100 Seconds to Midnight

And what have you done Another year over And a new one just begun John Lennon/Yoko Ono Awash with pre teenage angst and clinging to her friend, my 12 year old self cried her eyes out to that song at the end of the school Christmas Disco in 1982.  I imagine it had something to do with last dance rejection from the then object of my desires, but I suspect too that it was actually the start of my relationship with 'end of year melancholy' that was to follow me through the next four decades - until now. If this year has taught me anything, it is this -  be grateful for what you have, do not take your health, happiness and freedom for granted, and never underestimate the value of good friends, with everything else stripped away those moments of shared togetherness become more important than ever. Visiting my son and girlfriend in London in January; drinking raspberry Bellini's with my sister and other son having just watched him perform live in February; celebrating our friend...

Ten days - one dress - several hundred photographs! I've had mixed feelings about the first tenth of my 100 Day Dress Challenge.  For whilst I am loving wearing the dress and subsequent liberation from the ongoing question of "What am I going to wear today?" I'm pretty sure that stressing over the daily photographic evidence was not the intended outcome, and certainly doesn't fit with premise of having more time to do the things you love.  It is, after all, not a photographic competition - but by the time I am a couple of days in, I have a sneaking suspicion that, for me, it might as well be.  And when, on Day 4 I discover that fog is forecast for the following morning and message a friend to ask if she'd be up for a 8.30am woodland photoshoot to catch the atmosphere, I think I'd be hard pushed to convince anyone otherwise. Luckily for me, said friend was indeed prepared to take on the job and off we went into the woods in search of the perfect shot.  Seph...