A Long Goodbye

Time to reveal the February image for the 2026 Photography 139 Calendar.

FEBRUARY – 2026

Technical Details

• CAMERA: Sony 7RMV
• LENS: Sigma 105mm f/2.8
• APERTURE: f/8
• SHUTTER SPEED: 1/60
• ISO 400
• DATE TAKEN: May 28, 2025

The subject for the February image is a macro image of an ant on top of a peony in my backyard. I probably took hundreds of images of ants on my peonies before capturing the one that I wanted. I entered this image into the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon and it was accepted for display. It is the only image in the calendar that I entered in the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. It is possible one of the images from this calendar will get entered in the 2026 Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. But I am still 5 months from having to think about it. One thing I learned through the distribution of these calendars is that I seem to know quite a few people that are afraid of ants. Which was somewhere between shocking to surprising to me. They are beautiful creatures that in almost every conceivable way are superior to humans.

Tomorrow I will reveal the March image.

---

Did you hear the one about the girl
Who’d never seen a cactus tree?
In her mind, she traveled around the world
But never saw a plane ’til 17

While knuckling the armrest only bound for Idaho
Hoping for the best, but you don’t know what you don’t know
That it only takes a window seat
To see the world was underwater too
And I only had to lose my way to be found by you
To be found by you

He went out the window on a New Year’s Day
And shattered his body on a downtown street
Yeah, we’re all just a broken heart away
From making a promise that we’re forced to keep
Doing 90 in a 45 on Ambien and Jack
The spinning wheel makes a ticking sound
And sometimes it lands on black

Some kids make it home at night
And some kids never do
I almost had to lose my mind to be found by you
To be found by you

There’s a picture of you on your grandma’s wall
You and your hair are straight and light
It’s just an awkward moment that’s locked in time
But I can see Elijah in your eyes
What I wouldn’t give to hold you in those days and still
What if we had broke up over Jagged Little Pill?

We don’t curse the broken miles of age
That it takes to see this through
Yeah, I probably had to lose those years to be found by you
I know I had to lose my way to be found by you

In a moment, everything could change
Anything can change

Let it go
Keep it light
Let it snow
Let the wind blow all night
It’s only life after all
It’s a blink of an eye
It’s a long goodbye
It’s a long goodbye
It’s a long
Goodbye

Songwriters: Phillip John Hanseroth / Timothy Jay Hanseroth / Andrew Wotman / Brandi Marie Carlile

This is the final song on Brandi Carlile’s latest album. Which if you don’t own and aren’t giving a spin on the daily… well I hate to be the one to tell it to you… you are listening to music wrong. Now I guess I’ll have to concentrate on love songs from the show PEACEMAKER for a bit.

But Thursdays are for flowers and I had to, well chose to only concentrate on a year in review on Thursday. But I can’t go a week without sharing some flowertography. This week’s flowertography session is a continuation of pictures I took at the State Center Rose Garden.

We’ll be back on track next Thursday with the final collection of images from the State Center Rose Garden.