WooHoo! I Made Another Nightscape Calendar!

2026 arrives with the Full Moon, Auroras, the Milky Way, Star Trails and More!

Thank you all for your enthusiastic support of my 2025 Washington Nightscapes calendar. The project was so successful and fun I’ve made another one for 2026.

Lat year, you and I ordered 98 of my 2025 calendars through Lulu.com, and I was able to donate close to $250 each to The Salmon Center and St. David of Wales, which I will be donating to again this year (more about them below). Additionally, Jennie Wetter of Infinity Real Estate in Gig Harbor (my broker when I had a real estate license) arranged a branded printing for her mailing list of about 2000 which provided a generous charitable donation of $600 to each nonprofit.

I’m hoping we’ll top 100 in sales for 2026 and I’ve made some improvements this year at your request. The first is a short caption on each photo with the location. You’ll also find larger numbers for the dates so that they’re visible from a greater distance. That means there isn’t room to write appointments on the calendar itself, but that’s what our phone calendars and scratch paper are for, right?

Like last year, every day of the year includes an observance. However, unlike last year I’ve included popular observances like Groundhog Day and Valentine’s Day — instead of Work Naked Day and Library Lovers Day.

And like last year, I’m selling the calendar through lulu.com. Print-on-demand fits my budget and allows me not to have a closet full of unsold product at year-end. I know that shipping fees add to your costs, so I’ve kept the price at $19.99 again this year.

Many of you know that my stepdad died this June, and I spent more than two months away from home in the late spring and summer, so I missed a number of opportunities to photograph the Milky Way and Northern Lights.

I did walk down my parent’s steep road one midnight on my first trip to their home in the Sierra Foothills in May, but encountered a pair of glowing yellow eyes (coyote, fox, deer, cougar, bear — all were possible, and I have no idea which it was) in my path. I stopped frozen with fear until I slowly backed up, and those yellow eyes followed me for many tense yards before they finally disappeared into the hillside. Safely inside, I considered never setting foot outdoors at night again! Thankfully, photographing the night sky from my home is a different story. I often step just outside the door onto the balcony or waterfront deck in my pjs and slippers. And even when I’m on the beach, the only wildlife that startle me are herons squawking as they fly away and seals snorting in the water or on our float, and I’m used to them by now.

All that is to say, I put together a draft of images from 2025 only, but when I showed it to my mom, who lives with my husband and me now, I felt the calendar as a whole lacked the variety, vibrance, and wow factor I wanted, considering each image will be on display for a month. She said all the images didn’t have to be from this year, so I took her advice. Several photos are from 2024, and one is from 2023. I tried to keep the captions on the photos minimal, so I didn’t include the dates they were taken, but if you want to know, drop me a line and Ill fill you in.

The interior images of this year’s calendar feature stars and planets in the winter sky (which appear closer and brighter than the summer sky), the full moon just after dawn (which appeared on the front page of The Shelton Mason Journal), the Milky Way from a variety of locations, several expressions of the Aurora Borealis, and two star trails. The cover image of fireworks was taken on Independence Day when we launched some of my sister-in-law Carole’s ashes (she died one year ago) into the sky riding on the rockets (which are legal here in Washington).

Here are the images I’ve included. (They’re cropped square here. In the calendar, they are 8.5 x 11.)

The more I learn about the beautiful and challenging environment where I reside, the more I recognize its fragility. Like last year, I will be donating 50% of my profits from each calendar sold to the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group, which has provided more than 30 years of salmon research, restoration, and education in the Hood Canal watershed.

I will be donating the other 50% to my local faith community, St. David of Wales Episcopal Church, a small historic church that founded the first food bank and shelter for the unhoused in Shelton, WA (both are now independent nonprofits), and continues to empower and support our members in serving our neighbors.

I hope you’ll consider purchasing a calendar for yourself, or as a Christmas gift. (Allow about 2 weeks from ordering for delivery.) And please send on this post to others who might be interested. Thanks so much!