Best of the Year....

Today - 19th August - Mariette and I have been doing TUT for a year....We have not done 52  posts, because we have had some weeks break in between...BUT STILL - A YEAR ----- I think that is an achievement worth commerating....
I had suggested doing a commerative post, before we became the blogging SPCA...then it would have been a case of Mariette choosing one of my photo's and her choosing one of mine...But with our special, lovely and talented little puppies we devised a different plan - We electronically "CHING/CHONG/CHA'ed" for who would choose whose picture...
I got to choose a picture off Pam's blog - It could be any picture...and it did not have to be the best technical photograph - It could be the most meaningful photo...BUT the rule was that we can only have one favourite photo....
When I went through Pam's blog - it was really tough to choose one picture only. I love so many of her pictures and each and every one has a special story told in a unique and special Pam way....but the rule was only one photo could be chosen....
After much deliberation - I thought that I knew exactly which photo I was going to choose - I loved Pam's take on Pink, which she had written a message to her sister (Miss you, Stinks) on a pad with a pink pen - I loved the meaning and the message and it was just so Pam....So until last week...that was my chosen picture...but then Pam blew me away with her self portrait...

I love this photo - not only because it is (I think) a great photo photographically...BUT also because it is "Pam"....I love that she included Mark, her marriage  and her children as part of her essence ...I also love the addition of the greenery (sorry Pam - don't know the real name) - It just shows her classicness and her love for simplicity and colour and flowers and the great outdoors - I truely think she outdid herself with this one...
I have loved being on this journey, first with Mariette - It has bought Mariette and I closer then we ever were, I have watched Mariette grow in leaps and bounds as a photographer....and I have loved the creative outlet it has provided for me.
I am also loving having Pam and Claire with us....It has added a different element to the challenges each week and Mariette and I can learn so much from both of these talented photographers.  It never ceases to amaze me, how we all do the same theme each week and we all  interpret it differently...
The other bloggers each chose from someone elses blog - so pop across to them all to see who has liked what...
Well, South Africa is still fairly cold...although the days are warming up quite nicely, it is still cold at night and our study is one of the coldest places in SA...so my feet feel like ice blocks and my finger tips have frost bite...so before I succumb to hypothermia - I am going to call it a night and pop along to bed, so until next week ...Lots of love

P.S. - I know that it is still half an hour to go to Friday here, and that we are the first to reach Friday...But ----- Oh well - this early post will make up for all the late posts in the past and in the future....