As I write this, it is halfway through the first month of 2026. I missed uploading onto this blog last month because I couldn’t get what I had written edited before I traveled to see my sister and her husband in Florida for the holidays. Whatever holidays that you may celebrate, I hope that you had a good time and got to be with your family.
When we were in Florida, I got to see my brother-in-law fly a helicopter on two occasions. During the first flight, he flew Santa around the city. He said that he had wanted to do that for some time and this was the year that the Navy finally chose him as the pilot.
The second time we saw him fly, my mom and I were at a park that is surrounded by beaches. We had been watching some pelicans way off over the ocean diving into the water. I presume that they were trying to catch some fish. It wasn’t until we got back to their house, looked at the pictures, that we realized that there were dolphins jumping in that area. Once my brother-in-law got back to his house, we asked him if he had seen the dolphins and he told us that he had seen them from the helicopter.
We went out to the same park the following day and we saw an osprey shortly after we entered the park. While we hiked, we saw some blue herons, hawks, and a bald eagle. While walking on one of the hiking paths we heard a call and saw that it was the eagle. After some time photographing it, my mom walked off as I continued getting pictures and a hawk flew past me. Unfortunately, I did not see where that hawk landed.
After getting back from Florida, I have continued my walks around the neighborhood that I live in. I have seen the blue heron, barred owls, a hawk, and finally got a picture of one of the foxes. I know that I can do better, but I am happy to have finally seen one while I have the camera on me.
I had told some people that I was considering entering some pictures into a competition, but that did not happen this year. One of the rules for that competition is that most of your pictures that are entered must be unpublished, which is a part of why I am holding back the best of the pictures. Perhaps I will get them uploaded for the next year of the competition and then when it is over, I can publish some of my best pictures to the website.
The temperatures throughout the winter has gone up and down a fair amount where I live.
For the past couple of weeks, when I haven’t been out walking the dog or trying to photograph wildlife, I have spent more time reading than I usually do in the warmer months. I have finished several books including The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, The Secret History by Donna Tartt, and The Jackal’s Mistress by Chris Bohjalian, among others. I hope that you are enjoying a good book during the colder months and perhaps you can recommend one to me.