Fifteen Years of Blogging

 

one of my blog headers from about 2013

It has been about 15 years ago this week that I created my first blog and began writing about my faith, family, hobbies, food, travel --whatever seemed to be good "blog fodder." Written primarily for women, some men read it, too, probably more out of self-defense (to see if I had besmirched their name than anything else). 

Blogging was gaining recognition and popularity 2009 as an easy (and inexpensive) form of expressing oneself, enabling writers to claim they were "published," albeit self-published. 

One of my nieces began a blog and since I have had an interest in writing since a teenager, my mother suggested I might like to try it. 

one of my first blog headers
(Internet source)

Using the Blogspot/Blogger platform, which is known for being both free and user-friendly, I liked it immediately. Coming up with a title and a header were great fun and I changed both often as I struggled to find exactly what would express ME the best.

At times I had more than one blog at the same time, each one devoted to one topic, such as quilting, food, home decor, spiritual, and so forth. 

The many titles I used included (but not limited to):

Aprons and Apples

My Journal Reflections

Grateful Grammy

Grammy's Place

Sweet Tea and Sandals

Cornerstone Cottage

Restful Retreat

The Brown Bungalow

and more that I no longer remember.

my kitchen 2013-2017

Eventually I realized that changing names and headers frequently confused many of my readers and settling down to just one blog with many topics within was the better choice for building a devoted readership.

a fresh salad with wood moose tongs

Writing about food was fun and got me into the habit of snapping pictures of dinner before taking the first bite. Lots of bloggers post recipes, some more artfully than others. 

baby quilt I made for grandchild #10

My quilts, and later cross stitched projects, occupied many of the blog posts. This quilt, above, was one of my more "artsy" designs, where I ventured from the more traditional, predictable patterns. 

For more years than not, I wrote about my imaginary staff who helped me with maintaining my home, and eventually my fictitious Bed and Breakfast -- freeing me up to "write the great American novel." 

"My Staff"

Identifying them in the photo above, from top eft to right:

Lily (in the teal scrubs): my Research Assistant

Mandy Sue (pink apron): my "gal Friday" full of mischief

Grammy (the be-speckled bear): was Me

Mrs Berniece Mertz (Kiss the Cook apron): my chef

Brown bear in yellow chair: Rent-a-Nurse, who appeared only when one of us were ill or recovering from surgery and home health care was needed

Smallest gal in the newspaper hat: Eaves Dropping was a reporter for the local newspaper.

Not shown was Grandad Bear, Rowdy (the bothersome neighbor kid), and Spud (Mr Potato Head who helped Grandad Bear with home maintenance and outdoor chores.)

blog header using the hot air balloon
at Disney Springs, Florida

Back in the early days of my blog, I was very concerned about personal security and privacy, so I would photoshop hats, sunglasses, and such over the faces of people to make easy identification hard. I also gave just about everyone a pseudonym, something that seemed appropriate for their personality or career, or station in  life. Some of the names used:

Surfer Girl and Surfer Boy

Web Designer and the Lil' Red-Haired Girl

Gray Beard and Blondie

The Cook on Fifth Street

Parakeet

Beloved

There were many more names used but these appeared the most often. 

I seldom got into political issues, wanting to keep my writing clean, uplifting, and accurate. But at the same time, when COVID hit, I did acknowledge that.

Mandy Sue during the pandemic;
I sewed most of her wardrobe

It was about eight months into the pandemic when the tone and thrust of my blog writing turned from the frivolity and fantasy with my dolls' antics to real life, the hard stuff none of us could overlook or ignore. 

Challenge Hill aka "the incline"
Philip S. Miller Park
Castle Rock, Colorado

When COVID came to my house, fantasy faded and reality warped the fanciful stories I'd been composing for some nearly ten years. I found myself, as did so many of us, on a very steep incline with no handrails at an increasing altitude that took my breath away.

Literally. If you look closely at the above snapshot taken by Beloved, I am barely seen over half-way up the staircase, below the lime green shirt and close to a royal blue sweatshirt. This picture was taken years before we had heard of COVID, but when I came across it the other day, it perfectly illustrated how I felt when the pandemic grabbed and stole from me a particular peace I had enjoyed for all my life until then.

A quote from Goethe describes some of the reasons why I continued to blog in the new season of grief that was swallowing me up:

"The world is so empty 

if one thinks only of 

mountains, rivers, and cities; 

but to know someone who thinks

and feels with us, and who,

though distant, 

is close to us in spirit, 

this makes the earth for us

an inhabited garden."

As I shared my grief over losing Beloved to COVID, my readers responded with their sympathy and stories of how this evil was affecting them. The purpose for my writing transformed into more of a support group atmosphere and readership even grew. My attention and focus was (and continues to be) frequently directed to these two thoughts:

1) God has a purpose for our pain, a reason for our struggle, and a reward for our faithfulness. Don't give up!

2) Everyone is struggling with something. Be kind and give grace.

Over the years it has been my delight to meet several of my blogging friends in person (some, more than once!). Especially as we all were encouraged to limit in-person contact with the public, these blogging relationships have become very special and close.

Colorado Columbines

I have learned a lot about myself in this evolution of my writing a blog. One, to my embarrassment and regret, is that I had a lot to learn about extending grace, being kind, and giving more intentional thought to word choices and behaviors. 

kitchen chandelier decor
in Colorado

Before I close out this summation of my blogging journey over the past 15 years, I will say that along with the grief has been the advent of more new people and experiences in my life. The Lord, in His incredible mercy, has rescued me from profound grief to wonderful joy with the love of a man who has experienced similar grief in his life. Those who have been reading my blogs over the years have seen this turn come about on the heels of the hard stuff. 

Gary is not given to the fantasies that captured me in the past, although he has a sense of humor that has me laughing every single day. When I tried to give him a pseudonym in my blog at the start of our love, he asked that he be referred to as "just Gary." And so he is.

I hasten to add that Gary is very involved with this blog, not only as frequent subject matter, but also as my editor and proofreader!

We have some particularly engrossing things on our calendar over the next couple months, so even with all the benefits blogging has done for me and others, I will not be writing as often. As the calendar allows, I intend to resume posting, but for the time being blogging will be on the back burner, so to speak.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you, and regarding the Super Bowl this weekend, this is me:

Until next time, grace and peace.