I'm conscious of the fact that it's a while, even for me, since I posted. I've had Blogger's Block. It's not quite the same as writer's block because I write a lot of letters and emails constantly. The difference is that on my blog I have various 'don'ts': I don't do controversial topics (and almost every current topic is controversial); I don't go long walks in interesting places most days (so I don't have a variety of photos to post every day); I lead a busy life in my garden (not the greatest blogging topic in a garden like mine) and socially (definitely not of interest to anyone else) and whilst croquet gave me a great many interesting blogs in New Zealand and when I won the Scottish Golf Croquet Open but bowls is probably as boring a topic for blogging as I can think of (not that I've been bowling this summer with lockdown); and I don't generally blog about my family (my grandson is of great interest to me but many people have their own grandchildren).
Do you ever do aides memoir for blog topics or anything else that happens to take your interest? I do all the time. Today, however, I found one that I'd put in my phone shopping list when I was out on Friday because I didn't have a paper and pencil handy. It reads "A stake through the heart is not a good way to die." The problem today is that, although the words are crystal clear, I have absolutely no idea what they are supposed to remind me of. That and many other things can join the 190 draft and partly finished and occasionally incomprehensible blogs that I have started and languish in the dashboard.
Despite the atrocious weather we've been having and despite the fact that I don't think poppies are generally associated with this time of year my poppies are still flowering daily:
Yea! you are back and you brought your wonderfully red poppies.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jill, it was your comment (and an email from Adrian) that galvanised me into action again.
DeleteGlad you are back - but I know what you mean about Blogger's Block. It crept up on me and now it's very hard to start again. Beats me why, actually. I keep trying and failing. Part of it is actually new Blogger. Any kind of fussing around with computers is enough to put me off. I just want to not have to think about it at all - I was actually totally happy with the Blogger before last!! As for a stake through the heart - well, I suppose you might have been thinking ahead to Halloween and vampires? (No, I don't think so either) :) I occasionally note things down in the middle of the night which are similarly mysterious.
ReplyDeleteJenny, I agree that once you've stopped, whether intentionally or not, it's hard to find the motivation to resume. The silly thing is that I love Blogland so find it hard to understand why it's hard. I actually continue to read blogs although I often save time by not commenting particularly if I read them on my phone where commenting is much harder. I actually like most of this new Blogger interface although there are one or two irritations and it took me ages to find one or two of the actions although most have now been made more logical.
DeleteHalloween, vampires? You were correct - definitely not on my mind.
Why should you go on long walks in supposedly interesting places when you can simply point your camera at the beautiful flowers in your own yard with the hills and the sea in the distance beyond and succeed in capturing us completely?
ReplyDeleteI am glad you are back. Everything is relative. Two weeks is not Blogger’s Block. Two years is Blogger’s Block.
Bob, thank you for putting things into perspective.
DeleteGlad to find you had a new post, Graham, and what a great view and colorful poppies in your garden. I know what you mean about blogger's block and so rather than try to find something to post about daily, I am limiting my own posts to no more then 2-3 a week. Given the chance, I would never at much of a loss for things to post about, but cannot do it on a daily basis. There's other things to do in life as much as I do enjoy blogging and reading other blogs. Quite simply I can't even keep up with bloggers who do post daily and so now read blogs on a weekly basis and comment on the most current. As Jenny commented, the new blogger is challenging at times and I am s-l-o-w-l-y adapting to changes. By the way, I also do not do controversial posts and sky away from blogs which contain them on a regular basis. I do enjoy the scenic walk some others post about, sort of armchair travel these days.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your views Beatrice. I find that, despite the fact that I'm not a TV watcher and don't even read as many books as I used to read, there are just not enough hours in a day to do all the things I want to do. Your posts are usually so full of pictures and information that I can't imagine how you do it. Mind you I'm a very slow writer born out of years of writing legalistic political documents where every word was pored over (and which contained no photos 😂).
DeleteYes, I get ideas when I'm out and away from the computer or paper and then I can't remember the topic.
ReplyDeleteRed, it's good to know that I'm not alone.
DeleteIf my wife drops something she'll say "I suppose you'll be blogging about that". Such is the inconsequential subject matter of my page that I'll write about the silliest of things. Not a lot happens when you lives out in The Styx.
ReplyDeleteCro, I have often wondered how you manage to make such apparently mundane things so interesting but then, in many ways, it's the comments and conversations that they provoke or give rise to that is a good deal of the fun of your blog.
DeleteDo not think you are Robinson Crusoe when it comes to having notes with words or phrases written down, only to look at them later and be totally mystified.
ReplyDeleteIt's the story of my life...
