Welcome to Small Reflections


"Nothing is ever achieved without enthusiasm."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Duck photo source: Lisa's Chaos
I hope you enjoy your visit. If you're looking for something specific, check out the links to posts by category in my sidebar and down a ways. They'll assist with tracking down different types of posts found on each of my three blogs. You might also enjoy checking out the other sites: Sacred Ruminations, Blog Rolls, Bling & Blurbs, and Happily Retired Gal.

I hope you'll look around & leave comments
then visit me at my new blog ...

Giraffe Journal

and/or website ... Labyrinth Journal
both self-hosted at WordPress
where I publish as myself
rather than under a
pseudonym.

I've not had much time for posting or blog visits, but if you're interested I hope you'll find time to check out my new blog, Giraffe Journal or my Labyrinth Journal website ... both self hosted at WordPress.

Thanks for your visit and have a delightful day ;--)
Hugs and blessings,

Monday, December 31, 2007

I've revisited the past ten weeks this morning, and it's time to Thank My Blogging Buddies

As 2007 draws to a close, I'm looking back on the year ... mostly thinking about the changes. Today begins my 10th week as a Blogger. My first post entitled Beginnings, bears the date October 22nd and visually appears unique because I wrote it in Word and pasted it into the editor of Small Reflections because I didn't know how to do anything else. I'd never LOOKED at a blog before (my Taos Writer's Retreat friend) Kara's phone call the previous week. She provided some "guided practice" in that call, walking me through the Blogosphere with links she'd emailed ... offering a glimpse into this alternative reality I found intriguing enough to enter. With Santa Ana winds blowing and multiple fires burning out of control all over Southern California, I entered this "virtual world" ... hesitantly.

Kara left a congratulatory comment, but a virtual stranger named Joy found and commented on that 1st post ... offering me her encouragement and promising to return. How could I not post again? My next two posts, although published by me on the 23rd and 24th, bear the same date as my 1st one because I created them on that day while wandering the Blogosphere and experimenting with what I encountered. Answering questions on other blogs provided me with HTML code to copy and paste on my own, and I couldn't resist the opportunity to try doing so ... hence the "Could this be me?" and "What Time of Day are You?" posts.

My friend Jackie, traveling in an RV with her husband, commented on the 3rd post ... but no one other than me commented on #2. Lucy left a comment there a few weeks later
on November 11th after finding my blog and looking around a bit.
I had trouble with "dates" for a while and understand it's possible to modify them after the fact, but I've not tried that yet anyway.

Joy found me again on the 26th as I introduced Molly and Ms. Kitty ... experimenting with inserting photos into posts. My friend Carol, also on the road with her husband, found and commented on the collage of Molly ... (later I gave equal time to Ms. Kitty). Joy discovered my first really successful photo upload, the one I'd been trying to add since the beginning, and reminded me that "baby steps" lead to success. The next day I shared two more photos from the Mabel Dodge Luhan House with details about my Writer's
Retreat experience there and Karen left her first of MANY comments.

My 1st "visual scribble" resulted in a veritable deluge of comments and led to others like it later on, in addition to "outing" my true identity. Who knew that when clicked on these signed images enlarged enough to be come legible? Certainly not me! Just as with leaving my recent "cry for help" post just days ago, temptation was great to removed them and remain "a nonny mouse" storyteller (with a lower case "s" on purpose), but I took the high road and left them in place ... adding #2 here, #3 here, #4 here, and an "authentic gra
phic piece" from my framed collection here with a left-brained linear transcription here.

Annie found me on November 6th and introduced me to Google Reader, simplifying my blog reading immensely ... though I did have to learn the hard way not to bite off more than I could chew. As I visited blogs and encountered posts of interest, the teacher-in-me had to share ... so I learned to create what I've since learned are called "love-links" and leave them scattered throughout my own posts because I realize not everyone has the kind of available time that I do as a young-at heart & "happily retired" individual. No one has to click on any of them, but I offer them an invitations to those with time and interest ... much as I'm doing with "my own past" in this post.

