Joiners

I have never been a big joiner, even in causes I believe in; I have to steel myself to join things.  I tend to be the type that thinks if you join something...you have to JOIN it. Joining means to me that you will go to the meetings, setup for the events, volunteer to do the boring stuff that the other members tend to avoid.  You will be active and not just lend your name or a few dollars to the cause, club, institution.  As a result of this Puritanical attitude, I tend to avoid joining the majority of things that come my way.

My Master Gardener program requires 40 hours of volunteer/leadership work the first year.  You are committed to the cause of sharing the gardening experience whether you like it or not.  You can count the monthly meetings and the time spent driving to and from places.  Since January I have put in about 10 hours.  This week I am committed to several errands and an event which will add another 4 or 5 hours of my time.  Of course, as spring commences, gardeners are needed everywhere.  I was talking to a fellow MSTG (Master Gardener) and she said when she first started her project, there were few places to volunteer time in our rural area.  Over the past few years, many more opportunities have developed.  I am guessing this is due to baby boomers nearing retirement and looking for things to do and thus creating community gardens for areas.  I must say that our business meetings are certainly energetic and the last one had about 30 attendees!

While I was thinking of this process of joining I recently noticed new joiners (followers) to my blog(s).  I do not know how they found their way here in most cases.  I do not know if they even read my blog, because many do not comment on posts or comment only once.  I keep thinking that sometimes bloggers like to collect followers like friends on FB.  No communication is involved.  It is just a collecting thing.

I have two lists I follow in blogging.  Sometimes I "follow" the blog on their page and then that blog shows up on the Blogger Dashboard page if they have made a recent post.  The other way is the old-fashioned way of creating a link to the blog in the html code of the my blogs design which then shows up in my sidebar of my blog page when they post.  This I still tend to do more often than the former.  I keep forgetting the other list.  Many on this second list have drifted off into the digital black hole of neglect.  They started writing with the best of intentions and then blogging lost its appeal or they were using it as a tool to sell something and not really blog, or life and living got in the way.

My concern  has become that this following of blogs is just like joining.  My lists are getting long and I feel an obligation to read the majority of the posts of blogs I follow.  (Although I am not talking about your blog, of course, I head there first every time!)  I do not want to hurt anyone's feelings although I do not always feel a need to comment on the post, and as cute as that kitten is, I really have no time to read about it.

These blogger lists are somewhat like my speedwell plant that I posted about on my other blog.  It is lovely, interesting, and in the beginning a most compelling plant.  But then it spreads and becomes a maintenance issue and must be tended, and the fun starts to fade a little and obligation rears its hard head.

Do any other bloggers face this concern?  How do you deal with it?  I bet most of you are women...is this all just silliness on my part?

Thursday Thoughts 13... #30: Blogging Along

Doesn't this look so neat and clean   ;-)

