What's the Story in Dalamory » blogging

Following

freda — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 13:47:27 +0000

Most blog readers subscribe to an rss feed to help them keep up to date with what their favourite bloggers have to say. I read about 100 blogs, consequently after our time away, I have come home with 745 new items to read. So what tips can you give, Dear Reader?

Should I cut down on the number of regular feeds?
Skim read when I have to catch up?
Have an inner and outer circle, ie a mixture of the two above?
Always read those who commentate on my blog post?

The truth for me is that when I am faced with a lot of catching up, I firstly check out those who have commented on me – this starts to build up a kind of 1st class blogger relationship; we know one another better than the average blogger. Secondly, I check out favourite reads – often these are people who have similar interests to mine. Finally I skim read the rest. Once I have added someone to google reader I rarely take them off, though it is not unknown.

What about you?
How do you manage your regular blogging reads and friends?

Monday mornings

freda — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 09:08:45 +0000

Monday mornings used to be kind of bitter-sweet, not so much misery coming after a weekend of fun, but more a change of pace. The weekends with a growing family of 4 sons were hectic, noisy, challenging and great fun. Today, I open up my mail – snail mail is getting less, had you noticed? – anyway, the ordinary mail is dealt with very quickly and I turn to the computer. 30 emails – most of them spam/scam/adverts – so they are dealt with promptly. Everything is quick, quick, quick these days. It seems to me that our attention spans and ways of communicating are being damaged, or at least altered.

Up until ten years ago I would write to friends and family. They weren’t literary triumphs, but they were the daily doings of a Minister and I had a vague sense that the letters themselves were an important part of keeping in touch and commenting on the recipients ups and downs. Nowadays people like to text with one liners and text-speak. I feel left out of it by and large, since there is rarely any mobile phone signal at home, and I get fed up wandering around holding said implement up in the air, tutting as signal bars come and go.

I guess this blog is the nearest I get to sharing ideas, thoughts and experiences with friends who drop by. Yet I know that some of my family never read it. On occasion I forget that the others do, and then if I have slipped up and allowed a down day to be recorded, there is a phone call – always welcome. Where it gets difficult in comparison to writing to an individual, is that a letter wins hands down, because it can be a personal conversation. A letter can focus on the other instead of concentrating on the self. The nature of a blog does not allow this, a blog is mixture of ideas and random thoughts albeit with opportunity for feedback and comment.

So it is back to the eternal question – why do we write our blogs? As I sit here at the computer I hear the washing machine finishing its cycle, the TV in the background, (it’s the cricket) and I look forward with anticipation to brewing the mid-morning cappuccino. It feels like I have shared a tiny portion of my life in a remote corner of Scotland. It’s been a connection, a connection that matters and grows and makes me smile. Yes, I’m sorry I don’t do letters very much, but I am glad to be part of a growing breed of bloggers.

Back at last

freda — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:56:48 +0000

Back home at last – in fact, I’ve been home for a few days. Getting back to normal routines like blogging and watching the news is taking longer to accomplish. The terrible events in Norway and the famine in East Africa dominate world events and everything seems a bit too much to cope with. That seems ridiculous to say when it is those involved who need our empathy, prayers and support. Forgive me, I must be suffering from post-holiday blues.

The weather has turned into summer and is wonderful, perhaps that explains some of the tiredness and lethargy. Bit by bit I shall recover and hopefully will have more to blog about than self-indulgent woes and an inability to cope with life.

We came home in time for a special service at church to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the church building. The whole village seemed to be there, plus members of the clan Gregor. Overall it was tremendous, well-supported, joyful and evidencing a community/village that is in good health and growing. Nibbles in the new community centre afterwards gave us all the opportunity to catch up and share future plans. This whole year has been one of celebration – a great way to celebrate, to involve a whole community and to get to know one another better. The Office Bearers and our minister, Liz Gibson, have been doing a wonderful job.

