Jet-lagged Journeys: My year in photos: 2011

I will not be waxing nostalgic about 2011. It was not that sort of year for me. Of course there were highs and lows as always, but the lows were quite bumpy and...they left an indelible mark. So, for me it's good riddance to 2011 and hello 2012.

However, I will try not to dwell upon the bumps but celebrate the joys

and triumphs of 2011.

The best way I know how to do that is through photography. So, I'm sharing a photo essay of 2011, from my perspective. ( I'll leave out the Autumn hospital stays with my mother.)

January 2011

We had a couple of back to back Blizzards in the Northeast during January,

which left us with a spectacular "Winter Wonderland".

Sometimes it takes a lot of patience to wait until that moment

when the sun pops through the clouds. But, then...it's glorious!

Just recently I started playing around with HDR.

On a more personal note, Ashton, my husband, and I took my mom to the Atlantic City Casinos for her 86th Birthday. She's a fan of the 'one armed bandits'!

Here she is during healthier days.

My mother and I, at Caesar's Casino.

Although I am not a big fan of donating to the casinos,

my mother rather enjoys it and it's good entertainment for her.

The famous, or rather infamous, Atlantic City Boardwalk.

February 2011

I flew my mother out to Fresno, California for a visit with her sister and family in Clovis.

From left to right: My aunt Lidia, me, cousin Paula, and my mom.

The visit coincided with my cousin Adriana's 21st Birthday.

March 2011

Meanwhile back at home in Pennsylvania: Reading Terminal Market, Philadelphia.

Daffodils are one of the first signs of Spring!

In the Spring I played around with Zoom & Abstract photography,

something I had started to work with last year.

I also became more involved in social media,

probably as a distraction from my caregiving responsibilities.

May 2011

My mother and I at Longwood Gardens amongst some spectacular Japanese Wisteria.

June 2011

In June I visited with some old yachting friends.

We met up in Long Island, Maine.

Wendy, Susan and Mary. I'm in the front.

Long Island, Maine

July 2011

Summer at Avalon Beach, at the New Jersey Shore.

Ashton's Birthday

August 2011

Attending the Book Passage Travel, Food, and Photography Conference
was one of the highlights of the year for me.
Winning the Photography contest was the frosting on the cake!

Robert Holmes and Don George are the Co-hosts

of this reknowned travel conference now in its 20th year.

Two very talented and wonderful individuals: Tim Cahill and Don George!

Tim actually took Don's famous Seersucker jacket and made me wear it for this photo!

Before the start of the conference Robert Holmes also taught a one day workshop,

out in the field, at Point Reyes National Seashore.

While in Lovely Marin County I also went for a walk

in one of my favorite places: Muir Woods National Monument.

Immediately after I returned to my aunt's home, after attending the Book Passage Conference, my mother collapsed. She had to be taken to the Emergency Room in Fresno, and was admitted to the hospital. Ashton flew out to California to help me bring my mother back home to Pennsylvania. Her health has been precarious ever since with three more ER visits, two more hospital stays, a litany of tests and visits to specialists,

and many scares over the past few months.

The day after we arrived back home in Pennsylvania, from California,

we experienced the—now infamous—East coast earthquake. The irony is inescapable.

My poor mother thought she was collapsing again

but it was only the house shaking.

A few days after that, Hurricane Irene came tearing through, causing major devastation to thousands of people in the Northeast.