Troubleshooting Continued...

 

Earlier this week I blogged about my sudden problems with the Firefox browser - which has been my No 1 browser used with this blog for many years, until a few days ago it suddenly refused to turn up any bigger than approximately the size of a stamp on my computer (laptop) screen.

As other browsers were working as they should, I've not been totally shut out from blogging - but I don't like unsolved mysteries, so it's still been "bugging" me.

Today I had a bit more time on my hands, so had another go at trying to "fix" the Firefox problem, by uninstalling and re-installing that app. Had to seek instructions on how to do that, but it worked. And after re-installing I did get the program up to full size on my screen again, managed to log in, and my basic settings and bookmarks etc seemed to have been saved. 

I also managed to log into my blog ok. Or so it seemed - until I ran into a new problem that I can't recall ever having encountered before. Clicking the "Sign in" on the main page of my blog would transfer me straight to the "design" page instead. What it would not do was sign me in to the comment section on the main page... So while I could create new posts, I could not reply to readers' comments! *groan* 

So more troubleshooting was required. Probably another hour or so of futile searches, but finally I came across a tip about making sure to remove any "additional" safety settings to do with blocking tracking and cookies etc. And yes! Somewhere in the setting up process I must have allowed some such extras; because after removing a couple of "suspects" of that kind, I suddenly did get back to being logged in properly, including being able to add comments.

I'm writing down this primarily as a reminder for myself, but perhaps this kind of thing may be behind commenting problems occurring for other people on other blogs/browsers as well? So if you feel yourself inexplicably "locked out" from somewhere - the "security" settings on your browser may be one place to look into... 

Now I'm just hoping that when I finally click "Publish", this post (written from Firefox) will not only appear on my blog - but also allow comments, both from others and from myself...

PS. Photo from a walk in the cemetery today. Do you get why I chose it for this post?

 

17th Blogoversary, an Award, and the Difficulty of Analogue Communication

 

Image created with help from Bing AI

An old friend from the Analogue World called me today, chatting away in some detail about her Christmas and New Year. For my own part, I found myself with very little to contribute to the conversation - mainly because I felt that very little of what I had been up to myself was likely to make any sense to her.

I suppose she may have "kind of" grasped the concept of me having had a video call with my brother on Christmas Eve. But I simply couldn't think of any way to even try to explain to her, for example, that while on New Year's Eve I went to bed at 9 pm, at the same time I was also attending the Laughing Horse Awards Ceremony on a small island among the U.S. Virgin Islands, hosted by blogger Yorkshire Pudding. (If you weren't there yourself, you can read more about it in his first two posts for 2026 on his blog by the same name.) 

Actually I have to confess that even my own memories of that event are rather blurry, in spite of the fact that I was even honoured with an award myself. (But I suppose that's probably true for some Nobel Prize winners as well!)

The official report from the event also claims that I performed some ABBA songs. I can't say I recall that either, but one that seems likely to myself would be this one:

 - - -

Now I'm curious to know if other bloggers recognise the difficulty (or sheer impossibility) of explaining, to people who don't even use the internet at all, your own daily interaction with people around the world whom you never met in the so-called real life...

 

- - - 

 

My own first blog (originally called The Island of the Voices) was started on 5th January, 2009. And I'm finding it pretty amazing, that 17 years later, I'm still in blog-contact with some other bloggers that I got to know during the very first year - while also still continuing to meet new interesting people along the way!

 

My first blog post ever, 5 January 2009

 Happy New Blogging Year to us all!

  

 

Digital Dissociative Identity Disorder?

Quotes from a medical website: 

Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a mental health condition where you have two or more separate personalities that control your behavior at different times. When personalities switch, you’ll have gaps in your memory. ---

--- “Dissociate” means to separate or disconnect. People with dissociative identity disorder may experience several different personalities --- These personalities may control your behavior at different times. --- Memories may not transfer from one identity to another, which can cause amnesia (gaps in memory). --- DID interferes with your ability to function in your day to day. It can impact your relationships with others and performance at school or work. 

