A Blogging Milestone: 50 followers - and counting!

Wheee! Today when I checked my blog I was delighted to see Edie had become my 50th follower - she came on board from the new Bloggers' Book Club that Lily started recently - my last post was the response to that initiative - A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Our next book is to be Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín, an acclaimed Irish writer who won the Man-Booker prize a few years ago for The Master. The Bloggers' Book Club is open to all those who are interested in reading and commenting on the selected book - just check over with Lily and put yourself on her list - so far there are about 16 members, which gives a nice assortment of opinion on the book.

I hope those of you who take the time to read my blog enjoy it - I really like to get your comments and feedback as it makes the blogging worthwhile, I don't think I'd enjoy it half as much if I was blogging into a vacuum! So keep the comments coming. I try to be diligent and reply to all commenters so be sure to enable notification of following comments when you post a comment on this or any blog - a handy tip! I do try to visit a few blogs I follow every day and leave a comment where I feel I have something to say.



I haven't really gone down the road of blog awards of a chain genre that require me to post them on to othe bloggers as I find them a bit intrusive - I see some of the bloggers I follow stay resolutely blog award free which is probably good blog etiquette - I just did one - the High Five (good things that happened in the past year) which was a nice one and didn't put too much strain on the nominees (I hope!). On the other hand it is nice to be recognised and given an award by a cyber friend, and perhaps I'm just being presumptuous that they would bug the recipients who'd feel compelled to do whatever steps are needed.



Of course my ego was deliciously massaged by the nomination for the Irish Blog Awards which got me to two shortlists - and even my son was suitably impressed - in a backhand compliment sort of way he said "You got to the shortlist? The final twenty-five from a longlist of over a hundred? Wow!" So I'm not sure that was flattering or he was in shock - but it encourages blogging - even if purists discount it as not being real writing. I enjoy it and that's the primary reason anyone should blog - for their own enjoyment - even if it's a polemic-type blog or a specialist one like cooking or gardening.


So keep on dropping by and leaving your comments - and invite your friends to join - I might even double the numbers in a year or two. I'm always amazed when I see blogs with hundreds of followers and post comments - and wonder how do the bloggers respond to them all. Perhaps they get impersonal at that stage! I feel I've made some lovely cyber-friends in the past year and a half, with common links like Africa, travel, reading, cooking, and knitting. Even if we never meet in the real world, there's a lot of fun to be had in the blogosphere - so hang in there!

High Five - You've been tagged!

Ann over at the lovely transatlantic blog Inkpots n'Quills recently tagged me for this High Five 2009 meme, so I will try to trawl memory for five good things that happened in the last year. I don't really do much with memes or chain awards - either getting them or passing them on - and while I don't rule them out completely as some bloggers do, I admit I haven't been great at passing on the few I did get. Apologies to those who tagged me and found me wanting. I don't pass on chain emails but this is different. I kinda feel guilty at passing them on to others as it imposes an obligation on them to pass them on to their friends - and then there's often a tiresome task attached. Not this one - I like the idea of picking five good things from 2009.

In no particular order - my selection includes the following highlights:

1. Election Success
Hubby Jan's first election to public office! He was elected as the Labour Party Town Councillor for Lismore in June's local election and this was a cause celebré in our family - he had already been a Councillor for 3 years since he was co-opted, but this was entirely on his own merit and reflected his success during his term both as a Council member and as town Mayor in the run-up to the elections - he has lobbied for issues that are important for the town and has tried to avoid party politics above the interest of the town and people. His achievement is all the more notable as he was one of only four foreign candidates elected to Irish office and he was on national radio on Newstalk's Global Village panel about this rare species. I wrote about his election here.


2. Grandparents-in-Waiting
The imminent arrival of our first grandchild - Jany and Shayne will become proud parents in the coming weeks and we were told in a phone call from Spain in June that we would be grandparents in 2010! This has to be the best news of the past year and we wait in trepidation for the birth sometime in February. Watch this space for live updates and photos!

3. The Homecoming
Shayne and Jany moving to live in Ireland from Spain was a great event for us as we missed him over the past eight years since he went to Spain and even though it was great to have a holiday destination every year it is lovely to have them here now and to see them grow into a real family.

4. Holidays revisited
Down memory lane - a reunion with my old friend Anne for a short break in Spain. She and her two daughters were in Barcelona for a break when we were visiting Shayne and Jany in Malgrat de Mar. We spent four days together and relived the hectic pace of the holidays of our youth in India and Nepal - seeing all the sights in Barcelona and catching up on the news of the past years - spanning decades! You can read the post about that holiday over here.

5. Leaving the Nest
Seeing the progress in our children over the year gave me a lot of pleasure and are collectively worthy of inclusion! Shayne and Jany are already mentioned. William returned from his semester of college exchange in Tennessee, and ended the year doing teaching practice in Lismore's Blackwater Community School as part of his final year of PE and Geography in Limerick; Martin got accepted on a Masters' programme in Graphic Design in Dublin, and Maeve survived her first year of Secondary school and is getting on with Second Year as cool as a breeze. She is growing fast and has already passed me out! She went on her first parent-free holiday after her Spanish trip when she went to England with her good pal to aunts and cousins of said pal, showing that we are able to cope (a bit!) with cutting the apron strings. Mind you - not without some trepidation after watching the scariest (unlikeliest I hope!) film of the year in Spain - Taken with Liam Neeson. (confession - I had written Harrison Ford and Ann pointed out it was Liam - that'll teach me to blog late at night and get my action heroes mixed up!) Worst nightmare scenario for every parent - teen daughter gets kidnapped for the white slave traffic on her first holiday sans parents with wild child pal in Paris! Still, life's not all like in the movies - thankfully - and they came home safe and well from England.

So that's my high five selection for 2009. Good cause for reflection and I could probably make a high ten if I put my mind to it!

Do I have to pass this on to friends? Ok if so I will notify the following - and hope you enjoy filling out your High Five of 2009!

1. Jeannette @ Mysteries
2.Stephanie V @ Hookin', Knittin' & Livin'
3.Susan @ Stony River: a Writing Life
4. Peggy @ Organic Growing Pains
5. Rudee @ A Knitting Nurse

I look forward to reading your highlights and if you like - pass it on to your blogfriends!