There is beauty all around us and most of the time we don’t even see it.

When I was learning the craft of photography, my teacher ask me to put together a portfolio of images taken within a hundred meters of my house. This sounded ridiculous, no one was going to like the boring pictures I took. I was wrong. She was trying to push me creatively and to stop worrying about what other people like. She also knew that what I thought was mundane and boring was only mundane and boring because I saw it everyday. There is beauty all around us and most of the time we don’t even see it.



These are pin oak leaves from a tree two doors down, mixed in with a few maple. I leave them for the worms.

Another interesting week on Permies. I made Master Pollinator by just being myself, which is wonderful - I must be doing something right here.

I started a conversation about quitting Amazon which has produced some very interesting discussions. It’s not as blank and white as it seems. It stemmed from another conversation about making a layer winter curtain system. I ended up in a thrift shop, saving a heap of money and now have resources to reuse. Definitely a win-win. Both threads also inspired others and I really happy that some people have now discovered Misfits, getting misshapen fruit and veg delivered to their door.

In other news, I finally finished my Nest Straw badge, the badge I first set as goal a couple of months ago. We had a cold but sunny day and I spent all of it outside, cleaning the car and outside of the house, the drive, patio, porch and outdoor furniture. The garden is now put to bed for the winter and we’ve had three nights of frost.

It’s bonfire night in the UK, a celebration I miss. It’s an awesome tradition of building a big pile of burnables and setting fire to it. There’s fireworks, friends, jacket potatoes and happy memories. Much more fun than halloween!

I just finished reading 1000 Gifts, and it had a similar premise (but with a Christian outlook) -- we're surrounded by beauty if we're open to seeing it. Photography is a good way of doing that, and I don't utilize it nearly enough.

Congrats on achieving the straw badge! I've been catching up on reading some forum posts this week and have enjoyed seeing your journey and comments so far. It's inspirational.

Nikki Roche wrote:I just finished reading 1000 Gifts, and it had a similar premise (but with a Christian outlook) -- we're surrounded by beauty if we're open to seeing it. Photography is a good way of doing that, and I don't utilize it nearly enough.

Congrats on achieving the straw badge! I've been catching up on reading some forum posts this week and have enjoyed seeing your journey and comments so far. It's inspirational.

Thank you Nikki! I love this site - I can be open and honest without fear of judgement, which is rare on the internet these days. The PEP journey is amazing. Good to know that I’m inspiring people - there are so many people here inspiring me. It’s a virtuous circle.