I started A Hebridean in New Zealand towards the end of 2007. My Brother had been blogging for a while and it seemed to me that it was a way of telling my friends and family back in Scotland and England and France and Spain what I was up to in the other half of my life. It was somewhere between a diary and a supplement to the emails that I sent (and still send). It is also lovely to look back and be reminded of what I have done and where I have been.
When I returned to Lewis at the end of April 2008 I continued my diary in Eagleton Notes. That way my friends in New Zealand could see what I was doing when I was back in Europe. Indeed they could find out where in Europe I happened to be. I am now onto the second volume of A Hebridean in New Zealand.
Before Andrew (our elder son) died on my birthday in June 2006 he had kept a blog of his long and arduous battle against cancer. I re-read it some while later and started another blog A Life in the Day Of. Ok silly title but as I used the pseudonym L'Homme Bizarre avec la Barbe Grise why shouldn't it have been a silly title. I've not kept it up but at some stage my cancer will become a nuisance again and I shall no doubt resort to it as my blanket.
Perhaps a month or so ago I wandered into a few of the blogs that Scriptor Senex follows on his Rambles. I found a life out there which was absolutely fascinating and compelling. I have only visited a small (ish) number of blogs but have discovered a few that I visit every day (almost). Given that my life was filled before from 0630 to about 0100 (I have never needed much sleep) I now have a real dilemma. How do I fit my new found acquaintances into my life?
What really puzzles me, however, is how one can suddenly become so attached to people one has never met and is unlikely ever to meet. I have become acquainted with someone with one of the most beautiful smiles and sunny outlooks on life; someone whose brain and ability with words (and, obviously other things too) blows me away; someone from 'my' Island in Scotland whom I've never met on the Island (so far as I know); someone from the North of New Zealand who has met recent tragedy with apparent great fortitude and whom I have come to admire; and someone with a bright pink (is it pink?) blog which is full of the most interesting things (which I am working my way through backwards as I've only just come to it).
It is highly unlikely that in non cyber-space life we would live lives that would ever cross. We may live in different continents and cultures. We may come from different backgrounds. We may be from different age brackets. We may hold diametrically opposing views on certain things (but we may never know). But we all have a common interest in what each of us has to say.
Thank you Scriptor Senex for introducing me to an entirely new life.
Pleasure! And I like the way you've expressed the 'feel' of the blogging world.
ReplyDeleteGB - It is a fascinating world is it not? And blogging appears to me to have made our world an even smaller place; one where we can make friends across generations, miles, continents, colour, creed and common experience!
ReplyDeleteWithout these tender threads, we would never have had the good fortune to encounter one another in the 'real' world, and that would have been a real shame...
Hello my friend, way across the world ;o).
ReplyDeleteI have been so increasingly consumed with daily life that I haven't been catching up well in blog land.
I have much more I would like to say right now, but I have a little man insisting on my attention.
Firstly, I am so very touched by this post and feel the same about the circle of very important people I've come to enjoy. You and Scriptor feel so much like long lost family to me...it's odd but something I really appreciate. By the way...I just scanned down and saw your bendy thumb too. Did you see the photo's of mine? I posted a day or two after John did his. Didn't I laugh when I saw that...I never thought it was an odd thing either.
Also, I didn't find this blog until tonight. Where have I been? Who knows. Oh...and thank you for tagging me with the fourth photo idea. Again...I had no idea. The longer you get to know me, the more you'll see that I tend to miss things here and there ;o).
I'll catch up some more in a few days, as the days slow down a little. I really want to browse around and read a few more of your posts. I saw the beach art photo's...they are SO crisp and clear. Very nice photo's.
Okay...I'm off to put these little rascals to bed.
I don't see your time clocks on this blog but I'm thinking that it's daytime where you're at right now, so as I head to sleep; may you have a beautiful day!
♥ Heather
What a surprise to see that you'd visited my blog - and that I'd missed your comment.
ReplyDeleteYou've expressed what I feel about this cyber world. How is it that I can care so deeply about people that I've never met - about their children and farms, sick relatives and job losses? I've met one fellow blogger - we joined up in Lima this time last year, for an afternoon visit - and spoken with several on the phone.
I love anything that makes the world a smaller place.
Today I just found Pondside (from whose blog I am visiting) and Scriptor Senex.
ReplyDeleteHow right you are about the folks in blogland. There is something surprisingly endearing about those who share their stories as they go.
I have never been here, but I read the lines, "Before Andrew (our elder son) died on my birthday in 2006..." and you had me in tears, a stranger.
I will visit again.