This year I thought I would give everyone a one-of-a-kind present in which I had invested hours of creative work. I created an account at Kodak EasyShare Gallery, uploaded some of my best dragonfly pictures, and created a prototype 2007 calendar that I could share with the family. The calendars cost only $20 apiece, less than I would usually put on a gift card, so I would spend less money than usual. But how could they put a price on an original work of art?
My prototype arrived last week. I was impressed with the turnaround time: less than one week from the day I paid online until I found the package in my mailbox. I would grade the print quality a B, not as sharp and as evenly colored as my ideal vision but a very nice job nonetheless, well worth the 20 bucks.
For the cover I chose a photo that I personally like, but I thought might be too "busy" for someone to have to stare at for an entire month. It is an Eastern amberwing female perched on a spent black-eyed susan deep in a bed of the flowers:
For the first month of the new year, I chose a happy blue dasher male "smiling" at the camera:
For February, I picked this female four-spotted pennant. Her orange abdomen thrown up in the air like a warming thermometer seems a good symbol for humans ready for winter to end:
In honor of spring and St. Patrick's Day, I chose one of the greenest pictures I had for March:
And since the primary colors in this next picture—the greens, yellows, and pinks—are reminiscent of Easter eggs, I'm using this scarlet skimmer female for April:
Heat, humidity, and rampant plant growth characterize summer in Florida, so I picked this Halloween pennant female for May. Her warm markings against the green background colors represent the start of our hot season.
And for June, I decided I liked this female blue dasher, the rain drops on the flower buds typical of the afternoon thunderstorms we can expect:
Since we celebrate the 4th in July, I chose this Carolina saddlebags male because of his red tones against the blue sky, the colors of the holiday:
By August, the heat has exhausted a lot of Florida plants, so I used this roseate skimmer female for her appropriate colors:
In September, if I lived in the North, the leaves would change colors, and this photo of an Eastern amberwing male captures the brilliance of the deciduous trees losing their foliage:
For October, I picked this mature male four-spotted pennant, his black color typical of Halloween demons. In the prototype, this photo reproduced the most poorly, so I will probably switch it out for something else, maybe a male Halloween pennant who has the right shade of orange for this month's holiday.
For November, a "dead" month, cold and gray, I chose this male Halloween pennant. This photo also didn't reproduce that well, so I will probably change it out too:
And for December, I chose this immature four-spotted pennant, one of my favorite photos from Lake Pamela:
I think my family will think, Oh, nice, a calendar. Now where's my real present? My hours of creative work won't matter as much as their moments of pleasure spending the money on the gift cards they anticipate. Perhaps I will just buy them those gift cards and share the calendars with my more appreciative friends.
