Why All the Blogging?

A number of years ago, I quit writing in my blogs (I had one on knitting and one on traveling in our RV). I basically quit reading them, too. I found, at the time, that all my blogging friends had moved to Facebook and were posting updates there, or in Instagram.

Why did I blog before?

Throughout my life I’ve enjoyed keeping journals. Writing my thoughts down helps me process. When I found blogs in 2005, I was thrilled to be able to journal without writing by hand, and at first kept a private blog (which I think my spouse still does, but who knows; it’s private!).

Then, I discovered many cool people on email lists (another love of my past) blogging about knitting, sharing their work, sharing their patterns, and interacting with each other. It was so great to share photos and instructions, as well as what was going on in our lives.

I really enjoyed keeping my knitting blog, but the knitter/blogger scene mostly died out when Ravelry , the online fiber community showed up. Now I just read the blogs of some of my professional knitter friends.

As a person with only so many hours in my day, I let the blog slide and shared my work on Ravelry, shared my personal stuff with friends on Facebook, and was fine. (You are welcome to read the old blogs; they were about some weird times.)

When we got the ranch, the RV-ing ended, so that cute little blog died off. I switched to the Hermits’ Rest Facebook page until last April, when I wanted to write more details.

And now

I truly value the old connections I’ve rekindled and the new connections I’ve made on Facebook. I don’t see the negative aspects as much as many of my friends seem to. I’m really good at ignoring ads and blocking trolls. I’m also quite capable of seeing a relative or acquaintance post something I disagree with and just letting it go.

I like sharing fun stories and things that happen to mewith my friends. And I really, really love reading about other people. Sadly, people I care about have begun to seem afraid to share what’s actually going on in their lives, and I regret that. Memes and cartoons are fine, but sometimes that’s all I see. I want to know how folks are doing, see photos of their life events, etc.

So, after blogging for my business since 2015, I turned back to having this personal blog. Blogs give you space to say what you want, put in as many or as few photos as you want, and interact with others, without irritating trolls. You just block them or delete their comments. The End.

Plus you can revisit past events, if your memory is as creaky as mine and you need to be refreshed.

I post the blog entries on Facebook, so anyone who actually wants to know what’s happening with my life, business, or whatever, can click on it, and others can skim the headlines or pass by. That feels right. And I am not doing anything illegal, nor am I ever running for office, so really, I have nothing to hide.

And I hope that I can find some of the folks who left Facebook and ask them to keep in touch with me here, or share their own stuff with me.

What you can do

I have found the blogs of a few of my friends, and started following some interesting new people. However, I know some of you have your own blogs that I might not know about. Would you share them with me? Feel free to send a personal message or email me, if you don’t want to list it publicly.

And share blogs you enjoy, so I can check them out. Reading blogs can be a nice way to relax when the news is not relaxing.

Follow me!

You can also follow most blogs. I like getting them in email, though I also use the WordPress reader. Follow mine! I bet you can spot the follow buttons.

You can also follow our adventures in home renovation over at Hermit Haus Redevelopment. Followers help us find others and reach more people. I’ll follow you back!