I ordered the yearly calendar from Zazzle this year. Overall a good experience, but the way they list their calendar sizes was confusing at best (and in my humble opinion misleading). So I thought I ordered 7 x 11 inch calendars, but I received 7 x 5.5 inch calendars. I was not pleased to say the least, especially because the box of calendars arrived on December 21st, but one angry call escalating up to their customer service manager resulted in the properly sized calendars arriving on Christmas Eve. My own experience ended up being positive, but I did advise that they change their order screen (I am rather net-ordering savvy, so if I had this problem, I'm sure others have as well).
So then I got a horrible cold and basically lost the week between Christmas and New Year's. But I finally got the packages off in today's mail to their intended recipients and I ended up with a bunch of leftover calendars. So you, my loyal readers, have a chance to win 10 large calendars and 8 small ones. Leave a comment if you want to be entered to win and I'll use a random number generator to pick the winners. Since I've been so bad about posting regularly these past few months, I'll leave the contest open for a full week to make sure everyone has a chance to enter, so please leave your comment by January 14th at midnight EST.
Wondering what you're entering to win? Here's this year's line up (and I'll include my little descriptive comments from the letter I distributed with the calendars):
Cover:
January (VPH planted the bulbs in the patio garden in the fall of 2008 and we watched with great joy as the first crocus poked its sunny little face up through the just thawed ground):
February (another early spring photo, this time it's the fiddle-head of the Cinnamon fern in the shade garden):
March (we love fresh herbs and though with the rainy weather the herb garden never really flourished this year, this shot of multiple herbs in their pots was one of my favorites):
April (marigolds were one of the few flowers to bloom reliably during the 60 days and nights of rain -- you think I'm exaggerating, but honestly I'm not):
May (not technically in our garden but photographed by me in our friend Dave's garden down the street, these clematis blooms gone to seed are almost Suessian):
June (our first foray into growing strawberries yielded about 3 berries for consumption, but numerous photos full of summer sun and warmth...even if we didn't feel much this year):
July (this seemingly tame dragonfly posed at length for me providing my first glimpse of why someone named them dragonflies):
August (this sad excuse for a garden bounty photo is the best harvest we had all summer -- just not much of a tomato year -- though we had the thickest, greenest grass ever!):
September (I like the sculptural feel of this photo of a dahlia bloom -- beaded water provided by the mist setting on the hose during one of the few beautiful afternoons we spent sunning ourselves in the garden):
October (I had about 5 great spider photos from which to choose this year, but hands down this was my favorite):
November (the sunset from the beach on Marco Island a few days before Thanksgiving -- after our awful lost summer can you blame us for escaping to Florida for 3 weeks?):
December (ending on a high note with a beautiful dahlia and cute bumblebee and hopes for a better growing season next year):
Back cover:
Oops, just noticed that this revealed VPH's identity. I checked with him and he said, "I couldn't care less."
So leave those comments and enter to win!
This is your prettiest calendar yet! Of course, my favorite picture is Marco, but I love the dragonfly, and the spider, and the clematis!
No denying it, I love it all!
Posted by: Mummer | January 07, 2010 at 06:15 PM
This is wonderful! I especially love the photo with the bee in the flower. Nicely done!
Posted by: jodi (bloomingwriter) | January 07, 2010 at 08:18 PM
Great pics! Helps me think of spring in the middle of snow covered Illinois.
Posted by: John G. | January 08, 2010 at 08:44 AM
Your photo selections are wonderful. They flow through the year beautifully. :)
Posted by: Kate | January 08, 2010 at 12:20 PM
The pictures are so beautiful! Wish my garden looked so good.
Posted by: Caren | January 08, 2010 at 08:53 PM
The wall is bare and screaming for more Heather shots....These are quite beautiful.
Posted by: Layanee | January 08, 2010 at 11:25 PM
Simply gorgeous. Love the fiddlehead fern.
Posted by: fern | January 09, 2010 at 12:41 PM
Lovely calendar shots! I think my favorite is December!
Posted by: Araby | January 10, 2010 at 12:44 AM
Wow it is just goreous Heather, great work. I wish you a lovely gardening year 2010/ Tyra
Posted by: Tyra in Vaxholm | January 13, 2010 at 02:21 AM
I'd love to win one of your beautiful calendars. :) Love the September dahlia!
Posted by: Nancy Bond | January 13, 2010 at 10:26 AM
It's beautiful! I don't know if I have made it under the wire in time for the deadline, but I hope so...am so behind with my feed reader that I have barely read a single blog post yet in 2010 -- and therefore missed this! (Thanks for the heads up!) :-)
Posted by: Genie | January 14, 2010 at 04:37 PM
It is so beautiful!
I've got my fingers crossed that you pick me!
Posted by: regina bartlett | January 14, 2010 at 11:04 PM
pick me!!!
Posted by: MJM | January 14, 2010 at 11:12 PM