Today we sunbathed and went on a short exploratory hike

Yes, that’s right, sunbathed on the 31 December in the Northern hemisphere – I was impressed. Though to make up for this there was ice on the inside of our tent when we woke up.

My sunbathing was interrupted by a pack of horses crossing the creek, which confirmed my suspicion that there was a trail on the other side. This was good because when I’d spotted the chairs in the mud across the lake yesterday I’d thought that a picture of me sitting in one might make a fitting last 365 photograph. And so it turned out. Ginger declined my invitation to join me for my last picture – though we did try a few and they ended up on the cutting room floor. For a tripod I used one of the rusting chairs supported by my hiking pole. Close inspection showed that the chairs – like a lot of things in the Ozarks had been used for target practice at some point, as each had several bullet holes.

Despite it looking very calm down by the lake, we could hear the wind ripping through the trees high above on the ridges.

The end of this year’s 356 days project

That’s it for my second full 365 days. I’m not going to do another as I’ve found the self portrait format too restrictive this time around, and heaven knows the world doesn’t need anymore pictures of me taken late at night, standing by a wall or sitting at my desk. Once more I’ve enjoyed the record this project has created, but I can’t say I’ve always enjoyed the process of making it. I’ve had far too much time invested in this when I have other pressing things I ought to be dealing with. I wish I’d managed to get more people involved, but it is what it is.

Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. For Ozarks Walkabout