This past week, I have diagnosed myself as suffering from DDID - as in Digital Dissociative Identity Disorder...

I blame Google, and seriously doubt any form of psychotherapy will help. 

The background can be found in my December post Commenting Issues. To summarize, these issues started when Google, for unknown reason, decided to suddenly stop Firefox (my preferred browser for this blog) from working with "embedded" blog comments. For me that meant suddenly finding myself unable to reply to other peoples' comments on this blog from my computer. My first attempt to solve this was to change to using a pop-up window for comments instead of the embedded. That worked fine for me "within that window", but turned out to have some other disadvantages instead. (Those of you who noticed will know. For those of you who did not, staying ignorant will probably be better for you than to have the details explained.) 

I also had the Microsoft Edge browser on the computer, but there I am logged into my other blog (Greetings from the Past) under a different "identity". And it seems one can't be logged in to two different Blogger accounts at the same time, on the same browser.

So I installed Google Chrome as a third browser. For some reason, there  Google seems to have no problems to still allow embedded commenting. 

But in my process of experimenting with different solutions, I kept running into other problems instead. And somewhere in midst of it all, my own brain went on strike, and it came to a point where I suddenly just felt totally confused by the whole mess of different browsers and websites, and what emails and logins and passwords to use where...

Google also somewhere along the line turned totally fanatic about adding extra layers of security, and was no longer content with my usual passwords, but started to require extra codes sent back and forth between my various appliances (laptop, phone and tablet) to prove that I was really me (which I was now almost beginning to doubt myself). On top of all, they also, on one account, forced me to switch from an old (non-google) email address as login, to a brand new gmail addess as primary login instead (a different one from my other already existing gmail).

This was the final straw that made me diagnose myself as now seriously suffering from DDID. The symptoms seem to fit perfectly with the medical ones: Memory gaps + disability to function in my day to day "work" and "relationships with others"... 

It also makes me feel far from secure, and instead rather terrified of no longer knowing what login I'm supposed to use where. (Even when writing things down I'm not sure I got them right.) At the moment I do seem to be logged in "somewhere" on both blogs - but I really fear the next time I accidentally find myself logged out, and have to try and get back in again...

White Magic, and 15th Blogoversary

While yesterday the trees were black silhouettes against the snow and sky, today I woke up to find everything covered in a fresh layer of white. (It had snowed a bit more over night, and perhaps some frost effect added to that.) At midday I went out for a walk around the old cemetery, where there are lots of big old trees.

 

 

I temporarily forgot back on Friday (5th January) - but that day was my 15th Blogoversary! 15 years since the start of my first blog, The Island of the Voices. (Predecessor of this one - because of some technical issues, I found it better to start over two years later.) 

I think I've probably been repeating my very first blog post every January since then, but here it is again:

I'm pretty sure that whatever I had in mind back then, I did not see myself keeping it up for as long as fifteen years into the future (and hopefully even beyond). But here I am, still!

14th Blogoversary

 

Hard to grasp, but today I'm celebrating my 14th "blogoversary". It was on 5th January 2009 that I created my very first blog post.

Some of you may have heard the story several times by now, but here it is again:

A long-time penfriend of mine in Australia had started a blog, and told me about it in a letter for Christmas 2008. To be able to comment on hers, I needed a Blogger account of my own. So I sat down at my computer to create a profile; and once I had managed that, I thought: Why not explore the whole blogging thing a bit more...

My first blog was entitled "The Island of the Voices". Two years later, when starting over because of some technical issues and layout changes, I changed the title to "Beyond the Lone Islands" (still inspired by the same book):

Screenshot of my very first blog post:

Had someone asked me back then if I thought I'd still be blogging in 2023, my answer would probably have been that I doubted that very much! And if not for all the other blogging friends I made around the world along the way, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be. (Actually, some of you I will also soon have known for nearly 14 years!)

