Category Archives: Blogging

Beginnings and Endings

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Today, January 27th, marks 17 years since I started this blog. In the last 16 months, since the death of my beloved husband, my life has changed, my reading has changed, and my commitment to my blog has changed.

Early in my grief journey, I couldn’t focus enough to read. Now my reading has become solace on a lonely afternoon, or a search for new understandings of the changes happening to me, or simply an activity that I now set aside for long periods of time while I garden, go for walks, or visit with friends. I have started many books that I simply cannot finish for a variety of reasons, and so I stick with gentle reads. My reading seems to mirror the ups and downs I face each day, and as you can see from my blog silence, it is difficult for me to write posts, or review books.

I am finding new interests and projects that require the time I used to devote solely to reading and blogging. I’ve been organizing old photos, writing stories and creating slideshows and videos for my family from those old and some new memories. I am honoring these new pursuits and new parts of myself with focus and attention, and wonder where they will lead me.

I have been struggling for months to decide what to do with my blog during this time. I take beginnings very seriously, and I have a really hard time with endings. There is so much I enjoy about blogging, but I’m uncomfortable with these long silences.

So for now, I think it is best to simply announce that I will not be actively blogging for the time being. I’ll give myself some time to decide whether this will be an extended break, or whether I will retire my blog.

I love the book blogging community and hold precious the friendships made through this sharing of our love of books and reading!  So I will say a gentle goodbye for now. I will still be visiting your blogs and will still be present on social media, so I don’t plan to disappear. Please know that your support for me and this blog over the years, has meant the world to me. For your friendship, love, and support, I thank you, dear readers, from the bottom of my heart.

With deep gratitude,
Robin

What I’ve Been Up To…

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Hello, my friends. I have been missing my blog, my blogging friends, and the act of telling stories and sharing my reading! So I thought I’d stop in on this lovely Sunday afternoon and say Hi, and let you know that I’m (mostly) okay and what I’ve been up to recently.

I’m still here, and reading a little more than I was in March, but I’m actually spending more of my time outdoors with the return of sunshine to the Pacific Northwest. The yard and garden were in a terrible state of neglect from the Covid/Cancer years, so trying to “tame” it all again is a daunting job. One step at a time is my mantra. When I had the tall dangerous oak tree removed from the back corner of the yard last November, it opened up sunshine to that previously shady corner.  This spring I’ve created what I call my new “Sunshine Garden,” in that corner, and it has been a joyful project!  I planted some tomatoes, peas, beans, carrots and beets which are all happy with that sunny spot.

I’ve also been going through our many (thousands!) of old photos, scanning old slides, organizing photo files on my computer. It’s a massive project that I am enjoying very much. Sometimes, the tears flow freely while working on that project, and sometimes  laughter and joy arrive, as well. The 54 years Byron and I spent together are well-documented with priceless photos. I just completed an eight-week bereavement class, called “Living After Loss,” run by our incredible hospice group that helped ease Byron’s end of life. We were all invited to participate in the class at about 6 months since our special person died. It was an amazing learning experience about grief, very emotional and very helpful in so many ways. The culminating project was to create a Memory Project for the final day of class. For my “Memory Project,” I created a slideshow of photos of Byron and me over those 54 years, all put together with the song, “Through the Eyes of Love.” That project, too, is a treasure now.

And as for my reading… Yes, I am able to finish some books now after a period of time when I couldn’t focus enough to read much. In April, I read What Happened to the Corbetts, by Nevil Shute, one of my favorite authors. And in May, I read Victoria Connelly’s new book, The Way to the Sea. I always enjoy her heartwarming books.

 

Once again, I want you to know how much I appreciate all of you and your kind support during this time of bereavement. I hope you are all well and happy and enjoying your summer reading!

Birthday Blog

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…by Charles Schultz

It was a quiet January 27th morning in 2007 when I shyly started this blog. It began as another way to share books with my mother who lived 900 miles away. So much has changed in my life since 2007, but my blog has seen me through all those changes, and my love of reading and talking about books is even greater and more important to me now. And the friends I have made along the way, who share their own love of reading with me, have enriched my life exponentially.

So here’s to another year filled with books and kindred spirits! May we celebrate our love of reading and share many stories this year. 

Early December

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Interior with the Artist’s Daughter, by Vanessa Bell, 1935-36

Hello, dear friends,

We are well into the holiday season now. and I wanted to check in and wish you all a very happy season.  I hope you are well and enjoying life and family and good books. And as for the stresses and strains that also seem to be part of the holidays, I wish for you some quiet and some time to just enjoy the present moment.