Alphie
Alphie, I got to the stage of having so many pieces of paper with notes hanging around that a few years ago I bought a page a day diary solely for the purpose of writing such reminders in. It's great.....provided I'm near it when a thought strikes me. I was getting out of the car at the supermarket when the particular quote I mentioned struck me. Anyway it's good to know that I'm not alone.
DeleteUnderstand completely and empathise. I paused my blog a while back because I needed a break, and now I find there is no desire or impetus to start up again.
ReplyDeleteBut if all you do is share a few pictures of your beautiful island with us, that (I am sure) would be much appreciated by your blogging friends.
Stay safe, and stay well. x
Jayne, I had only been following you for a relatively short while when you stopped blogging. It was a shame because it was an interesting blog.
DeleteI, too, am pleased to see you back here Graham. Your blog posts are always interesting and well thought out, unlike my own vague ramblings. I use my blog mainly as a way of recording my thoughts and everday life as, otherwise, it all seems to be slipping away from me. People write blogs for different reasons I feel. Yours is always a pleasure to read.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your lovely comment JayCee. I am suddenly confused. I popped over to my sidebar to see when it was you stopped blogging and discovered that you are not in my side bar. Given that that's how I catch up with blogs I'm wondering what happened when you stopped. I now realise that you only stopped blogging for a short while and I've missed a lot of posts. Hopefully I'll remedy that this week. You've also given me my next post.
DeleteBob Brague said it - if nothing else just photograph your garden please.
ReplyDeleteTasker, autumn and winter isn't really the best time for photography in a Hebridean garden. I'll do my best though.
DeleteWe are with Rasker on that. You capture not just the garden but its setting. And every season has its style; its often the changes that are as interesting as the display captured in a single photo.
Deletewith Tasker - fat typing fingers, small tablet, - poor excuses for lack of proof reading.
DeleteTigger, I will bear that in mind. All tips are gratefully received. As for fat fingers I am the world's worst at pressing send and then doing the check. Heaven alone knows why. Probably a reaction of a career of checking my words carefully.
DeleteAs it turns turns out, Graham, you wrote a thoroughly interesting blog about being unable to blog! I suspect that like many I enjoy seeing the garden, and what may be a regular view for you is a bit of a treat for the rest of us. Now get back to work and figure out why you felt so compelled to record the stake in the heart comment, and you'll really have something to write about. Bram Stoker revisited perhaps.....
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you found it interesting David. As I said to Tasker coming into winter isn't the best time for a garden. However this may be a question of me using my ingenuity. Hmmm. Food for thought. As for the stake through the heart it really is beginning to bug me as to how I could forget what provoked such a strong statement as a basis for a blog post.
DeleteI enjoy your blog and your comments on my blog Graham. People like you keep me going. There are many things about blogging that I no longer enjoy in the way that I did 12 years ago when I first started. The blogging world has changed in recent years and is, in my view, the worse for it.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rachel. I sometimes think that my comments on your blog are terribly 'safe' compared with many of your regular contributors but my career was based on trying to calm confrontation in so many ways and it suited my personality. Although if I feel very strongly about something like an injustice I will fight to the end.
DeleteHave you tried "All Bran" with stewed plums for breakfast? A few mornings of that and your "blogger's block" will be solved in a jiffy. If out and about a jiffy bag may be required.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your blog - no matter what you write. You shouldn't be so hesitant. Jut go for it like a high board diver or a fire walker. Why must there be no-go areas? You seem to enjoy a lovely relationship with your brother. I would like to read about your Merseyside childhood and your early times with him and why not open up about Gaz, your daughter-in-law and your beloved grandson? They are clearly and understandably hugely important to you yet your sense of propriety means they are mostly absent from "Eagleton Notes".
YP, I can assure you that my breakfasts are very much based on fruit and muesli and that is certainly not a "blogger's block" to which I have succumbed.
DeleteThere was a 5 year gap between my and my brother's births so we were not really that close as small children. In fact we didn't become really close until our late teens/20s. However since then we have shared a lot. I tend to take the view that Gaz's family and life are private and although there is no secret as to his job the really interesting things about his career are all covered by non-disclosure clauses in his contracts of employment. His wife is private to the extent that she is not even on Facebook. Perhaps I'll get them into the blog somewhere though.
Like everyone else here, I enjoy your blog and am happy to read your posts - and I never get bored by the view from your garden, or your garden itself.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you have mentioned in one comment that there never seem to be enough hours in the day to do all you want to do, including watch TV and read books. Now, telling us what you are or have been reading and watching could make for a quite a few blog posts, I guess.
Alternatively, I can give you a short list of books I have recently read but not gotten round to writing the reviews yet - I was too busy catchiing up with my hiking holiday posts!
