Tag Archives: blogging101

You Like Me! You Really Like Me!

23 Monday Mar 2015

Posted by in Random Thoughts

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liebster awardLike most egomaniacs people engaged in social media, I like to be noticed and recognized, so when A Life in Libraries nominated me for the Leibster Award, I was flattered.  But fame has its price, as I soon discovered in reading her nomination post. You don’t get to just blather on about yourself.  You have to find ten other people to nominate, create questions for them, and then contact them.  Of course, I can’t refuse such a profound honor. But, let me start with the all about me part and save the work sharing for last.

  1. Why did you start blogging?
    Hmmmm.  I want to have a record of important happenings in my life.  I also find that when I write I uncover thoughts that I didn’t realize I had. I like the creative outlet for my words and my photos.
  2. What time of day do you blog?
    In the morning is best, but sometimes I start in early evening and forget to stop.
  3. How old are you?
    On April 22, 2015 I’ll be 67.  Send cake.
  4. What are you wearing?
    My PJs (Thank goodness I already answered question 2!)
  5. What’s your favorite color? Why?
    Golden yellow.  It’s the color of sunshine.
  6. Do you have pets? How many, what kind, and their names?
    My cat is named JJ.  He has incredible green eyes and thinks he’s a dog.  We call him a cog.
  7. Who is your role model/hero(ine), and why?
    Tough one.  Depends on “what for?”  But the answer that immediately sprang to my mind was: my Mother – she was the strongest, kindest woman I’ve ever known.
  8. What’s your favorite movie?
    Impossible to answer.  I love movies and go to them all the time.  This would be an essay answer for sure!  Maybe a blog post in the future.
  9. What’s your favorite song?
    Amazing Grace, but not for religious reasons.  The music is beautiful, and I’ve always identified with “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”
  10. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
    Paris. (But there are people I’d have to take with me.)

OK, for you lucky folks I’m nominating here are the rules of the game:

Rules:

  • Each nominee must have under 200 followers
  • Thank and link to the nominating blog
  • Answer their 10 questions and propose 10 new ones for your nominees
  • Nominate 10 blogs and tell them that they’ve been nominated
  • Write a post containing the questions
  • Include these rules in the post

(Isn’t this how epidemics start?  Really, though, the idea is to draw attention and followers to relatively new blogs.  I promise to nominate good ones for you!)

And here are the questions you must answer:

  1. If you could have dinner with a famous person, living or dead, who would it be? What would you ask her or him?
  2. Do you cook?  Why or why not?
  3. What’s your favorite hobby?
  4. What are you learning about now?
  5. What’s the most interesting place you’ve ever visited?
  6. If you could have a talent you don’t currently possess what would it be?
  7. Dance or sit it out?
  8. What have you read lately?  Was it good?
  9. Tell me about a really good book you’ve read.
  10. Post a picture of someone or something you really like.

And now the big ta-da!  Here are the lucky nominees:

Rendezvous en New York
Womanseyeview’s Blog
handikwani02
Galaxy Jane Cruises the Universe
Be Kitschig

I can count.  I know that’s only five nominees, but I’ve already devoted far too much of my day to this and other blogging activities.  So would each of you answer twice, please? Thanks.

Nothing Is Fresher Than Spring…

21 Saturday Mar 2015

Posted by in Photography

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…and nothing says Spring like the first crocus.

flowers-2-101In my part of the country, Southwest Indiana, spring can drag its feet, but it usually arrives some time in March.  March can also be dreary, rainy, cold and stubborn.  But as soon as the sun peeks out and temperatures rise a little, up pop the crocuses.  Mine are almost buried under the encroaching underbrush of the woods behind my house.  But sure enough, they poked their little heads through the dead leaves today just in time for the official first day of spring.  Green is coming!

flowers-2-100Funny, Day 11 of Blogging 101, which BTW I’m doing a few days late, instructed us to reply to a prompt in the Daily Post.  I went there looking for the writing prompt and saw the daily photography prompt, which was Fresh.  Immediately the photos I had taken this morning of my crocuses popped into my head.  So here they are.  I’m doing a happy dance. (No picture of that available.)

