got a hand template to trace, and the rest of the painting was up to each individual.

MAY

This was taken at Mole Mole, which you can probably guess as it says that on the car door. It was also my birthday.

JUNE

This was taken at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York. I was in Liverpool for a work conference. We got to eat dinner at the zoo as part of the conference, and then had time to walk around the zoo while it was closed to the public. It was very cool.

JULY

This was taken in the garden at Vanderbilt Mansion. I love walking the grounds there. Instead of taking a picture of the statue from the front with the reflecting pool, I went around behind it. 

AUGUST

We were at Holy Cow Ice Cream. I went with my brother, my niece, and my nephew. It must have been shortly before the end of the kidlets summer visit if my brother was here. The sky looked really cool, and I remember my nephew was super tired after baseball camp at Marist. This might also have been the day he declared that he had "Swamp butt". I still don't want to know what that means.

SEPTEMBER

View of Poughkeepsie taken from the Walkway Over the Hudson. The views are always gorgeous, and I go there frequently. 

OCTOBER

No, I did not go to Texas this October. They were busy recovering from the hurricane that had recently devastated parts of the state. This is from the Wikipedia entry, if you didn't click the link.

"Making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, Harvey inflicted tremendous damage across Aransas County.^[48] Wind gusts were observed up to 132 mph (212 km/h) near Port Aransas.^[49] In Rockport, entire blocks were leveled by the hurricane's winds. The city's courthouse was severely damaged when a cargo trailer was hurled into it, coming to a stop halfway through the structure. The gymnasium of the Rockport-Fulton High School lost multiple walls while the school itself suffered some damage.^[48] A Fairfield Inn in the city was severely damaged.^[50]One person died in a house fire in the city, unable to be rescued due to the extreme weather conditions.^[51] As of August 28, an estimated 30–40 people remain unaccounted for across Aransas County, including 9 in Rockport. Nearly every structure in Port Aransas suffered damage.^[48] By the afternoon of August 26, more than 20 in (510 mm) of rain had fallen in the Corpus Christi metropolitan area.^[37] All of Victoria was left without water and most had no power.^[48]"

My brother and his family were lucky. They were away during the hurricane, and they suffered very minimal damage. The area around them was not so lucky. So no, I didn't go to visit this year. Instead you get to look at a picture of a sunflower in the garden at work.

NOVEMBER

Taken at Esopus Meadows Preserve. I love that sign, and the way the clouds and the sun were creating such different lights. You can also see the lighthouse in the background. It was right after this that I got home to find out the sad news about my neighbor.

DECEMBER

Right now you're probably wondering, "WTF? It's an envelope."  Yes, it is. It's a card I got from two of my favorite little library patrons. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and people liked it. The best pictures aren't always fancy.

Officially, Friends, we have reached the end of our year in review. Wasn't that fun? I thought so. I decide to add a couple of bonus pictures that I really loved and which didn't make the list. Read on if you wish, or feel free to quit now. You might already have quit and I'm just talking to myself at this point. 

BONUS #1

Lili (my niece) and I went to see One Republic at SPAC back in August. It was a road trip and concert experience all in one! We go to a concert each summer she comes up to visit. Who knows what we will see next year? I had been hoping to take her to see Heffron Drive again this past summer, but there was no tour here which makes me sad. :(

Bonus #2

I really love this picture. No one else seems to love it quite as much. To each their own. This was taken in an abandoned building in Beacon, down by Long Dock Park. I was out for a walk/hike with my friend whom I always refer to here as Gertie. I wrote a whole post about it back in April. See the cool things you miss out on when you won't go play in the slightly decrepit abandoned buildings with me, Gertie? You could have seen this up close and personal. 

And now we really are at the end, Friends. 2017 is almost over, and I say good riddance to it. I hope 2018 brings all of us love, happiness, good health -- all the good stuff. See you next year!

**And PLEASE: if you go out and party this New Year's Eve, please be responsible! Don't drink and drive. Or do anything else and drive. Be sober if you are driving, that's the point.**

Year In Review (sorta, kinda)

Hey there, Friends.

Well, 2016 is rapidly winding to a close.  I feel like I should give some kind of a little wrap-up thing on our time here this past year.

So, for those just burning with curiosity, the most popular post this year?  When I asked if I was a narcissistic asshole.  I'm happy to report that those who replied didn't think I was.  Warms the cockles of my heart.  I'm sure there are people who disagree, but they didn't bother to respond.