Meike, I am ashamed to say that the number of reviewable books I have read (ie novels etc) is minuscule because I have been reading things like gardening books but I shall do a couple of book reviews shortly. Thanks for the suggestion.
DeleteYour blog is a pleasure to read. The poppies are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThank you kindly, Maywyn.
DeleteYou made me laugh...you made me remind me of myself! I am laughable....many would concur! :)
ReplyDeleteI have numerous notebooks in the top drawer (which is always ajar) of my bedside table. I'm always jotting down thoughts...and particularly when I've shut down for the night. Physically I may have shut down, but mentally, not. That is when all the "lights come on". Often rather than switch the beside light back on, I will jot down the enlightening, brilliant thought...or if I can't reach the notebook in the dark...I jot the thought on my hand...only to not understand a written word the next morning! lol
So, my dear...you are not alone! Take good care. :)
Well, there's one thing I have to say, Lee, and that is you have never written a dull blog post in the years I've been following you.
DeleteThank you, Graham...you are most generous...and always the gentleman. :)
DeleteYou are a treasure Graham. Bloggers Block and Stakes Through The Heart! Gave me a good old giggle as I often write little notes to myself and then promptly forget what they were meant to remind me of LOL
ReplyDeleteLove your poppies :) xx
You've quite mad me blush, Margaret.
DeleteI have spent months at a time not posting but I think when I'm not in the right mood I think every idea is a bad one and when I'm in a different mood I will blog about anything (you might notice I didn't suggest they are necessarily good ideas!)
ReplyDeleteI dont write notes but I will start composing a post in my head. If I do, it usually sticks n the memory for long enough to type it
Kylie, I don't have a memory and never have had. I have a forgettory and even if I could compose a post in my head it would be gone the second my lack of concentration showed up.
DeleteIt is lovely to see a post from you, especially one which includes a photograph of your beautiful garden. X
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jules. My garden is my joy during these difficult times.
DeleteI chime in with Jules's comment, YP's, Librarian's and others. In essence, I have adopted you as the grandfather I wish were still alive. Safe, sweet, kind.
ReplyDeleteBlogger's block? Count yourself lucky. I could write all day long and still not be finished. I literally have to put the sock in. As many on whose blogs I comment will attest. Some more tolerant and/or interested than others.
Thank you for the poppies and the view; they make my heart sing,
U
Gosh, Ursula, that really warmed my heart: to be adopted as a virtual grandfather. What greater compliment could one have.
DeleteI've been waiting for a new post from you, I do enjoy reading what you get up to no matter how mundane you think your life is. We haven't been anywhere for a while now so I've been trying to rack my brains as to what I post, even going through the photo archives regularly.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Amy. Going through my 70 years of photos is on my agenda. I didn't manage is 6 months of lockdown. I'm not sure I'll ever get it done but I must try and find some for blogging.
DeleteAs Amy said, we love your post no matter what ... loved the one about the "lost" book!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jill. I have given up on the book!
DeleteWhen it surfaces, as it most likely will, you will say "I remember now!"
DeleteSomehow I missed this post earlier in the week. I'm having kind of blogger's block myself, I often "write a lot in my head" during the day but very little of it all ends up getting written down and organized enough to be shared on blog. Often for much the same reasons you mention (or similar)... I don't think your readers (me included) tire any more of views from your garden and island than you do yourself though. At least they're a change to my own! :) Moreover - when you do write, in spite of avoiding being controversial, you always somehow manage to get people reacting and discussing a lot in your comment section!
ReplyDeleteMonica, I write very little in my head as a rule. I need a writing medium in front of me to get going although sometimes an idea does form in what passes for my mind and I may be lucky enough to remember it when I have a writing medium handy. I think discussion is a major part of blogging for me.
DeleteGraham, your very modest opinion of your own mind made me go looking (online) for a quote from Winnie-the-Pooh...
Delete"… when you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it." (A.A. Milne)
I'm not sure our thought processes differ all that much really - even if I sometimes call mine "writing in my head". (It's not like the text is still there to be read later!)
I suspect you simply mis-spelled steak and it was going to be a post (another stake?) about maintaining a proper diet.
ReplyDeleteI wish that it was that simple, CJ.
DeleteDear Graham, thank you for your message on YP's blog. Yes, I still read around the blogs. It has been a constant for me this year, when work has been stressful. Essentially though, I keep a low profile on commenting. The deck chairs have shifted somewhat since I was blogging. I remembered your son's visit to Cairns just yesterday with COVID popping up in our local news via a superyatch. Take care Graham. xo
ReplyDelete