I feel like I’ve been away forever, and I am hoping to get back to some consistent blogging again. I am getting back to my reading, choosing kind and gentle reads for now. Poetry is a balm for me. Books about grief (some of them), are helpful and appreciated. And when I found a book of poetry about grief that really spoke to my own experience, I was thrilled. Living Without the One You Cannot Live Without, by Natasha Josefowitz, sits beside me right now as my solace and one of my guides through this journey.

Recent fiction reads, such as Farewell to Fairacre, by Miss Read, and The Bookstore Sisters, a short story by Alice Hoffman, have been my bedtime reads. My non-fiction afternoon reading included Michelle Obama’s new book, The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, which I felt was an enriching audiobook to listen to. She is, as always, full of wisdom and compassion, and hope. I really enjoyed it. I also read a library find: A Glorious Freedom: Older Women Leading Extraordinary Lives, by Lisa Congdon. It was inspiring and I enjoyed each short biography of many different women who found their passions and careers later in life.

After two-and-a-half years of pandemic lockdown and the extra precautions we had to take due to my husband’s cancer, I am beginning to get back to some of my used-to-be normal activities. I have started going back to my exercise class at the gym, although I know that Covid is still here. But I need my exercise friends, the three-day-a-week routine, and the exercise! It’s so nice to be back. I’m also getting back to my morning walks, although the weather always seems to play havoc with that routine at this time of year. And I’m also getting back to my reading. It all feels so good!

 

Goodnight, Sweet Prince

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To all my dear blogging friends…

I’d like you all to know that my dear husband, Byron, passed away Wednesday night, almost exactly two years after his cancer diagnosis. He was a courageous fighter, and accepted his continually changing condition with grace and acceptance. At the end, he was where he wanted to be — at home, lovingly surrounded by his family.

Your kindness and lovingly supportive comments on my various posts throughout this journey have been deeply appreciated. I haven’t been on my blog much during his decline, but I will now take some time to mourn and regroup, and redesign my life without him. I will return, before too long though, to my reading and to this blog.

With love,
Robin

New!

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Welcome to the family, new computer! It’s a late Christmas present to ourselves. We couldn’t decide what we wanted for Christmas 2021. Finally settled on a new desktop computer. I can sit in the bay window area and work on my photos and my blog. Heavenly!

15 Years Old

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Fifteen years ago on a quiet January morning, I started this blog. During those fifteen years, I’ve made many wonderful reading friends. I’ve been inspired by all of you, dear friends, as I’ve shared with you my own love of reading. The book blogging community is warm and supportive, and my life is greatly enriched by my interactions with all of you. So today I celebrate fifteen years full of great reading and great friends. Cheers!

My 2007 reading spot and my blogging spot in the background…

A New Blog Feature

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I love to take photos! It started when I was six years old and won a Brownie camera in a coloring contest, so my interest in photography started at a young age. And later, when my kids were little, I took a photography class called “Ways of Seeing.” It was taught by an architecture professor, who was also a photographer, and she sparked in me a passion for photographing what I see every day.

I post many of my daily photos on my Instagram account, but I’ve decided to start a new feature on my blog and use some of them as my header, changing it often. The inspiration came from Nan, at Letters from a Hill Farm, because I love going to her blog to see the photos she chooses for her header.

I hope you enjoy this new feature as much as I enjoy sharing my ‘way of seeing’ with you!

Ketchup

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When I taught Sixth Grade, there were times in the afternoon that I would occasionally bag the lessons I had planned and call for a catch-up time, which my students affectionately named  “Ketchup time.”  Life and responsibilities gets overwhelming sometimes and it’s good to remember to give yourself a break from what you think you should be doing and just give yourself (or your students, in that case) a gift of time to catch up with yourself. The students would cheer when Ketchup time was called, and would finish assignments, read a good book, draw, create art projects, or watch what was happening out the window. Those were many of the happiest times in my classroom over the years, for the teacher and for the students!

I am so far behind on my reviews of books I’ve been reading! So I’m going to give myself some “Ketchup time.” I’ll write reviews, or make a list of books I’ve read during the pandemic (without the pressure to review them), or just spend some time looking out the window. So please bear with me as I Ketchup with myself and my blog. Reviews will be coming.

Thirteen Years

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Thirteen years ago, I started this blog. It was a wonderful reading world to enter and I was welcomed warmly by so many of you. The friends I’ve made through this blog are cherished.

Book blogs have changed a lot in thirteen years, but the love of reading and sharing with fellow readers hasn’t changed. You have all expanded my world exponentially!

I am grateful for all of you, my blogging/reading friends.