Quote of the Day

20 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by in Family, Food, Philosophy, Random Thoughts

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“People who love to eat are always the best people.”

                                                                                 – Julia Child

Ironically, this quote comes directly from a dish towel.  I don’t know if Julia actually said it, and I suppose I could look it up on the Encyclopedia of the Internet for veracity’s sake.  But I want to believe she said it, so I’m taking the word of my dish towel.  I also want to believe that it’s true because I love to eat, I love to prepare food, and I love to hang out with other food lovers.  My family is very good in this regard.  In fact my niece is responsible for the towel – it was her contribution to our family’s Christmas gift grab, and I grabbed it.

pie -2My family and many of my friends and I love to prepare food and then talk about food while eating.  In fact, in an act of extreme self-sacrifice and good food sportsmanship several of said friends and family members showed up to eat pi-e when I planned a last minute celebration on 3/14/15 at 9:26:53.  It was a monument to our desire to commemorate a once in a lifetime mathematical event.  Plus, I make damn good pies.  They were the talk of the evening.

Blogging 101 Days 8 and 9 – Get Lost in Venice

14 Saturday Mar 2015

Posted by in Art and Creativity, Random Thoughts, Travel

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I Wonder as I Wander

Venice1 copyA number of years ago a friend and I took a trip to Italy.  We were on a guided bus trip, but for us that just meant transportation and sleeping accommodations.  Our real guide was Rick Steves.  We had his Italy book, and he was our guru.  When we arrived in Venice, Rick said, “Get lost in Venice.”  His point was that the best way to experience that place was just to wander.  It’s an island, for heaven’s sake, you can’t really get lost! He was completely right, of course, and wandering the streets and backways of Venice was the most charming and memorable part of our whole trip.  All these years later, I can still picture the quiet little squares lined with ancient houses and enticing shops and cafes and bordered by canals with boats out of your dream of Italy. And guess what? We made it back!

That experience popped into my head more than once while navigating the assignments for these two days, which were to visit new blogs, browse, view, read, and possibly leave meaningful comments.  Heading into the complicated web of streets that is the blogosphere (and not even the entire blogosphere, just the WordPress portion of it) felt like getting lost.  One blog or link led to another where you might pause to visit and admire or have a chat, then to another where you might look in briefly then pass on by. In many instances, I couldn’t tell you why I arrived at a particular location or how to get back to it. Finally, since we were asked to link to some of our favorites, I began making notes about some blogs that I loved so that I and others could find our way back to them.

As with any good travel experience, I learned a lot. I learned about some of the people who blog.  I learned about what appeals to me when I’m spending my time in the blogosphere. I saw a variety of formats and styles in both the way people express themselves and the way they present their material.  Some of what I saw and read inspired me to examine and improve my own blog.

Great Destinations: Blogs I Loved

I like to read blogs that are well written and articulate.  I love visual interest – photos, drawings or other art work, interesting typography and formatting.  And, of course, topics that appeal to my interests – travel, art, photography, reading.  Here are a few that I found and plan to follow:

Deformedly Gracious

  • Stories both fictional and nonfictional accompanied by delightfully whimsical drawings
  • A favorite post: Moscow Metpo

My Truant Pen

  • Writes about everyday life, weather (she lives in New England-snow central), and my favorites – books and writing
  • Well written, nice photos

And, importantly, the blog listed and linked in the comment below

All of this brings me to part III of today’s post:

An Open Letter to Michelle and Blogging 101

[The format of the below is inspired by and with great respect for one of my new favorite blogs, Sincerely, Becca.  This blog is beautifully written and illustrated and alternates between completely moving and hilariously funny.  One of the writing formats she uses is the letter written to individuals or organizations.  Here’s one I particularly loved: “Dear eHarmony, Should I Talk about Back Fat in My Profile?”]

