Cheers

Philosophically Speaking Our 2023 Was Odd Indeed

Shelley

As the year 2023 comes to a close, I triple-dog dared myself as I philosophized with a burst of hope that I could make the photo recap of the year simple.

But then, in an inspiring semi-mostly non-professional photojournalist mode, the rabbit hole of odd memories of 2023 flooded across my screen. I was forced to curate the memories down to those that withstood the tests of the year. What a year it has been in so many weird ways.

In January, the chilly cold weather didn’t stop the little birds from giving me attitude through the windows as they posed.

February temps gave us extra chilly moments as we continued with our desire to keep the house temp set at 67 degrees.

March – the window bird feeder entertained the cats and our visiting red squirrel (who identified as a red Cardinal).

The Cardinals were around more often too.

Late March into early April – we began planning and ordering supplies to replace the retaining wall in our backyard. Here’s the before photo—the completed photo is to come later in the post.

April fooled around as it kickstarted said project when the weather surprised us with a high of 89 degrees at the beginning of the month and later we were blessed with a foot of snow.

In May, a hawk appeared close up on our deck. A first for all of us.

As May left, so did the red squirrel’s visits . . .

The bleeding heart’s leaves began to burst in the spring mornings with dewy delight.

June the old retaining wall and the blasted curly willow tree roots finally came tumbling down with the help of Mr.

While Mr. worked diligently on the planning and execution of the wall rebuilding I admired the perennial flowers.

Along with spending time in the Tea House, aka,

July – we celebrated our daughters’ birthdays together with them at our oldest daughter’s house. We had little clue at the time that it would be our only family portrait opportunity for the year.

In early July, the scoundrel rabbit who ate so many of my annual plants found a fun place to hang out in the pre-final stage of the completion of the retaining wall.

He/she had a one-ear pal, something we’d never seen before.

August we cleaned yet another unit in one of our rental properties. Thankfully, despite the obstacles of the pandemic years to get places rented without a hassle, it was rented before winter arrived.

A few of the morning glories survived the scoundrels that nibbled on my garden beds throughout the spring/summer.

Same with the Zinnias used as the alternative lattice.

Mr. Won Wine for a Year.

Of course, we were tickled as pink as a Cosmos Pinkie about the award that keeps us visiting the vineyard monthly.

September rolled in and out with HOT and DRY weather.

With the help of daily watering, the Black Eyed Susans appeared to round out the seasonal flowers with the Sedums and Cosmos Pinkies.

In October, I picked the last few flowers to enjoy a bouquet in the house.

The grass Mr. planted and watered daily on the finished retaining wall only needed to be cut once due to the drought.

By the middle of the month, Mr. deemed the wall project had been officially completed. Mr. did a great job moving 9 tons of materials multiple times. He and the wall are still standing!

The free pumpkin I got adorned the front porch until it was transferred to the wooded area and smashed for the critters to eat. They ate every bite except for the adorable handle that made me pick it out of the pile in the first place.

In November, the arrival of fall reminded us of all the colorful moments to be thankful for.

We split wood to burn for the winter. The location of the wood has come in very handy by Mr. leaving the pile right here, covered by a tarp to keep the snow off for the winter. Oddly, we’ve only had a dusting or two of snow so far, I’m guessing we’ll pay dearly for the mild December in January of 2024. 🧐🤔

As December ends, I’m philosophically counting the odd blessings of the year. Our Christmas was small and sweet – topped off by a whirlwind visit with our oldest daughter and her fiance.

It was quieter in the house as our youngest and her husband gave birth to a round of COVID-19 twins so didn’t make it to our celebration. They’ll visit us in January. It’s been a long time since I’ve kept our Christmas decorations up past the 1st of the new year. I’m oddly feeling happy that I’m not rushing around to put away the decorations on the 31st. I think I’ll read a book instead.

Another frosty philosophizing reminder of how we’ve endured the oddity of the year.

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Last, but not least, since our youngest wasn’t with us for Christmas, I had to learn how to set up the tripod, camera, and remote to take family photos. A bit of a lopsided effect, but oddly feels just right for the year that was odd indeed . . .

