Bird Photos of 2022

Every year near the end of the year I pick my favorite 12 photos of the year. This year I am struggling to narrow the number of photos down to twelve. I also noticed how many bird photos were in my top picks for the year, too many, it seems, to narrow down to a few favorites. So today I thought I would show you my favorite

I haven’t picked up my camera for a few days. On Monday I had my first cataract surgery, something which I was very nervous about. Fortunately it went splendidly. Afterwards I wished that I had been less stressed about it because it really was much less difficult than I anticipated. I attribute much of that to good drugs during the surgery and a great surgical team. All I remember about the surgery is a bit of a light show and some noise. The nurse told me that the whole procedure lasted only 8 minutes! And literally less than 10 minutes later I was on my way home.

I wish I could be less tightly wound about things like this but that doesn’t seem to be the way I work. My grandmother was blinded by glaucoma before I was born and experiencing up close the challenges of blindness made a huge impression on me. Still, now that I’ve had one eye done, I am hoping that I can be a little less stressed before the second cataract surgery in a little less than 2 weeks. I am working on being very gentle with the scared worrying part of myself.

Things take the time they take.
Don’t worry.
How many roads did St. Augustine follow before he became St. Augustine?

— Mary Oliver

Yesterday I took a lovely walk outside in the neighborhood and enjoyed the soft beautiful day.

This afternoon I plan to put my Canon camera on my tripod and play with some flower photos just to see how well I can see with my new left eye vision. Though I’m not putting the camera up to my eye yet, I can use the live view on the back of the camera.

Have a beautiful day and be gentle with yourself today.

May you walk in beauty.