The Year in Pictures

January 2013 began in this beloved old house, our second year of return to life in the tiny city near the capital. The best decision we made in 2012 was to come back to this house.

In February, my husband and I traveled to Savannah, GA, for a conference on the Gothic at which I presented part of my book project. I fell in love with Savannah and hope to return someday.

March roared in like a lion with lots of snow and ice and sleet and cold. In retrospect, it really has been a pretty chilly year...

But April, as usual, dazzled us with its beauties... And it was the month in which I celebrated achieving my promotion to tenure!

May was a month of roses.

We traveled to Annapolis, MD, in June for my niece's high school graduation. It also was a busy month with work, especially the inaugural session of the Summer Teaching Institute that I proposed and co-taught with a dear friend.

July marked our 19th anniversary, which we spent partially rescuing a lost Australian Shepherd.

August was gorgeous, a month of feasting on everything that late summer has to offer. My husband also built the new steps to our patio.  

In September, I decided to learn how to preserve the glorious bounty of tomatoes, peaches, and other edible gifts that summers here bestow on us so generously. This also was the month when I found myself back in the hospital because of my atrial flutter, which got worse in 2013.

October, my favorite month, gave us another Halloween, albeit a cold and wet one, in our beloved house.

For Thanksgiving, we went to Puerto Rico and stayed at the little studio in Isla Verde that served as our home for three weeks in 2011.

For Christmas, my brother and his family visited us here for the first time since May 2005
and we drove up to Annapolis (two visits there this year!) so we could all be together.

Thank you, 2013, for ending pretty much as promisingly as you started 

(despite the few atrial flutter setbacks here and there). 

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!