16 years of blogging

Today is my blogiversary.  Here's the definition, using several variations that I found online:  A blogiversary is a term used to designate the anniversary of a blog.  It is my blog birthday, the yearly anniversary of my blog.  I started blogging on January 30, 2007.  That's 16 years now, and I'm still going strong.  Sweet?  Hmm, I don't know about that.

Blogiversary ~ what I've read, what I'm reading

Blogiversary

I'm celebrating 15 years of blogging today, so there are 15 balloons up there.  (Yeah, count 'em!)  My first post on this blog was on January 30, 2007, which means I have now been blogging for a decade and a half.  I'm still having fun!

Two books I finished recently

The Titanic Sisters ~ by Patricia Falvey, 2021, historical fiction, 320 pages, rated 8/10

Delia Sweeney has always been unlike her older sister — fair and delicate compared to tall, statuesque Nora, whose hair is as dark as Donegal turf.  In other ways too, the sisters are leagues apart.  Nora is her mother’s darling, favored at every turn, and expected to marry into wealth.  Delia, constantly slighted, finds a measure of happiness helping her da on the farm.  The rest of the time, she reads about far-off places that seem sure to remain a fantasy — until the day a letter arrives from America.  A distant relative has provided the means for Delia and Nora to go to New York.  Delia will be a lowly maid in a modest household, while Nora will be governess for a well-to-do family.

In Queenstown, Cork, they board the Titanic, a majestic new ocean liner making its maiden voyage.  Any hope Delia carried that she and her sister might become closer during the trip soon vanishes.  For there are far greater perils to contend with as the ship makes its way across the Atlantic.  In the wake of that fateful journey, Delia makes an impulsive choice to take Nora’s place as governess.  Her decision sparks an adventure that leads her from Fifth Avenue to Dallas, Texas, where oilfields bring unimagined riches to some, despair to others.  Delia grows close to her vulnerable young charge, and to the girl’s father.  But her deception will have repercussions impossible to foresee, even as it brings happiness within reach for the first time.

This book counts for my Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2022 and also for my TBR 22 in '22 Challenge, since I bought it last year.  For the record, I kept reading to see what would happen, but it was confusing to read about two different sisters in the alternating chapters, but with one pretending to be the other.  Yeah, confusing and sometimes very frustrating.  I'm not likely to read other books by this author.

Squeeze Me ~ by Carl Hiaasen, 2020, mystery (Florida), 352 pages, 4/10

I won't read anything else by this author, either.  He used some version of the 4-letter F-word on what felt like every other page, trying to make everyone sound tough, I guess.  The main character, a woman in a man's job, is "so tough" that she's also a felon (though that wasn't really HER fault, ya know).  But the author's main reason for writing the book seems to have been to show how stupid a President of the United States was — an overweight president whose winter White House was in Florida.  It has a tiresome number of 4-letter words, along with the POTUS Pussies, a group of high society women who called themselves "Potussies" to sound less crude.  It's a waste of time.

What I'm reading

Happy Now: Let Playfulness Lift Your Load and Renew Your Spirit ~ by Courtney Ellis, 2021, psychology, 213 pages

It’s time to get serious about playfulness.  When was the last time you felt really, truly happy?  If you’ve ever longed to leave your exhausting days and fretful nights behind, look no further.  Courtney Ellis is a whimsical storyteller who combines witty humor and engaging research with unfettered honesty.  You’ll discover there is almost nothing that playfulness cannot make a little bit better, a little bit easier, and a lot more fun.  Lift your mood, lighten your load, let go of your most serious self, and renew your spirit with the power of playfulness.

Word of the Day

Y'all'd've = triple contraction of "you all would have."  It's colloquial, used mostly in the South and in neighboring regions.  Example:  "We could've met y'all there, if y'all'd've just told us!"  (For those who wonder — no, I've never seen this "word" in print.)

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts Sunday Salon,

a place for us to link up and share what

we have read and done during this week.

Celebrating 14 years of blogging

My first blog post fourteen years ago was about Jhumpa Lahiri's 2003 novel The Namesake.  This was the only quote from the book that I included:

Apart from his father, the baby has three visitors, all Bengali . . . Maya and Dilip give the boy a rattle and a baby book, with places for his parents to commemorate every possible aspect of his infancy. . . . Dr. Gupta gives the boy a handsome illustrated copy of Mother Goose rhymes.  "Lucky boy," Ashoke remarks, turning the beautifully sewn pages.  "Only hours old and already the owner of books" (page 24).

And thus my book blog was born.  I asked seven questions at the end of that first post and included my own answers in the comments.  A few of my bookish friends, most of them from our years together discussing Oprah's book club selections, came to welcome me to the blogging world.  Still, half of the comments were from me, answering my book-related questions about names and ancestry.  It took me three weeks to get them all answered.  Only then did I finally post another two times in February.  Yes, I got off to a very SLOW start. 

Many of my earlier book blogger friends have moved on to other interests and no longer blog.  Anyway, today I celebrate what bloggers call a "blogiversary."

Words of the Day

blog / bläɡ / noun = a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style; used as a verb, it means to add new material to or regularly update a blog.  Example:  "It's been a week since I last blogged."  And a blogiversary is the anniversary of someone's weblog (blog).

