A Couple of Misunderstandings

I've had some distance from this blog for a while now, though I have done 'remembrance' posts and I did finish the Veblen series {whew}. In looking back I see that I was a bit disillusioned but for erroneous reasons.

For one, I got a notice that Google wanted more money for my storage. It wasn't a lot, but I was annoyed at the time, thinking I wasn't using even a small portion of the allocated space. I later did a tiny bit of research and found that I was on an old plan and that the new ones gave a huge amount of space for free, or at least that's how I've interpreted it. So I've ignore the request for more money. Fingers crossed, this won't all disappear without further notice!

There was also a time a few months ago when my blog stats said no one had opened a page on my blog for an entire week. This happened when I had been working particularly hard on something and that information just shattered me. A few days later I got an email from Statcounter saying that their widget seems to have 'fallen off' my blog. No idea how that happened, but then when I looked at the Google stats, there was the same level of activity as usual. So I calmed down a bit.

The distancing has been good in that it has allowed me the time to explore other interests and I can't see myself trying to publish five days a week again anytime soon. On the other hand, I can see how this blog has become a journal for me, one that I enjoy going back and reading for myself. I've also found it a useful reference at times, especially when sharing recipes...no writing it all out again!  

It also helps me enjoy our travels more, from a strictly selfish point of view. As I go back through photos I remember the good experiences and in writing posts I'm required to research odd facts that I wondered about at the time but hadn't a reference. Our journeys home have sometimes been fraught for any number of reasons:  bad weather, delayed flights, obnoxious immigration officials, misbehaving sat-navs, driver errors, mechanical difficulties, general exhaustion, to name a few. Though after a long period away I'm usually pleased to be returning home, these difficult journeys can almost obscure the happier experiences and that seems a real shame. 

Cat-sitting in Nice for Cousin Ben

I've always been rather put off by blogs that seem focused on 'look how many Hermes scarves I own' or 'see all my Chanel lipsticks', designer luggage, you name it. I've worried that my blog might come across as 'look at all the marvelous travelling we do'. If I'm honest, part of me does enjoy thumbing my nose at some of the more unpleasant people I used to work with, still slaving while I get to enjoy early retirement. But that absolutely doesn't apply to everyone else!  

So, I hope to share some of our experiences of our past few weeks in France, and perhaps even to go back to the earlier part of the summer because that was wondrous for me as well...