As the saying goes: "Time sure does fly when you're having fun" ...

 

Learn How

I've been getting this message on my Blogger dashboards. I don't really know what Feedburner does - I wasn't aware I was using it. I'm not sure I even really know what a "feed" is. (I asked Google but gave up trying to understand the full answer.) 

I do get that the message above involves the "Follow by Email" widget in my sidebar, though, and that this is going to stop working in July.

Whether anyone ever actually used this widget to follow my blog, I have no idea.   

So I clicked Learn how (in the message above), which took me to another message:

I don't know what a CSV is. Nor where I was meant to click Analyze. I tried FeedBurner Help (in a corner of that "how to" page). I found one Analyze there under Feed Services. But no Subscribers, Email Subscriptions, Subscriber List, Details, Export, or CSV.

Maybe no one ever used that widget to follow my blog by email. I have no idea, and I'm not going to spend any more time on trying to figure it out. This is just to inform anyone who might have been fed such emails, that they will soon stop coming... (Hopefully, that's the only change involved.)

 

12th Blogoversary

 

Yesterday it somehow slipped my mind, but today I remembered: Yesterday was my 12th anniversary as a blogger. My first blog was entitled The Island of the Voices, and to a handful of faithful old followers, the screenshot below (of my very first blog post) may seem vaguely familiar by now - not because anyone actually started following already from day one, but because I've probably celebrated every year since by repeating that post...

In connection with moving the blog to its present address two years later, I changed the name to Beyond the Lone Islands - still referring to the same book. ('The Island of the Voices' was one of the 'Lone Islands'.) I ran into some problems with image storage, plus there was some major layout change at Blogger, and I didn't want to risk losing or messing up the previous posts.

One thing that is pretty amazing to me is that some of the friends I made during the very first one or two years in the Blogworld are still following (and I them). And looking back at this last year of global pandemic, social distancing and lock-downs etc, blogging and other international contacts have continued to be a true blessing, serving to keep up a bit of normality in the general chaos. So thanks, everyone! 

PS. I just had a peek at a list of names of wedding anniversaries. It says 11 years is Steel, and 12 years is Silk. So if 2020 was a hard year, let's hope 2021 will be smoother! 

Friends Forever (?)

 

The other day I listened to a philosophical talkshow on Swedish Radio, discussing what to do with social media accounts after someone dies. The topic caught my interest, as I had recently had reason to wonder about that myself. 

Last year, an old childhood friend of mine died. Not a very close friend; but in later years we were also friends on Facebook. Her daughter (whom I never met) then used her mum's Facebook account to inform friends of her death and funeral. That I felt was a good idea, as I for one (living in a different city and not in touch with any other mutual old friends) probably wouldn't have heard of it otherwise, until long afterwards. 

However, just recently (some eight months or so later) I suddenly also got FB notices of greetings left for my deceased friend on her (still open) Facebook wall by friends/family on her birthday. I have to confess that felt a bit weird. ("Happy birthday" - "Thinking of you" - "Miss you") Looking at my list of friends on FB, she is also still there just as when she was still alive. I suppose I can change my own settings - but then I found myself hesitating wondering if I should completely "unfriend" her?? ... Hm, in a way I guess I understand if it's even harder for the next of kin to decide!

The radio program did not really give any answers as to a 'right' or 'wrong' way to deal with these things either; they just stated the fact that the internet has not only changed our lives, but also how we deal with death - and our memories of our dear departed ones. We used to think of people as leaving Earth and going to Heaven... Now, there is also - apparently - the possibility to just stay in the Cloud... (Pretty much like the rest of us!)

One of my own thoughts while listening was that Facebook (and similar) may be more problematic than a blog; because of the possibility often left open on FB for friends to post things to someone's "wall" as well as just commenting. With a blog, perhaps it feels more natural to just leave it? (But I've also seen examples of a wife or husband taking over and continuing.)