Dear Michelle W. and Blogging 101,

I can’t decide whether to hate you or thank you!  On the one hand, you have given me the tools and motivation to reactivate my blog and experience other people and even other places.  You’ve encouraged me to think and write more creatively and to communicate with other bloggers.  I feel more mentally stimulated than I have in a long time.  My blog is looking better and better. And I’m super excited about all that I’m learning.

On the other hand, I’m spending hours thinking about what to write, writing, grooming my blog, and strolling through the labyrinth of other blogs. And you’re feeding my technology addiction.  Now, in addition to checking Facebook and email on a regular basis and getting lost in all that information, I have blog checking to add to the distraction. Furthermore there’s the increased vanity, not to say self-worship, of checking all these locations to see if anybody’s talking to me or admiring my clever comments and creative genius.  In the meantime, my house is beginning to look like someone broke in and ransacked it.

OK, so let’s see: learning, new writing and creativity, mental stimulation, and communication with others vs. a clean house and a less inflated ego.  Hmmmm…. THANK YOU it is!!!

Sincerely,

Jeanne

Blogging101 Day Four – Identify Your Audience

06 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by in Art and Creativity, Photography

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Note: Wow, this is a tough one.  I’m not sure who my audience is.  Really, though, the assignment is to write a post “that someone in particular will see (and appreciate).”   The idea is that even if we are writing just to write, which to me means writing to either express my thoughts or to figure out where they are going, there’s some particular person or class of persons we are speaking to.  I don’t know.  Maybe this is one of those instances where I’m just trying to figure out where my thoughts are going.  I hope to know by the end of this post who I am writing it for. At this point I don’t feel overly confident of that.

Photography, Guilt, and Self-Appreciation

It’s a beautiful, cold, sunny, snowy day and I’m feeling guilty about not being outside with my camera attempting to make some snow images.  Ever since I decided to get more serious about my photography I’ve been fraught with guilt. (I’m so excited to have an opportunity to use the word fraught!)

As a component of my resolution, I have reactivated my membership in the Fine Arts Camera Club and have begun attending meetings of the Evansville Photography Group.  Both of these groups meet once a month and have Facebook pages where members can post their work and share and discuss all things photographic.  I’ve learned a lot from these folks so far and have enjoyed the learning and the gatherings.  And their work is inspirational.  And it’s also intimidating – both in terms of quality and quantity.  Hence the guilt.  I feel guilty about not sharing my work.  I feel guilty about not taking more images.  I feel overwhelmed about the vastness of what I have yet to learn about equipment, procedure, post-production, software.  Gaaaaaaah!  And, of course, I’m afraid that if I do share my images they won’t be good enough.

One of the first things I learned when I began taking photography classes is that it’s not about the camera, it’s about the image.  In other words, vision trumps equipment.  Now, I’m not sure if my instructors and book authors really believed that, or if they just wanted us to get hooked before we realized how expensive this hobby (or profession, in some cases) really is.  The digital divide does exist in photography. Now that we’ve graduated from film to digital photography more and more of the control of the ultimate image moves from the photographer and the darkroom to the camera and the computer.  Cameras and software are changing and improving almost moment to moment.  If your camera, like mine, is seven or eight years old, its sensor has been surpassed dramatically by more recent models.  And if you are, like me, still on a sharp learning curve with photo editing software use and acquisition…well, you get the idea.  And the new stuff is EXPENSIVE.  And my old stuff was EXPENSIVE, so I don’t want to have to replace it all.

So, that was a long rant and sounds way more negative than I usually try to be.  When you really get down to it, the main problem with my photography is that I don’t do enough of it.  We all know that in order to be good at something you have to do it and do it and then do it some more. Right Malcom? [As an aside, in seeking out a link to Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule, I found far more links to sites that “debunk” it.  However, I hold firmly to my belief in its value in principle…with certain modifications like adapted practice, obviously. I’m sure even Malcom knows that.]

cadillac ranch 6

Cadillac Ranch

So there are a couple of solutions here.
1. Focus, excuse the pun, more on making photographs.
2. Continue to learn from and be inspired (not intimidated) by my fellow photophiles in the groups that I joined.
3. Continue to learn more about the software and equipment that I currently have and use.
4.  Don’t be so dang vain about sharing.

