Year's First

I promised myself that I was simply not going to post another phone shot today, no matter what.  Fortunately, I think I have turned the corner on Covid as I've felt fairly human today (albeit still quite tired).  When I got out of bed, I peeked out the window and the very first bird I saw was a Tufted Titmouse - arguably one of the cutest yard birds we have in our area.  So it was completely logical that I'd go out later and try to nail a shot of the same species.  

They are not always the easiest of birds to photograph because of their habit of flitting around constantly, rarely perching.  This little 'mouse was having a drink of water which allowed me to get some nice head shots.  This was my favorite because at the exact moment the shutter was firing, he raised his namesake "tuft" which was rather nicely backlit.  He will mark the beginning of a new year of recording my yardbirds.  Last year I didn't put as much effort into it as usual and that showed in my relatively low count. If you'd care to have a look, you can see them HERE

Happy to be coming out the other end of Covid, and relatively quickly.  Hubs  came down sick on Christmas Eve and I followed him several days later, testing positive on the 29th.  It worked out pretty well since he was starting to feel better by the time I started to feel really lousy.  Still, I'd prefer not to do this again.  Covid affected the two of us in pretty different ways with him having more flu-like symptoms and me more cold-like.  Both of us got kicked pretty hard with fatigue which seems to be almost unavoidable for most people.  Anyway, after avoiding it for almost 3 years, we're now part of the statistics.  

I am optimistic about this year.  I've got several trips planned that I'm really looking forward to, including one to the Bering Sea in Alaska this summer (just paid my deposit this morning).  And I hope to continue to improve my photography, maybe even learn a few new tricks along the way.  Mostly, though, I just want to enjoy each and every day.  And top them off with a modest amount of dark chocolate.

Happy 2023

Debbi