One speculation in the radio program was that in the future, the providers of the various internet services might set a time limit for how long accounts belonging to dead people will be stored in the Cloud  - as even digital data does actually require storage space.

Thoughts...???

(I'm thinking I should probably do some more thinking, and write some of my own thoughts on things like this down while I'm still capable of thinking...)

Preserve Your Memories

Today is Mother's Day in Sweden. (Here, that's always the last Sunday in May.) This year, it coincides with the exact date when my own mother died - 26th May, 2009. 

I had started my first blog a few months earlier, in January that year. Going back there now, I find that I wrote a short post about it two days later: Life is fragile. 

The years that followed were rather chaotic, as my dad was not well either, and he died two years later. 

Looking back now from further down the road, I'm still thankful that I had started blogging (and making some online friends) some time before all that happened. Blogging has been helpful through the ups and downs in all sorts of ways: Sometimes to sum up what is happening; and at other times, to forget about it for a while. And in retrospect, I also find it helpful sometimes to be able to go back and check what I did (or didn't) write at a certain point in time.

 Photo of my parents, taken by a friend of theirs in 2007.

Always reminding me of these lyrics by Paul Simon:

Old Friends

...

Can you imagine us
Years from today
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange
To be seventy

Old friends
Memory brushes the same years
Silently sharing the same fear

Time it was
And what a time it was
It was . . .
A time of innocence
A time of confidences

Long ago . . . it must be . . .
I have a photograph
Preserve your memories
They're all that's left you

 

Dagny, 107 and still blogging

This is not about me, but about a rather famous Swedish blogger, who celebrated her 107th birthday yesterday. Yes, you read that right. Her name is Dagny Carlsson,  and she was born 8 May, 1912. In her youth, she worked as a seamstress at a factory; and later in life studied at a textile institute.

 
(Photo of Dagny copied from a fan page on Facebook)

At the venerable age of 99, she took a computer course; and at 100 became famous as the oldest blogger in Sweden. At 107, she is still blogging away - I think more or less daily - and has become quite a media person. She has been on several TV-shows, has met the king and queen, and also had a small role in a film - The 101-Year-Old Man Who Skipped Out on the Bill and Disappeared (2016). (Sequel to The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed out of the Window and Disappeared, 2013.) 

In the film, she played an old lady living in the retirement home that the main character in those films runs away from. In real life, Dagny still lives in her own flat in Stockholm, with only a little help from home care service. In a recent interview (on TV a couple of days ago) she said that they now come and help her get out of bed in the morning, and put her to bed in the evening, even though she does not really feel herself that she needs that. After they've gone, she usually gets up again - to blog, or play at patience...

In previous interviews, when asked what makes a long life, she has answered along the lines of "good genes and curiosity". She thinks it is important to keep up with what is happening in the world, and also to keep one's appearance neat.

Yesterday was her 107th birthday and she blogged about it after the home care staff had been and gone in the evening... She had people visiting between 12-16 and then dinner with relatives at some restaurant in the evening. She received a personal letter from the Queen; and a lot of greetings from readers of her blog. (The blog is in Swedish of course, but there are some recent photos.)

I also found this link to a documentary with commentary in English from when whe was 105: Computers keep you young, centenarian blogger says

It's impossible not to be impressed! ;)

10th Blogoversary !!!!!!!!!!

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

It’s Cold Out There

Yesterday was my 7th ‘Blogoversary’, can you believe it?!

It was on 5th January 2009 that I created my first blog, entitled The Island of the Voices – without knowing if anyone but myself would ever find it. But some people did find it – and, even more amazingly,  some of you are still with me! … also having followed when I widened my horizon further and sailed on to Beyond the Lone Islands (from 2011).

Whenever you came aboard, thanks for still tagging along!