The term weblog was coined by Jorn Barger on December 17, 1997.  The short form, blog, was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase "we blog" in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May 1999.

Thirteen years ago

My first ever blog post was thirteen years ago, when I wrote about The Namesake by Jumpa Lahiri.  I have posted 2,571 posts (before this one), with four more already scheduled to post in the next few days.  If you've been reading my blog for a long time, do you remember any subject in particular that caught your attention?

A lot of my book blogging friends from those early days have given up blogging, so why am I still here?  I'll have to think about it, but part of the reason is that this is like a journal for me.  It makes me pay more attention to the things I do, like why they matter to me.  It's also like a memory jogger, helping me remember books and little "unimportant" events that make me smile years later.  If you blog, tell me why.  What do you get out of it?

Blogiversary ~ twelve years

Nancy bought this cake for her twelfth blogiversary in June, and I saved the picture to use today.  I've been blogging since January 30, 2007.  Sometimes I've even managed to post about it on the right date.

• 2007 ... My first post was about Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake.
• 2008 ... Missed my "end of January" blogiversary by a day.
• 2009 ... Completely missed the day because I was sick.
• 2010 ... Nailed the day with a blogiversary post.
• 2011 ... Went to church and remembered my blogiversary.
• 2012 ... Scheduled post for "1:30 AM" to match the 1-30 date.
• 2013 ... Forgot it again, maybe because I was healing from this.
• 2014 ... Remembered on my seventh blogiversary
• 2015 ... and on my eighth blogiversary.
• 2016 ... Nothing.  On 2-2-16 I posted about hippos and children.
• 2017 ... Remembered my tenth blogiversary, an important year.
• 2018 ... Posted TWOsday without once thinking "blogiversary."
• 2019 ... Today's post was scheduled back on Nancy's blogiversary.

And that, dear hearts, is how I managed to post on the right day this year.  I planned ahead, way ahead, months ahead.  And once again, I scheduled it to post at 1:30 AM to coincide with the 1-30 date.  Having composed this in early June of last year, I have no idea what will be happening on this date more than seven months later.  We shall see.

To blog or not to blog, that is the question.

In my case, blogging is more like:

I blog, therefore I am.

Does that sound familiar?  The "comments" part of this cartoon is only correct for social media like Facebook and Twitter.  I have found comments from other book bloggers to be mostly positive.

Blogging ~ for ten years

The first thing I wrote for this blog was posted

ten years ago — on January 30, 2007.

It was about Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake.

Chris @ Chrisbookarama also celebrated ten years this month.

Blogiversary ~ eight years

I first posted on this blog on January 30, 2007,

which means I have now been blogging for eight years.

Now what?

Blogiversary ~ seven years!

Oh, my!  This date almost slipped my mind.  It's been — one, two, three, four, five, six — SEVEN years since I started blogging.

2007 ... My very first post was about Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake.
2008 ... I missed my "end of January" blogiversary by a day.
2009 ... I completely missed the day because I was sick enough to require open-heart surgery.
2010 ... I nailed the day with a blogiversary post.
2011 ... I went to church and remembered to post about my blogiversary.
2012 ... I had learned how to schedule the post for "1:30 AM" to match the 1-30 date.
2013 ... I completely missed the day (again) because of pain med confusion as my broken shoulder healed.

At least that's my best guess, a year later.  I don't think "blogiversary" has crossed my mind since 2012.

2014 ... Another year behind me.  What now?  A couple of years ago, I asked you readers what "memes" you liked — and not one single person responded.  A better gauge is the number who comment on the actual memes, like the Booking Through Thursday that I posted earlier today or the Book Beginnings on Fridays.  I think I'll just keep doing what I've been doing, which is basically posting what I'm interested in, whenever I feel like it.

I've got on my blogging shoes, so I'm ready to keep running this blog.

Blogiversary

I've been blogging for five years now:

2007 ... My first post was about Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake.
2008 ... I missed my "end of January" blogiversary by a day.
2009 ... I completely missed the day because I was sick enough to require open-heart surgery.
2010 ... I nailed the day with a blogiversary post.
2011 ... I went to church and remembered to post about my blogiversary.
2012 ... I now know how to schedule this to post at "1:30 AM" to match the 1-30 date.

Is this progress?  I think so.  Now let's look ahead at what's best, according to you, the readers of this blog.  Which (if any) of these interest you?  By clicking on the links, you can look over the various features I've tried, listed in alphabetical order.

1. Book Beginnings
2. Bookaholic
3. Bookstore Booty
4. Book Review
5. BTT -- Booking Through Thursday
6. Caturday
7. Friday Five
8. Kid Konnection
9. Library Loot
10. Saturday Snapshot
11. Sunday Salon
12. Talk Back
13. Teaser
14. Write It Right

Leave a comment with the NUMBER of the ones you like, unless you prefer to write it out. You may put the numbers in order, listing the features you like best before the less liked ones.  What would you like more of?  For you dedicated readers, tell me what you like about a feature — or about the blog in general.

