And So I Begin Again...

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 Hello out there!  It has been quite a while since I have been here and it certainly shows.  This blog host thingy (also known as Blogger) has changed quite a bit in the past few years and I have spent the better part of four hours off and on today just trying to get this page set up in a format that I think I can tolerate for a year ( I am not completely convinced yet but I have given up fiddling around).  You don't even want to know how long it took before I found the "save" icon after uploading the header photo 😑!

Anyway, I believe I'm ready to go so I should explain what I hope to achieve with this version of my blog.  If you read the title description above, you'll see four main goals: 

1.  To succeed at retirement.

2.  To resume my photography hobby.

3.  To ensure a happy and healthy future.

4.  To practice gratitude.

I'll certainly get into more details as this process progresses but for now, here is a brief (or not so brief) synopsis...

I'm coming up to my one year anniversary of retirement.  For the most part, I have no regrets about the decision I made to retire at a (relatively) young age and with a slightly reduced pension.  I have, however, had some unexpected challenges and some unwelcome insights that have prompted self-reflection and obliged further investigation (via books, in case you don't know me and didn't automatically assume this as a given 😄).  

I have every intention of year two being an improvement over year one in one way or another.  Starting this blog is step one.  Who knows how many steps will be required and what form those steps will take but I'm putting it out there into the universe that I am planning on doing the work.  Maybe it's a process that never ends.  Or ends then begins again.  And again.  And again...

If you're still reading this, I invite you to hold me accountable.  Maybe you can benefit from my missteps or my successes.  Maybe I'll benefit from your input (should you be kind enough to engage).  You're also welcome to just scroll through for the photos.  I'm happy to share beauty and that's what I hope to be making with my photography again.

In the style of my previous blogs, I thought of this one in the form of a weekly post and as such, I created a list of 52 topics to span the upcoming year.  Each topic is something for which I am grateful and I will photograph each theme (at least I hope to do that - it might take some practice to get back into that groove) and write something (hopefully) relevant.

I'll get started some time this month and post weekly-ish until next June.  Until then, here are a few photos from my first-in-a-very-long-time outing with my camera.






Thanks for your time.  Talk to you soon!



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