Go NaNoPoblano (National Blog Posting Month) (https://anitashree.com/2017/10/12/its-approaching-that-time-again !

Today’s 365 theme was/is Thankful For Who I Am | Self Portrait | Appreciate Yourself | You Are Unique.  Note how they give you several ways to interpret the theme?  Of course, while many people have been posting selfies, I don’t do selfies…well, not many, and usually only when I re-do my hair (speaking of which, I need to remember to make an appointment soon!).

Anyway, here is my interpretation for today’s theme.  Here I am, appreciating myself.

Go NaNoPoblano (National Blog Posting Month) (https://anitashree.com/2017/10/12/its-approaching-that-time-again !

Went to the opera with Mom today.  I thought it was pretty amazing.  Hard to talk about though – very emotional and there were many tears.  If you ever get a chance to see it, make the time!

Go NaNoPoblano (National Blog Posting Month) (https://anitashree.com/2017/10/12/its-approaching-that-time-again !

Where did the day go?  Caturday is almost over…

Go NaNoPoblano (National Blog Posting Month) (https://anitashree.com/2017/10/12/its-approaching-that-time-again !

So, every month in my CY365 challenge, there is a theme for one of the days called “Where I Stand”.  The November day was today, so I thought hey, why don’t I share with you a year’s worth of Where I Stand?  So, here we go!

In January, our furnace motor died.  Kevin was, of course, out of town, and it was the COLDEST week we had all winter.  So, here I am standing in front of a dead furnace…

In February we converted 3 of our fireplaces (yes, we are fireplace pigs) to gas.  Of course it was AFTER the furnace died (and was fixed), but we are ready this year!!  Not that I want the furnace to die again…let me take that back…

In March plants are starting to go crazy.  Of course, we have plants and flowers all year round, but March things really start to change.

April?  Well, sometimes I can’t remember if I stayed on topic or not…must have strayed, because I can’t find a picture from April for Where I Stand.

In May, I guess I thought you should see me standing next to our car.

In June I decided to stand in front of Jasper.  I don’t think he was very amused.

July – I believe I was on holidays and enjoying the fact that it was finally warm enough so that I could avoid socks.

August – back to slippers, and reading a book on the old iPad.  Might have been holidays again…

September – here I was on a run with Darnell, checking out a giant caterpillar.  We did NOT step on it!

October blooms in the garden, and apparently it was finally jeans weather again.

Today.  I saw this weird looking manhole cover like thing, and thought hey – I could stand here for my picture today!  So I did.

So now, there is only one month left for this year’s Where I Stand.  Where would you like it to be?  Don’t be smart-asses…

Go NaNoPoblano (National Blog Posting Month) (https://anitashree.com/2017/10/12/its-approaching-that-time-again/ !

Traditionally speaking (as the theme of today’s 365 is Tradition…), it’s time to start listening to Christmas music.  Well, it was time awhile ago, but don’t tell Kevin.

So, here I am working on my coursework, in front of the first with kitties, listening to my favourite Christmas playlist on our apple TV.

Go NaNoPoblano (National Blog Posting Month) (https://anitashree.com/2017/10/12/its-approaching-that-time-again/ !

So, it’s iPhone photo day again.  And another 365 challenge theme for your viewing pleasure. Today’s theme:  Find a Heart.

So, metaphorically, I found lots of heart today – work was actually a pleasant place to be (and I even looked forward to going today!)  But it’s hard to take pictures of a metaphor, and literal hearts are hard to find in our house.  I’m not a “heart” person.  So, in order to FIND a heart, I had to MAKE a heart. And what better thing to make a heart out of than red wine!  I can’t think of a better thing.

So, here are two versions of basically the same shot showing my heart:

Elliot was hanging out wanting scratches, so I tried to add him to the picture, but of course he was uncooperative.  Getting the wine, the heart, and Elliot (actually LOOKING at me) in one shot was a challenge, as you can see.

And thus ends my challenge for today!

Go NaNoPoblano (National Blog Posting Month) (https://anitashree.com/2017/10/12/its-approaching-that-time-again/ !

Ok.  Here’s the deal.  It is a holiday here in Canada.  Remembrance Day was Saturday, which means that those of us who don’t normally work on Saturday (like post-secondary educational institution types) get the following Monday off!  And it was raining, pouring, gale-force winds.  It was a good day to stay inside by the fire.  Oh, and clean the house.  Yes.  I cleaned the house.  It really needed cleaning, and now it’s done.  Yay!

So, I did NOT take my big-girl camera out into the rain and wind to practice with my/Kevin’s lenses, but I did take a couple of pictures after I cleaned the house.  Pictures for today’s theme for my 365 challenge.  Now, I’ve been doing the 365 challenge for several years now.  For those of you who don’t know what this challenge is all about, it’s about taking a picture a day for a year.  Or more…  For the past couple of years, I have been trying to follow the themes posted through the Capture Your 365 (CY365: http://captureyour365.com/) site, and this year I’ve been doing pretty well.  I have not missed a day, although I did take off-theme pictures for a few of those days.

Anyway, I thought, hey!  I should post my pictures here too (I post daily in FB on the CY365 site as well).  After all, this is a good place to post them, and it’s really good for those NaNoPoblano posts where I am at a loss as to what else to post.  Being lazy, and all.

So, today’s theme is Underneath.  And here are a couple of Underneath shots of light fixtures in our stairwell.  Why?  I don’t know.  Because?  I am also discovering that I can spend way too much time in LightRoom editing…

Go NaNoPoblano (National Blog Posting Month) (https://anitashree.com/2017/10/12/its-approaching-that-time-again/ !

Lazy, lazy, lazy.  That’s my day today.  It has been pouring rain outside all day, and very dark inside.  So, it’s been a day of eating deliciously comforting soup (yes, with potato chips),

cozying up to the fire with a good book (and yes, coffee), while Kevin watches the Riders beat Ottawa.  I did do laundry, so it’s not like I did nothing!

But, in the end, I think Jasper approved of the cozy day.

Go NaNoPoblano (National Blog Posting Month) (https://anitashree.com/2017/10/12/its-approaching-that-time-again/ !

Playing with lenses today.

Elliot with the 35-105 zoom, post-B&W (because I can’t resist LightRoom and its presets):

Elliot with the Portrait (85mm)

Elliot with the Wide Angle (28mm)

I don’t know what the differences in quality might be, but they do work differently!  I obviously need to play more…

Go NaNoPoblano (National Blog Posting Month) (https://anitashree.com/2017/10/12/its-approaching-that-time-again/ !

Yeah, it’s Friday.  It’s dark.  Do you know how hard it is to try out camera settings and lenses in the dark?  But luckily I have 3 days (it’s a long weekend here) to try things in the daylight, so come back tomorrow for more lens experimentation excitement!

In the meantime, here is a picture of the flowers Kevin got me for my birthday last week.  Until tomorrow!