After a mild autumn and no snow for Christmas, we’ve had a cold start to 2016. Around -10°C (14°F) here today… Which is “cold enough” for me, but still nothing compared to the far north of Sweden, where it’s been down to -40°C/F in some places.

Yesterday I took the bus into town for some errands; got off at the railway station (above). Nice to see sun and blue sky…

Later, waiting for the bus back home in the town centre.

Pigeons seem to have the idea that people standing still by the riverside may involve food…

 

Today: Dressed for a minor polar expedition.

Some of the views (and water reflections) down by the river have changed since my early blogging days. Old factory buildings have been torn down, new highrise apartment buildings have gone up.

Depending on how one manages to frame the images, it is still possible in some spots to get the view to look much the same as before though. Mind you, with furry mittens on, it’s not all easy to handle the zoom and settings...

The camera gave up before I did today, claiming “weak battery”… I think it really just found it too cold, though, because the battery charged very quickly when I got back home!

Linking to Through My Lens and Weekend Reflections

A Rose By Any Other Name…

‘A rose by any other name would smell as sweet’ – or so Shakespeare and other poets claimed.

But I say: Woe To You if  “rose” happened to be your password on the internet, and you forget… Then you might try the name of every other sweet-smelling flower you can think of, but it won’t get you anywhere!

I owe the Internet Giants an apology. I claimed the other day, on this blog, that I was again having trouble posting to Blogger from Windows Live Writer… Well I had. But it turned out to be my own doing.

What happened was that I had been fiddling around with my blog account settings in an attempt to solve another problem I’ve been having (to do with email notifications). And while experimenting to see if I could fix that (so far no luck) I had managed to remove from the blog account the email address that WLW was supposed (instructed by me) to post to.

So Google was really just being a good watch-dog, protecting me from hacking attempts.

As soon as I put that missing email address back on the account  there was no longer any problem.

One of my biggest fears is that one day I’ll wake up and find all the different combinations of letters and numbers that control my life gone from my head (usernames, logins, passwords, pin codes…)

Without them – would I even exist? By any name at all?

---

Blogworld Trouble

For years now I've been using Windows Live Writer to create my blog posts and publish them. Today suddenly WLW does no longer work with Blogger. I found a Microsoft discussion forum that shows that I'm not alone. There seems to be some sort of unresolved issue between Blogger and Microsoft. I'm giving up for today... It's been so long since I tried blogging directly in Blogger that I've almost forgotten how to do it (with pictures and all). I hope they'll find a way to fix it, or I may have to start looking for alternatives.

And the Lucky Winners Are…

My New Year Giveaway lottery draw has now been duly performed (by putting folded pieces of paper with the names in the tin above and giving it a good shake, and then closing my eyes while drawing the tickets).

It turned out I actually had four calendars left (three was what I promised); and as the year is ticking on, and as (in spite of postcrossing) I still haven’t run out of inherited stamps, I decided to draw four winners.

And they are:

Scriptor Senex of Rambles from my Chair
Wanda of Got a Minute or Two?
Rae of Sun-Dried Tomato(e)
GB of Eagleton Notes

Well-deserved winners, all four. (But so would any of the others be who commented on that post! That’s why I had to draw lots…) Rae was among the very first followers of the forerunner of this blog back in 2009 (then called The Island of the Voices). Scriptor and GB were not far behind; and have become so much like “extended family” to me that it actually seems odd now to think that there was ever a time when I did not know them (in spite of the fact that I still haven’t actually met them). Wanda officially signed up as follower more recently, but we’ve been visiting each other’s blogs for a good while too.

Congratulations to the winners (and Rae and Wanda, don’t forget to send me your mailing addresses).

And to those who did not win this time – better luck next time! (when and whatever that might be)

And to All of Us, a Happy New Blogging Year!

 

Celebrating 5 Years of Blogging

5 years ago today, on 5th January, 2009, I started my first blog: The Island of the Voices.

“After some trial and error, it seems I have created a blog!

