Happy New Year!

I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions.  Somehow, that feels a little false to me.  Most people start out the new year with all sorts of excitement and possibility and then mid-February things seem to fizzle, along with their enthusiasm.  It also feels like an odd time to be busting out with freshness and change--spring seems more logical to me or the beginning of the school year.  Those things say "fresh" and "new" to me, not the beginning of a calendar year.  So, try as I might, I don't really come up with my "word" of the new year or things that I want to change or accomplish when everyone else is talking and writing about those things.  At some point I do those things, but more when they come to me and not because the calendar says it's time.  I do think it's a good time to look at things differently or in a fresh way--reboot my thinking, because I can always use that (it also takes the pressure off of resolutions and whatnot when people press you--barking, "I don't make New Year's Resolutions!" at them and delivering a soapbox speech about the falseness of it all makes me seem more of a curmudgeon than I am, no really!).  So, how could I reboot or reframe?

Well, yesterday Stuart bought a little camera with some of his Christmas money and was just pleased as punch about it.  He's always using my camera or the one on my cell.  I have to say that he has a pretty good eye.  However, there's one funny shot from the back seat of my Mini (which he was sharing with Buddy yesterday) that made me think: "different perspective."  I also thought, "Oh, that's what it looks like to him from back there!" 

This is what he saw:

and this:

(he's playing with the zoom and spent the entire coffee run trying to get a good pic of Buddy)



This is a pic of him at Max's school music performance just before Christmas:

Tell me that kid doesn't need a camera of his own!  It's interesting how people take photos and what their focal points are.  Sometimes it's just inexperience with the camera (as in my case) or it's a really unique look into their view of their surroundings.  At any rate, that's my New Year's bit.  It's fun to watch Stuart with the camera and the excitement that goes along with it.  Today we will spend taking bird photos--per his request.

Best wishes for a New Year and all that newness and freshness.  If your resolutions don't work, then just reboot your perspective/thinking!  Throw yourself a ticker tape parade and have yourself a little chuckle--don't take yourself too seriously.  Life's too short for that.