I REMEMBER YEARS AGO when I started blogging someone said to me that he didn’t like blogs because all people did was take photos of things in their homes and talk about them. He found this boring and pointless and stupid. Even though I thought that he was wrong, I shrugged it off without a comment.
His point of view seemed uninformed and mean-spirited to me.
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THEN A FEW YEARS AGO when I was in a blogging slump someone suggested to me that I take some photos of the stuff in my house and share them. Again, I was back in a conversation about photos in a blog, although this time the conversation was helpful, not hurtful.
This woman suggested that when you’re at home you are who you are. Unvarnished. Authentic. Free to do what you want to do with the space that you have. So why not start there in your home, and write about it or whatever it brings to mind?
Her point of view seemed practical and kind-hearted to me.
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SO IT IS AT THIS POINT that I find myself today. I have the photos. I have knowledge necessary to post them. I have nothing profound to say about each photo, nor do I have a cohesive theme to this post that makes them noteworthy.
But I believe that when you commit to being a personal blogger sometimes showing up and posting something is what needs to be done. This means that if sharing three photos from the last few weeks is what keeps this blog keeping on– then so be it.
And that, my friends, is all I have for you today.
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THE SPECTACLED BEAN 
Thanks for keeping praticality and kind-heartedness in our lives. The cold, cruel world has a way of sucking it out of us, so it is wonderful to replenish with the simple pleasure of our home life. Still think that little flower stand thingy is the most amazing device. And you captured a bit of family history – that last picture of the original Weber – on to Weber 2.0!
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Hey there Z-D, thanks for the support. It’s funny, but when I sat down to write this post I was just kind of in a zone– stream-of-consciousness, ‘ya know? And this is what I got. This is how blogging used to be all the time. Had forgotten that.
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It’s amazing to me how one person’s “boring and stupid” is another person’s “interesting and worthwhile.” I think that personal blogs are a really fascinating reflection of our lives and culture at this point in time. History books used to be written with only the events deemed important enough to be included, such as wars and treaties. But meanwhile our history is lived out in the details of our homes and things and our daily business. Sociologists find it fascinating. Anthropologists find it fascinating. Linguists find it fascinating! And plenty of individuals just enjoy connecting with other individuals, and finding the ways in which we differ, and the ways in which our common humanity shows through. Social historians looking at the past rely on personal correspondances and journals, and such materials are often few and far between. Think of the wealth of information we are leaving for future generations about what we find pleasing, what we find entertaining, what we find upsetting or socially important, how we express ourselves. They’ll look back at the photos and wonder at the obsolete technology, or be charmed by the quaint details. They’ll find patterns in our language and our photos.
Wow, that was a rambling soapboxy sort of a comment! Anyhow, I think personal blogging, even when only a few thoughts and photos, is valuable in many ways.
Also, I think “scuttlebutt” is a funny word.
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alejna, I agree with you that from a scholarly perspective the information contained in all of our personal blogs is going to make for a more accurate understanding of the past than the one we have right now of our past. The details we leave behind will shape history in a way never seen before.
That being said, I take my responsibility to history rather lightly. I post to keep my brain engaged, my heart open and my friends up-to-date on our shenanigans– and the latest scuttlebutt. 😉
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Sometimes the simple posts, the this-is-a-part-of-my-life posts are the most interesting. So that’s the end of the original weber? Its positioning interests me – it seems to be poised to go crashing down to a lower level. And I see that you’re dreaming of far away places. Perhaps I need more interesting photos in my posts. 🙂
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Zazzy, the grill is rolled over to this spot because it is the only place far enough away from the house for us to use it safely. Even though in this photograph it looks like a precarious position for it, in reality it is quite stable there.
As for Weber 2.0 that Zen-Den mentioned, it is just us replacing bits & pieces of this original grill. New racks, new handles, an actual foot [not duct tape] on the leg. Stuff like that.
The mags are from Z-D’s travels for work. He brings back all sorts of interesting ones, doesn’t he?
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I don’t see the customary chatter about your first cup of coffee in the morning. This is a standard feature of personal blogs and frankly, I’m suspicious about how you stayed in the personal blog business so long without mentioning it.
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Suzette, I’m a free spirit, don’t you know? Although I have no doubt that somewhere along the way one morning I talked about my first cup of coffee. All bloggers do. It’s a rite of passage.
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Humm, did you pick up that grill at a fire sale?
(BTW- you gave me my blog post for today. )
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Cute!
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Love, love, love this post! It perfectly describes my philosophy of blogging and why I’ve continued to do so over the years. I enjoy reading about and seeing people’s lives through their eyes; there is NOTHING too trivial for me. Most of life is made up of trivia, isn’t it? And that’s the way we want it because lots of the Big Stuff sucks. Does Z travel on AA? That’s our sort of local one and I use it a lot, especially with Ashley in CA.
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Margaret, no truer words than: “Most of life is made up of trivia, isn’t it?” That’s why I think that presenting the details of our lives is important. While I enjoy entertaining and informing in some of my blog posts, occasionally I like to just do whatever. Like this one.
Zen-Den has only flown on AA once– which is why he brought the mag home for me. Kind of cool for those of us closer to Great Lakes Scuttlebutt than Alaska Airlines.
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I’ve flown lots of airlines because of gymnastic meets and where Ashley has lived. Although I love Jet Blue, AA is usually cheaper to CA and several of my friends work for the airline( or SeaTac) so I can see them on my way out. 🙂
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Margaret, Z-D liked flying AA. He went from LA to San Jose… which meant, obviously, that I had to sing “do you know the way to San Jose” at him over & over again! 😉
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I love your photos…especially the planter thingy.
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J, thanks. The details of life, huh? That’s really what blogging is all about for me.
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