I used to love to take photographs. Not of people, which drove my mother crazy, but of rocks and trees and plants and clouds, and man-make things like buildings and wires. But, mostly of natural things.

As I got sicker, my arms and hands tremored more, so many shots were blurry. As finances grew tighter, it got to the point where it became too expensive to buy film and get it developed, especially when so many photos were wasted because of the blurred images.

And so I stopped taking pictures, and I forgot how much I loved it, and I forgot that I was pretty good at it, for someone who couldn't ever remember anything about f-stops and other technical stuff. I forgot, that is, until last year, when I bought a digital camera with some of my book royalties. It has been a little like finding a little piece of myself that has been lost for years.

While tremors still ruin a lot of photos (even when I use a tri-pod, which is pretty weird, says the woman who knits little hats and sweaters for eggs), that's okay, because it costs nothing to hit the delete key.

Another aspect of my life that was changed due to ongoing illness was my ability to be outdoors. Gone were the morning walks. Gone were the day hikes. Gone was puttering in the yard. Other than trips to the doctor, post office, pharmacy, bank or grocery store and occasionally to monthly meetings of various interest groups, I rarely venture out of doors.

And then there's the weather... Since January 1 through April 23 this year (2006), we have had 63 days of rain and 28 cloudy days. That 91 out of 113 days of clouds and rain, or just clouds. Last week we had three days of actual sunshine, two of them with nearly cloudless brilliant blue sky. Everyone I came across while doing errands was almost shell-shocked, stunned by weather we used to take for granted.

I started taking pictures on those days to send to a some friends who were either stuck in an office on those days, or who lived in places where it was still raining. I also took some photos and uploaded them to the Weather Underground site I use for weather information. Somewhere along the way, I decided to create a sort of book of days, taking photos of the same thing every day, and watching the day-to-day changes as the year goes on.

Most (you'll start to recognize them) are ones that I shoot in my front yard, one of a pine tree, the other of the row of trees in my neighbor's yard, shot over the roof of my house. There are some others shot from my front yard, and a few taken elsewhere around town, taken one some of the occasions when I am out to an appointment or errands.

Enough with the words.

I hope you enjoy the photos. They are mine, and are protected as such.

Click on the small image to see the full-size one.

April 2006
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