One whole year!

Today, my blog is one year old, which means that I have met my personal challenge of posting an entry a day for a year. I've actually clocked up 373 posts since my first tentative attempt.

And was it worth it? Absolutely! I've learned loads of things which I would not otherwise know; I've developed a much greater interest in taking photographs (pun intended); I've loved being able to write in a way which is not at all work related and I've thoroughly enjoyed sharing with and in the blogging community.

I've taken a little time to browse back.

On my earliest posts, I was very lucky to get even one comment. The first comment from someone whom I had not actually met, was a cause of great excitement! The post was the tale of my abseil down Derby Cathedral Tower, and the commenter was JennyFreckles from Saltaire Daily Photo. I can't believe how small my posted photos were back then!

Alphabe-Thursday was a great discovery because it introduced me to bloggers from other parts of the world. It is a fun meme, run by a committed host and I love being part of the community. Of those who read this post today, a significant percentage will have come over from Jenny's and I value every one of your visits.

I have seen a large number of extremely good blogs and it is very tempting to click Follow on every one, but I don't (much as I would love to) because I know that I just wouldn't keep up; I would rather be a faithful follower to a few, whilst remaining an occasional visitor to others.

I wanted to repost my favourite photo from the year, but I just can't decide! (Sometimes, I'm useless at decisions!). Instead, I think I'll restart where I set out this time last year...

...with The Dawn of a New Day.

I'm delighted to be able to link this post to Alphabe-Thursday over at Jenny Matlock's. I can't believe that 'O' actually fell on my blog's one year birthday!