In this month’s Tell Us About linkup, I’m reflecting on a season of birthdays: Mum’s 88th in Paris, beachside party fun, Ninja play, a treetop party, friends hitting 40, 50 and 80, my own December birthday, and a secret 70th surprise for the Mathematician.

After my big trip I felt oddly unmoored, so I stepped back from social media and stumbled on a Donna Ashworth poem I’d saved. I share it here, along with how it helped me remember that I am brave, loved, and enough—and maybe you are too.

Explore the beauty of what doesn’t last: double rainbows, coffee-foam creatures, funhouse-style mirror reflections, beach footprints swept away by the tide, and fireworks fading into the dark. As your temporary Sunday Stills host, I explain how to join this week’s “Ephemeral” Sunday Stills photo challenge and share your own creative take.

Joining this week’s Sunday Stills, I was intrigued by the challenge to capture “ephemeral.” I turned to my archives for images of skies and rainbows, many taken from our verandah. As I revisited those fleeting scenes, I found myself noticing how quickly beauty can come and go.