In choosing the title, I had in mind the Island of the Voices in C.S. Lewis's The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, where Lucy enters a Magician's House to find the Magician's Book, and within that book A Spell to make hidden things visible.

She read it through to make sure of all the hard words and then said it out loud. And she knew at once that it was working because as she spoke the colours came into the capital letters at the top of the page and the pictures began appearing in the margins. It was like when you hold to the fire something written in Invisible Ink and the writing gradually shows up...

I really have no clear idea yet what hidden things I want this blog to make visible. But maybe if I start writing, I will find out...“

3 years ago, for technical reasons, I had to move the blog to a new account, and in connection with that I also changed the name to Beyond the Lone Islands.

What I wrote then also still remains true:

“My very first blog post has remained kind of prophetic to me. I had little idea back then how hooked I would get on blogging, how much it would inspire me to keep up both writing and photography, and how many new friends I would be making around the world... And yet I obviously sensed the "magic" and the spirit of adventure involved already at the very beginning; or I would not have chosen the names that I did.”

Something I consider really amazing is that after five whole years, I’m still in touch with several bloggers that I came across very early on, back in 2009. A special thanks to you. I won’t name names, as time is far from the only factor in friendships. But please know that I’m really glad that you’re still here!

Happy New Blogging Year
to all old and new blogging friends

Monica / DawnTreader

PS. The photo was taken at an art exhibition I visited yesterday together with my aunt and uncle. There will be a few more photos from that occasion coming up in a separate post.

Time to Step Outside

As I wrote in a comment on someone else’s blog today, I suspect quite a few of us bloggers in the northern hemisphere go through a period of slight confusion this time of year, as Nature is beginning to call for renewed attention after a long winter. On the one hand there is MORE to blog about and on the other hand LESS time to do the actual blogging…

Spring is making some progress here at last, even if still at unusually slow pace, considering that we’ve actually had quite a lot of sunshine. But the winds are still chilly. There’s still not a whole lot of greenery around yet except for the bravest of spring flowers, and those that are now being planted around town from the greenhouses. The trees are still holding back…

For my own part at least, I’ve been spending less time on the computer the last week or so, while instead dealing more with other “spring things”… Like making my balcony “habitable” again for the summer season (during winter I keep the floor mats and furniture in storage in the basement).

My old sun lounger (bottom middle and right) needed a new cushion cover. I managed to make one from a duvet cover I’d not been using much; and I got a couple of matching pillow-cases out of it too.

I only take the cushions for the chair(s) out on sunny days when I’m actually sitting there, and always take them in at night. There is another balconcy above mine providing a roof, but the rain nearly always comes with wind, and the sides are open. Besides carrying the rain, the wind loves playing havoc with anything on my balcony not secured with stong tape or heavy weights or whatever solutions can be invented…

The very first thing that happed this season was that I had washed a plastic cloth I’d used as protection cover on a wooden bench which I keep on the balcony all year round (I move the bench close to the wall beneath the window in winter and keep some flower boxes under it). Anyway after washing the cloth I wrapped it around the balcony rail to dry, and as it was a windy day, I took care to fasten it properly (or so I thought) with some clothes-pegs on both sides. It flapped a bit but did not look as if it could go anywhere. Next time I looked out the window, however, only 10-15 min or so later… There was no sign of it! I went downstairs and went all around the house twice to look for it. I had expected to find it in some bush, but no. I spied upwards to see if it had landed on some other balcony, but not that I could see. And it wasn’t to be seen on the football field either. That was a couple of weeks ago. Wherever you live in the world… If you happen to see a greenish plastic cloth come flapping by your house in the next storm – it could be mine… :D

(I gave up on ever finding it, and put out a blue one instead. Fastened with several clothes pegs etc of course, but remains to be seen how long it stays…)

