Photo Blogging Challenge (October 2023): Experiences

Life is full of experiences.

I feel, at times, we as people tend to hustle and bustle past some of life’s experiences. Not everything has to have a large price tag on it to have a wonderful experience. In fact, I dare say, many of our experiences are free — if we stop and look around us.

For October I tried to do this a little more. And I hope to keep doing it.

I always felt I was one who “stopped and smelled the roses,” but at the same time, there are times I rush through things.

Some of my experiences this month are ones that I’ve done before. But I tried to embrace them a bit more.

Here’s some reality, which I know we all know. In the big scheme of the world and everything else, our lives on this planet make up a speck of time. Depending on your beliefs, what happens after could vary. Fact is, we won’t know (if we do at all) until that time comes. I have my own beliefs as I am sure each of you have your own.

But one thing is for sure: when we leave this planet, we’ll leave behind materialistic things, hopefully memories, and maybe a legacy that might stick around.

As I look back on life, I know I missed a lot of experiences. Some I regret missing, others I’m OK with it.

That just makes me want to make memories and have great experiences moving forward.

My five are below. You know there’s somebody involved in many of the shots, but I hope I captured a bit more. And each photo has a little story.

I look forward to your submissions.

Anyway, onward. Here’s my five for the month!

1. Sunrise (again)

If I have photos like this, I probably should share! Every year in early October, I take my mother to South Jersey. She gets to see her sister, and I get to spend some time on the beach either by myself, with Harper, or with family. I heavily enjoy it because it’s after the tourist season so it is much quieter. That’s just part of it. Each day, though, I get up early and go to the beach with Harper (and the past couple of years, my mother has also joined us) to catch a sunrise over the water. This was the first day and it was splendid. Harper held for a quick photo. Don’t worry … more on the beach in a moment.

2. National Fetch Day

National Fetch Day is in October and it’s been a day I look forward to ever since I got Harper. The weather for this year didn’t look good, so I had planned just a small time of running for some photos. Alas, Mother Nature made it a bit better for the day, so I got Harper out for some photos and then invited the neighbor dogs over for some fun. These experiences for Harper are outstanding. She truly enjoys all of the play time. This crew played pretty hard for the better part of a half hour where they fetched, wrestled, ran, and just loved life. I even brought out the main camera for this day! This image is of Harper chasing down her friend Lucy. (side note: It rained a few days leading in, so the ground was soft. My lawn got dug up some, but I shall deal!)

3. Sweet Frog!

On a recent Friday night, I had to watch Cameron for a couple of hours. That included a trip to Jersey Mike’s for dinner and then Sweet Frog for dessert. He said he didn’t remember ever being to Sweet Frog, so this experience was a blast. He had a couple different flavors of his frozen yogurt, and then loaded up with some of the sweets he loves. He didn’t finish this masterpiece, though. Instead, we got a top for it and he brought it home and put it in the freezer to finish at a later time.

4. Sunday walk

I took my mother to a local farm store this month so she could get a bunch of apples. And truthfully, the place is just fun to go to and it’s an experience all on its own. The way they check you out and the way everything is set up is awesome. In our area, it’s one of the better places to go for many things, when it’s in season. After though, we took Harper on a walk in a park near this area. A couple of new geocaches were there, so I nabbed a couple. While at one, I captured this photo… I think they were both enjoying the experience!

5. Beach life!

Think Harper enjoys the beach? This was a day where we were at the beach for a couple of hours. Me, Harper, and my cousin. My cousin thought I should let Harper roam a bit, which she did. But after a bunch of time in the water, she really took to the beach. She dug a huge hole, she chased the ball a bit, she watched other people. She went back in the water and back out. Needless to say, she was really living the beach experience, as you can see in this photo! To be fair — she usually does when we are on a beach!

There’s my five and let’s see what you came up with! If you took part in this month’s challenge, make sure to link up below.

And for those of you who participated, make sure you try and get to other people’s blogs and comment (here, too!).

Let’s continue to grow this challenge and have a strong community. Come back and check out the others who link later on, too! NOTE: We have a Facebook group for those who participate in the challenge and are interested. I’ll post any announcements there and hopefully it can be a place where things are discussed and some interaction etc. You can access it here.

** CHALLENGE CHANGE **

From this point forward, I am going to do the next theme at the bottom of each linkup. Also, the posting date will now be the first of each month, thus giving you the entire month to take the photos etc.

That means it’s a one-stop shop! Hopefully this helps out with everybody.

So, below is the linkup for September. Make sure you drop your link there.

OK, so it’s time to keep on moving! It’s November’s turn! And our theme for the month? Enjoy life! I hope you all have fun with this theme! Remember to come back on (hopefully) December 1 to link up and check out the theme for that month!

Photo Blogging Challenge: October 2023 results

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook!