A Year-End Note In the Fog

Foggy Morning, Columbia (31 December 2022)

It’s been a while.

I guess this year’s Election Rant-a-thon (and the holiday season and other distractions) left me spent and uninspired. I intended to send a brief year-end note to my ‘exclusive’ (read ‘small’) readership to wish them Season’s Greetings, thank them for visiting and to promise that 2023 will return to more images and stories of ballparks, state houses and graves. No more political bloviating for two years.

New Year's Eve in the Woods (31 December 2022)

However, this last day of the year began with visual inspiration...which, in the hands of a more skilled writer, could be turned into much more. There I was, taking the last nap of the night’s sleep, when Beck wakes me to say I have to get the camera and get out into the morning fog. I have urged photographers to get out in bad weather (especially fog; May 2011 & February 2021) because even the most ordinary scenes can be transformed by the moodiness and mystery of what you see...and can’t see.

With fog, you often have to be quick because some morning fogs are just thin clouds that settled on the ground and the morning sun will quickly burn it all away. I just returned from Columbia’s modest ‘downtown.’ It’s past noon and the fog is thicker than it was at seven this morning.

Columbia Town Center (31 December 2022)

Sure, we’re just turning the page to the next day but it is a new year...a year that followed one that sucked. There were too many deaths in our circle. The politics of this great nation are poisoned and dysfunctional. The economic disruptions hit many hard...although all the angst about inflation seemed to fade once gasoline prices eased. Funny how three-dollar gas used to outrage us but after it hit four-plus dollars, three-dollar gas is fine. The environment continued to degrade with events and measurements that have never been seen before. And my species continued to act in ways that make me wonder why we evolved such big brains in the first place.

Front Row to Infinity (31 December 2022)

I’m not going to give today’s gloominess any special year-end meaning apart from knowing it might hamper some celebrating later. Not my concern since I stopped going out on ‘Amateur Night’ decades ago.

Columbia Waterfront (31 December 2022)

So, as I originally intended...

I hope you had an enjoyable holiday. I wish you all a new year that is better than the one we’re leaving. Be safe. Stay warm and dry. Be active and healthy and charitable and curious and fair and compassionate.

Hope to see you next year...tomorrow.