Year of Learning and Creativity - 2015 photo challenge week 1

Instead of making a resolution this year, I'm setting a theme to guide me. A twitter friend mentioned they have been doing this for a few years and after some thought I decided I liked it. A late night walk or two later I decided that 2015 will be a year of Learning and Creativity. I chose this theme as learning and creativity are things I value and want to improve on. My learning of the last year or two has been haphazard and disjointed, I want to change that. I have let my creative endeavours slip too - exhaustion and other concerns got in the way. Once again, this needs changing. I'll do this several ways, but here's the first.

As of the first of January I'm setting off on a 365 photo challenge. On a previous blog I did one of these that eventually rocketed on past 500 consecutive days. Ultimately I quit because I was exhausted and it had become a chore. As a result and haven't been doing all that much with my photos or even taking them very often since.This time I have a plan that I hope will be less of a chore and help me rediscover why I love taking photos. So rather than blogging daily as last time, I'll put the photos to Instagram most days with a weekly post here, if I do take any that I want to display in full resolution/not square-ness I might post here a little more. Some days might be more serious photography but there's nothing wrong with happy snaps either. 

This month I'm going sort of... free-spirited with the photo challenge. I think I might try out various organised ones with daily themes in some of the other months. They look like an interesting inspiration.

1 - 2014 ended well - I had good company and went to the cricket, had delicious dessert and watched fireworks before cycling home shortly after midnight. I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was out on the bike at that hour. Continuing on, 2015 got off to a good start, playing cricket in the nets with friends, excellent Indian dinner, watching the new Hobbit movie and last but not least, a swim at Glenelg late at night. I've never seen the water so clear and calm. It was cool, but I adjusted quickly. I could gladly have stayed a long time.

2 - January 2 was especially hot - I farewelled Amy and Barnaby's kitten and got on my way back home. Once inside I stayed there - air conditioning and movies (Dark Star, Flying High, How to Train Your Dragon 2). The day peaked at 44.7 C at the nearest weather station so I only ventured out for dinner - I wasn't cooking in that.

3 - Terrible bushfires in the Adelaide Hills, some not all that far away, so I spent the day keeping an eye on reports and warnings. I stitched a bit while I did so - this is a project that I've been working on for a long time and needs finishing. Towards evening I could smell the fires but thankfully they've stayed a good distance away. Also, a bonus photo because the sky was beautiful.

4 - When I headed back up here two days ago I brought some Christmas leftover perishable goods that won't last until holidaying folk return. The quantities are still kind of large so I'll definitely get my recommended fruit and veg intake for a few days... though I'm not yet sure how I'll use all the parsley and corriander. Some of it went into this salad. Lacking the ingredients for my favourite cous cous recipe I made it up as I went along. Not bad, though I think I'd make the dressing from my favourite to put on it next time. I've still got crazy volumes of these herbs left and other things besides. Slightly overwhelmed but really not complaining, this really is a delicious conundrum.