Mr. and I thank you for blessing us with your thoughts and visits here to the blog in 2023. We wish you a Happy New Year and look forward to a year of faith, peace, love, and hope for us all in 2024!

Post Inspiration – Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: starts with or contains “ph.” Find a word with the letter “ph” in it and use it as your prompt. Have fun! And, Terri Webster Schrandt’s Sunday Stills – Dec 31 & Jan 7* Your 2023 Year-in-Review! (in photos)

PS – Was 2023 an odd year for you? What did you learn as a takeaway for you to keep and treasure in 2024? Do you have any philosophical superstitions about what to do or not do as the new year ushers its way into our hearts and minds for 2024?

Published by Shelley

Letting my quirk out one post at a time.

45 thoughts on “Philosophically Speaking Our 2023 Was Odd Indeed”

  1. Wow, I love the many beautiful photos you took, Shelley! Your husband did a fantastic job on the new retaining wall, he’s got skills! Best wishes for 2024, see you then! 😊

    1. Thank you, John, we appreciate the encouragement you’ve shared with us in 2023.
      We wish you the best in 2024 too!! 🥳🤗🥂😉

    1. Hi Laurel! Glad to read we’re not the only ones thinking the year was strange. Thank you, we wish you and your family a Happy New Year too!

    1. Thank you, Dan, we appreciate your words of encouragement. Congrats to you on updating your blog theme. That’s a HUGE accomplishment.
      Happy New Year to you and your family too!

        1. It is surprising how it can be fairly smooth to switch themes. I was terrified when my paid theme didn’t work and I decided to go with a free theme. I’m not in any hurry to switch again. I look forward to seeing what other things about the process you discover! 😅

          1. I wasn’t in a hurry to switch, but I’ve been having problems posting and the Happiness folks thought this would help. I tried everything else, to no avail. This hasn’t helped, but there’s no turning back now.

          2. I think HE recommendations defaulting to “one must update to solve” approach is frustrating. I’m sure you’ll figure out the best solution and you’ll be happy about it in the end. You picked a good time of year to test the waters in a new theme!

  4. Happy New Year to you and your family! I love your Christmas tree abstract photo…and it’s always the handle on the pumpkin that makes the decision which one to buy. 2023 was a difficult year for us as husband worked his way through treatments. Almost done, so I have high hopes for 2024!

    1. Happy New Year to you too Dawn! Thank you for your words of encouragement. Christmas lights are so fun to experiment with.
      I’m happy to read that your husband has worked his way through the treatments and along with you is ready to have high hopes for 2024 🙏🏻🤗🥳

    1. Yes, it did and stuck around long enough for us to see it become a passive victim that it carried off with it to a different location. 😲
      Happy New Year to you and Mary, John, I hope it is a great year for you two 🎉🥳

  6. What a varied year you had Shelley! Mister should be very muscular these days from putting together that nicely done retaining well, not to mention chopping and dealing with that load of wood … it is time Mister sits down and puts his feet up. I am sure he is smiling that he hasn’t had to go out and use the snowblower yet. As you point out, we likely will deal with all that white stuff in January 2024. I know my favorite meteorologist keeps comparing this El Nino Winter with a prior El Nino Winter and promises we will get slammed from mid-January through February. I hope he is wrong!

    Your flowers are beautiful, whether the scoundrels chomped on them or not. I am still thinking and re-thinking what to do with my backyard … I have a few more months to dwell on it, then maybe call in a landscaping company for a look-see and go from there: fill in the existing back garden with grass and tall bushes versus another perennial garden with a new retaining wall along the “scallops” of the existing garden. The wooden landscape ties are starting to show their age as well – sigh. But I did that entire backyard from scratch in 1985, so I can’t expect it to look great forever, especially after the fire and DTE hacking up my two trees. They couldn’t get a stump remover machine through the gate, so I have two stumps in the back garden as well.

    I really can’t think of anything redeeming this year – sad statement on my part. I thought it was a weird year for me … I started to mention my groundhog and possum debacle which I had already blogged about, but I was going to tie it into the centipede plumbing and flooding debacle, but decided people might think I was a bit dumb for the latter event. The other miscellaneous and sundry things that either broke, were problematic or cost me money the second half of the year just added to the litany of items that wore me down by year-end. And, I didn’t even mention impending retirement plans as someone could say to me “well, a firm date IS a firm date – is it not?” So I skipped those paragraphs and still had an overly long year-end post.

