It's nearly April 2025 and I'm finally getting around to this. 2024 slipped by in chunks. To be honest it's kind of amazing. Partly it's due to the fact that I was on TDY in Virginia for 19 weeks at the end of the year. I did this back in 2015 and this round felt like warp speed. I don't have a lot of details to fill in here. We hung out with friends, I did some astrophotography travel, the garden flourished even with my "toned down" plan. The big vacation was when we went to Germany in September. I was back home for good by Christmas and that's when Hans and I traveled to New Orleans to visit my parents. New Year's Eve was quiet.
In the spring our local brewery did a Girl Scout Cookie and beer pairing event. So yummy!
We got our obligatory late-winter snow and the cool weather veggies that held on from the previous autumn came out on the other side just fine.
I saw American Ballet Theater's production of Swan Lake for the second time. Beautiful.
All of the animals have reached equilibrium, more or less
May is probably the best month for my roses. The orange one in the back has refused to act like the shrub that it's supposed to be and it's determined to be a climber.
I've moved it to a new location that will hopefully be suitable in 2025.
The baby snake on the left was found hanging around the front of our house a couple of times until I moved it to the woods and away from people. In late summer we had a very hungry monarch caterpillar.
This was my first successful year of growing okra and it finished the year absolutely towering over ten feet tall. When I cleared out the beds for the fall I left some zinnias running wild so that the birds and insects would have food.
I did not get to participate in Halloween at home this year but I still made my dorm room festive. Hans took over decorating duties and also purchased a fun new accessory.
In early November I stayed at a cabin in West Virginia and had two flawless nights of astrophotography. Hans made a Cajun feast for Thanksgiving. Holy moly.
Christmas Eve at the jazz club. NYE spread at home.
