Twenty-twenty ends in a couple of days and everyone I listen to, from talking-heads on TV to the neighbors next door, have hopes for a better year in 2021. Certainly, I am hoping that vaccine distribution improves so that we can get back to normal and visit children and grandchildren whom we haven’t seen for almost twelve months. And, if the vaccine is as good as the reports suggest then maybe we will be able to visit friends and relations in UK later in the year and perhaps in 2022 have that vacation in Norway that Covid cancelled this year. But that is future: this week is my time to review the photos I took in 2020 photos and set up the organization for 2021.
Organization is quick and straightforward and consists of changing the copyright year recorded by the camera each time the shutter is depressed, making a similar change to the metadata in Lightroom so that it is included in every JPG file produced and defining the outline directory structure for all those masterpieces that are still to be captured. The review of 2020’s photographs is somewhat depressing. Each year I select about twenty images from the photos taken in the previous year and these form the basis for the screensaver slide-show on my laptop. Usually, the selection includes portraits of my three grandchildren, some memories from vacations trips, records of the changing seasons and a few sunrise and sunsets shots taken around Galveston. There are large holes in the subject matter this year and those holes will continue to be evident throughout the coming year each time that the screensaver kicks in. C’est la vie!
Tall-ship Elissa in Galveston Harbour (cell phone image)
Moody Gardens Aquarium Galveston - jellyfish tank.
Morning fog adding a touch of romance to suburbia at Lakes of Brightwater (Missouri City, Texas).
With only road traffic to keep numbers in check, the grey squirrel is a cute pest around here.
April showers watering the climbing rose.
A sensible precaution - alligators can run faster than people over short distances!
A new petrochemical plant in Freeport, TX.
Our current rescue bull terrier relaxing on the armchair
Local Texas wildflowers in June
"Dandelion" clock waiting for a breeze
Checking for crabs (and snakes) on the water's edge. Masks, a sign of the Covid-19 times
Galveston missed a direct hit but was sideswiped by three hurricanes this year. Little damage except to wash away ten years of recovery after Ike.
My grandchildren are growing up .
KCS train heading southwest waiting for thr up-train to pass.
A sculpture along FM 3005 to the west of Galveston. Wind, salt air and rain are beginning to corrode the steel. (Photoshop mods to remove the support structure)
One of the hurricanes that hit LA in 2020 attacking the Galveston beaches
A late migrant checking out the "Bottle-brush" bush as it migrates south.
Brazos State Park - keeping social distance in great surroundings.
The Anhinga doesn't have waterproof feathers. Their wet feathers and dense bones help them slowly submerge under the surface so they can stalk fish.
A cordyline plant in late bloom.
Ferdinand seems to have had a hard life - but he also seems to have been loved. I often wonder where he came from and hope his previous owners know he is well.
A change from the ubitiquous oaks in this neighbourhood. Plants many years ago and now peautiful (for a few days each year!)
But the future is already beginning to look brighter. Texas has set priorities for Covid-19 vaccinations and folks older than 65 are now in priority 1b, instead of older than 75 like other parts of the country. Given that we don’t hit 75 until May we have registered and are now keeping our fingers crossed that we get notified soon. Until then, it is masks and social distancing as usual.