    Happy New Year to you and Mister and a second Merry Christmas when your family all gathers in February.

    1. Ah, yes, Mr. built a lot of muscles this year and he’s still carrying the wood into the house for the fire he keeps going on a daily basis. He has another HUGE pile of wood that he’ll work on chunking, splitting, stacking for his 2024 summer project. We had 3 giant oak trees removed and the wood was transferred to our backyard.

      It’ll be fun to see what you come up with for your backyard. I love grasses for easy perennials.

      You definitely have had lots of situations to work through the later half of the year. I hope 2024 has less of those kind of situations for you to deal with. The big one of sticking to a FIRM date for retirement will be a great one to focus on!

      Thank you, Linda, we’re looking forward to seeing our daughter and her husband. Hopefully a storm won’t pick that weekend to appear! 🧐😲😉

      1. I’m sure Mister appreciates this break from Winter. The retired meteorologist I follow who said we’d be slammed with snow mid-January through February said today on Twitter that we will get snow on the 9th/10th and our first big snowfall of the season. Great.

        Yes, that is one sticky situations that I must stay FIRM on … my FIRM date and no wavering … I wish I could fast forward now to get all this done with.

        I hope they don’t have bad weather to travel and you don’t have to do another tripod shot though it came out perfectly!

        1. Yes, he mentioned how he’s enjoying not having to shovel. Last Christmas we had the kind of storm you described and our snow blower wasn’t working. We definitely don’t want a January like 2023!!
          YES – stay FIRM!!!
          I’m hoping they don’t have bad weather too. If the storm comes on the 9th/10th and roads are cleared before the 19th/20th, the plans won’t be interrupted.
          I’m pondering doing more practice shots with the tripod as an experiment in 2024. 🧐🤔😉

          1. It would be awesome to have a snowless Winter – yes, a girl can dream. (girl??) I hope the roads are cleared by that weekend so the plans are interrupted. I thought the tripod worked well for the photo you took. Better than a selfie where usually someone’s eyes are drifting off the other way. I can’t say I’ve seen many selfies where the subject looks as good as in person.

          2. In 2015 we had less snow. I remember running all winter long.
            I hope the roads are clear by then too.
            Thank you. The tripod can be intimidating until you figure out how it all works. It takes practice and maybe if I spend time during the winter, I can get a better moon shot come this summer.
            Selfies are funny indeed.

          3. The first year I walked, the Winter of 2011-2012 was like that too – I walked nearly every day. I got a small tripod with my DSLR “kit” but have not used it yet. Some people know how to look to the side and the eyes are more normal.

          4. Yes, I remember that year too. My mom passed away in 2012 right after we got back from a trip to Jamaica (the weather was so nice in both places). The tulips were blooming early that spring.
            Looks like the DSLR tripod kit gives another project for your retirement 🤔😆🥰
            I watched a fun video showing how you can take better selfies on your phone camera – it’s all about the settings and remembering to look at the camera not the screen!

          5. I walked a lot that Winter – my kind of Winter … 2011-2012. Yes, I need to find out how to use the tripod – it is in the drawer where I put it when I unpacked the camera. Well that’s good to know … remember Laurie on her blog she said she had learned how to take great selfies with Bill (her husband). They never had the dazed look in their eyes or one eye off to the side. 🙂 I’ve never taken a selfie, so I shouldn’t be laughing about how the pics look.

          6. It’s nice you have happy memories about a winter of the past. Maybe this one will be like the 2011-2012?
            Mr. and I could use some practice on our selfies, it really is about the settings which I haven’t mastered yet. That’s cool that Laurie and Bill have it mastered.
            Maybe you can make a selfie taking project for your retirement bucket list. 🤔

          7. We had some snow this afternoon but I don’t think it really has stuck to the cement, but the retired meteorologist (who predicted we’d be slammed second half of January and all February) has not walked it back yet. I hope this upcoming snowstorm fizzles out to nothing.

