GREAT FEAT OR GREAT FEET?

After days of 80 mph gusting winds and torrential rain, it was a real joy this morning to wake up and see the sun shining - which was just as well because I had decided that I would "dip my feet" in the sea and didn't fancy going down to Boscombe beach in a howling gale! This also fits in well with DDW's January challenge for the word "WET".

When we were chatting about what I might do for this special Blip day, Mr. HCB did suggest skinny-dipping but was quickly "slapped down" - as I didn't want be on the front page of the local rag! When I mentioned taking a bucket and spade to the beach, he then suggested digging a hole and burying me with only my head showing - whatever next??

So here you have my "great feet" for my "great feat" - my 365th Blip day and I hope you appreciate the pun in the title - and yes, it was intended! I just hope my granddaughter will forgive me for using some of her black nail polish - black wouldn't really be my choice, but at least it shows up well! I have to say that once my feet had got wet for the first time, the water wasn't that cold!

The funniest part of today's blip was writing 365 in the sand and then waiting for the waves to come in - so many times, it completely obliterated the numbers, and I had to start all over again - but it provided some entertainment for those walking along the beach, if nothing else!

When I decided to take up this challenge in January 2013, I did wonder if I could manage to take a photograph every single day - and I have surprised myself, so whenever that little voice tells me I have no staying power, I can truly say "Oh yes, I have"!

I have enjoyed blipping immensely and it is a fantastic community of people - lots of friends on Facebook say they enjoy seeing my daily blip and it has certainly made me look at things with new eyes. Every opportunity becomes a blip opportunity and many times I have taken a photograph intending that it will be my blip for the day only for something else to come along - so that was pushed aside and a new photograph took its place.

As I have said in my biography, this is MY journal for ME, and if others enjoy reading what I write, then that is a bonus. I have made so many blip friends along the way - people I would probably have passed in the street, but knowing me - as so many of you do now - and the way I often stop and speak to strangers, maybe not.

I have enjoyed the challenge of writing something interesting to go with my daily photograph and it has been good to look back over the year and see what I have accomplished. I know I will NEVER come up to the technical know-how and expertise of many blippers, but I am happy with what I have done and I guess at the end of the day, that's all that matters.

Having sadly neglected my family history research in the last year, I need to look at that more in 2014, and now I have reached 365 feel I can "cut myself some slack" - after all, there is more to life than Blip - isn't there?

I may put some of the photographs that Mr. HCB took onto my Flickr page later, so do have a look.

By now, most of my subscribers will know I often put a quote at the end of my blip journal and this one seems appropriate for my 365th Blip day:

When I stand before God at the end of my life,
I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left,
and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'.
Erma Bombeck