Here we go into February, and this is what the 365picturetoday site (which you can go to here, and join in if you like) has to say about February.

Welcome to February, the month of love! You have made it through a whole month of taking a photo a day. Give yourself a pat on the back. During January, you put yourself in front of the camera, photographed travel even though most of us are still stuck at home, spent a week looking for the color red, and got to intentionally break some of the rules of photography. As we greet this month of love, reflect on what you love about being on this journey of daily photography. Are you discovering particular subjects that you love to photograph? Are you discovering a love for a particular lens or camera settings? Maybe you are rekindling a relationship with photography that has been dormant for awhile. Whatever the case, celebrate the power of that love!

So patting myself on the back, check. Made it through the month, check. Put myself in front of camera, check. Yes now about that, if I’d known before I started this that each month seems to have a week of including oneself in the picture I wouldn’t have started! Of course if I’d read the instructions on the site before I’d started I would have known, so it’s my own silly fault and I will have to suck it up. A week each month of my chubby chops. Sigh. It’s not for the faint hearted so I’ll put warning signs up and you may be excused. I now am reflecting about what I love about the journey of daily photography, but no conclusive conclusions yet. Not discovering any particular subjects that I love to photograph (as yet- trying to get the cats in on the act), I love all my lenses, they, like settings are tools really to do a job, not really to love. But yes, I AM rekindling my photography as last year was a write off, and though I can’t do the stuff I love, i.e visiting history and photographing it, I am at least keeping my photography brain healthy and fit. I can celebrate that.

So on to a new week and this week is entitled, ‘Picture You, what makes you happy’. Picturing me doesn’t make me happy at all really but the suck-it-up-buttercup switch is on so I did it anyway.

Day 31~ Smile ~ This week is all about what makes you happy! One of the things that the pandemic has given us the opportunity to do is to think about what really makes us happy, what feeds our souls. There are many people in my life that make me happy. There are many things that I like to do that make me happy. The older I get, the more I realize that I need to do more of those things! Admittedly, when adulting takes over, there are days when it is hard to come by a smile. Those are the days when it is important to remind ourselves of what really makes us happy and then seek out a few moments to engage in one of those things. For me, it can be as simple as stepping outside, breathing a few minutes of fresh air, and throwing a few leaves up to the sky. For a brief moment, I am transported back to simpler times, when smiles were everywhere. Today, do what makes you happy and show us your smile. Oh dear lord, not only have I to do a selfie I have to smile when doing it. So cruel these people. Anyway, it was raining of course, so no throwing leaves in the air for me. What does make me happy is cooking yummy things and this was a fillet steak sunday lunch, which turned out perfect, surprisingly as I usually mess up cooking steak. Gordon Ramsey to the rescue and it was more yummy than a yummy thing on a yummy day. Apologies to vegan and veggie peeps, would love to join you but Phil would wring my neck. (Also, sausages. Triple chilli flavour. Food of the gods. Just sayin’. )

Day 32~ Technology~ Add some humour to your self portrait today. And, don’t forget to show some of your technology that you use on a regular basis. Well we have more technology in our house between us than NASA I should think. I am quite au fait with computers and smart phones, TV, bluray machines, xboxes etc, but I cannot get the hang of Phil’s stereo tech, I have no idea which works what. He thinks it’s funny anyway.

Day 33~ Balance ~ Life is all about balance. You don’t always need to be getting stuff done! Sometimes its perfectly okay, and absolutely necessary, to shut down, kick back, and do nothing! I’m very good at that! Show us how you balance your life with a fun activity. Blimey O’Reilly these people are a bit demanding, smile, be funny, do a fun activity. I had a busy day at work, got home in the dark, had a shower, had dinner and decided Netflix and a glass of wine or two, maybe three was a balancing fun activity.

Day 34~ Midday ~ Today we encourage you to share a glimpse of your day with the monthly “Where I Stand” prompt. The idea is to show us where you are at midday whether that’s cleaning the house, taking a break, or running errands…just don’t forget to include your feet. You can get creative with your POV or make it a simple shot from above. Phew, this one’s easy, and I was at work so could do my midday shot between clients.

Day 35 ~ Savor ~ Savor is a word that instantly puts the senses on alert. It anticipates a pleasurable experience …… one that will be enjoyed unhurriedly. A phrase that comes to mind with ‘savor’ is: ‘to savor the delights of something or some place.‘ Often, it is a special food or drink we might savor. What would you like to savor today? Blerk. This one stumped me for a while. Going to a place was out of the question so back to food. Luckily I’d got a Greggs sausage roll for my lunch, which you probably know are the best sausage rolls in the world, so I thought that would make for a good ‘savor’ shot, unfortunately that didn’t work out, and as I wolfed it down anyway I don’t think ‘savoring’ had much of a part to play. So I ‘borrowed’ one of Phil’s Magnum salty caramel icecreams on a stick, which I’m not keen on at all really, and made out like it was another sausage roll. Good acting skills here don’t you think?

Day 36 ~Stripes ~ Do you have a favourite striped object or favourite piece of striped clothing that makes you happy? Take a photo of it; and, if you’re up to it, put yourself or a part of yourself in the photo as well. Stripes! Now we’re talking!

Day 37~ Intuition~ According to the dictionary, Intuition is the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning. We are in our “What Makes Us Happy” Personal Week. For me, it’s starting my day with prayer and devotion. Intuition AND reasoning has shown me that my day ends up much better when I start it right. Think about intuition and how it influences the day today. Capture what that means to you. Seriously??? Practically impossible to photograph such a concept if you have a literal mind like I do. Praying and devotion doesn’t help much either. So intuition, it’s a bit like guessing something based on intrinsic knowledge as far as I understand it. I told Phil which hand to put it in before I guessed, so this works for me!

Well done if you got this far dear reader, you are my favourite! 😘