Taking The Plunge

Yes, I’ve been talking about it for a while… wrestling with my own doubts… To sum up the story, I’ll soon be running out of space in my first Picasa web album; and instead of paying to upgrade, I decided to continue my two main blogs in a new account. I started with the Picture Book three weeks ago and I think that has worked out quite well so far. About 50% of the previous followers have already found their way to the new blog.

I’m a little more nervous about moving on from this one. But hey, the old posts that are already here aren’t going anywhere; that’s part of the point. There will be links back from the new blog.

We have just passed New Year, and what better time to take the plunge into “new waters”!

So click on the duck, or on the link below, to follow me…

Beyond the Lone Islands

See you there!

Happy New Year

I just realized that if I’m going to wish you Happy New Year I shall have to do it NOW, because the rest of the weekend I’ll most likely be busy. Tomorrow on New Year’s Eve I’ll be having friends over in the evening; and if the snow situation doesn’t get too much out of hand, I’ll also be spending Sunday with family and relatives.

So looking back in the rear mirror on the year 2010, as well as any attempts at gazing into the future of 2011, here on the blog, shall have to wait until… well… some time next year…!

♥Gott Nytt År! ♥

Monica

Onwards and Forwards

Snowman giving directions: That way, please!

Looking back at what I wrote yesterday about foresight, I have my doubts whether some things in that post will make much sense to anyone but myself, but never mind. Onwards and forwards...

Whether we choose to set long term goals or not, the New Year does have a tendency to make us recapitulate, and consider starting afresh with some things. If you do want to make a change of some kind, the New Year often seems like a good time to start. New calendar, with blank pages waiting to be filled in... (One of the things I haven't got round to yet! And as I write that, it also hits me that I have forgotten send a couple of birthday cards...)

For my blogs, I have no major changes in mind at the moment; but I did joggle some items about in the sidebar of this one yesterday. In some ways, the sidebar is like a flowerbed - you plant things in it, then leave it to take care of ifself for a while; and then one day you look at it and say "oops" - however it happened, it suddenly seems to be in need of some weeding...

The most obvious change is that I moved Quotation of the Day up to the top of the sidebar. (I had it before, but further down.) This is one of those automatic gadgets, so what appears there is not my own choice. However, after a year of Quotation of the Week posts, I find I've used up most of the English quotes in my old notebooks. So it's time to gather some new ones! There are of course plenty of quotation pages to be found on the internet; but there is a certain difference between searching one's own memory and notebooks for quotes, and trying to find appropriate ones from unknown contexts... I will however try to keep up the Quotation of the Week too, in one way or another. If nothing else, it might take myself to interesting new places (and books) worth exploring!

I have also updated my links list - Other Places To Visit - with a few new additions.Of those I would like to draw your attention to one photo blog especially: Ulrika K. I came across her page recently when browsing some Skywatch Friday participants. Ulrika lives in Lapland in the very North of Sweden and she has some really amazing pictures. The snow and cold I have been complaining about down here lately is "nothing" compared to what they're used to up there.

PS/ Still feeling "undecided" about some things, I've removed a paragraph in this post. There will probably be links somewhere in the sidebar to a series of autobiographical posts that I began during 2009, and hope to continue in 2010... I thought of adding them to the "About Me" box, but then I decided (I think) to put them in a separate place instead - probably under the Blog Archive.

Hindsight and Foresight

In my New Year's Eve post I quoted an Irish blessing:

May you have the hindsight to know where you've been,
The foresight to know where you're going,
And the insight to know when you have gone too far.

So far this New Year - celebrating my first "Bloggoversary" yesterday on top of all - my concentration has been mostly on the hindsight, looking back on 2009. I was also never really in the habit of making New Year promises - and right now, the mere thought of a list of detailed resolutions just weighs me down.

Reading other blogs over the last few days, I find that people often say "no, I never make New Year promises" - and then go on to make lists of resolutions or expectations anyway. So while I was out on a very cold walk in the snow this afternoon (after saying this morning that I would probably not go out but just stay in), I thought about that: Would I feel better about making a list of expectations instead of promises? Answer: No,I would not! I'm tired of lists. I'm tired of counting, and crossing things off, and still never catching up...

