In all my years on the blockchain, never have I created a tag. If this #GreatestHits2020 inspires you, feel free to use it as you sum up the highlights of your year.
What a year! Nobody saw this coming huh? Has your sense of entitlement taken a blow or are you seeing others realize that life is challenging and fleeting? Have things changed permanently or is this just immersive but temporary? I suppose it may be all of the above and TBD.
As is my way, I choose to focus upon the positive. I like to chant the mantra "you win or you learn." The challenges are the things that define us and we progressively form our character when we are out of our comfort zone.
So, for the remaining days of 2020, I will rally along with @wesphilbin and post a #thoughtfuldailypost every day with a different list of greatest hits. I will take requests on the theme. Be it The Best of the Weekly Zekely, The Best Food of the Year, top 10 Charitable Initiatives, Most 2020 Zeke Thoughts, or whatever is requested by my beloved and powerful legion of followers.
Photos of the Year
Let me start by saying that I am much less of a photographer than so many of the legit ones all over this blockchain. I am more a hack with a newer iPhone and an eye for little things. I will start with the photos of the year. They can be ones that I enjoy the most, the colourful or luckily composed images, or the ones that inspired the most conversation, like this one.
Late autumn, it had already snowed but there were rebellious blooms refusing to yield. I forget the name of this breed but will research and report when it pops up again this spring. I have saved many crops and zooms of this images as it is vibrant stock footage I can use for many different purposes. This particular one could be a national flag for a vibrant beautiful, multicultural country.
I enjoy this picture not as much because I managed to snap a slice of nature's simple grandeur, but due to the fact I saw this bloom, promised myself I would return to take a pic of it, and I did! Simple victories can produce beautiful results!
Inspired by Double D
This mid-autumn photograph is really all that spectacular in my blessed life. Before Daylight Savings Time changes, I catch a slightly obstructed view of the sunrise from my front door. I usually pause only a second to drink it in but, this morning, I lingered a little longer before driving my little one to school.
I think it was because the moment reminded me of the mornings @davedickeyyall has shared the sunrise as he welcomes it with the #morningbowl. I never imagined the blockchain delivering me the breaking dawn or giving me the ability to deliver it to others.
Let There Be Art!
It is easier to take nice photos when you capture nice images. Photographing art seems to be easy mode but I am still proud of this photo. Not proud of my efforts or outcome as much as for what this art means right now. Lockdowns and restrictions played havoc on artists, dining venues, and the community that celebrates art.
This picture captures part of a technicolour piece by local artists https://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/entertainment/local-arts/revival-house-mural-part-of-local-push-for-more-public-art-projects-in-stratford created upon a canvas provided by https://revival.house which is a business that is leading and evolving while 1/3 others in the province are folding. When you add in the response and applause from the community, this is simply a brilliant combination of creativity, support and resilience.
#NoFilter
I may be typecasting myself as a nature buff but I think it is simply because I have managed to surround myself with equal parts civilization and nature. I still live in town but moved from the big city in the last while in order to take advantage of cleaner air, brighter stars and more space with which to fill with life.
Out my front door, for approximately 3 weeks, I am treated by the effects of evening frost on a maple tree. Having simply gazed upon it a for a few years, I decided that I would take an all-Canadian stock photo I could use to strengthen my hoser brand.
Quite a few trees have fallen in my neighbourhood this year. Long may this ball of flame burn under blue skies!
More Outdoors, with added white privilege!
So many reasons this is among my favourite photos. The manicured layers of the subject matter are enough to induce euphoria and the double lens flare is the icing on the cake! Further than that, this shot reminds me that, in an era of global pandemic, I managed to golf more times than the last 10 years combined. If that is not white privilege, I don't know what is. I balance these moments with hard work and volunteering with the local multicultural association so my conscience is as settled as my body for the activity and challenge. Even deeper, you would see that it is about to get very dark, my golf partner and I are only on hole #14, and we are like teenagers again speed golfing and squeezing way too much golf into the day.
Life Everywhere
The week provincial parks and conservation areas opened, we scooped up the family and headed to a previously swimming hole. It being the first post-lockdown road trip, it felt equal parts strange and normal. Here we are, enjoying nature with more folks than we are used to dealing with over the last few months (zero outside of our bubble) celebrating the out doors with a bit more apprehension than years past.
Still, life prevails and that is what this picture represents to me. In the grand scheme of things, our existence is as improbable, fantastic and temporary as this brave bloom sprouting from a crack in a log that is part of a rail.
Before 2020, I visited quite a few restaurants and the @tasteem dapp on the Steem blockchain was my once-a-week portal into the life of a foodie. The community and rewards were great and I hoped it would make the leap to the real decentralized social media and commerce blockchain so that I could continue to work on my game.
Well 2020 took that from me but couldn't take away my patented Extreme Dramatic Close-up food pics. Many fewer people around to raise an eyebrow at me stuffing my phone into my food to give that on-the-edge-of my plate perspective so sought after.
This one was shot a week before the post-lockdown launch of fine dining...to go! Again I am talking about https://revival.house as I tell the stories that need to be told. These were not only tasty as they look, but became core to the menu of a restaurant that kept me busy and engaged with the community. Indeed I have eaten well along the way and have hopefully helped sustain something that will be much larger in the future.
You bet your ass there was beer involved. If there was a beer-specific classification of photography, my Beerologist specialization would compel me to throw my hat into the ring.
No matter how strange a summer it was, or the less-than-ideal circumstances in the periphery, beer can make a moment beautiful. The digital haze in the label almost flows into the depth of field of the backdrop. Despite what we perceive to be happening overall, we can retreat with loved ones, breath in the air, and enjoy a FANTASTIC BEER! Not only that, I can look back on my Haze Mama shot to remember the warm weather in the dead of winter, enjoying the same wonderful brew.
Here are a few of my favourite moments that mark a very special year for me. I am thankful, inspired and empowered knowing that a challenging year overall has yielded such amazing rewards and prospects. As the sun goes down on such a fantastic year, let us be ready for an even better one in five days.
This movement is gaining momentum and now is being curated by @thoughtfulposts to whom I have delegated some #hive https://hive.blog/introduceyourself/@thoughtfulposts/thoughtfulposts-introduction-or-a-thoughtfuldailypost is where you can get the details and please consider delegating to help make positivity extra rewarding.
I invite you to pen your own #thoughtfuldailypost any day of the week and spill your wisdom on the world via the blockchain.
I am honoured to curate for:
That's a pretty darn good list, and I look forward to the rest of the year's worth.
I REALLY had a good year. I am plus 8 in siblings in the last year, that alone is enough to push it to the top of my greatest years.
One other thing that really sticks out for me. I wear a mask when I am anywhere but at home or in the desert. Because I wear a mask whenever I am in public I don't need to be near so fastidious with trimming my nose hair. A serious time saver...
Hahaha THAT's what I am talking about!
A part of me feels a little bad for having felt this was a great year. No sense feeling bad for being an optimist and making the best of any situation.
The next one is coming this aft and will feature the greatest charitable event hits.
Good times, bad times through the year. Excellent photography to emphasize the story depicting your thoughts @zekepickleman
@tipu curate
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I do believe that the beautiful flower you shared is a Daisy... but don't quote me. #greatesthits2020 is a perfect TAG to associate with #thoughtfuldailypost and the need for more positive energy. Look forward to seeing what everyone will share..
That's a great list.. I like that maple leaf.. #nofilter ... just like my mouth