Remember when we used to sit on the floor sorting through boxes of photos, reminiscing, laughing or groaning depending on how we looked back then? There is no box now. Our photos are on the computer, the iPad or the phone.

So how do we reminisce?

I start by combing through digital files, picking the best shots and printing them out. I don’t do fancy editing, only what’s available in iPhoto, but I do like to tinker with my pictures, cropping, fixing red eye, enhancing color. Once they’re printed, I frame them and put them wherever there’s room in the house.

We take it beyond that at the lake. Last summer was our 13th one there, and we spent it taking the usual gazillion shots of kids, parents, kayaks, sunsets, and loons. Now I’m wading through SD cards to pick the best 17 or 18 for our 2011 collage, a collection of prints from the year put in one large frame. Since I do this every year, we have an amazing collection of memories lining the stairways of our home for all to see. We had a ton of fun this summer looking at earlier collages, and the grandkids are old enough now to love seeing themselves as babies.

I got behind last year and still have the 2010 collage prints to be arranged, but I can’t know the dimensions of the collage until I decide where it should go. We can’t just stick them anywhere. Once they’re framed, they’re BIG – up to 3 feet by 3 feet.

I did some printing this week and hope to do next week, before the enthusiasm dies.

Actually, I want to get it done before I start writing my book!