It’s been my habit each month to mention the monthly photo challenge theme to the other members of the family. I find a chance to talk with each of them, usually early in the month, and each time I get at least one good idea from our conversations. In April, K suggested I think about things that make me smile. I liked his idea. It made me think. And then I started writing a long list of things that make me smile. Here are five of those things, in no particular order:

1. Music – Do you have a playlist of songs that make you smile? If you don’t, go make one! Then the next time you’re feeling stressed or the corners of your mouth refuse to turn up, hit play and you’ll feel a whole lot better. When my maternal grandma retired, she decided to learn to play the organ. Today, I’m the caretaker of her organ and although I don’t play as well as she eventually did, I still like to sit down at her organ when I need to work on my part for choir. I think of her and smile every time I pull the bench up to the keyboard.

2. Hugs – A hug from a family member or a good friend puts a smile on my face pretty much every time. Try it, you’ll like it! Since they all thought it was pretty weird to get a photo of us hugging, I had to get a bit creative. Doing things with one hand doesn’t produce a top-quality result, but you get the idea…

3. Nature – I love being outside, especially when I’m out with family or friends. I smile when I’m outside – a lot! Easter Sunday, K joined us for a bit of a wander around Canmore. We checked on how the flood preparedness work is going at Three Sisters Creek and then walked a little westward to see whether we could spot any signs of spring. The most obvious indication is that the snow cover is slowly receding from the pathways. K and his Dad were so patient while they waited for me to photograph some fence posts just to the right of this frame. Thanks guys!

4. Little Things – I sort of mentioned when I wrote about Nature that I love spotting the little things. I think it comes from really being in the moment, regardless of where or when that is. One morning this month as I opened the window blinds, I spotted a raindrop that froze on the outside of our bedroom window overnight. Look at all the detail that I saw through my macro lens! Doesn’t it make you wonder exactly how and why the drop froze the way it did? Are the little bubble shapes because of dust? Or something else? Someone I know likes to remind me that “curiosity killed the cat” but I like to think that curiosity rewards the curious with a smile! What do you think?

5. Getting Creative – OK, I concede that sometimes getting creative triggers a grimace, not a smile. But if you start working on an idea and you’re open to trying different things until you find something that works, you’re pretty likely to end up smiling at the end result. Early this month I convinced K to join me in a second attempt at photographing glow sticks. This time we started with a fresh batch of glow thin sticks, added some old Lego sets to the mix and topped it all off with some bigger glow sticks. We had a lot of fun! This is just one of our photographic results.

Thank you P.J., for hosing this monthly blogging challenge over at A ‘lil HooHaa. Click here to see some of the things that make P.J. smile. It’s going to be interesting to see how many participants opted to make photographs of things that make them smile and how many managed to make photographs of actual smiles.

New participants are always welcome. The theme for next month will be announced on May 1st on A ‘lil HooHaa.