Second most popular?  That time a bear was spotted in my neighborhood...and then we had a power outage that night, and I kind of forgot about the potential of having a meeting with said bear face-to-face while I was out wandering the neighborhood in my pajamas.

Coming in a close third? Trying to interpret my weird-ass avocado dream.

That's an eclectic assortment of posts, Friends.  I don't quite know what to make of it, beyond the fact that I share my strange problems here and you all seem to enjoy reading about them.  I wish I could say the popularity of the bear post surprised me, but since the most popular posts last year were about the thug squirrels taking over my garage and my repeated battles with the Giant Ninja Spiders that kept invading my shower?  I'm actually shocked something else beat it out for number one.

If 2015 had a theme, it was my adventures with wildlife.

2016?  That's a little harder to determine, but the thing that seemed to pop up repeatedly was my lack of familiarity with astrology and the zodiac.  Like, I seriously cannot believe how many times people brought that shit up this year.

For starters: there was that embarrassing mortifying time a patron felt the need to go way too in-depth about what my zodiac sign meant.  (I'm a Taurus.  Read the delightful made-me-want-to-crawl-under-a-rock experience here!)

It's come up in conversations with people so many times this year, and every time I end up feeling like a dumb ass because I honestly just have no clue. Or maybe I'm just noticing it more, like the number of times I seemed to hear people talking about chipmunks after I  helped someone with a fan-fiction website.

So, as a step toward growth for the New Year I decided to start following a zodiac thing on Twitter.

Baby steps, Friends, baby steps.

I'm well aware that it is kind of a lame attempt at not being ignorant on the subject. I mention this because today the posts for 2017 started rolling out,

As a #Taurus Expect Great Things To Happen In 2017 With A Scorpio by your side.

— ZodiacFact (@ZodiacFacts) December 31, 2016

I'm all kinds of cool with this.  My brother is a Scorpio.  I already know he's got my back come hell or high water.  He might be down in the great state of Texas, but he's still got my back.

So I looked up Scorpio, assuming that it would say he should stick with a Taurus, right?  I mean that seems like it would logically make sense.  Apparently not.  He's supposed to be chilling with a Virgo, which is just all kinds of amusing to me.  (It's more amusing if you clicked on that link above about me wanting to crawl under a rock.)

This is why this shit confuses me to no end, Friends.  I had to go back and read them all.

As a #Cancer Expect Great Things To Happen In 2017 With A Taurus by your side.

— ZodiacFact (@ZodiacFacts) December 31, 2016

And then, because I still know jack shit about any of this, I had to go and look up Cancer to figure out what part of the year that even fell in.  Your birthday would be in June or July, which I now know. See, Friends? I'm already learning things.

On that note --

Happy New Year to all of you, Friends!  Thanks for continuing to read my ramblings here.  It gives me the warm fuzzies to know I'm not talking to myself.  I hope your 2017 is filled with good helth, happiness, and love.

**And if you happen to be a Cancer, we should totally hang out!  I appear to be a good luck charm for you this year or something.**

Happy New Year....Maybe?

Happy New Year, Friends!

I know it hasn't been 2016 too terribly long, but I hope it's going well for you so far. Mine's been pretty good, lots of room for improvement though.  That's what the New Year is for, right?  A fresh start.  365 days to fill with new adventures.  Maybe I'll travel to some exotic locale.  Maybe this will be the year I finally find someone who will put up with me get a boyfriend.  Sky's the limit!

I'd like you to join me in a game I am currently playing, Friends.  You don't have to do anything but keep reading.  It's a lazy person's game (also works if you are hungover.  I don't know what all you got up to last night).  All you have to do is sit around and ponder the possibilities.  Sound good? Excellent! Because that's what we are doing.

Friends, allow me to introduce you to a game I am calling:

What's Up With the Neighbors?

How To Play:  I will provide you with the meager amount of evidence I have, and then we will think of all the things that might be going on.

Why Are We Doing This:  Because we can.  Because I am bored of playing it by myself and decided to share my fun imaginary game.  Because Jazz-kitty woke me up way too early to get her breakfast.  I also might be procrastinating on starting to clean the house.  All valid reasons.  

Ready?  Let's begin.

Evidence (aka Flimsy Amount of Details That I Have Gathered):

-- Last night was New Year's Eve.  People celebrate in lots of different ways.  Some people go out and get totally smashed, some go out to a fancy and romantic dinner, some stay at home and have a quiet celebration, some just sleep right through it and don't care.  I have no idea what the neighbors did.