While writing the Bloggoversary post, it struck me that last year when I started blogging, I had no clear idea where I was going with that; and yet, looking back, I can see that in spite of lacking defined goals and expectations, I still had a sense of direction. That, I think, is the kind of foresight I need for this year, too - and the only kind that would not feel heavy.

That does not mean I will not be making any plans, or that I will never write another list of things to do. It also does not mean I can forget about all the things that still remain to do that I should already have dealt with last year! I'm sure 2010 will have its own fair share of all that, whether I like it or not...

But "the foresight to know where you're going" - that, for me, is about daring to be open to intuition, and listen to my heart: To notice if a gate is open or closed; to know when to give or accept (or decline) an invitation, when to speak or to be silent... That kind of thing!

If I am to wish only one thing for 2010 - that will be it, I think.

BLOGGOVERSARY

THE ISLAND OF THE VOICES

BLOGGOVERSARY

One year ago today, 5 January 2009, I wrote:

.~. .~. .~.

After some trial and error, it seems I have created a blog!

In choosing the title, I had in mind the Island of the Voices in C.S. Lewis's The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, where Lucy enters a Magician's House to find the Magician's Book, and within that book A Spell to make hidden things visible.

She read it through to make sure of all the hard words and then said it out loud. And she knew at once that it was working because as she spoke the colours came into the capital letters at the top of the page and the pictures began appearing in the margins. It was like when you hold to the fire something written in Invisible Ink and the writing gradually shows up...

I really have no clear idea yet what hidden things I want this blog to make visible. But maybe if I start writing, I will find out...

.~. .~. .~.

I have told the story before: At first, I really only created my Blogger account to be able to comment on my friend Rose-Anne's blog, a penfriend of mine in Australia since before the days of the internet. Once I had set up the account, I thought: Well, since I'm here, why not check out how it works...?

The amazing thing, to myself, is that I'm still here, a whole year further down the road!

I don't know how many times - usually at New Year - I started a diary, and kept entering daily notes for two or three months, and then it just sort of faded out... Looking back in old pocket calendars I've kept, it's the same: It looks in almost every one of them as if my social life is concentrated to the first three months of the year, and then I do nothing until the next New Year. That, however, would be an incorrect conclusion. The notes really only tell you that the first months of the year is usually the time when I'm most keen on making notes! I suppose it has something to do with new year - new calendar - new resolutions...

What makes a difference here in the Blogworld, is the response. When you get the first proof that what you're writing is not just disappearing out into empty space, that's a real kick to keep going...!

I soon realized, though, that it probably wasn't quite enough to just keep writing and hope to be found randomly by whoever - even if that actually did happen a couple of times. But where does one start, to get in touch with other bloggers? I really had no idea!

I tried the Next blog button a few times, but that usually just took me to some blog in a foreign language or some topic I was not the least interested in. (I think some improvements have been made over the last year though, to make the use of that button less random.)

Then I found my way to Blogs of Note which was a definite improvement. When I found something there which I liked, I also went on to visit others who were in turn following that blog - and the world began to grow...!

To celebrate my bloggoversary today, I would like to give credit to four places that served as important "milestones" or "crossroads" for me on my journey through the Blogworld, putting me in touch with other fellow bloglings who in turn became inspirators, followers and friends.

Blogs of Note
Noteworthy blogs chosen by the Blogger Team.

The One Minute Writer (C. Beth)
A blog providing daily writing prompts. I have not continued to visit daily, but it is a great place to meet other people who like to write, and to find inspiration if you feel your mind going blank... If I'm not mistaken, this was where I first got in touch with some of the fellow bloglings who have been on my official Follower's list the longest and are still "around".

Views from Raven's Nest
Raven hosts the Raven's Saturday Wordzzle Challenge. This put me in touch with other creative writers who like to play around with fiction, based on a set of  "impossible" words and phrases provided weekly. It also got me entangled in an ongoing story of my own, which has since been moved from here to separate blog - Wordly Efforts. (If you go to that blog, you will find links in the sidebar there to some of the other regular participants in the Wordzzle Challenges.)

