Octennial Un-locked

I believe that this entry concludes my 8th year on blip.  Somehow I have now managed to keep going without any breaks.  There have been some dodgy emergency blips along the way when illness has struck, but there have been one or two shots that I am quite proud of as well, particularly in the last year.  It is fair to say that the subject matter of my blips has changed somewhat since I started out back in January 2015, and I expect birds and wildlife to continue to be a focus for me in 2023 - although I hope to sneak in a landscape and a portrait or two.  

What does seem to have fallen by the wayside, to a large degree of late, is my ability to keep up with comments and other people's journals.  That is a matter of some regret, as I always very much enjoy the social media aspects of the blip community when I get down to it, and many of the photos you take are a source of future inspiration to me.  I'm hoping that once I am a bit fitter and have a bit more energy I'll be able to get back to that aspect of things.

Given my recent visit to the barbers for the first time in about 3 years, I felt that I probably needed a new selfie.  I'm still more than a bit post viral so I'm hoping that the wonders of software have removed some of the grave like palour from my cheeks.  I took a few of these, some featuring my usual "worried" expression and some in which I'm smirking.  Yes, full on smirking.  I was tempted to give you one of those but I just couldn't ruin the end of your year like that.