1. According to my Blogger statistics readers have searched and found my blog with the phrase "i think too far ahead" and "bad karma stories."  Is that flattering or scary and should I be concerned?
2. I used to have 58 followers here.  I know that is not many for those of you in the solid 3 and even 4 figures, but I lost one follower the other day.  Was it something I wrote?  That hurts because while I love my followers I am not very good at cultivating them. A 'princess' has joined my entourage since I wrote this...so I am back to 58...no back to 57!  Did I lose another one?
3. I am currently using '50.7%' of my Picasa photo storage for Blogger.  As a person who took almost 900 photos just last month and deleted only 400, the fear of the eventual need to upgrade storage in my blog photos stalks my every post.
4. I am trying to wean myself from checking Blogger a half dozen times a day (or more!) when I am home alone.  I need to enrich my life, I guess.  I am so addicted to your comments and to the fact that you read what I say and I even do not mind criticism (polite suggestions on viewing things a little differently) although most bloggers are too polite.  Maybe I could be Fran Lebowitz and not care what people think.
5. I also am dismayed by the bloggers that I link to that have quit posting...I just can't seem to find the courage to remove those links from my list.  I also feel the same way about FB.  People befriend me and then NEVER post anything!  I wish I had the courage to defriend them as they have become stalkers in my mind...but they KNOW me, so it is not as easy to do as it might be in my blogging network.
6. I actually am trying to consciously keep my blogger reader demographics broad.  I know that I have much in common with those my age and with my interests, but for the same reason I will never live in a retirement community, I am trying to proactively add younger readers and readers with different views to my lists.
7. If you think you have been blogging a long time, the first blog (daily online journal) was published electronically in 1994 by a young man named Justin Hall and the link to that blog is still ongoing and here.
8. In 2004, "blog" was the word of the year...I didn't know they had a word-of-the-year.  I am so stupid sometimes.
9. The precursor in naming a blogger or online journalist was escribitionist.  Maybe that should be a word of the year.  (Colleen, see if you can work that into your next Scrabble game.)
10. I look at blogging as chapters of a diary of someone's life and Facebook as the footnotes (which are sometimes more like anecdotes or my   daily boring life activity notes).
11. Is it true that a new blog is created every second around the world?  How many die every second?
12. Perhaps the most important change blogging has made is allowing social activism from the smallest 'end of the tail' and not just from the large and 'popular' opinions.  Information is powerful, especially when we find others thinking like us.
13. The most important change for me is learning that you do not have to meet someone face to face to get to know them and sometimes there is a little magic that happens in blogland and we become very good friends.  I can remember how shy and intimidated I was about blogging when I first started.  

A Dear Old Coot

I think one of the biggest surprises I have discovered in blogging is how one can grow to love and admire another blogger. Some become like a brother or sister. When I first started blogging I went to Gene's blog and after reading his funny and somewhat shocking post (as were all of his posts) I started to leave my first comment. When I found that I was going to be number 36 or 38 or whatever, I almost didn't post anything. I figured he was so popular...who would read down that far?

I am glad I posted anyway, because he told me he was glad I had commented and that I should never feel bad about being the last to post. Throughout the years there was a little contest among his readers about who would be the first to comment on a post. I continued to read his blog after that. He was sometimes a little shocking for me, but always with a great sense of humor. He was like that relative you love who always has to tell a dirty joke at Thanksgiving dinner just to see the reaction. Yet, he would return and comment on my blog at various times with a joke or encouragement.

I reviewed his blog on my blog roll comments posts when I used to do that before my blogs-I-follow list got so long.

He passed away yesterday and I will miss him as if he was my good friend. Oddly, I had just visited his blog yesterday in hopes that he would be back in good blog form. I stole the photo from "Vicki" who was a much closer friend than I, but I do not think she will mind.

Rest in peace you dear old coot.

Blog Roll #4

Since commenters have been so generous to visit this blog I must add some new names to my blog roll. (This is Blog Roll #4 and will go to the list that resides at the bottom in the right hand column--once again thanks to Old Hoss who started this honor listing idea.)

Four new bloggers to read. I have more to add, but can only manage a little at a time.

First there is Grammie—Awaiting Buddha. The name for this blog came while she was waiting for that first grandchild. She is a potter (something I always thought I would take up....someday!) She started her blog for the same reasons the I did...that many of us did...to chart our life experiences as we enter this last stage in our lives.

Brenda---Plus Brenda is one of those fascinating citizens of the Commonwealth having lived many parts of the world and now in Australia. She acts in and writes melodramas. I never knew anyone who did that. How she found me I do not know, but I am most flattered! Of course grandchildren and the shortness of some of her entries encourages me to visit more often.

Bad Aunt---Present Simple A New Zealander teaching in Japan...always rewarding reading such life adventures on a blog. She has been blogging a long time, since 2004. I have not had a chance to read many of these older entries. Since she teaches English to Asians, she probably has something in common with my recent house guest Mary Lee.

Whoops, forgot to add Darlene at her "Hodgepodge" in Arizona. She is 83 and one of those bloggers who reassures me that life does go on and it is rich and full. She is smart and sassy and reading her blog makes me feel good and even sometimes brings a tear to my eyes. Please stop by and say hello.

Welcome dear bloggers to my little blogroll!