So why the tiredness and feeling lethargic? Particularly about getting started on this blog? I usually rush to the page, keen to share some news or something quirky I’ve come across on the web. My life is an ordinary one, with the usual ups and downs. Nowadays I tend to be grateful for peace, space to be reflective and time to meditate and pray. I enjoy catching up on reading blogs of people I have been getting to know online over the years, and I like it when they comment on what I have to share. Fortunately, most of their remarks are pertinent, encouraging and sometimes very funny.

The problem? Someone recently told me in person that my life is too small. Those were not the actual words, I had to look the words up in the dictionary. But yes……. my life is small. The marvel is that I can share my thoughts, fears, inadequacies, joys and triumphs with anyone who cares to open up the world of Dalamory.

Small and ordinary is good. I’m not a celebrity – imagine how awful that would be….. intrusive and worrying. I’m past my working life – and thankful to be retired…….. free to follow my own interests and to do what little I can to spread the news that God loves us all. I have no soap box other than a belief in goodness overcoming evil…….. even in the face of the tragedy of the shootings and deaths in Norway.

And I want to say thank you, faithful reader, for being here.

Double oven

freda — Fri, 13 May 2011 10:42:00 +0000

Not such a pretty picture today – however, it is practical, sleek and shiny – and even better, it fits into the slot left by the old oven. I have to confess that I am not the cook in our house. Umpteen years of feeding growing sproggits and their assorted friends put paid to that. I have the occasional foray into the world of gluten-free baking, but apart from that I restrict myself to boiling an egg or making beans on toast or even scrambled eggs.

So HBTW or Him-with-a-spatula-and-a-spanner set to over the last few weeks to source and fit a replacement oven. Judging by the smells coming from the kitchen, it is already being put to good use. I tend to be the clearer-upper, so I am glad that it has got self-cleaning sides. I have to admit that seeing any new item of kitchen equipment reminds me of my mother.

That leads to a meander down memory lane. I found this photo of my mother dating from around 1966. It is from a 35mm slide, so the quality is not all that great. She looked happy and youthful here and I found myself thinking how poorly I have aged. Then I realised that in 1966 Mum would have been round about 42……. and I’m 25 years older. Enough said.

Anyway, if you haven’t wandered off you may be wondering why talk of a pristine new oven reminds me of the previous generation. My mother was a housekeeping Diva. Everything had to be kept as new; the floors sparkled and everything smelt of lavender polish. The trouble was that she started to take things too far……. not quite into the level of OCD but not far away. She stopped cooking (so it’s a generational thing with me – drat!) but only because it would have dirtied the cooker. When she died the cooker looked brand new, yet it was over 30 years old.

Even though many of the old memories are sad I’m still glad to have them. They are kind of bitter-sweet. However, it’s true to say that the older we get the more we understand our ancestors. I try to remind the generations after me to ask all the questions they can think of. Especially as it doesn’t look as if I am ever going to write my Opus Freda – though there is now the blog. Flights of whimsy or torrents of anger, glimpses of joy and serious questions.

What questions do you wish you had asked a relative who has now passed on?

How many ways do I blog thee?

freda — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:25:59 +0000

Friko, over at Friko’s Musings, has written about possible problems that we bloggers face in connection with family, friends, confidentiality and suitability of topics. It set me a-wondering what is in my mind when I write a post. If I am absolutely honest, I want to say something worthwhile, and much of the time I don’t. This blog is a mix-match of daily trivia, thoughts, a record of books read and films watched, all leavened with a dose of the spirituality which just is. It is a place for sharing things that have intrigued or made me laugh.

Many of my family and friends don’t read it – they see little point, after all I’m there on the end of a phone to chip in with where I’m at. Perhaps that says more about my family and friends than me. It’s easy to accept praise from friends and acquaintances but more of a challenge to listen to criticism – harder still to learn from it.