A church expansion (and a blogiversary)

Signal Mountain United Methodist Church, where I served as pastor from 1992 to 2002, is growing in numbers and in size.  Ten adults with seven or eight children came forward at the close of today's service, after we consecrated the new sanctuary.  This expansion more than tripled the size of the building, adding 8,600 square feet to bring the total to 12,560 square feet.  I'm standing beside pews that came from the former sanctuary.

The church was organized in the log home of John Robinette in 1857 and erected its first building nearby in 1870.  William Kell, who is currently the oldest member and the one who has been a member the longest, worshiped in that 1870 building.  When the church moved to the current location in 1948, he laid some of the wooden flooring of the sanctuary.  This morning a quartet honored Bill Kell by singing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," a song he had chosen.  Former pastors were invited back, and  I was asked to give the benediction.  This is what I said, more or less:

"As we consecrate ourselves anew to the worship and service of God in this new place, may we be so filled with the love of God that we will always love as God loves."

It was fun seeing all the folks again, especially those who were children when I was their pastor, who are now adults. And it was sad that many have died since I left. Here's a photo from the newer parking lot, after the reception and after most people had left.

In other news

I've been blogging for four years now, since I wrote about The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri on January 30, 2007.  In 2008, I missed my blogiversary by a day.  In 2009, I missed it totally because I was sick enough to require open-heart surgery.  In 2010, I nailed the day with a blogiversary post.  And this morning I drove up a mountain thinking I have two things to write about today:  four years of blogging and consecration of the expanded church building.

Blogiversary

It was three years ago today that I began this blog, posting about The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.  Two years ago I missed the date, thinking "last day of January," which was off by a day.  Last year I was sick, unable to breathe (or sleep) all night and on the morning of the 31st I called my friend Donna to take me to the emergency room.  I couldn't breathe, it turned out, because my heart wasn't pumping the fluid out of my lungs, and in February I had open heart surgery.

 

This is a photo Ginnie took while I was recuperating at her house after leaving the hospital.  In one hand is her cat Wootchie, which I was holding onto to keep her from sitting on my chest where there is now a thin white scar, even though that's what Wootchie wanted to do (she's a loving cat).  In my other hand is a paper on quantum physics, which Ginnie and I were reading because we are both nerds.  Notice I'm wearing a heavy jacket because, after surgery and losing 30 pounds, I seemed cold all the time, even in Ginnie's warm house (well, it was winter).  Below is my granddaughter with her baby Raegan, who was born three months after my surgery.

It's been an eventful three years! Now I'm ready to begin my fourth year as a book blogger.  Come along with me as we explore books and adventures and life.

Oops! I missed BB's anniversary!

One year ago today (oops! yesterday) I posted my very first post on my very first blog, where I took a long look at The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, 2003, fiction, 8/10.

I had not yet developed any particular format for reviewing books and, for that matter, I'm not sure I'd call what I wrote a review exactly. But I asked (and answered) a lot of questions while doing it. Stephanie and Marg and Margreet showed up and, being the nice people they are, each of them answered my questions and helped me get over the hump of starting a blog. And Chris, didn't you have a blog back then?

Anyway, some of you are new readers and haven't seen that earliest post. Wouldn't you like to check it out and compare THEN and NOW ... and maybe leave me a comment HERE or THERE?

And now THE BIG QUESTION:
Do you remember any particular thing I have blogged about during my first year? It can be anything from ANY of my numerous blogs, whatever was memorable.
__________

And how exciting that Dewey had something to say at the end of my first year:

You know how some people just seem to be in love with life? Bonnie makes my day by being one of those people. Just by being herself, she reminds me to be delighted by the small joys we all run into every day.

With those words she bestowed upon me the You Make My Day Award. Thanks, Dewey! And now I get to pass it on to these folks who make my day:

1. Nancy makes my day as a Bookfool writing about books ... AND ... as a photographer with a sense of humor. Not only is she a great nature photographer, but she has employed a growing troupe of poppets who pose while exploring their world from a low-down point of view. Nancy makes me laugh.

2. Colleen makes my day with her wicked sense of appropriate labeling of seemingly random photographs, like these and these. Colleen makes me curious about what she'll say next.

3. Jenn makes my day because she's eclectic and has broadened out from her original blog to a photography blog with Alison and a writing blog with 14 others. Jenn inspires me.

4. Vanilla makes my day because she writes well, makes beautiful art from her photographs, and dreamed up a quirky Atyllah the Hen; we met because her lion (#5) and mine (#30) were already friends. Vanilla intrigues me.

5. Tricia makes my day because she ties together books and poetry and teaching science, but most of all because she too loves Miss Rumphius! Tricia makes me notice all things mathematical and scientific that tie in with teaching children.

6. Seamus makes my day because he is so creative and because he founded the Shameless Lions Writing Circle with its current project of writing a collective short story. Seamus makes me smile.
__________

UPDATE: Kailana of Kailana's Written Word has just made my day ... again! Thanks, Kailana. Because I have spent too much of today handing out awards to wonderful blogs (which included the ones listed in this post), I don't think I'll award any more of these today. Should I show you the award all over again? Nah, please scroll up a notch or two and look at the one already in this post. Cheers!