The New Blogger

While leaping into the new blogger and using the easier editing features which add the ability to change fonts, background colors, and to some extent, drag and drop various page elements, I also found that adding links to a list such as the blog roll was much easier. To create the blog roll you just have to add the URL into a window menu and it will automatically add the blog name as well as organize it by title or by most recent blog entry! Saves me a lot of time not writing the html code for a bulleted list as I did in the old days. The template that I chose was not as flexible, but maybe I will fiddle with another template in the future and just make it part II while linking back to the old blog...!

Cha..Cha...Changes

Richard in Atwater has mentioned that I could 'stretch' my photo uploads for better viewing. I usually post in low-res for those who do not have great band-width, but thought 'stretching' the photos on the template might be nice.

Unfortunately, you must completely re-load your template and I mis-read thinking it was going to back up the old blog template...which it did not. Then to make my morning more challenging, it does not appear that the template I had chosen allows me to use the blog 'stretch' feature, because I cannot find that option anywhere.

And just to keep me on my toes, I have lost my blogroll in the process. I do have the blogs bookmarked so I will have to reconstruct that all again in the future. I must say, that I usually am the type to look before I leap, but when it comes to computers, I just plunge in!

Anyway, here is one of the looks I settled on after getting sick of changing fonts, colors, etc. I do not know if I can live with...will. see.

My Blogroll Part III

Leaves of Grass Sonia is from Brazil and I cannot remember how I found her website. I must have followed a comment on someone else's blog. Comments are usually good hints at an interesting blog. While she doesn't write much in her second (3rd 4th?) language, I love the ability to visit her view of rural Brazil via my computer. She is/was a journalist and now posts photos of her life there in the countryside and photos about her family history. She has the most beautiful children as frequently happens in places like Brazil. It must be the sunshine or the food. Recently she has started to share her family photos from generations back.

Bill's Stuff I discovered Bill when he routinely commented on my house blog. He was/is/wants to go through a similar process. He also writes about other stuff like cooking, washing dishes, his family and we seem to be on the same wave length politically. He works with computers or software or something in the technology field and most recently he has been overecoming a physical challenge. It is always impressive to see people meet this stuff head-on and with strength, which he does every day. He is a good example for his family.

East and West at Every Turn I think Sky was originally from a southern state in the U.S. and she tends to blog and comment with a Southern drawl and gracious charm. She is now married to an East Indian American man who creates the most beautiful gardens for her in the beautiful northwest and she takes pictures to make us all envious. Of course, Seattle is a great place to grow stuff anyway. She posts text that is a reminder for me about poets and authors I have long forgotten. She aways sends uplifting comments to my blog as well.

The Daily Warrior Tammy is the perky 'Katie Courac' on my blog list. She makes me believe that no matter what happens life is good and worth living and to just go for it. Hey, even her pedicure’s are perky! She faces unique personal challenges and makes champagne from the stale grapes she sometimes gets. I am so totally amazed at her inner strength that when I get down I feel I should slap myself. Her sweet new grandson is the light of her life and in her newer entries she has become very creative with some text/photo combo entries called Haigu which I am hoping to try myself -- someday. (They are somewhat like a jigsaw puzzle and cannot be done lightly. Tammy does them so well it is a little intimidating.)

Idiot Out Wandering Around Scott was fiddling around with his blog format recently and finding himself personally, so recently he has not done much posting. I also started reading him through other blogs and comments on my house blog as he was in the process of building his house. I think he was more hands-on in his house project than we were.

Stepping Stones of Truth Val lives in Dorset, England and posts the most envious photos of gardens she visits. She has a special love of Japanese gardens. Her home is like a lovely English cottage---only larger---with beautiful flowers. She knows how to appreciate the good things in life, and dares to pretend she can sail. Sometimes when reading her blog, I think I am visiting Agatha Christie's blog or that pair of gardeners in Rosemary and Thyme on Public Television. What fun.