Then there are the would-be bloggers amongst my circle, those who quite fancy the idea of joining in the blogging world themselves. Beware if you are reading this, you know who you are. You could get hooked and then there is the daily or weekly problem of a readership to please or challenge or tickle or whimsify. The most important way to learn about blogging is to search out and read blogs…… lots of them …… of all genres. If you find someone you like, go back and learn techniques, join in conversations and help to expand the boundaries of the cyber-verse.

There are some who like to be mentioned in the blog. Friends who tell me stories and say “you could write about that.” Sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t. Here I have to confess that I keep a list of ideas to blog about so that I can pull something out of the page if I am having a bleak week. I confessed to Friko that I tend not to write when I am feeling down. Maybe that is not such a good idea, perchance it might help someone who wanders across this blog to discover that we all have bad days as well as good days.

The big question then is Why Blog? It was relatively easy when I worked as a Parish Minister, there was a ready-made potential audience. It had its own pitfalls – writing for a congregation – and sadly, I suspect I may have caused offence to some and disappointed a few. However, now I am retired I am free to say what I think and be who I am. The problem with this is that no-one likes to reveal the darker parts of their soul, that is unless they want to make a bid to emulate some of the spiritual classics. So that leaves me back where I began all those years ago – striving to have a place in blogland as one of the Growing-older-graciously-and-wiser brigade. Oh – and I enjoy a good chuckle too.

Why do you blog? And what problems have you encountered? (I almost wanted to say – Why are you reading this? But I am scared of chasing people away!)

Search engines

freda — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 06:49:04 +0000

Search engines have always tended to confuse me. But over the years I have got better at typing in keywords and even phrases or questions, to help me get to the places that will have the information I need. It’s amazing what you can find this way. Of course you’ve got to be careful what you type in. I won’t illuminate, but use your imagination and you will soon realise that the internet can be a scary place.

All that said, the following are included in yesterday’s search strings for this blog. (And, No, I don’t always get it either!)

freda blog
campervan tales
set waymarks for doubtful feet
story dalamory
as the deer pants for the water
god is not foreign to my freedom

And yet, if you look at the cloud-words graphic on the sidebar, you won’t see much that coincides with this little list. Indeed I seem to be rather keen on blogging about Misty, (so no surprises there) as well as dogs and cairn terriers. Oh dear! Death is bigger than church, spirituality is in very small print and God doesn’t even get a particle in the cloud. Hmmm, I wonder if I am getting lazy in my retirement? I shall have to pull my socks up.

How do other bloggers choose their topics?
And by the way, Happy July.

Hotch Potch

freda — Tue, 11 May 2010 09:41:44 +0000

A week ago today I was talking about A New Start in blogland. I asked for comments about what people thought of the blog and what they would like to see on the blog. The answers were varied and interesting. For a start Lydia wanted (amongst other things) some more pictures of Dalamory. This one below is from an entirely new angle. A neighbour in the village had been clearing some of his garden ground, and it is amazing the view that has been opened up. Quite a metaphor for how I feel.

In this past week I have been encountering new people on the net: kindred spirits, people with illness, an amazing number of people in the church – some training and some in parishes or other work. One thing that has delighted me has been the growth in the number of Church of Scotland people who are joining in the blogging world. (Incidentally, how come CofS seem more reluctant to embrace change and technology? – By the way congrats to all those who are already blogging and sharing their lives.) I also read blogs from older people and retirees – as I said before – Ageing is fascinating once it starts to happen, and of course it comes to us all if we are lucky. I have found poets with amazing talents and photographers who take breathtaking photographs. And of course with the way the election is going, it has been enlightening to read the views of others and to find blogs from politicians and pundits. I strayed into the area of medical matters – after all who isn’t interested in their health?

