Despite the efforts of my adored deer friends, who like to chomp on these plants because they’re right on the edge of the garden, my sweet flowers were in full bloom when I left for Hartford.
Perfect for a cottage garden.
I’ve been away for 4 days and can’t help but wonder what the heck is happening in the garden. I left a watering schedule for Don, which he was gung-ho about on Monday. However, as of today, we’ve already reached the point when I have to remind him about the patio flowers, the flowers that are coming up from seed on the edge of the dog corral and the birdbath. Last night, I realized he hadn’t mentioned any watering in the recap of his day. So, after my bath, I grabbed the phone and ‘gently’ reminded him.
Flowers and birds: I’ve got your back.
On more than one occasion, I saw a Hummingbird Moth approach the many phlox blooms to sample their delights, as well as beautiful butterflies and bees. The scent from those flowers is heavenly.
Let’s take a guess as to how many weeds will await me when I get home for a visit. The answer: lots and lots.
Over the past several years, I’ve often had to leave home for a stretch of time in order to coach a show. But interestingly, I’ve never left home at this time of year. It’s usually in the spring, as the garden is re-emerging from the ground. This leaving in July is new to me. What will I miss?
Yesterday, as I left rehearsal, there was a car idling in front of the building. A man was behind the wheel and was clearly waiting for someone. In the back seat was a happy, panting white and tan Aussie Shepherd who reminded me so much of Scoutie. Same smile on her face. Same love of being in the car. Same sense of adventure.
Talk about a pang straight to the heart.
Missing my girl on this Thursday morning.
A Thought or Two on Blogging
My friend Dawn successfully moved her blog to WordPress yesterday. I kept checking my phone all day long as she updated me via email on the transition, which was flawless. She’s pretty excited, as she should be – her blog looks beautiful. When the transition is made from Blogger to WordPress, it often takes up to 48 hours for everyone to see it. That’s because servers all over the world update at different speeds. But I was able to see her new blog right away – both on the theater’s computer and on my laptop. Stop by and pay her a visit. Like me, she designed her site all by herself and did the move herself. It’s empowering. It also saves a lot of money!
As to WordPress or Blogger and what works and what doesn’t work, Brenda had a lot of trouble on WordPress and she eventually chose to start over on Blogger. I know how stressful it was for her. WP ended up not being the right fit for her. I haven’t had any trouble. I love this platform which gives me all sorts of design possibilities, where I can and do own my content and that includes all the photos I have posted in the year I’ve been here. My photos from all my posts on Blogger are stored in Picasa. If I canceled that account or deleted my original blog, they would disappear from posts in my archives here on WordPress. Because Blogger owns them. By that I mean that the photos are linked to the original blog on Blogger and live in Picasa. There they will remain. I’m not comfortable with that. I also enjoy the process of writing a post in WordPress far more than I did in Blogger. But that’s my experience. Each of us has our own comfort level and has to find a home in this blogging world that feels right. I hope that the move back to Blogger will feel right for Brenda. Here’s the link to her new site.
In the end, everyone’s adventure on Blogger, Typepad, Tumblr or WordPress is distinctly their own. I had a lot of trouble on Blogger where my blog was hacked on four different occasions. And, save for the first time when someone was sympathetic to my plea for help in the Forum but could not ultimately help me, not one of my ensuing pleas was answered. Not one. I felt scared and abandoned. So I hightailed it out of there. For me, it was worth it to pay for a host and for additional security. Since I’m paying for all of that, I can access help and support at any time.
All this is to say that your adventure in blogging is your own. If you’re happy on Blogger or Typepad – wonderful! If you’re considering a move to WordPress, go for it. I’ve never regretted it for one minute. I feel just as connected to all of you as I did on Blogger. After all, the blog, which is written from my heart, remains the same. The content remains the same. And that’s what ultimately matters.
There’s room for everyone on whatever platform you choose. Heck, I’d even venture to say that we need all those platforms because there are millions of bloggers out there and more and more are being added every day. There’s a platform out there to suit each and every need. And isn’t that terrific?
