Like many individuals, I’ve greeted the brand new yr with some trepidation. A yr in the past, I welcomed 2021 with an virtually giddy pleasure: Vaccinations promised to place the Covid-19 pandemic behind us, and I invested appreciable hope within the coming change of political regime in the USA. A yr later, I’m wiser concerning the limits of vaccinations, concerning the mutation methods of viruses, and concerning the ways in which humanity’s apparent lack of management over pandemic illness triggers emotional responses that stoke political and social divisions.

All of which made it much more essential to look again on the sources of pleasure and pleasure in my life as I enter 2022. As I’ve been doing for greater than a decade, I created a present calendar for household and mates that includes pictures representing the most effective of my backyard in 2021. (And, as an added bonus, I used to be capable of ship most of these calendars in particular person this yr, relatively than sending them by the mail whereas I remoted at house!) Listed below are the pictures I selected for this yr’s calendar:

I want all of you magnificence, pleasure and good well being within the new yr.