We had a pretty calm but eventful year in 2009. I spend a chunk of January getting our staircase room painted, and we also stripped the wallpaper and painted a bedroom at Stephanie’s rental house. I also went back on a walk through of my former home at 2165 N. Penn. I discovered that although I love the house, I don’t miss it at all.
New paint at our house
At the end of February, we visited our friends Daniel and Melissa in Michigan while Stephanie competed in the Deborah Burgoyne North American Invitational 2009. We had a wonderful time with our hosts, and I discovered I had no idea how to take good photos of skating with my camera, as you can tell.
Stephanie on the ice.
In March, we planted lots of flowers in containers on the porch and in flowerbeds, and we built new bookshelves from Ikea for Stephanie’s books in the dining room — a much more pleasant space now that we’ve rescued all her books from boxes and organized them.
In April, I started taking more photo walks around Indianapolis, and began a much-needed photography class.
In May, I worked on my photography at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and by snapping lots of images of flowers and of friends.
In June, I turned 41 and we had a pizza picnic in our backyard to celebrate.
And at the end of the month, we joined the Eastern Caravan with other New Beetle owners to Roswell, New Mexico for the Return to Roswell car show. It was a nice long, fun trip and a a great time to see lots of Stephanie’s friends (both human and VW).
During the trip I took one of my all-time favorite photos of a ragged man with a three-legged dog:
In July, I got way behind in my photo editing because we were so active, and I still haven’t edited all the photos from Stephanie’s visit from her niece Raven, or from our trip to Moline, Illinois for my cousin Katie’s wedding. I participated in the Scott Kelby photo walk along the Canal in Indy, though, and took a few other nice photos:
in August, we bought a scooter, so we spent a lot of time studying for learners motorcycle permits and learning to ride it.
We also spent time with friends and visited the State Fair.
Stephanie and I both started a knitting class in mid-May of this 2009, but it wasn’t until August that I really had any pictures of projects to show off.
In September, I continued to lag behind on the photos. We had a Labor Day cookout, and spent more time with friends.
October was another busy, busy month. My sister had a new baby – Penelope – over in England, for one thing, so I have four nieces (Erika, Riley, Annabelle and now Penny).
We attended the IndieHandicraft Exchange:
Went to a friend’s solo photography show:
Went to a progressive mystery play at a mansion in our neighborhood:
Hosted a praying mantis on our porch:
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Went to see They Might be Giants at the Vogue:
Decorated for Halloween:
Took lots of walks around the neighborhood before it got too cold:
And then drove to Durham, North Carolina to see our friends Lisa and Jason get married:
Took lots of photos of Fall Color:
And attended our friend Garrett and David’s Halloween party:
November was equally busy. We attended Johnathan’s birthday:
And spend weekend after weekend raking leaves. And raking, and raking, and raking…
We went to a Naptown Roller Girls double-header bout:
And went out to eat a few times:
And at the end of November, we drove to Iowa to visit our family at my grandparent’s farm for Thanksgiving.
In December, we kicked off the holidays by baking cookies for a White Elephant gift exchange hosted at our house, after decorating.
We also did a lot more knitting:
Went to a birthday party:
And we went to several Christmas gatherings both here in town and up north with Stephanie’s family and friends.
2009 was a productive year for us. I learned some new skills and honed some old ones, and spent quality time with family and friends. I’ve done a lot less writing this year than in past ones, and taken a lot more photos instead. I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad one – I’m fairly happy with what I’ve accomplished.
I also have about 10 years of photos on Flickr now. I took my first digital photos in 1999, bought my first digital camera in 2000, and have gone through three cameras since. I’d do a retrospective of the whole decade, but I’ve already made this post much longer than I ever intended to.
I think the first decade of this millennium was a really unfortunately one in many ways, and I have hope that the next will go much better. I plan to spend the next ten years writing about and photographing it as well.
And of all the photos I’ve taken this year, this is a gallery of my very favorite ones.
