Happy Birthday and other events in 2026

I’m jumping the gun by one day with this cake image set among the sunflowers and blue skies of Ukraine. It is to honor the 168th birthday of author Joseph Conrad, one of the most famous English language writers. He was born of Polish parents on December 3rd in Ukraine. His fame came when, after serving in the British Merchant Marine, he began to write brilliant novels and short stories about his experiences and observations in Colonial Africa and Southeast Asia, including Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim.

His collected works are now available on Kindle Unlimited. The Pima County library has many of his books, but most are on Hoopla, a program I don’t use. My review: Once you have read Heart of Darkness you will never ever forget it. The movie Apocalypse Now was based on this novella. His memory deserves a dozen cakes for his contribution to English literature.

Here they are! 12 images in the 2026 Cake Calendar

After spending a year experimenting with Adobe’s Firefly, including developing a cake image for Tucson’s 250th Anniversary, I decided to put together a wall calendar for 2026, celebrating well-known and utterly obscure birthdays and events–a mix of topics that no other calendar for 2026 would include. It also includes big spaces for each day on the bottom half of the calendar for notes, reminders to yourself, and other things.

This 17″ x 11″ wall calendar is now available in the Lulu bookstore for 19.55. And here are the images included on it.

Left to right:
January – Australia Day February – George Washington’s Birthday March – St. Patrick’s Day
April – Earth Day at sea May – Kentucky Derby June – U.S. Flag Day
July – Julius Caesar’s birthday August – C. Columbus sailed from Spain September – 245th Anniversary of Los Angeles
October – Albuquerque Balloon Festival November – King Tut’s tomb discovered December – Joseph Conrad’s birthday

This 17″ x 11″ wall calendar in the Lulu bookstore for 19.55 is a terrific gift idea! Perfect for that friend who is difficult to buy for. There is absolutely no other calendar like this one!

Part 2 about Project Blue will be published tomorrow.