adventures in solitude

The first day of September.  For some reason, it feels like such a turning point … leaving summer behind, kids back at school, the last week of swimming outside.  Awaiting the pungent crunch of leaves, diminishing daylight, cooler temperatures.  For me, a time of  Adventures in Solitude.  By bicycle.

I rode today with only my little Lumix point-and-shoot.  It makes me “work” a little harder … and I’ve just been feeling like I need to be challenged.  With the first of the month here, I feel like I’ve been slacking off over the past few months, not feeling especially creative.   And I find myself looking for some long-term personal “project” to tackle, something to inspire me, to spark some creativity, to prod me in some new (?) direction.

I confess that I am a big proponent of 365 projects.  My experiences with ShutterCal and #330daysofbiking were rewarding, challenging, and a “push” to grow, learn and expand my proficiency with my camera and on my bike.  I’ve been trying to figure out another 365 avenue to tackle; as much as I loved the photo-a-day, and the ride-a-day, I’m just not feeling an urge to repeat those.  A variation on the theme would be fine, but just not a repeat of the same.

Some of the more fascinating 365-projects I’ve come across in my search for inspiration:

• Clouds 365 Project – a daily photo project of a single subject: clouds.  Stunning stuff.
• Make a Book A Day – a seriously ambitious undertaking of making a hand-bound book every day.  Wow.
• ThreeSixtyFiveBears – the creative undertaking of my (twitter) friend Meghan’s husband, Phil Barbato (artist/designer/web developer), who is drawing a bear each day on his iPhone.  Awesome.

Final note:  Thank you to everyone who responded to the jersey give-away; I appreciate the interest and the great rom-com suggestions for my Netflix queue.  ;-).  I will be revealing the random-drawing winner by Monday, 9/5.

365 days of field corn ... ???