Today seems like a good day to get back to basics and one of the primary objectives of this blog: to share photographs, get creative, and participate in the online blogging community. This also helps me stay off social media for a while so I don’t add to my growing sense of woe and frustration. I wanted to either take a new photo to share, or find something recent that I really like.

That’s not as easy as it sounds, though. I picked up my camera and found I have pictures on it from last October that I never uploaded to my computer. My Google Photos folder wasn’t even currently backing up photos from the Mac. I forget why I paused the automatic backups but I must have at some point. So of course than means I’ve spent the last couple hours tinkering with those settings, skimming through hundreds of photos and trying to get them back to some semblance of organization. It’s just oh so easy to fall through the proverbial rabbit hole when looking for a particular photo. I’m sure you’ve all been there.

I used to look forward to WordPress’s weekly photo challenges because they gave me something to focus on (no pun intended) rather than just spend hours wondering what I should be working on or taking pictures of when I didn’t already have a project. So instead I’m following a few other bloggers who are trying to keep that torch going for those of us who need that extra push to get motivated. The trouble is I’ve been distracted and haven’t been reading their posts or seeing their challenges. Today though, as I said earlier, seems like a good day to do just that.

I took this photo earlier this month (although it feels like a lifetime ago) at Thomas Jefferson’s boyhood home, Tuckahoe Plantation. There really wasn’t much to see, but we had the place to ourselves and it was a lovely and peaceful spot. When I saw that nancy merrill photography‘s photo challenge theme this week is “changing seasons” I thought of this photo. That was probably the last “normal” weekend we’ve had and one of the few times in recent memory that I’ve taken my camera out of the house.

Everything was green but there was still a bit of a chill in the air. The sun was shining, birds were singing, flowers were blooming; it definitely felt like spring was here. These days it feels like we’ll be lucky if life is back to normal by summer. Does that sound too dramatic, negative, full of doom and gloom? I’m sorry. I’m trying. Those thoughts keep creeping up.

But how’s this for something bright and positive and also a sign of changing seasons? A local grower donated hundreds of thousands of tulip stems to the community this weekend. I wish I had ventured out to take some pictures of them. We ordered take-out for dinner from one of our local favorites and in addition to a delicious barbecue sandwich, my dinner came with one of the beautiful tulips.

Tomorrow it’s back to the office. I really do wish I had the option of staying home, but unless I take a whole bunch of vacation time, that’s not going to happen. I’m going to try to pay less attention to the madness and the hype and instead use common sense. I don’t want to feel guilty every time I leave the house, and at the same time I want to do my part to flatten the curve. Let’s see how it goes over the next few days. Spring is here and it’s supposed to be a season of new beginnings, renewal, and hope, right?