Glenda in the Land of Oz Glenda is political and liberal and sometimes even funny in spite of that. She has a rich history in her life. You don’t want to get on her dark side. She will post you nude with a duck head at a moments notice ! (Just see some of her photos.) She generously comments on my blog from time to time. She, like me, is a peace-nik and so unhappy with the way things seem to be going in the world today, but she is also pro-active about it.

Daring to Write. Wenda is a writer and a teacher of writing. The title of her blog is what got my attention. She is one of the many bloggers I look to as I study writing and try to improve my own. She teaches writing in Canada. I enjoy reading her well-crafted vignettes of life. She can be hard on herself which helps me to be easier on myself. Currently her blog is a diary of how to get healthier.

Ask-the-painting-contractor-chickie I cannot remember how I found Carina…through the Blogger dashboard (?). Who could pass up a blog with this title? Her blog is new and different and funky. I mean, how many painting-contractor-chickies do YOU know? She sometimes posts about one of her jobs which may require acrobatics or a good sense of ethics. (Also I am hoping for some free advice when I try that glazing technique over the ‘butter yellow’ room...) She also posts about her dogs which obviously are her other non-painting life. Carina has gone the way of the 'lost' bloggers...easy come easy go.

Beyond the Fields We Know Kerrdelune is another blogger with many readers. She touches my soul with her photos of nature which reveal her graphics artist background and Buddhist leanings. Her photos show such peace and beauty. Her text is poetic and philosophical. Reading her blog is a nice reward at the end of a busy day. Her style is what I need to work toward when I snap pictures. Aye, there’s the rub---no snapping!!

Driftwood Inspirations Chancy is 75 years young. Her blog like mine tends to be all over the place, but she is a much better writer and a lovely poet. She is insightful on many levels. She is 'slowblog' so go there when you have time to digest thoughts. No fastblogging there. She also is very generous when she comments on my blog.

And last but not least is my blog-child. I like to take credit for giving birth to this blog, but as parents know we cannot take credit for anything our progeny produce. I commented favorably about the writing of a blogger on Robert Brady’s blog wondering why she didn’t have a blog if her own. Thus I inspired Maya’s Granny to begin her own blog. She lives on the side of a mountain in Alaska, is a grandmother to a beautiful little girl, has an interesting relationship with bears and I am just beginning to learn about the rest of her rich tapestry of life.

There are dozens more blogs that I read on occasion and have yet to add to my blogroll. Too many blogs and too little time. It amazes me after two years of this blogging thing that I look upon my blogroll the same way I would any people in my neighborhood - with homage here to the late Fred Rogers - my favorite neighbor. Some I see everyday and some our paths cross only on occasion. I think the most amazing part is their loyalty. A few come and go, but so many still post comments to their blogfriends even after they have long given up blogging on their own.

Honor Blogroll -Part II

A study published today said the average blogger is a 14-year-old blogging about her cat. Haven't gotten to her blog yet...but here is the second group of my regular reads below:

Old Horsetail Snake Hoss has an extremely popular blog and is known as an 'elderblogger'. He posts frequently and there is always a little contest to see who can post their comment on the day's blog-entry first. He tells ‘sullied’ little stories, posts funny, if somewhat irreverent, cartoons and ends with a his version of the definition for his word of the day. Once I was going to respond with a blog comment, but being number 24 or 34 or whatever, I decided instead to do a demographic review on the people who commented on his blog. I found that most of his readers are young and most are female. I am sure he is grinning all the time because of that. He is a sweetie. (By the way, this Honor blog roll thing was Hoss's idea.)

Just ask Judy I don’t get out to Judy’s place as much as I used to. She also is high up in the popularity of the blogosphere and that is how I first found her. She is the Yin to Hoss's Yang. (or vice versa?)

Thoroughly Modern Millie Millie is a very well-known 80-year-old who gives us all joy when we see that life goes on in a such a wonderful way as we age. She is a snowbird and blogs about that transition each season. She also blogs about the past and these posts are usually romantically touching. (She has a son that markets her blog as if he were her agent and posts videos of her struggles to open things---that doesn’t sound funny, but it is.)