  7. Happy New Year, my friend! 2023 did its job and we all accepted the good and bad. I love your bird shots. The image of just the squirrel tail is quite exquisite, by the way! Isn’t it nice to get the home projects done? It’s such a relief and so much to enjoy when done! Cheers to a healthy, happy 2024, Shelly!

    1. Happy New Year to you too dear blogging buddy!
      Well said, we had to accept the good and the bad and roll with each situation.
      I’m glad you liked the squirrel tail photo. That little tike was fun to watch. So far, it hasn’t returned to the feeder. I think without all the snow on the ground he’s still able to forage for acorns to keep it’s tummy full.
      Yes, the done projects feel great. Now if I could only get the courage to get my whip cracking tools out and get some inside projects done. 😅🤔😉
      Same to you – Cheers to a healthy and happy 2024! 🤗🥳🎉

  8. I may as well join in the “make Mr’s head swell brigade” Fabulous job. Love the stack of firewood and looks like I am the only one who appreciates a pile of fire wood. I am sure we will see a photo of it well stacked in a dry place next month.
    Here’s hoping you and your family have a great 2024 Shelley 🥰

    1. LOL – Mr. certainly enjoys all the kudos!
      We’ll see what happens, so far the tarp cover is working, but we haven’t seen much snow yet. Once the pile and the tarp are covered with snow we’ll need to rely on a shovel to uncover the logs under said tarp. 🧐😅🤔
      Cheers to you and your family for a wonderful 2024! Thanks for ringing in the new year with us here in the blogosphere!

    1. Oh, dear, I’m not sure what you’re talking about? Was it the spam Cialis comments that ended up in my Trash folder? 🧐🤔

  10. Good for you, putting this together–with stories of your year and beautiful photos, as always. I can’t even remember yesterday! My excuse is that I also have Covid! My mother-in-law gave it to us on Christmas, so at least we got that holiday in with no snafus. I’m on the mend, not much worse than a bad cold, but I’m isolating. Of course, that’s not so bad either, since I have a towering TBR with books added from my presents. Your Christmas photo is beautiful–I actually think you two are aging in reverse–if a little sparer than usual. Hope your daughter is on the mend, too. Keep the pics coming. I’m still just super duper impressed with that retaining wall! (Says the daughter of a structural engineer!)

    1. Aw, thank you Rebecca. Dang, that Covid has been a sneaky one this past year and hanging on to the new one. That’s great you did get the Christmas holiday in and that it’s not too bad. Glad you’re up to writing despite the cold. I enjoyed your blog recap of 2023 – so many highlights to celebrate and I’m anxious to hear more about your query. I can’t wait to buy a copy of your novel!!!
      Shucks, thanks, Mr. and I obviously see each other every day and think we haven’t aged a bit. 😆 We’re thankful to be holding our own as we enter into the next stage of the golden years. I just bought myself a 5 year journal (one line a day) to read back to myself the year I turn 64 before jumping into the magical year of 65.
      Mr. sends his thanks for your kudos on the wall, it was a structural project with lots of moving parts in so many ways.
      Happy New Year to you and your family!! Thank you so much for your blogging friendship and your words of encouragement – I treasure you so much! 🤗🥰

    1. Thank you so much for your feedback. Your year in review is so impressive. So many highs to remember, congratulations and I wish you the best in 2024.

  13. I really enjoyed your recap of 2023, Shelley. I love the snowy scenes, we rarely get any snow, unfortunately wind and rain is mostly our winter weather. I had to gasp at the temp range from -15 to 101! The flowers are gorgeous. I hope 2024 is a great year!

    1. Thank you for sharing your feedback, I so appreciate hearing from you. We’re kind of experiencing the wind/rain instead of snow kind of winter so far. I’m sure we’ll pay for it before Spring arrives. Yes, our temps have a wide range throughout a year.
      I’m partial to the flowers too – they bring me much joy.
      I hope your 2024 is a great year too!! 🥳🥰🥂

    1. Thank you, Kirstin, I enjoyed your recap – your second half of the year was action packed and full of so many fun moments! I loved seeing all the smiles 🥰🥳

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