-- My cat is a spoiled brat and woke me up much earlier than I wanted so that I could feed her breakfast.  It was when I went into the kitchen to get her food that I first noticed something was going on at one of the houses nearby. I could hear the music they were playing while I was in my kitchen.

-- There are 2 possible houses that could be the source of the music.  The neighbors in question are usually pretty quiet and keep to themselves.  They are friendly and will chat, don't get me wrong.  I just don't see them outside very often.  They also have a lot of   people who are always around. I'm not really sure how many of them actually live in either house.  I don't pay that much attention.

-- I did not notice anything unusual when I got home last night.  There was no sign of a wild party raging in the near vicinity, no police or emergency vehicles hanging around.  I wasn't drunk and overlooked it, since I drove.  It was cold, and I hurried inside. 

-- Somebody in the neighborhood felt the need to set off fireworks around 1:30 this morning.  I don't know who it was.  I was snuggly warm in bed and trying to sleep, and I chose to stay there hoping it was going to be a short round of holiday craziness.

-- The same song has been playing, on repeat, for almost 2 hours now.  Possibly longer.  I can only vouch for the amount of time I have had to listen to it.  

-- It's the choice of song that really makes this game fun and increases the possibilities.

Aw, yeah...someone had an interesting night!  

Now We Ponder the Possibilities:

1)  Someone had a reallly good time. Like they might still be celebrating and/or reliving the night.

2) Someone is having a moment.  Maybe they can't remember what happened last night.  Or maybe they remember exactly what happened last night and are now in the midst of an existential crisis, trying to come to grips with the situation.

3) Someone passed the hell out with their music on and this song is going to play until they finally wake up and turn it off.  Or someone gets annoyed/concerned enough to call the cops.

4) Their friends dropped their drunk ass off at home, and decided it would be hilarious to leave this song playing for their friend to wake up to in the morning.

5) Someone had a party.  Whomever was in charge of the music left it playing, and now there is no one there who knows how the technology works and they can't turn it off.  

6) They really, really love this song and want to share it with the whole neighborhood.

That's all I've come up with so far.  Join in my game, Friends!  What do you think is going on with my neighbors?  

Right now, I'm just glad I like Jamie Foxx and this song.  It makes the whole thing highly amusing. Other songs could have made this much more worrying, depressing, and/or annoying.  

Happy New Year, Friends.  Hope you are having a great start to the year!  

**Edit:  And just short of the 3 hour mark, the music has stopped.  Well, at least I know whomever it was is alive and functioning.**

End of the Year Warm Fuzzies

Hey, Friends.

It's the end of the year, and everyone is doing their reflections back on the last twelve months. Maybe it's already 2016 where you live.  How's the year look so far?  Good, good.

I just wanted to say a quick thank to all of you, Friends, for sticking with me and actually reading my ramblings here.  It is very appreciated.  It also means I'm not just talking to myself, which is awesome.

I don't look at the stats that Blogger provides very often because they can be very surprising, and basically lead to more questions.  I do like to look at the "audience" stats though, just to see who is reading.  (They are also far less strange and confusing than trying to figure out how a particular search term brought people here.)

Friends, we have a become a little family with readers worldwide!  Doesn't that just warm the cockles of your heart?  This little thing, which started out as basically only being read by a few close friends and family, is now being read all over the place!  We aren't huge and about to take over the internet by storm -- that's crazy talk -- but we are growing, and I owe it all to you.

So I just want to take a minute and say thank you and I love to you to my Friends in:

The United States
Brunei
Russia
France
Germany
Latvia
Portugal
The United Kingdom
Poland
Romania

If you aren't listed, I'm sorry and I love you too.  Blogger only gives me so much data.  Or maybe you are just a ninja at flying under the radar, so stealthy that your tracks to my blog are undetectable.

And for those of you dying of curiosity....the post that got read the most this year? Thug Squirrels.

Yeah.

I don't know what that says about us, Friends.

The second most popular post was about my epic battle with a spider in my shower.

Kind of makes my year seem like it was filled with weird wildlife issues....which I guess is kind of true.  At least my issues with Mother Nature and her creatures provided some amusement.

Thanks for reading, Friends.  I hope you all have a 2016 full of love, happiness, and good health!

I'll catch you on the flip side.