Written, Inc Carmi is a journalist in Canada. I don’t get to his blog as much as I would like. I was most taken by his unique digital photos. While looking at common everyday things he frames them as different and odd and striking. It is not the traditional digital diarrhea of pretty photos that we all insist on posting. Sometimes he posts a question with them which stimulates quite a few comments. He also is one of the few current father bloggers that I have on my list.

Honeystrain Honeystrainin is her mid-30s and an irreverent mom. Good place to go when you need a pause and an good laugh. Her sardonic take on our culture as seen through the eyes of someone younger. She also makes and sells pretty cards that seem oddly gentle in juxataposition to her writing.

Self Winding I found this blog while blog-surfing. The banner caught my eye. It was so peaceful. Anna gives me an art fix and a British blog-ring-thing that only happens when a blog is written by a true Brit. Her blogs require some deep thinking sometimes --- can't just breeze through those posts. She also likes gardening. I don’t think I have ever commented on her blog, so she doesn’t know I read it, I am sure. She started her blog back in 2002 and one of these days I will really read it!

Time Goes By Ah yes, Ronni, who doesn’t suffer fools lightly and has no patience with those who do not respect the 'elderly'. Her blog is also famous and read by many of us older bloggers since her primary theme is the ageing process as well as society's take on elders. She just moved from New York City to rural Maine which shows that even elderbloggers can bend and not break. It has been interesting to watch her start to breathe more slowly in the new space.

long-toothed hinterland dweller Jude is the hinterland dweller that takes me through the exotic (to me on the other side of the earth) backyard in Australia. She is also an elderblogger. It is nice to have someone who blogs about strange fruit and strange bugs and stranger animals. I love to visit Australia vicariously this way. We have gardening in common and a love of the great outdoors. (Here blog may be ending...or re-starting...?)

Earth Home Garden I don’t comment on this blog often but I do visit often to stop by and view the beauties of nature. The outdoor photography with artistic tweaking is why I visit Jim’s place. I don't think he can take a bad photograph or he certainly does not post them. He and his wife live in a cabin in the woods in California. They seem to do fine without a car and consciously live a simple life. They could be aging hippies for all I know.

Well, that is the summation of the middle group. The rest are still to come.

My Blog Honor Roll--Part 1

When I first discovered blogging, I viewed it primarily as a way to swim the creative waters and as a way to detail a journal of my days. I have started a number of journals/diaries in my past, only to abandon them shortly thereafter. When I discovered that I could include pictures to my blog it only added a wonderful new dimension in testing those creative waters. After a while my blog became interactive. I commented on others blogs and they commented on mine. My personality is such that I like to intereact with a broad range of people. Variety is the spice of life and has been my mantra in food, music, entertainment and blogreading. (My husband often jokes that he doesn't understand why I have stayed married to him for so long, if that is the way I feel.) In blogging, as others tweaked my perspective and motivation in a whole new way, my addiction was complete. I also am intrigued by the voyeuristic aspect of visiting people and their lives so virtually.

Egoiste commented on my very first post and now has disappeared into the black pixels of the blogosphere. This probably says a great deal when it comes to blogging and bloggers. We are an ephemeral bunch, and perhaps not at all what we appear to be and maybe, instead, more so what we want to appear to be. When I first started this blog I viewed it as something that might be of interest to any geeky grandchild that I might have. But, to my surprise, although I got less personal as I got more public, along the way I made many pixelated friends.

The two-year anniversary of this blog falls on August 22 and I feel that I really should comment on this approaching milestone in some way. Sticking with something like this for two years should be of some significance---at least for me. (Maybe it shows that I at least have tenacity if no writing talent.) So, I have decided to honor my blogroll, the list of my motivators, which has grown in length as I have grown in courage. I have to list them now, because if the list grows longer, I will not be able to accomplish such a task in the future. This will be a three-part series where each blogger gets their little time and space. ( Ah, I've got you now, don't I? Your dying to see what I say about you. But if I hurt anyone's feelings--get over it--you shouldn't be blogging if you are that sensitive!)