Soaring Through the World in Pictures
A shared photo blog which I came across in July when it was quite new, and joined as number 7, already aquainted with two or three of the other members. I consider myself very lucky in doing so; because 1/ it has been another great place to make friends (last time I checked, we are now 18 members and 79 followers) and 2/ it was a real boost for my interest in photography; which in turn led on to starting a photo blog of my own in September: DawnTreader's Picture Book; which in turn caught the attention of some bloggers previously unknown to me; and so the world continued to grow. (By the way - in the Picture Book, I have started 2010 off by showing twelve photos from last year that I chose for a wall calendar I ordered as Christmas gift for myself and a few friends.)

.~. .~. .~.

Looking back now at my first blogpost here at The Island of the Voices one year ago, I feel almost like reading prophecy or blessing come true. Blogging has brought "colour" into my life, during a year which I fear might otherwise have shown mostly blank pages when I tried to look back.

 ♥ THANK YOU ♥

to all who have kept encouraging me

Monica, a.k.a. DawnTreader

Freezing Cold

▲This is why "going for a walk" has been no fun lately.
▼Slush freezing to ice!



In the morning of New Year's Eve, we had -15° C.
Around noon, still around -12°, but sunshine...
I had been cooped up inside too long...



I ventured out for a walk down to the riverside.







It was actually easier to walk where paths had not been plowed.




I was obviously not the first person to have made that discovery,
although at noon on New Year's Eve the place was more or less deserted.

New Year Celebrations

Testing the limits of my little camera last night...
This was taken through the window, after midnight.
(A lucky shot, among a number of less lucky ones!)

I celebrated New Year's Eve with three friends not very keen to be photographed, but I think the cropped picture of the coffee table more or less sums up the evening: Nothing edible was left at the end of the day except for a few apples; and Sherlock will also be able to deduct that the TV and DVD-player were used! (remote controls on the table) This year's film was Miss Potter, about the life of artist and storyteller Beatrix Potter. (Read more about her at http://www.peterrabbit.com/)

This was actually the 10th New Year's Eve in a row spent together with the same three friends, or at least two of them. Back when we started the tradition, we all lived in the same building; except the fourth member of the party, sister of one of the others, who lives in another town, but is usually visiting here for New Year. For the last ten years we've always been at my place and this was the second time in my "new" flat.

There were fireworks and explosions outside all night long as usual, with a crescendo during the hour around midnight. It's still a bit quieter here than it was at my old place.   

The last time I was at a really BIG New Year's Party was the Millenium.
Can hardly believe a whole decade has actually passed by since then!

A New Year's Blessing

May you have the hindsight to know where you've been,

The foresight to know where you're going,

And the insight to know when you have gone too far.

An Irish Blessing

One More Day

One more day, and that will be the end of a year.
It has been a rather turbulent one, in some ways.

2009 included a lot of  worries, sadness, ill health, and death.
Looking forward, I don't seriously expect much better of 2010.
I dare say the new year will have its own share of all of those...

However, 2009 also included inspiration, and kindness. Some of it, surprisingly, from people across the world, who one year ago were still unknown to me. That is something I would not have been able to guess, the day before New Year's Eve last year.

And that brings me hope for 2010 as well:
Not every unknown thing that awaits must needs fall in the disasters and disappointments category!

The cold in the outside world around here loosened its grip just a little bit over Christmas - the temperature going up to around zero for a few days, resulting in wet slushy snowfalls, and absolutely horrid state of roads (including pavements and footpaths) when that froze again. Since yesterday, it is again colder (right now -8 outside my window) and the ground is covered by solid, knobbly, unwalkable and treacherous ice. If you don't slide on it, you're likely to stumble...!

Going out for a walk just for the fun of it is not on the agenda just now. If you venture out, it is on some serious mission, like getting food supplies or medicine, or library books...

The cold inside my head and chest is still keeping its grip on me, too. A little less coughing today than yesterday I think - so far. But still basically hibernating, and drinking lots of tea!

New Year's Eve tomorrow I still hope to be celebrating "traditionally" - which in my case means having two or three friends over for some food and a film in the evening, and watching the inevitable fireworks from the windows around midnight. (Living in town, one thing is forever out of the question on New Year's Eve - any attempt to have a 'quiet night' and just go to bed early!)

.~. HAPPY NEW YEAR! .~.