Happy Thursday.
Good morning, Claudia. Interesting post! I use Blogger. I notice that every time I go to Picasa to create a collage, it automatically uploads any recent photos from my hard drive onto Picasa. When you say they ‘own’ the photos, what do you mean? You mean I can’t print and sell my photos if I want because somehow Picasa or Blogger owns them?
BTW, I was completely and delightedly distracted by your little copyright symbol. That is SO COOL. I don’t know how you did it, but it’s really cute.
Enjoy your day.
No, I don’t mean that. I just mean that if you decided to move your blog from Blogger to another platform, you’d have to keep your Blogger site running because the photos are linked to Picasa and your original Blogger posts. If you deleted your Blogger Blog while blogging on a new platform, the photos would disappear. I’ll go back and try to make that clearer!
Dawn designed that watermark for me. Isn’t it neat?
Morning Claudia. I am sure everyone at home misses you so much! Question of the day rather random…awhile back you recommended a quilting book with beautiful pictures. I can’t find where I had written it down. Do you by any chance remember what that was? Cindy
Hi Cindy, here’s the link to my review:
https://mockingbirdhillcottage.com/2013/06/hand-quilted-with-love-by-sarah-fielke/
Millions of bloggers? and my loyalty is #1 to you!,I would like to mention that Brenda was the first blog I ever read.
about the time you moved to word press I started not being able to get on/in to her blog. When she moved to word press PROBLEM Solved. Then I realized I had the same problem again. That must be when she went back? and I still can’t read her blog and alot of other blogger,blogs. If you have a chance to pass that along, Please do. You really have a lovely blog! -Judy A-
Do you mean you couldn’t get ON her blog? Or that you weren’t getting updates? What is the problem you have with some of the other blogger blogs? Just curious.
I think she had some problems with her feed – something didn’t work right during her changeover.
I would either type in/or click on my icon, just as I do yours.and a couple of others that I read, The computer would be working to find it. (processing request) but it never opens. This happens with a couple of others that I read that are blogger. So I just recently quit trying. Judy -A-
Hmmm. Well, here’s the link to Brenda’s new blog, Judy:
http://www.acozylittlehouse.blogspot.com
xo
Claudia
Your flowers look beautiful. I know that they will be glad for you to get back home as well as Don and Scout! All this WP and Blogger stuff confuses me. I need to stay as simple as possible. LOL
Have a great day dear friend.
Judy
Do what’s right for you, my friend.
I have to say I am much more relaxed, and thus happier, back on Blogger. If I’d had the experience you did on Blogger, I would have felt the same as you did. And you found the right fit. But my experience on WordPress.org, though I’m sure extremely rare, was exhausting and fraught with worry. It just wore me down, as your experience losing your blog four times on Blogger did you. When technical difficulties take the joy out of blogging, you just have to do what you have to do. I now enjoy blogging again. Your photos are gorgeous!
Brenda
Oh, I forgot to say that in the move back to Blogger, I had more bad luck because somewhere along the way, my domain feed was lost. Google can’t find it. Godaddy can’t find it. So four and a half years of blogging on that domain is gone. And because it’s held in limbo some place, I can’t use the domain again. Though I’ve paid for that domain through 2017. At first it felt like a literal nightmare. I had to get a new URL. Start over. But I’m getting on with it. And in a way, it’s sort of freeing.
Brenda
Brenda, I forgot to put in a link to your new blog – I’ll do that right now!
Thanks, Brenda. Happy you finally can let your shoulders drop and relax.
I laughed when I read about being away from your garden. Several years ago, I left my husband in charge of my garden while my daughter and I toured Europe for a month – a gift from my sweet sister. Steve promised to keep up at least with the watering, if not the weeding. It didn’t look too bad when I got home, but it was obviously a bit neglected. I went back to school a week after getting home and one of my students told me she had worked in my garden one day. It seems that Steve totally forgot the garden for the first 3 weeks. He panicked and asked a neighbor girl to come water for him and she invited a friend – my student. I am glad he got resourceful instead of letting it go completely.
