It seems that I did a poor job of posting on this blog in 2018, but I hate to let it go as if the year never happened. For the sake of brevity I am posting just one photo from each month, although there are a couple of exceptions that sneaked in.

In January, our friend Ralph introduced us to “Writers Night” at The Tambourine Lounge, which is in Sturgeon Bay. Most Thursday nights, musicians, poets and other writers congregate to perform original entertainment. We are truly impressed by the remarkably talented people in Door County and thereabouts.

In February, Julia and Pablo came to visit us from Toronto in their new car.

In March we visited our friends in Buenos Aires, which is documented in an earlier two-part post in this blog (click “Older posts” at the bottom of this post). This time we found a new friend, Alba, who is Ingrid and Nico’s first child.

On the road again! April found us on another University Icons road trip. This time our mission was to return to the University of Virginia to photograph Thomas Jefferson’s Rotunda, which was surrounded with scaffolding the last time we were there. We stopped along the way there and back to shoot a couple of dozen other schools as well.

Tobey and Anne visited in May to see Hamilton. We met for lunch at Blackbird and spent some time touring and exploring Lincoln Park and surrounds. A short visit, but sweet.

In June we were stunned and sad to learn that Younkers, a department store in Sturgeon Bay, went out of business. It’s a real loss for Door County. Younkers was a subsidiary of Bon-Ton Stores, which also owned Carson’s, Boston Stores, and several others. The times are changing.

July marked the end of an era for me. I sold my beloved scooter, which I had bought in 2012. 🙁

I lost a scooter, but gained a BBQ grill. Actually, two of them. 🙂

Somehow, I managed to have avoided ever taking one of the architectural boats tours on the Chicago River. In August Lora, Rob and Carolyn help me correct this oversight. The building on the right is 150 North Riverside, a new office building by Goettsch Partners. It sits on an incredibly narrow lot on the Chicago River and provides space for a riverwalk.

Remarkably, on August 8th, my mother celebrated her 98th birthday!

September is our favorite month to visit Door County. This year was particularly fun because Adam and Ray came to visit. In this selfie was taken at the AC Tap, a dive bar just north of Baileys Harbor.

These are not aliens from another galaxy. That’s Carolyn and Lora at a September visit to IKEA. (I’m not sure who that is behind Carolyn.)

Diane, Troy, Rachel and Kevin came to visit us in Door County in October.

November was fairly quiet. Carolyn and I spent Thanksgiving in Door County entertaining ourselves as best we could, as you can see in this photo.

Diane and Troy hosted Christmas Celebration this year. Troy prepared the most amazing short ribs for dinner. I’m still dreaming about them.

We enjoyed the last day of December with our friends Lora and Rob. Despite the insanity that prevails in Washington, it was a very good year. Here’s to 2019!