a day in the life, blogging, pandemic, Tarot

A tribute to blogger friendships

When I first started blogging, my now-16-year-old son was a baby. I’m on my third blog (and I have a fourth one in which I publish erotic fiction), so I’ve been around the block a few times when it comes to WordPress. Ha.

So it won’t be anyone’s surprise that I have made a few friends along the way.

Some bloggers I talk to via text or email. This has been such fun! Technology is wonderful for connections, and since everyone I’ve talked to outside of the blog is also a writer of some kind (either casually or professionally) we always fall back on that commonality.

I don’t know too many writer types in real life, sadly. But maybe that’s a good thing; after all, when we *talk* here on the internet platforms, we write, or rather, type, which is what we writers do.

Get it? (What a convoluted sentence.) 😛

Anyway, the point of my rambling today is actually something different, but related. I want to talk about gifts.

Yesterday, I met a local blogger for lunch in the city so I drove in from the burbs where I’m staying at mom’s for the duration of the deck construction going on at my own house. It’s brutally hot up here in Toronto right now, and I felt bad that I wasn’t there to prep food for them. (There is no fence, and the puppy would suffer if he was in the house being ignored all day…)

Side note: After lunch I bought food for the men at home and stayed long enough to make spaghetti and meatballs for them to have for dinner. 🙂

Anyway, I left the teen girl and puppy with my mom and off I went to meet Summerhill Lane for lunch. Which is when she gifted me this painting:

painting by Summerhill Lane

I saw this painting posted to her blog previously and remembered remarking on it. She said she painted it in Newfoundland some time ago (am I remembering this right?) and I thought she really captured every aspect of it; the wind, the rain, the cloudy sky… So adorable.

Isn’t that sweet?

This isn’t the only gift I’ve received from bloggers I’ve communicated with outside of the blog. My friend in Michigan sent me a gift, something he saw when he took his wife and friends to a craft show. This was at the height of endless lockdowns of Toronto’s third wave, which only just recently ended. I guess when he saw this, he thought of me and asked for my address. Look at this:

Plague doctor

He’s a Plague Doctor and will keep covid away from me. Right? ❤

I have it sitting in my bedroom at mom’s house. I just love it, especially because he also has a lantern. When I first unpacked him, I thought I saw a clear resemblance to the Hermit in my Tarot card deck, and lo, he does look a bit like a hermit too!

The Hermit – Tarot

It is Tarot Tuesday today but my post I was going to publish is not finished. I have had a few really busy days, car trouble, lots of driving back and forth, and then puppy shenanigans. Now, I just found out the men want to come for dinner and a visit with puppy, so I will have my hands full later, too.

It’s all good. I’m living life. I’m just not getting much of my own stuff done, but my time will come again.

In terms of Tarot Tuesday, I may sift through my notes and pull up some Hermit info I’ve typed out before, or finish my other post, or, perhaps, take a week off and get ready for next week.

Anyway, back to the gifts. As I said, I have developed some cool friendships across the wifi, and a couple of others have sent me Christmas cards last year and the year prior (thanks again Matt and Jonathan).

I realize coming ‘out’ in public isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and that’s ok. It only took me 14 years to allow myself to be a little bit more open (meaning, I have been more open in the past two years than the previous 14 combined).

In some way, personal blogging is similar to traditional socializing except we’re sitting at home in pjs instead of in a pub, or something. Especially while covid rages on, this technology thing has been a little light in my tunnel, so to speak. Lockdowns were incredibly isolating for so many people, but I managed partly because of the blog and the people I met through my writing.

I love that I have a circle of friends I can communicate with both within and outside of the blog, so I want to extend a warm thank you to each and every one of you who takes the time to read my drivel, to like or comment, or who has reached out in other means. ❤

Keep writing!

Cheers.

38 thoughts on “A tribute to blogger friendships”

      2. I’m happy to read you and follow. Do you have an about page? This is the first place I typically visit on a new blog to see who the person is I’m connecting with. Let me know when you design one, and I’ll check it out. 🙂

        Like

      3. Okay I will surely tell you and thanks for telling me that we must create a about page i was not knowing about it and I am not shy to accept that as everyday we learn something new🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  4. A few days ago, talking to a friend, I commented on everything I learned by reading different blogs. I also said how we can get to know the author of the blog even if we don’t see him personally. One of the best inventions, the blog.

    Liked by 3 people

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  5. I too love connecting with blog friends over snail mail/online/in person and it makes me feel all warm inside when it happens. I guess when blogging throws people together, it naturally happens, often.

    Liked by 2 people

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  7. A lovely post. Hear, hear! I recently found you and I don’t know if you consider me a bloggy friend yet, but I feel the same way as you about all the people in blog land that I’ve met over the years. It’s a community that can be supportive– and fun. Oh so fun.

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. I love our chats, Ally, right here in these pages! I think my contacts are on my website, people can find me all over the internet…much to my teens’ horror. 🙃

      Sometimes conversations branch off blog topics, so I’m always open to communicate outside of the platform. 😘

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. I’m in various places online, too. It’s interesting how some people only want words [blog + Twitter], while others only want photos [IG]. We all communicate in ways that make sense to us.

        Liked by 1 person

  8. I’m totally stoked about the friends I’ve made through WP. I don’t have any peoples except daughters that I see IRL… by choice, no time☹
    I would love to meet some of my WP peeps though. Unfortunately, only one lives close-ish… about 2 hours away.

    When I run away from home, I’m giving warning to everyone in US & Canada to expect me😉💕

    Liked by 2 people

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  9. I place a great deal of value on the blogs I read and the people who read my occasional post and comment. I love the glimpses into their lives and assume that without the commonality of blogging I would never have the opportunity to know such a diverse group of people. THANK YOU, for being a part of that community.

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  16. Blogging friendships have been a highlight of my life. Every time I’ve met a fellow blogger in person, it’s been as if we have known each other for a long time. Probably because we have!

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  17. Isn’t it an amazing way to meet people you otherwise never would? I’ve developed a few close blog friendships that extend into real life as well. Gifts, cards, emails etc. Even had one Canadian friend come to visit with her family… although I’m still very careful not to share too much personal info. It’s a crazy world.

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