Eleven Questions and an Award

I was given this award (which, by the way, I just noticed, pretty as it is, is not spelled right!) by Bethany @ By the Bookful. Although I appreciate being appreciated … Those who have been following my blog for a while will know that I’m a notorious rule-breaker when it comes to awards. I only follow the rules if they please me. And things that come with elevenses seldom please me, unless it’s my cup of tea and a piece of cake (yes, one piece will be sufficient, thank you)…

The rules that come with this award are (sorry, whoever made them up) perfectly horrendous:  List 11 random facts about yourself and answer 11 questions by the award-giver and make up 11 new questions and send those with the award to 11 other friends… Honestly, I don’t think I’ll have 11 friends left if I try that! (I think this award must have swelled since I last got it. I can’t imagine Pauline demanded all that of me back in 2011.)

As Bethany is a new friend and follower, however, I’ll do a compromise and answer her 11 questions. (If you want 11 random facts as well, just click on 11 random previous posts and I’m sure you’ll find enough.)

As for passing it on… Well, if there is anyone among my readers yearning for this misspelled award with the pretty rose and the eleventy-four or forty-eleven tasks to fulfill… Please feel free! (I promise not to keep count.)

My answers to Bethany’s questions:

1. What Started your blogging adventure?

An old penpal of mine invited me to check out her blog (four years ago), and I had to create an account to be able to comment. Having done that, I thought I might as well explore this blogging thing a bit more… And I haven’t stopped yet.

2. Describe yourself in one word.

Blogger.

3. Favorite Fictional Character?

Too many to choose from! Winnie the Pooh. Miss Marple.
I like heroes/heroines who aren’t ‘obvious’ super-heroes.

4. What do you do to relax besides Read and Blog?

Take the camera for a walk. Watch old TV-series on DVD.

5. Favorite Genre and Why?

Don’t think I can say I have just one favourite genre.
Depends on what mood I’m in.

6. Favorite Quote from a book?

“What I like doing best is Nothing."
"How do you do Nothing," asked Pooh after he had wondered for a long time.
"Well, it's when people call out at you just as you're going off to do it, 'What are you going to do, Christopher Robin?' and you say, 'Oh, Nothing,' and then you go and do it.
It means just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering."
"Oh!" said Pooh.”

(Just one of many…)

7. Dream Vacation?

I’d like to be able to just press a button and move my whole apartment, me included, to the seaside for the summer.

8. Are you a morning person or a night owl?

Neither.

9. Favorite thing about Blogging?

Friends across the earth.

10. Your Ideal Place to read a book?

Leaned back and comfortable.

11. Favorite Food Dish?

Lasagna, perhaps. (Must be lactose free, though!)

The How

Sandra the MadSnapper asks on her blog today:
“How do you post?”

I decided to steal her topic and turn it into a post of my own. That’s how I do it…

Joke aside, reading Sandra’s “hows” made me realize that I’ve never really thought all that much about the procedure besides the purely technical stuff.

I started blogging on a whim (four years ago) and I guess I’ve continued much the same, just inspired by the continuous interactive flow of ideas between other bloggers. I enjoy taking part in certain weekly theme challenges (photography and book-related) but try not to get too compulsive about it. (I said “try”!)

I prepare my posts in Windows Live Writer. If have an idea I want to save for later I usually put it in a draft which is saved locally on my harddrive until I consider it ready for publishing.

If I have a blog-thought while the computer is off, and am afraid of not remembering it, I jot down a few keywords on a piece of paper and leave by the computer in the study until my next session there. Or I may send an email to myself from the phone!

I have a notebook in which I collect good quotes I come across.

Because of pain-related difficulties writing by hand (going back a long time before I started blogging) I avoid making more extensive handwritten notes or drafts.

Many of my posts are built around my own photos, and then I start with the photos (doing my basic editing in Picasa) and then add text. With other posts (like this, or book reviews) I start with what I want to say, and then maybe go hunting for some illustrations before I post.

For example a couple of butterfly collages randomly chosen from my archives, for no other reason than to add some colour…