Well, there I went from “what on earth can I write about” to self analysis.  And really, although this is MY blog, I don’t want to be entirely “I” centered.  That’s just boring to that unidentified reader I am supposed to be writing for today.  Which brings me to the realization that this post was mostly written for my most appreciative reader – myself.  Nice job, Jeanne!  If you’re still with me, thank you! I’ll try to be less self-centered next time.  I promise.

There’s Nothing Like a Snow Day

04 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by in Philosophy, Random Thoughts

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snow dayWith apologies to Bostonians, linemen, snow removal services and mail carriers, I must admit that I love a snow day.  Maybe it’s because my entire life has been spent in education – getting it, giving it – and and inside me is that little kid who just wants to sleep in and then curl up with a good book and watch the weather through the window.  And only a little part of me is that kid who wants to put on boots and mittens and go play in it.  Well…not much of me  at all.

I’m retired now, so in theory every day should be a snow day if I want it to be, right?  But I still need some sort of permission (excuse) to just spend a day in the house doing whatever pleases me.  If school hadn’t been canceled today, I’d be planning and preparing for then going to the Boys and Girls Club this afternoon to do a cooking class, as I do most Wednesdays.  Retired or not, life usually has a great deal of structure. So, snow.  Permission granted to spend the morning reading in my PJs.  I have all sorts of chores and projects circling around waiting for me to begin them, but I feel like I can pick whichever ones I want and my day will still be lazy and illuminated in that lovely grayish-white snow light that gives one permission to just be.

Maybe tomorrow the weather will be just as good, er, I mean bad….   Sorry, Bostonians, linemen, snow removal services and mail carriers.

Blogging101 – Renewing My Neglected Blog

03 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by in Food

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It has been over a year and a half since I posted to my blog.  So much has happened during that time.  Why didn’t I write about it?  I’m not sure.  Well, many reasons.  Probably the greatest one is the inertia that hits me when I contemplate a writing task that requires some form of introspection and creativity.  It’s difficult to write.  And it’s difficult to adequately and honestly express one’s feelings.  I have very little difficulty when it comes to writing tasks that are instructive, factual, or straightforward narrative.  It’s the “deeper,” more personal stuff that daunts me.  Also, maybe I’m a little lazy.  And I want my writing to be perfect – which fosters procrastination.  Ok, so enough about NOT blogging.  Let’s just get on with it.

I signed up for Blogging 101 to force myself to return to Sillisoup, the aforementioned neglected blog.  It’s interesting to revisit my original purpose in starting the blog.  Almost immediately, I deviated from that purpose, because really I just wanted to be able to post thoughts, experiences, and photos.  Also, I discovered that although other family members thought a location to share recipes, ideas, etc. sounded like a good idea, the collaboration never materialized.  Metaphorically, the blog tittle, which originally referred to my family’s signature soup (sausage soup – that name was already taken), could be taken to refer to the “soup” of content that represents the constantly shifting smorgasborg that constitutes my consciousness and interests.

I hope that as the days progress in the Blogging101 experience, I’ll be able to write about some of the significant things that happened during the year and a half I was absent from Sillisoup.  And of course, I look forward to opportunities for contemplation about the now. Further, I will look to my fellow bloggers for input, inspiration, and camaraderie.  Most of all, I hope that this experience will turn into a habit that generates a newly revitalized ongoing blog!

One thing I know about any creative endeavor is that in order to do it well, one must do it, then keep doing it, then do it some more.  That’s certainly true of writing.  Whenever I go into agonies about writing I remember the truest thing I ever read about writing – at least as it pertains to my perspective on it.  It was on a poster put out by a publisher of college textbooks: “In writing, the only hard thing is to begin.”  So here I am, beginning. Again.  Then tomorrow, another beginning.  Perhaps after a while it’ll feel like I’m in the middle and it won’t be as hard.