PART I

Tomorrow is Another Day -- middle-angel, who lives in Japan, was my first. (Tee hee, sorry about that). She has the following text in her blog description: “As a libran, I put a high value on balance in everything. Pacifist, optimist. middle-aged, married.” I misread this during my early blog reading days. I mis-read the same way I mis-type. I thought she had written “As a librarian” and was wondering what a Japanese librarian would be like, so I started reading her blog. I find she does more sophisticated work than that and that is why her English is so outstanding. She is my gentle and slow day person. She helps me re-enter the Asian simple, retrospective and peaceful mode. She posts pictures of really delicious looking food. Sometimes she talks about her grown daughter, and her husband is a wonderful potter as well.

My World and Welcome to It --Peruby, who lives in Ohio, is an everywoman. She is a single mom with a beautiful teenage daughter and various pets. Yes, for her, this is the best of times and the worst of times. She has also discovered digital photography and provides a pictorial review of her rural life in Ohio in between making sure the public schools have their PC systems working. She always sympathizes with me when I am down. We don’t really have a lot in common but we are somehow always on the same wave length.

Living the Scientific Life -- Hedwig the Owl aka GrrlScientist is a very special young woman. She is pretty, very smart, outspoken, and has overcome tremendous challenges in her personal life. I think a Blogger comment helped me discover her blog. She is currently looking for a job in the field of science/working with birds and is a WONDERFUL journal-type blog writer. I am totally amazed that someone hasn’t gobbled her up yet—either by marriage or by work. It will happen someday I know, no grass grows under her feet. We share travel and the love of the South Pacific and Asia, but I cannot keep up with her passion for birds. She has a crazy sense of humor as well. I sort of feel 'motherly' when connecting with her. She has built up a hugh fan base in the blog community.

Pure Land Mountain -- Just go to Robert Brady’s well-known blog on Pure Land Mountain and you will know why I visit there often and why he is so famous. He doesn’t need the ‘interesting’ younger photo of himself to attract readers. He is a poet and a philosopher. He paints pictures and feelings and funny events all with just words. He is insightful and inspiring and makes most blog writers jealous. (His brother is a terrific writer also, but is not linked on my blogroll--I have to stop somewhere---don't I?)

Full Fathom Five -- I think I remember how I found Mary Fowler at Full Fathom Five. She is a New Englander and part of all that that entails--spare of words but clear of thought. She has a love of boats and a new, energetic white dog. I stumbled on her husband’s blog where he was talking about sails and I thought I might learn something to share with my sailor husband. Then I discovered the blog of his wife who teaches English to Asian students and in a focused way is working on self-improvment.

White Noise -- I started sharing blog comments with mannababies when she was pregnant with her third and building a house. This is a woman who can never have too much to do. She is a devoted and talented mom and yet still has time to blog, take very artistic photos, and eat the good food she cooks. Her life currently revolves around those lovely children. She has no time to sleep, unfortunately. She reminds me of myself juggling all those balls years ago. We do have coffee and chocolate in common. Her life is always moving, new houses, new jobs!

Roomination – I think I found Ginga through Hoss (who is honored in the blog to come). She knits and I don’t. She does have a youthful sense of humor that brightens the day. She may actually live within driving distance of my new house.

At The Cerebral Outpost Carol has wonderful patience as she doesn’t post often and each post has been carefully edited and written and is a very good read as a result. She has that ‘wry’ sense of humor, and when she leaves considerate comments on your blog, you may actually think you were old friends at some time. She was recently married and shared that special event with her readers. The first blog I read of her’s was so flat-out funny about a large crawfish, a cat and a treadmill…yep, she is worth visiting.

Loose Leaf: Notes from a Writer's Journal Colleen, on the other hand, is a prolific blogger, a published writer, and a featured person on NPR. She is fearless and her philosophy is "Things I would not tell anyone, I tell the public." She lives in a small town of artists and active bloggers in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. While our daily lives are not all that similar, there are threads of philosophy in her blog that I can always relate to. I also frequently find little details in our historic lives that we have in common as well. Her place in her community reflects a strong citizenship.

Well, that is the first batch of virtual friends who have allowed me to visit. More to come.