It just Dawned on me that it’s my 10th blogoversay today. I suppose that means I should have thrown a big party here today, with lots of photos and memories from the past ten years… Somehow time seems to have floated away too fast for me today, though; and I got caught up in other things. So I’ll just celebrate rather modestly with this red balloon that I found floating on the river when out on my walk earlier.
After all, as Winne the Pooh says:
“Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon.”
(from Eeyore’s birthday)
I do remember how it all started, though. A penpal in Australia had started a blog, and sent me a link to hers. To be able to comment there, I needed a Blogger account of my own. And once I had created a profile, I thought I might just as well explore a bit more how it all worked… I chose the signature DawnTreader after the ship in one of the Narnia stories; and then I named my “test” blog after one of the islands that they sailed to in that book: The Island of the Voices. I wrote my first post on 5 January, 2009 – The Dawn of a New Year and a New Blog. Two years later, I had (or feared) some technical problems with my account, so decided to start over; and in connection with that I changed the title to Beyond the Lone Islands. But there is a permanent link to the first blog from the sidebar of this one; and it can still be read. (Maybe I’ll do some more diving into early posts later on during this year and find things I’d forgotten about? We’ll see…)
Anyway… Starting my blog black then really did feel like sailing off into the Great Unknown, and I felt very doubtful if any strangers would ever find me out there in the Cybersea. But some people did; and the most amazing thing about the whole adventure is really that some of you whom I “met” quite early on on my blogging journey are still “here”… And from some of the random contacts with “strangers”, long-lasting friendships have grown. Which is really why I’m still “here”, too!
So here’s to Old and New Friendships,
and a Happy New Blogging Year!
Monica
alias DawnTreader
LOL Dawn. Congrats on 10 years. I too started my blog on a lark and had NO idea what I was doing....I still don't! However, I have made many blogging friends over the years and am happy to have found you here. What makes your blog most amazing is the quality of your pictures. I wish I had that talent! xo Diana
ReplyDeleteThanks Diana! Blogging has inspired me to learn more about digital photography and editing as well (even if I'm still using rather simple tools compared to many others)
DeleteCongratulations to you and your Blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much, Adrian!
DeleteI think my story is similar to yours except I changed blog sites quite a few times over the years.
ReplyDeleteAmy, I've had a couple of other blogs as well... For a while I had a separate photo blog, but that's been left dormant for a few years by now.
DeleteHappy Blog anniversary! I think your blog has been enormously successful. Thinking back on all the different posts...how much I have learned, and how much beauty and quirkiness there was to be seen and thought about. I love the red balloon, it looks like a painting. I remember well "The Island Of The Voices".
ReplyDeleteThanks Ginny - not sure about the 'enormously successful', but then I doubt I'd be very good at handling that!
DeleteHappy Blogoversary, Monica!
ReplyDeleteI consider myself fortunate for having found your blog, although I can not remember how; most likely through reading your comments on someone else's blog, maybe Graham's or John's. And I consider you one of my long-distance friends from Blogland. Possibly we will never meet in person, but that does not make friendship less valuable.
I feel the same, Meike! And yes, I think it was probably through "meeting" on both John's and Graham's blogs that at some point we also started following each other!
DeleteI think you and i became friends in 2009, and here we are 10 years later. wow. my 10 year was in may of last year, but I only did the one post. much like you did. a friend sent me the link to her blog and I signed up just like you did, created one post and did not do another for about 6 months. my first year of posts there were not many comments. I love the balloon and it is very arty looking n the water.. beautiful and Happy Blogoversary and many more
ReplyDeleteThanks Sandra, and yes, I think I somehow came across both you and Ginny back in my first year of blogging.
DeleteHappy Blogoversary, dear Mo !
ReplyDeletea whole decade, great goddess ...
did we grow that old?
i am not as bee-busy as you are in writing blog posts
but I am still here.
i started my blog in summer of 2009 and found yours by clicking that curious button "next blog".
still glad to know and read about you.
I wish you a happy new year
and a happy new blogging year as well.
hugs & kisses
from 'southern sweden' ;-)
Thanks Mo - and wow, I'd almost forgotten about that button! It's not there any more, is it? (I can't see it just now, anyway.)
DeleteAs so often happens when I follow Meike's comments I could not have said it better myself. How I found you is again lost in the mists of time but probably through John's blog if you followed him before you and I met.
ReplyDeletePS Happy Anniversary (plus a day). May you have many more.
DeletePPS Pooh was right. No one can be miserable with a red balloon. I was reminded of that when my 1 year old grandson found two balloons this morning.
DeleteGraham, I think John was one of the first I came across - and also Heather. And I think I found both of them via a blog called One Minute Writer (providing inspiration prompts for writing). And then Heather started that picture blog... what was the name? Soaring through the world? (something like that) A shared blog that one joined as member to share weekly photos on certain themes. That's where we "met" I think (as in also starting to follow each other's blogs).
DeleteMonica, now that you've mentioned it I can recall all that. John was a very ardent blogger in the early days. Both he and Heather have moved on to other things and platforms. I still like the more personal relationship that blogging provides.
DeleteI agree with you Graham. As you know I'm on FB as well but I tend to use that a bit differently - and mainly to keep in touch with friends who are not blogging; even if the mix of contacts from different contexts has grown over the years. (So, for example, I still also follow both Heather and John on FB.)
Delete