So lets recap 2009.
I continued my picture taking and you can see my progress at As I See It 2009. I have found that I am really enjoying this picture taking project. I will definitely continue this year and you can see those photos at As I See It 2010. For some reason I had a little more difficulty finding things to photograph this year. I think that when I did As I See It 2008 it was easier, maybe because it was new. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed 2009 as much as 2008 it just seemed harder. Anyway I am looking forward to photographing 2010 and continuing to better my skills.As for my hobby - letterboxing, it has been a bittersweet year. The year started off with an interview. I was contacted by the Albuquerque Journal and they were interested in doing an article about letterboxing.
I had mixed feelings but eventually agreed. The article was titled "You've Got Mail" and you can read it at Astro D's blog in her post 15 Minutes of Fame. The article turned out well but it also exposed the hobby more than I liked. The boxes I have planted received many visitors this year and for the most part I received positive comments but unfortunately there were a few really nasty ones. The most recent was in November. That one really knocked me for a loop. The comment I received literally told me I should have wrote the clues to state exactly where the box was. The jist of the note made it sound like I should put markers along the road leading right to the spot where the box is hidden and then place a flashing red light right over the box. It just took away all the joy of the hobby. I have since pulled back from the hobby - the enjoyment I felt had greatly diminished. I have done some letterboxing since then but not like normal. And I will think long and hard before I place another box and let it be scrutiny for another bitter letterboxer. For now I am pretty much keeping to myself with the hobby and I will wait and see what 2010 brings. As for my letterboxing adventures this year here is what I did. 
Thomas and I took a winter trip to Bosque del Apache and to Las Cruces - this was to see the birds and to do some letterboxing and you can read about it at The Forest and the Crosses. I also made sure to get out to letterbox on February 16 - my anniversary date. That story is at Three Year Letterboxing Anniversary. In March Astro D and I headed to Texas for T.A.L.E. 6 and we were joined by Bell Motel for part of the trip. You can read all about it at Texas Heritage Letterboxing Trip. It was a great time - I always have fun with the Texas letterboxers. Then in April Thomas and I took a long weekend to go to Oklahoma for a letterboxing event at Lake Murray. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed meeting some new friends. You can read about it at Oooooooooklahoma! to find out what we did there. In May Thomas and I took the train to Chicago. While there we did a little letterboxing, those stories can be seen here. Then in July we spent the weekend of the 4th in Broomfield, CO visiting Thomas' brother. I did get to do quite a bit of letterboxing in the Centennial State while we were there. By August I was antsy to do some more letterboxing so I jumped in the car for a few days in Arizona. I letterboxed along I40 to Gallup, then continued along I40 to Flagstaff, I made it all the way to Williams before turning around and heading home. In September Astro D, rubberpeace and I hosted a letterboxing event - El Rancho de Los Letterboxes. It was a good event, very relaxing with some great boxes and some really nice people. I think everyone had a great time. Thomas and I usually try and take a couple of vacations a year and in the fall we traveled to the Oregon Coast. We did a lot of letterboxing and a few other things. You can read all about the trip at Letterboxing on the Oregon Coast. This brings us to November and the horrible note that put a damper on my letterboxing enthusiasm. Besides these trips I did quite a bit of letterboxing in New Mexico especially around Santa Fe and Albuquerque. I also got to meet quite a few letterboxers throughout the year and that is always nice.
We took quite a few trips this year and most of them I mentioned when I talked about letterboxing so bare with me as I list all of our trips. We traveled to southern NM to Las Cruces, I took a trip to Texas with Astro D. Thomas and I went to Ardmore, OK for a long weekend at Lake Murray. Our major spring trip was an Amtrak train ride to Chicago where we spent an incredible week. We also spent the Fourth of July weekend in Colorado. I then took a trip by myself to Arizona for a few days. And then we took our big fall trip to the Oregon Coast. Our last trip of the year was a week in Lafayette, LA visiting my family for the Christmas Holidays. Mixed in with all these big trips we also took day trips in and around New Mexico. It was a great year for traveling for us. We had a great time and some wonderful memories.
As for our health we are doing pretty good except for maybe being a little overweight and having high cholesterol. With medicine the cholesterol seems to be under control and both Thomas and I are starting to pay more attention to our diet and exercise. Hopefully in 2010 we can lose some weight and help our health a little more. And as for my detached retina things are going well. The retina is attached and has healed but I still have blurry vision in my left eye. You can read the whole story at Detached Retina.You may remember at the end of 2008 that we had to say goodbye to our bulldog Boudreaux.
And in December we adopted a blue heeler mix and named her Daisy. Well at the end of 2009 we decided Daisy needed a playmate and we adopted another blue heeler mix and we named him Buddy. The two dogs seem to be becoming good friends very fast. They sure have livened up the house.2009 was a pretty good year and I am hoping that 2010 will be just as good or even better. Happy New Year everyone - best of luck to all of you.
+Savino-HS-019.jpg)
