by Hans Thoma
One year ago today I started writing this blog. Changes…
…I use those little dots a lot…
I think it’s because, as the amazing Polish poet, Wisława Szymborska observes:
Every beginning is always a sequel, after all,
and the book of events is always open halfway through.
Changes keep coming along, welcome or unwelcome, keeping us on our toes, and the Japanese scholar Kakuzō Okakura reminds his readers:
The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.
I feel like I’ve fumbled around this past year, but have finally accepted that this blog has been and is going to be a hodgepodge of anything and everything I think about, dream about, or experience, although the line between “reality” and dreams in my consciousness is often pretty fuzzy. For this blog, over the year I have tried out five WordPress themes, Coraline, Structure, Tarski, Treba, and this one, Elegant Grunge, as far as I can remember. It’s fun playing with the widgets! My favorite posts are the ones with pictures taken on my nature walks with Bernie, Beverly, Janet and Tim. Making friends with my readers, reading their comments here and reading and commenting on their blogs is the best part of being in the blogosphere!
On March 14, 2010 I started another blog, called “…select and collect all the words…,” which was at first to house my collection of quotes. Then I discovered all the art available in the public domain at Wikimedia Commons! So I spent hours pairing quotes with paintings, and wound up neglecting this blog. Finally on January 6, 2011, I posted my last quote there, and made the decision to merge the contents of that blog into this blog. It will take some time, but for now I think I’ll post quotes and paintings on the weekends. Of course, that may change, too.
On March 23, 2010 I started a family history blog for our relatives, close family and distant cousins, Rodgers Family History. (Actually we had a family history website since 2004. I created it on our own domain using Front Page 2000. But using WordPress has been a nice change, making presentation and navigation so much easier.) That “blog” has been neglected, too, but new cousins have found what is already up there and generously added to my database. Connecting with them has been so satisfying. I hope to get more of my data up there in the near future.
A slower and incomplete change has been The Change, a hormonal storm through which I am still trying to navigate. The seas around my little boat are pretty choppy, and I’m never sure if I’m making the waves or being tossed around by what others are leaving in their wakes as they sail, drift, or jet-ski through their own lives. And then there is an energy from the tides that doesn’t originate with people, but pulls from the universe through the moon. Steady and yar…
A year ago I was asking Stevie Nick’s questions:
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?
I am still asking. And sometimes answering affirmatively. Some day I hope Carole King’s lyrics will be my most frequent answer…
My life has been a tapestry
Of rich and royal hue;
An everlasting vision
Of the ever-changing view;
A wondrous woven magic
In bits of blue and gold;
A tapestry to feel and see;
Impossible to hold.
Well, it just occurred to me that perhaps this blog isn’t a hodgepodge, but a tapestry! And with that thought, I’m off to embrace another year of writing about the “ever-changing view.”
It’s a marvelous path that you’re on Barbara! So glad you find the time to reflect and write about the seemingly unconnected little bits that truly DO come together.
Life takes bifocals: there are times you need to concentrate on the details and other times sweep in the scenery. I am more cognizant of my changes in perspective these days because I have to manually switch the glasses. Not a bad thing at all!
Fantastic metaphor, Janet! Bifocals! I love concept and will use it to help me keep a more flexible perspective on my journey. Thanks for sharing your observation!
Are you up for a winter walk before spring comes? 🙂
Happy one year blog anniversary! I love that Stevie Nicks song. Your family history website looks wonderful (as does this one). What your grandfather (I think) said about knowing you’ve found your vocation when you are so involved in an activity you don’t realize you’ve missed a meal (or something along those lines) sounds like such great advice, and so much more meaningful than an aptitude test! I really like the quote about the art of life, so much has to do with our response to change.
Oh thank you, Cait! I’m so happy you liked my grandfather’s words of wisdom. He died almost 10 years ago and I still miss him terribly.
Change is so inevitable you’d think we’d get enough practice at it so as to be able to go through it a little more gracefully and graciously. 🙂
I love “Landslide” too, in fact, so much so that it was the song I chose for the mother-son dance when my firstborn got married. It was written the year he was born, a winter baby (“snow covered hills”), and since I was a very young mother, these words held and still hold so much meaning for me…
“I’ve been afraid of changing because I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder, children get older, and I’m getting older too…”
I like that you call it a “tapestry”, Barbara. What a wonderful way to view the different things you post. (May I borrow that term sometime in the future to describe my own blog? It sounds better than “hodge-podge.”) Congratulation on your anniversary! Way to go–one whole year!
Thank you, Kathy, and also many thanks to you for getting me started here and encouraging me along the way! Your blog is the ideal I try to live up to.
Of course you can “borrow” the word “tapestry!” Just make sure you return it when you’re done with it… 😉 But seriously, we both should be thanking Carole King for use of the metaphor. 🙂
Barbara, thank you so much! Actually–it’s funny–but there is a lot in your blog that is “ideal” for me. I love the honest down-to-earth sharing that comes from a deep quiet place within you. Your blog inspires me to share from that place more often. (I will be sure to return the word “tapestry” when I’m done with it. lol!)
Than you for your kind words, Kathy – they have warmed my heart on this cold winter day. I guess we have a mutual admiration club here! 🙂
I like the word ‘tapestry’ in regards to personal blogging. It fits so well. I see you, too, have multiple blog disorder (as I fondly call it). I am finally down to two blogs. I tried to merge those two (one — Bountiful Healing — is where I post quotes with my photos), but have always ended up coming back to two separate blogs whenever I try as they seem to serve separate purposes for me. So, two it is. 🙂
Happy one year blog anniversary! Wishing you many more.
Thank you, Robin! Multiple blog disorder – I love it!!! 🙂 (I guess I should admit to also having a “private” blog which I use to play with new themes on. And another one for the family to post news and plans on – they signed up but they never make use of it.) I thought I had subscribed to one of your blogs but I must not be getting the email notification. Will go investigate… Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you don’t mind me borrowing your term, MBD! 🙂
I don’t mind in the least. Have fun with it! 🙂
Tim had a good chuckle over MBD… Thanks! 🙂
It’s curious, isn’t it, what we discover about ourselves as we write our blogs? I’m glad you’ve written this post as it’s a lovely defining moment of you. Sometimes I wish I could take a blog post and ‘frame’ it to have somewhere where I can always see it. Alas, all I can do is bookmark it! But this is one of the posts I’d like to be able to view often. Your words are lovely and I’m glad I found you and your blog, Barbara. Long may the connections continue.
🙂
Curious, indeed, and confusing and surprising and clarifying, all at once at times. I’ve had that same desire to do more than bookmark or keep adding to the sidebar… 🙂 Thank you for your kind words, Val! Yes, here’s to long continued connections!