Not long ago I happened upon another Storyteller (she uses a capital "S" however) named Amy Jane who has created a series of links in her sidebar to "introductory pieces" about herself, and when she visited here ... she asked if I could point her
to some about myself. Doing so was tedious, challenging and time consuming. I suspect part of my motivation for including so many links in THIS post is due to her request. In the future I can provide a single link in answer to such a question, and others can read as much or as little as they choose about me depending on what interests them.

That reminds me about memes, hoopla, and Lucy's alliterative game. I've done the following:
1. posted 7 Random Things About Myself
2. published 5 T-13s (#1 on authors and books worth sharing with young children, #2 a random list of things I'd do if I knew I couldn't fail, #3 on Ice, #4 a list of quotes I find inspiring, and #5 links to video clips by Straight No Chaser - a unique & entertaining A'capella singing group from Indiana University)
3. shared Christmas Hoopla
4. posted my Playful Ps and Varied Vs with Verse as per Lucy's encouragement
5. written of Five Really Good Things here and here.

I've been serious, reflective, grateful, and playful with my postings (among other things). I did an (as yet) incomplete serie
s on the slow, challenging, tedious transformation of my front yard in 2006 with photo illustrations: parts one, two, three, and four are posted with additional posts to come. While other bloggers posted photos of snowy weather, I shared what Santa Ana winds leave in their wake here and here ... and what gentle rain looks like in Southern California. Mary designed and shared a lovely award for my Christmas Carol Quiz and introduced me to Blingee where I learned to add snowy effects.

I completed NaBloPoMo (30 posts in 30 days during November) on both my blogs and made many new blogging friends in the process including (but not limited to) Sandy, Melissa, and Eve. Then I joined Holidailies (31 posts in 31 days during December) and met John who along with Peajay, Joy, Karen, and Mary solved the Christmas Carol Quiz. Now Sandy has convinced me to participate in the Blog 365 challenge. If you didn't know it before reading this, you must realize by now that I'm more than a bit obsessive and perhaps compulsive as well. According to my Archives, this will be post #75 published on my 71st day as a blogger, so Blog 365 just could be a piece of cake! LOL


So ... we've arrived at the present. I actually started and my 1st post and worked my way back to return to this point ... reviewing as I did so. Smiler and Melissa deserve special mention for teaching me what little i know about HTML thus far. Somewhere along the line, in addition to all the bloggers mentioned previously ... I met Grandy, Ladybug, Mama Zen, MP Jones, Moanna, Mother of Invention, Talking Bear, His Girl Friday, Kikipotamus, and others I've no doubt forgotten to mention ... but you know who you are! If you send me an email reminder, I'll add you to you list (as long as you promise to forgive the oversight). This has gotten much more complex than I intended at the outset. If anyone discovers links that don't take you where they're supposed to, I'd appreciate knowing that too so I can fix them. (Obsessive, remember?)


So ... without further ado ... I wish to say THANK YOU BLOGGING BUDDIES! As a token of my appreciation I offer one and/or both of the follow
ing to display (or not) on your blogs as you choose.

Andrea, who I learned recently created the Christmas Hoopla thing, shared this on her blog and graciously gave me permission to "snag it" for myself and pass it along to my friends. It seems fitting somehow. LOL (I've given up ROFLing because it's just too hard to get up these days!)


Thanks a bunch!

Please say Happy Birthday to Molly who is 3 years old today.

12 comments:

Amy Jane (Untangling Tales) said...

Hey, thanks for the links. I will definitely be nosing around ;o)

If you're interested I just put up a page of stories to see what people think of what I'd like to tell.

(As in, I've not pursued professionalism yet, and I'm putting my toe in the water.)

Peajay said...

It's 12.22a.m. and from the UK I wish you blessings for 2008. Athblian shona duit.

Momisodes said...

*Sniff* What a lovely post :) I'm so glad we met through NaBlop too :) I also feel incredibly fortunate to have found someone else who is new the the blogging world too.

And the "I've given up ROFLing because it's just too hard to get up these days!"---I'm ROFL and I can't get up either! :)

And BTW!!!! I LOVE THE finger pointing above your blog365 banner ;)-- u crack me up!

storyteller said...

Amy Jane - I've intended to get back to your blog but holiday busy-ness has gotten in the way. I suspect things will calm down soon and I'll have more time again for visiting. I'll definitely check out your page of stories when I do so.

