A simple balcony

After the wild colours at the seaside yesterday, a more subdued balcony for my 500th blip.

All those months ago, five hundred blips ago, I thought I was starting something which would simply encourage me to take a better photo at least once a day, but I've been amazed at how it has developed - into an addiction, yes, but also into membership of a community of people all round the world.

I'm not always a very conscientious blipper - I don't comment as much as I should and when I do I often say what I like about an image and forget to click on the five stars or the heart. As for nominating for Unstaged, I haven't done nearly enough, haven't spent nearly as much time on it as others have.

Thank you to all of you who have commented on my journal, and especially to those who gave me your sympathy and support during the sad time this summer. I was deeply touched by your thoughts. I find I learn so much from looking at others' journals, from their comments on mine and from other people's comments on other people's journals.

Thanks to you all and to all at Blip for making it possible.

And today I'm especially thinking of blippers in New Zealand and hoping you're all OK.