This photo was recognized by the North American Travel Journalists Association with a Bronze award in the Photography – Landscape, Seascape category in the 2021 annual media travel awards competition .
I have used these “Reflections” posts as a play on words to reminisce about my travels over the past year and to share the reflections photos to which I am drawn.
As epic as my travel year was in 2019, 2020 became the total opposite. The pandemic brought global travel to a grinding halt and all my scheduled trips for the year were set aside for the time when travel was both safer and wiser. Without travel, my photography subjects changed to sewing and quilting projects instead.
That said, the first two month of 2020 had a few distractions and fun experiences.
January
We took our annual ski trip out west once again to Park City, UT where my husband skied and I enjoyed hot buttered rums. On the way back to the east coast, I stopped off in my old home town of Chicago to take care of some family business. As is my usual habit when I am visiting my favorite city, I finished one day with sunset views and a drink at the Signature Lounge at the top of the John Hancock building.
February
We celebrated February birthdays with a family day in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Had I known this would be the last time I would be able to hug my kids and grandson for a long time, I would have given them all about 100 more than I did. Three weeks later our world came to a standstill as our state went into lockdown.
…….And then the rest of the year
This has certainly been a unique year. In March, the idea of staying home indefinitely seemed daunting and the end of the year felt like such a long way off. Yet, now that I look back on it, the days and weeks and months slipped by fairly quickly in a blur of sameness and it seems hard to believe that it is 2021 already.
Since I was now home indefinitely, I no longer had any excuses, and I dug in and started decluttering. We also started some much needed renovations to the house that we had been putting off. I guess there is always some kind of silver lining.
Overall, I can’t say that it was a bad year, just a boring one. My family has stayed safe, we’ve had a warm roof over our head even if parts of the house were a construction zone, and we certainly have had plenty of food (probably too much food). Compared to many others in the US and around the world, I feel quite fortunate.
And when I needed a slight change of scenery from my home and back yard, I was fortunate to have the many public gardens in the Brandywine Valley for some outdoor excursions.
As I look forward to this new year, I am hopeful that some form of travel will start up again by the third quarter. And while I daydream about where I will go next, I am not ready to commit until I have had that vaccine pin prick in my arm. In the meantime I will continue painting my house, sewing and working on this blog.
As we all move toward a “new normal” this year, I hope that you and all those you love are staying healthy and that you are able to find some joy and contentment in your current situation.
Wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year.
Rose