It’s hard to believe that my memory is not what it used to be. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that my last post should have been “special” in some way to mark my 200th published post. For a while there, I was thinking what significant title or remarks should be made to mark this milestone. Then, would you believe it – this 67 year old brain completely forgot. Instead, there was the post “Santa’s Mailbox” which was my last one. I am making this 201st post “the one.” That’s the reason for the fireworks you see below.
What started out serendipitously has become something special and meaningful to me at this stage of my life. I’ve noticed with most people’s blogs that they have a theme and stick to that – cooking, photography, business, or a myriad of other topics that you’ve probably seen. There are some excellent blogs out there. With my blog, I seem to be all over the place. That’s really good for me though as I get to share more freely than if I had been confined to one subject.
My blog is really a sharing of myself and places I’ve visited or ideas that come to mind as I blog. I’ve long been a lover of quotations and I’m grateful that there are so many to choose from that I can use in my posts. Taking my photos for my blog is another momentous discovery of myself that has blossomed as “Late Blooms” has blossomed. Since my first blog post “Metamorphosis” in April/2012, I have to say there has been a different kind of metamorphosis going on within me. That post was written after a wonderful visit to the Butterfly Conservatory at Niagara Falls. My posts were few and far between at that time. My second post was written at Christmas time in that year – a lapse of several months.
I noticed the more I got into blogging that the more enjoyable it became for me. It was fun! When my Dad wrote his Letters and Poems and he said he was doing it for fun, I didn’t quite get it. But it’s become the same way for me. This is the “metamorphosis” of which I speak. I’m doing this thing that turns out to be enjoyable to do.
In the beginning, my posts were open for Comments and very quickly I realized that this blog should be closed to Comments. The reason is that it would no longer be fun. Open to Comments, I would have the additional worry of wondering what another person thought of it and having to respond to each comment. The way this blog works is that I am free to do whatever I want with it and not have to be influenced one way or the other. It’s not to make money or sell anything or for self-promotion in any way. It’s very freeing. There are a few close people that I inform when I finish a new post and I’m grateful for their interest and feedback. They are people that I’m on a one-on-one basis with.
Having said thus, I am grateful for the over 77,000 reads of my posts to date by people that I do not know from all over the world. I guess Google is the one to thank for this. I had no idea what were the highest reads of any posts until I checked today. My post “Mystical India” has had 931 reads. A post on Christmas called “Christmassy” has had 875 reads and “Lake Louise” has had 643 reads. Some are in the hundreds and some are just a few – but it is flattering, nevertheless, that without any expectation at its inception or since then, that this has transpired.
Thanks to each and everyone everywhere!