Twenty Pictures from 2020 with Captions
By Sam Craven
January 12 - Stu enters results at the Romancing the Stones Vintage tournament outside of MagicFest: Austin
February 8 - The XFL comes to Houston. I rather enjoyed the new iteration of the XFL. The Roughnecks were primed to head to the XFL championship game in their home stadium. COVID ended the new league’s run early.
February 15 - I had hoped that 2020 would be the year that I did more things in the neighborhood. I went to this baseball game, Rice hosting Texas, at Reckling Stadium, just under two miles from home. I was considering season tickets as they were cheap and nearby. It ended up as my last sporting event of the year. Texas won 4-0.
March 27 - My company sent people home the week after St. Patrick’s Day. Cabin fever quickly had me riding my bike around the neighborhood and discovering new things. This is “Big Alex” (Alexander Graham Bell) by local artist David Adickes on the southeast corner of Hyde Park and Mason. Mr. Adickes is perhaps most famous for his 67’ likeness of Sam Houston just off Interstate 45 in Huntsville.
April 3 - One of the many Zoom happy hours that started up this year was Alyssa Miller’s Fancy Friday. “Fancy” was specified to mean whatever you wanted it to mean. My version of fancy was that this is the first time I’d worn pants since the St. Patrick’s Day party I’d attended before lockdowns started.
April 23 - Unable to go to bars, I began making much more use of my balcony. I powered through several books as music played through the sreen door. In this picture, I’m working on a spam detection bot which I ultimately abandoned.
April 25 - This statue of Christopher Columbus in Columbus Park has been adorned with a mask. In the weeks that followed George Floyd’s death, this statue became one of many focal points for protest in Houston. On June 18th, I photographed it surrounded by chainlink fence and was followed for several minutes afterward by Houston Police. When I apssed by the next day, the statue had been taken down.
May 14 - I celebrated my birthday by buying a turntable and a pile of records. I started with Black Sabbath’s self titled album, often called the first metal record. A few friends dropped off gifts, including more music. A Zoom party that night had guests ranging from my family to industry friends and gamers I hadn’t seen in months.
June 10 - As I started riding more and more, I began to notice the problems my bike had. This was my “before” picture. I stipped and rebuilt the bike but ultimately decided to buy a new bike. This bike is currently in pieces on my balcony as I’m sanding off all its paint for a new paint job and a life as my grocery-getter bike.
June 19 - This is the halfway point of my “goal” ride. I hoped to be able to ride from my home in Montrose across the Rice, Texas Southern, University of Houston, and University of St. Thomas campuses.This photo is taken in front of the Ezekiel W Cullen Building at the University of Houston. This ride totaled 20.59 miles, a distance that would soon become a distance that I considered a twice-weekly fun ride rather than a far-off goal to be built-up to.
June 27 - While much of Central Texas was closed, it was still a beautiful place to be. This photo at the then-closed Gruene Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas.
July 24 - My family held its yearly trip to the beach at Galveston. This picture is taken the day after Hurrican Hanna made landfall a few hundred miles down the coast. This trip has been a family tradition since I was a kid. It was grandpa’s last time making the trip.
July 26 - I heard some of the family complaining that the grandkids didn’t do enough of the work at the beach. I took this as a challenge to make something outstanding for dinner. This is my shrimp, chicken, and andoillie gumbo. Including sides and dessets, I spent nearly six hours working in the kitchen on this. One aunt said it was the best gumbo she’d ever had. An uncle said it was the best thing we’d ever eaten at the beach. I hope to top myself next year.
August 8 - As I discovered more in the neighborhood, I found more enjoyable green spaces. I started getting lunch to go and picnicing in these spaces. This picture is taken on the lawn at The Menil Collection. Lunch was gyro from AL Quick Stop. This is also one of the first pictures I took with my new bike.
August 17 - I dogsat for Darlin. This is about a mile and a half into a three mile walk.
September 26 - After two years, five months, and twenty-three days, I am once again a person who has a car. It’s a 2016 Ford Focus SE Hatchback with a handful of extra options. Life with a car is substantially easier.
October 21 - I voted!
November 21 - Socially distanced concert at White Oak Music Hall. I bought a 6’x6’ square, at least 6’ from the nearest square. Squares could hold six people. Masks were required at all times when outside of your square. The bar was delivery-via-app only. I wish every concert was like this. We saw Robert Earl Keen in once of the best shows I’ve seen him in.
December 8 - Nothing in particular. One of many beautiful vistas of the city that I’d found. It was a particularly nice day out.
December 12 - Socially distanced movies with friends in Darlin’s backyard. As you can tell, Darlin lives a really tough life. The movie is Elf.