That is so funny, Carol! It’s like when I’ve been away for a long time and Don tries to clean the whole house in a day….
I guess it’s just typical of a man to need reminded to do such chores..it’s the same here Claudia..I’m sure sweet Scoutie is thinking of you also!
I hope she is!
Question: How can you tell when a dog smiles? I’ve heard you mention it but I don’t understand.
The photos in today’s blog are the “crispest” I’ve ever seen. Is Don taking the photos? There is really a difference to my ol’ eyes in these. I’m gonna step out on a limb here and guess that today’s were taken with the Canon. Am I correct? They’re really and truly beautiful though.
I originally tried out Typepad and had such a hard time with it I gave up and went to Blogger. BUT I also have stored my photos off site on Photobucket because I once lost all my photos when another site I subscribed to went down. It wasn’t very many at that time but it was still horrid to go through it. But since PB has served me well for 9 years, I can actually say I love them. Never tried Picasa though. I have almost 20,000 photos on there. Whatever works for someone is what they should stick with however. And my experience with Blogger forum was a joke. They are pathetic. I usually find my help outside or work it out in my mind.
Also, I use a template I created for my blog. That helps immensely as blogger can be a bit “glitchy” sometimes. Knowing HTML helps though. I use it every single blog post and then post it.
Hope you’re doing well in the job, sweetpea!
xoxo,
Connie
BIte your tongue! I take the photos on this blog!! They are mine and yes, they are with a Canon. Probably depends on the time of day. I took these in the early morning while the light was still soft.
Scout smiles. When we adopted her, the rescue group that took her in had named her Smiley. She has a smile that she uses – just like when you were a kid and you drew stick figures and drew a smile, you know that shape? She has that. People who meet her for the first time always say, “She’s smiling!”
The job has just begun but so far so good, my friend!
I like what you said about everyone’s experience being unique….my very first blog was with WordPress (had it for a bout a year), fast forward a couple of years later and I entered the blogging arena again via Blogger, however I missed the versatility that WordPress has so I switched my blog to WordPress. While I was with WordPress I missed having the blogroll that blogger has and my account was hacked at WordPress to the extent that I had to have my hosting tech support help me out twice. I am now back on blogger and I still miss the versatility and the fact that I don’t own the files like I did on WordPress. I just make sure that I email every post that I do to myself and since the photos I post are already mine I still have access to those should something happen. Who knows maybe some day I will go back to WordPress, but for now I am happy where I am.
~KerrieLynn, TheMixGal
Being happy where you are is a good thing, Kerrie!
I’m sure your flowers will be do fine…here’s hoping. Thanks for the link to Brenda’s blog…evidentally when she moved, her email followers like me, got cut. Ah, another day of adventure on the Internet! ;)
It’s never boring, is it, Donna?
Hi Claudia, Then there are the ones like me who just read the blogs!! Doris
And what would we do without you? I’m so glad you do!
I think the flowers would survive without water if that happens, but I sure do hope he remembers to feed and water the dog.
Me too, Dawn! But then again, Scout would demand her food and water!
Your flowers are gorgeous and I can certainly understand you missing Scoutie.. I have 7 dogs and most days I’d like to strangle them but when they are away from me even for a few hours for a grooming I am antsy about getting them home.. Strange huh? Nah, thats called love..As for WordPress. I have wanted to move over to WP for a long time and I did try it but I got so confused and overwhelmed so quickly that I stayed with Blogger but I still, eventually would like to be able to move over to WP. I just think there are many things you can do with WP that you can’t do with blogger.. True?
True, Robyn, true!
Scout is so cute! I have a lab that smiles. It is a distinct smile. His nose crinckles up and he wags his tail to beat the band.
I can access Brenda’s blog now but I have no posts before July 28 or 29 of this year. I hope they arent’ gone forever.
I often think about taking a vacation this time of year but I have a big veg garden and who would keep it for me and take in the harvest…so no I will vacation in the garden for now…hoping your lovely flowers are there for you to enjoy upon your return.