2020, what a year it was! It started off pretty good for me with the planning of yet another Norway Photographic Vacation which was scheduled and executed by the end of February. But, while travelling back home, an unimaginable future was beginning to take hold of the world. Norway had just seen its first Covid-19 death!
Once back home I settled into a self-destructive rhythm of daily painting at least one picture a day and otherwise very little movement, with the effect that my physical fitness declined to the point where my illness (see other posts for details) appeared to progress much faster than usual, leaving me very worried about my future. Fortunately, I have a fantastic wife who motivated me to spent some time on various long weekend trips in the area, Cape May and the Jersey Shore, to name a few.
Politically, it was a year that split the nation, and, no matter where you stand, it was the year of the dismemberment of democratic principles and the constitution of the United States! As the events unfolded, I could not help myself but to see parallels to Germany 90 years ago where equally a democratic system was destroyed by one man and his henchmen. As of the time of this writing, the final chapter of this travesty still has to be recorded, I sure hope it ends differently than the one in Germany did!
The year wound down with mixed emotions. While I had a daring, but great, trip to Oregon to participate in an Infrared Workshop, I also lost my dog. He was with us only for 7 years and he died way too early of a kidney disease. It hit me pretty hard, and although some time has passed, I still have moments where I expect him to show up, coming in from another room, or posing in a way that only he could.
So, let’s look forward to a better future in which Covid-19 is defeated and the nation comes back together again so we all can be proud of this wonderful country!
Ingo