In fact, it is like the start of a whole new journey and a new world – one in which I can join, even though rushing around physically is beyond me. I have noticed that most people have an active and fascinating blogroll, so I intend to work on mine – if it is worth reading it is worth sharing. This brings me back to what I should share. My inclination sometimes is to keep quiet about personal health matters – particularly an ongoing struggle with my weight. Would anyone be interested in updates? Or is that just a step too far? I talk a lot about Misty, the cairn terrier – she wonders if anyone would like her to write an occasional guest entry.

OK – that is enough blurbing and questions. I now launch forth this missive into cyberspace, trusting that direction will come in response.

A new start

freda — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:10:43 +0000

Apparently there is plenty of information “out there” or in hard copy about how to blog. Thus far, ie since November 2003, I have not really researched the subject. Perhaps now is the time to take things more seriously. After all, who am I writing for? Who are these cyberspace readers I seek? My suspicion is that I write more for myself than others, and certainly things in my life have changed a lot from when I started – all fresh eyed and a bit shy, wondering why I was joining in this blogging phenomenon. Most people who journal, keep diaries or write, know that writing is cathartic and helps us to understand the world and ourselves. In a sense it doesn’t matter whether anyone reads it or not. And this is contrary to the general communication ethic. For it seeks to spread its net far and wide.

Readers who have come back regularly over the years will have sensed the change in my pace of life. As a retiree, and someone whose health is often a bit iffy, I have had to seek a gentler way to interact with family, friends, community and indeed the world. Getting older has absorbed my attention and fascinated me. And it is one of my primary concerns to help myself and others live well and live wisely. If this sounds boring, I am sorry, but it is the truth nonetheless.

So over the next few days or weeks the plan is to tease out these ideas. To try to seek readers who are interested in life’s journey, in the way we relate (or don’t relate) to God/the Divine/ the Other / the Ground of our Being. To explore what it means to live at peace with the earth. And above all, to share the wonderful thought that in some wonderful, annoying, imponderable way we are each important, valued and loved.

Oh – and by the way – I want to enjoy life, share humour and generally help myself and others to feel better. The danger side is that I may stop hiding.

Hope you share the journey and your thoughts with me and others on this blog. I would be interested to hear what kinds of things you would like me to blog about.

Feeling good

freda — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:32:14 +0000

Feeling virtuous at any rate – the weather has alternately been bright sunshine or chucking it down rain. Managed to walk the dog in a dry spell. You’ve got to look on the bright side.

There is a wonderful cartoon in the Times today. The supreme leader (of Iran) is standing on a chair holding his robes up and going “Eek!” There is a computer mouse on the floor in front of him. That says it all. Blogging and twittering are indeed changing the world.

Responsibilities

freda — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:44:17 +0000

It has been brought home to me today that the writer of a blog has numerous responsibilities. Firstly, things can be misread or misinterpreted – though this is usually in fun. For instance by a round about route some colleagues of Son #1 have come across the blog and made comments about the view from the window being more important than the grandchildren! I should hasten to add that the “100 Favourite Things” are in no particular order. That deals with that point. Then there comes the linking hazard – the link had been made to Father’s blog “Him Behind the Wheel“. Unfortunately, his last blog post was a particular rant in an unfortunate manner on politics. Let it be known that I hold more moderate views!

I cited Father’s recent virus as possible cause for polarisation of views, to which said son replied “If you ask me he is suffering from Stroppy Old Man Virus“.

In case you are worried “Old Man” himself, agrees with this.

What's the Story in Dalamory » blogging

Following

What about you?
How do you manage your regular blogging reads and friends?

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Monday mornings

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What's the Story in Dalamory » blogging

Following

What about you? How do you manage your regular blogging reads and friends?

Related Posts

Monday mornings

Related Posts

Back at last

Related Posts

Double oven

Related Posts

How many ways do I blog thee?

Related Posts

Search engines

Related Posts

Hotch Potch

Related Posts

A new start

Related Posts

Feeling good

Related Posts

Responsibilities

Related Posts

What about you?
How do you manage your regular blogging reads and friends?