Spo-reflections on wall calendars

I like wall calendars although they are fuddy-duddy in these modern times. It’s sort of like preferring a paper daily appointment books to some sort of online calendar where you and the world all know your business, Someone, who is more clever than I, uses Google or one of that crowd to coordinate all he does in life, but Urs Truly, who leads a dull life, manages just fine with wall calendars, thank you very much. One hangs in each of my offices and there is one in the office kitchen area too. One hangs by the desk in The Dragon Room at home.

My passion for wall calendars started early in life. In our youth, Brother #2 and I got a yearly calendar that included stickers to commemorate certain days like ‘bad day’ and to countdown our birthdays. These kiddie calendars came with fun facts about the months as well. Oh to have one of those calendars again! Alas, Babylon, I cannot remember the manufacturer to see if they still exist.

I still write on these calendars the dates of appointments, pay days, and days off – the later have a bright pink sharpie X on them. With a face calendar I can see at a glance all that is happening this month. If I had more to do or what I do gets moved about a lot, this system wouldn’t work. But for now it does. I lead a dull life; it can be managed on a face calendar hanging on the wall.

One of the nice things about a face calendar is they have pretty pictures and there are no lack of variety to choose from. Once upon a time I would vary them; nowadays they are the same ones.

At the PHX office: Inuit artwork.

At the MESA office: Owls (I love them so)

At home: DougT’s butterfly calendar; he makes one every year.

Before the pandemic when folks traveled on a regular basis Brother #3 made family calendars using photos from all the various brothers and cousins, with a mind to put seasonal photos to the right month. There was always a ‘pet month’ featuring everyone’s cats and dogs and parakeets. Alas, Babylon! He hasn’t made one in years as no one is traveling or taking photos. Worse, in 2025, we all lost our dogs and cats from old age. I miss these calendars.

What still varies is the calendar that goes up in the office kitchen. I doubt anyone looks at this one but it is comforting to see as I make the morning brews. The 2026 calendar will be of nature prints from wooden blocks. I misread the dimensions of the calendar as it is a small thing hardly taking up the space above the coffee machines and tea-things.

Do you use a wall calendar? Where do you hang it? Do you use it other than for decoration?