Welcome To My World...

Welcome to my two new followers, and those of you who have chosen to come and read my words and share parts of my journey with me.

I sense that in Blogland things have gone a little quiet recently.    I noticed some time ago that some of my favourite bloggers, who became firm friends, left the Blogosphere altogether and we communicate now on FaceSlapBook instead.

What is to become of us in the outer reaches of Blogworld?   Will we wither on the vine or, cut back against the coming of winter, will we all bloom once more in spring?

I know not.   I am no sage or oracle.

More's the pity!

I tend to use my blog as therapy these days.   Perhaps I have always done so.   Without blogging would I have ever selected therapy as my next career step?   Blogging for most of us seems to be an outlet for venting our spleen, for exploring our sense of humour, for sharing things of beauty in our lives - whether pictures of our children, grandkids, pets, our passion for knitting, our love of all things vintage, our hints and money-saving tips, or just our divine common sense.  

Blogging has its place in our universe.   Whether we're hoping for a book-deal (unlikely these days!), ou non...

Without reading your blogs I would not be as erudite (blows on fingernails and rubs them across shiny blouse!), as learned, or quite as humble.

Blogging is not without its irritations.   I balk at the relentlessly self-obsessed writers, who rant and rail against stuff that I can't be arsed to get arsed about, like plagiarism, for example.   ...I want to say 'Get a grip!   Don't take yourself so seriously.   Life's too short, and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery - I think someone big once said that.'


But, I also want to live and let live.   I think that's important.   I'm fed up of others wanting to dictate how we need to live our lives, who strive endlessly (and hopelessly, in my humble opinion) for perfectionism and want us all to fit into their restrictive, but perfect, pigeon-holes.  

One of my relatively peaceful neighbours in my rural terrace is being harassed by another neighbour who wants to complain about his log-pile and how untidy it is.   I'm just waiting for them to complain about our new house-mates, three fancy rats that we're temporarily care-taking for our sweet son's lovely girlfriend.


On reflection - without writing my blog I might not be as self-aware - or quite as sane.   (Believe it or not!)

Thank you for sticking around.   Thank you for your writing, those of you who write.   A big thank you to those who comment in Blogworld.   I may read widely, but I don't always have time to comment - My hubby, GJ, does complain about my capacity to endlessly tippy-tappy against the key-board.

Nuff said for one day.

More soon.   Now with added rats!

 

To the Internet... And beyond!

I haven't posted much recently, have I? Since my laptop breathed its last in the Priory for Addicted Laptops, and I've purloined this lovely beastie from my son, who really has greater need, but then his old laptop still works. So, until he gets home for spring break, or whatever it's called here in the UK...

When I was without my laptop, which I've only had my paws on for just over two years, I'll be totally honest I felt somewhat bereft.

I missed what was happening in 'the world'... I felt a little out of touch, isolated - Especially given my rural location, and my lack of a meaningful job at the moment - More about the interview laters...

How much of our own self-worth these days is now wrapped up in our on-line lives, do you suppose?

Do you even think about it, mes bloggy chums?!

Apparently, the way we think and how we structure our time is changing as a direct result of our capacity for social networking. CLICKIE. I know mine has. Our children have the attention span of ADHD gnats, as a result. And yet they're not any less intelligent than those of us born in the Sixties', or Fifties', or whatever we're owning up to in terms of age this week!

We who only had draughty Public Libraries for refuge once a week, levering our forms into the heaviest chairs to study at, next to the, sometimes smelly, homeless man who had come in from the cold to read the papers. (Now he probably uses a Blackberry or sits in the Internet cafe... Ok, I'm being facetious).

To continue - We with our access to weighty tomes and encyclopedias - in said Libraries... We who had pens and paper, not screens and keyboards. Our kids are probably just as bright as we claim to be, in fact. Thank Goddess for that!

But our lives have changed irreparably as a result of social networking, non?

Last week I spent a lovely afternoon at the Coast with friends - We went to Crusoe's in Tynemouth - The weather was unseasonably good and I was surrounded by people I've worked with - recently and in the past - who mean a lot to me. We've all met one another at various (and vicarious!) stages in my life (and theirs...)

What we all have in common is that we all talk on Facebook. And now friends from my past have made new friends through me and each other, courtesy of (mainly ripping the tiddle out of each other!), social networking twaddle and chit-chat... Without it, they'd probably never have had the opportunity to meet one another...

One dear friend whom I met in my twenties even brought her sister who's now a dear friend too, and I'd only ever met her before virtually!

It made for an interesting afternoon, as we all got along, as conversation waxed and waned, and we each treasured some authentic real-life moments that had had their fledgling beginnings in black and white...

Friends are to treasure, no matter where we may encounter them in life.