In which I take a photo every day that I'm 50, and post it here on this blog, with a bit of related blurb.

Wednesday 15 January 2014

Day 32 - Zebra Stripes

dream of a pot

I've just realised (as I wrote the title for this entry) that this is officially Month Two of my 12 month blog series.   I made it through the first month without missing a day!!  

I'm really pleased about this fact, but I don't really know why.   The blog has no particular direction or purpose.   It was just supposed to be a series of random photographs...but I clearly hadn't thought it through. 

I hadn't planned the mechanics of it further than a vague thought of "I'll keep the pics on a blog".   

I've never been that interested in blogs and had certainly never written one before.

However, I use google products a lot, and I thought they had a blog tool.  After a quick search...so they have.   Ok, where to start?

Create a blog...great, now

Give it a name...oh, erm, 501aday?  No that's taken..ah, ok 5Oh1aday...

Now pick a theme...black and orange, that works nicely...

Create a post...Title?   Oh, ok I'll give it a title.

Load the pic...Caption?  Ah, erm I dunno, some witty comment.

Now enter your text...oh, I have to write something?  Erm blurt...

So there I was having to put a load of extra stuff around the photo...and having a natural tendency to the verbose (when writing at least), before long I found myself producing fairly long posts daily.  

It's been fascinating, and I've enjoyed it immensely.  I often start writing with no plan, and see what comes out, and so I'm always surprised by the thoughts and ideas that emerge.

The blog has brought colour and depth to my life in a novel way...the diversity of the photos, the writing - and by extension, how it reflects me and my life - makes me feel both grateful and humble, in equally large measure.

I hadn't fully realised how I have such interesting, stimulating (and in some cases adorable) people, animals, environments, and interests around me, all the time.   

It has helped to bolster the feeling that by turning away from the corporate world, and deliberately choosing a quieter, more local (albeit poorer) lifestyle, I have not "thrown it all away".

Rather, I have embraced a more natural way of being, in a more natural world, and this stimulates my curiosity and my mind, and drives me into adventures of many kinds - such as this blog, and many of the mini adventures and episodes it documents. 

And it's not even climbing season yet!

Once the days grow a bit longer, it'll be time to get on with all the other ambitions from my 50 List.   There'll be much more scope for good photo's and fun stories once that all ramps up. 

Which brings me neatly back to today's picture (I bet you thought I'd forgotten, didn't you?).  

A few years ago my bro' gave us a Money Pot like this.  The idea is that you can put money in but not take it out until it's full.   It's a way of putting a fund together for some specific purpose (or whatever you want, of course). 

This is our 3rd in 3 years, which we've just started.  It's got zebra stripes, I like it!

Our strategy is to put all £2 coins and £5 notes that we have, into it.  

The first one had £670 in it when we broke it open!   This became our Climbing Gear Fund, and we used it to buy much of the equipment we needed in order to start climbing outdoors.

Or at least, it funded the first £670 of it! ;-)

The 2nd, which we broke open on my birthday a month ago, contained £530.   This has become my 50th Adventuring Fund, and will help towards any costs incurred whilst pursuing all the other stuff I randomly decided I'd do this year.

Given that this blog has turned into about 20 times the amount of work that I anticipated (having not really anticipated any), maybe I've been a little ambitious with the rest of my list?

Time will tell, but I'm up for it...I reckon it's all doable.

Just you watch...  

;-)

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