Peajay - Thanks for your delightful Gaelic phrases and blessings. I'm grateful Google translates them for me (hopefully with some level of accuracy). It's a small world after all with the Internet bringing us together as it does. I'm always surprised to check SiteMeter and see that people from all over the world have visited. 'Tis a bit amazing and quite wonderful at the same time.

Sandy - I'm glad we met at NaBloPoopedMo myself (I luv the sleeping chocolate lab in my sidebar that I found at Subversive Cross Stitch's blog). I guess I didn't realize you were new to blogging. How long have you been at it? I'm well practiced at finger-pointing and quite happy to bring laughter wherever I go ... because laughter is healing to mind, body, and spirit!

Thanks to you all for your visit and comments on this New Year's Eve. May 2008 bring peace, joy, wonder, and prosperity to every one.
Hugs and blessings,

Mary P Jones (MPJ) said...

Wow, just ten weeks and what a journey already!

Suzann said...

Happy and blessed new year - may you be showered in joy this year.

Joy Des Jardins said...

Oh my gosh...what a wonderful post Virginia. Seeing it all displayed as you have gone through it....I love it....and thanks for the link love.

You are truly amazing! Your site looks incredible, and you have already well surpassed me in a lot of the "techie" stuff. I guess you're just a natural. I'll be coming to you for answers from here on out. Not only are you a 'quick study,' but you are a lovely lady...warm, funny, interesting and smart. I feel truly lucky to have connected with you my friend....Happy New Year...and may you have many years of blogging ahead. Hugs, Joy

Karen said...

Happy Birthday Molly!

Both of your blogs have given me so much joy. They have been fun, thought-provoking, and inspiring. Your example got me going and has kept me going--thank you so much.

Again--happy new year!

His Girl Friday said...

Happy New Year!!
Lang may yer lum reek!!! :DD
(...translation on my blog! ;))

storyteller said...

Thanks to all of you for your kindness. It’s been fun getting acquainted with each of you through your blogs, and I appreciate your on-going support.

MPJ – I admit I felt surprised at what I’d accomplished in such a brief time. It’s basically a semester … a quarter of the school term. Who knows what I might do by this time next year!

Suzann – Welcome back from your visit to sunny California. I suppose you still have snow at home. I appreciate your warm wishes for the year ahead. Thanks.

Joy – (Blushing) I owe much of what I’ve done here to your example and encouragement along the way. As for being a quick study, it’s more like I’ve had time on my hands and my compulsive tendencies kicked in big time! Growing up youngest of three with siblings considerably older taught me to compete for my place … and old habits do (as they say) die hard.

Karen – That street goes two ways my friend. Your on-going support and appreciation while Kara was on her “blogging retreat” offered some “accountability” here and at Sacred Ruminations when I might have slacked off when times got busy … but with you checking in often I reminded myself to “force nothing and hold nothing back” just like Jen encouraged us to do in Taos.

HGF – I’ll have you no nothing here reeks! (no need to hold your nose or anything) Let’s see … my Google search (I’ve looked up some of Peajay’s phrases for translation lately) says something about “Live long and prosper” but that’s a Vulcan phrase from Star Trek isn’t it? I’ll be over later to see the “official” translation at your blog once I finish here. I’ve been busy with neighbors and phone calls and haven’t even thought about what to post on either blog today so I’ve got to get crackin’!

As I’ve written before but wish most profoundly, may 2008 bring peace, joy, and wonder to you and yours.
Hugs and blessings,

Grandy said...

Hey there lovely lady!! It's hard to believe you've only been blogging for 10 weeks!! You're quite the pro! Thanks for the gift, and I think I've finally learned how to put it on my site.

Happy New Year!!

storyteller said...

Grandy - I love what you've done visually at your blog of late. It looks like we're learning together. Can't wait to see more of those lovely photos. Talk about a quick study! You've certainly "taken to" that Christmas gift of a digital camera! Thanks for visiting and Happy New Year to you friend. I'm glad you decided to "snarf" (Chani taught me that term) one of the graphics. I'll be by later to see what's new.
Hugs and blessings,

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