As a kid, I wasn’t as fastidious and ‘tidy’ as I tend to be
right now. But every once in a while, any disorder would get to me and I would
dump all my personal belongings – all those Nancy Drews and Bobbsey Twins, scraps of paper
paper, puzzles, Archie comic books, all that, right in the middle of the floor, in an effort
to restore order: after the great spill, I would carefully, meticulously replace each item onto the little blue and white bookshelf
that I had to store all my belongings.
Maybe I haven’t changed much since those years. Before each semester, I enter my wee office on campus and dump stacks of papers onto the floor in
an attempt to eventually set things straight again.
And here I am now on Ocean, needing to shake those
quilts out a bit as well.
Today I take on the sidebar. There'd been a lot of sentimental mention of blogs that once listed Ocean as a friend. Oftentimes the blogs would stay dormant for months, years even and yet I hadn't the heart to cross them off. If someone listed Ocean as a favorite, I kept them here, no matter what. An Ocean friend for life!
But it's time for an honest review of what's there and, too, of who is still writing and what I'm still reading. The truth is, just about
the only blog that I will follow til death do us part is one that falls into the category of what we bloggers once referred to as “story blogs” – places where people wrote because they cared deeply about putting something up.
And the subject that attracts me most is the depiction of the everyday. Through some combination of photos and words, posted with care and with some regularity. This is what I love to read and this is what I'd like to list here. Maybe the list will grow. Know of a good story blogger?
And so I've thrown things on the floor and picked them up again. Fresh, honest and ordered!
In other news – a wave of storms pushed through (quickly,
violently) this morning. Rainwater ran on the surface of parched earth, but I
had to believe it had an impact. Surely even just a quarter of an inch mattered!
And then, lo, in the evening the storms came at us again.
No, they didn’t offer the steady drizzle of an English country rain – the type
that makes flower grow and poets hunker down and do their craft, but still, we
had rain!
Change. Thunderous wonderful change. I leave you with a
visitor who stayed a while on the overly tall Monarda plant by the farmhouse
door and then flew away, just as the rains came.
And, too, a quick look at the fields to the east, across the road from us. The clouds are just rolling in. We all wait, hoping for some good, sustaining rains.
And dinner? Well, in honor of the dampness outside, I cooked up a chicken inside: a good old fashioned home made chicken soup. Not with noodles, but with corn. In honor of summer -- you know, that season that delivers plenty of sunshine and also the occasional much needed rain.
Glad I made the cut! Can't think of any to offer right now as yours is the only one I read on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteRegan -- you *know* what I think of your writing!
ReplyDeleteIn the end, I'm not much of an Internet surfer. Ed can read stuff on the computer for hours. Me, I'll check the NYT and two or three blogs and I'm done. I use the Internet as a tool to get info, but I really don't *read* stuff on it much. I Still like the good old books and paper New Yorkers and such.
Many years ago, when blogging was just getting to be commonplace, there was a small community of story bloggers (maybe there were many, but I only knew of one) and they really were quite inspiring to read -- I still have two of them on my sidebar, but one posts maybe once every month and the other even less frequently. You lose the flow when it's that rare. Several of them (like you, like me) have/had book projects on the side and blogging became too much of a distraction. My feeling is that blogging keeps me connected to writing every day and so it's worth the time suck that it is.
What I love is the daily (I'll settle for almost daily) story telling *you* actually do so well! I follow your posts breathlessly because there is continuity and passion behind them.
There are others who are fun to read, but the very best are those, like you, who really make an effort, probably because they love the challenge, or the writing, or the photography, or something! I mean, you wouldn't do it with such consistency and so fluently if you weren't passionate about it in some way! And it shows and it's enormously gratifying to read that.
Anyway, yes, you made the *cut*, silly person!
Like you, I will take one project, empty it all out and start from scratch, like my linen closet. I did that the other day, well only part of it, the messiest part. I also clean out my links on my blog, like Mother used to say, if you haven't worn that outfit in a year, throw it out or give it away. I go thru my links and ask myself when I visited it last - if not within the last month or two, it gets deleted.
ReplyDeleteYours is one of the handful of blogs I try to read regularly, sonmetimes I get a day or two behind, but you are so good about writing daily! I am not that good, but I try for some regularity at least. And I love photos, too. They say so much.
One more thing, there is a blog I read written by a man who lives on the West Coast of California, called Talking Stick
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend this blog. "TS" as I call him is such an incredible writer. I am totally blown away almost every single time I read one of his entries. They are long-ish entries and no photos generally, but if you can spare the few minutes it takes to read them, do. You will not be sorry. In fact, there is one entry he wrote recently entitled Ten Seconds that, to me, was one of the best short stories (true) I've ever read. If you can, go back and read some of his older entries, too. I can't say enough about "TS" and his writing.
Bex - Thank you for the tip! I most certainly will look him up. And thank you for posting -- you're a regular in my book. You really have a terrific take on life AND you live with a lobster man in a cottage by the sea. Movies could be spun from your life! I'm very glad to have found you (or you me, or something).
ReplyDelete"Rainwater ran on the surface of parched earth, but I had to believe it had an impact."
ReplyDeleteWhat Meade does is get out there with the hose and wet the surface down before the rain comes. Then the rain goes in.
But, you know, it felt a little reminiscent of junior high basketball tryouts. As you scroll down the list toward where your name might be, you get a little nervous! I'm not quite sure why I do it except that I like to write. I did have a book project going once... when I was eight. About a family called the Campbells. And then somehow the story was erased from, what was it called...DOS! Right? Anyway, so disappointing that was, it ended my pursuit of any big ambitions.
ReplyDeleteBut I do appreciate the encouragement your comments provide! So, thank you.
Ann/Meade -- great idea! Now, when are you guys going on a road trip? I miss them!
ReplyDeleteregan -- there's a certain quality to your writing that I really relate to. Something, too, about how you handle life. And it comes through, very poignantly. Sincerely, with a light dose of humility. If you wrote a book, it would still be there. So go write a book, preferably non-fiction.It can still have the Campbells in it. Pseudonyms. So that you don't offend the real players out there.