The end of a year the beginning of a new Decade

31 Dec 2019 51 Comments

by willowdot21 in photos, Review, Talking Straight, Thank you Tags: Happy New year, New Decade, Review of 2019

Well my previous post was a tad sombre wasn’t it. I feel I should spread some warmth and light? What do you think?

This year, that is on its way out started off quietly enough. In February came the snow.

Ruby loved the snow , then it was gone.

April we saw our beautiful grand Grandchildren they are always a joy. We have seen them more this year and it’s been fun .

Also in April I was off to The Silent Eye, Gilgamesh weekend in Derbyshire where I met old friends and new. I also learned a lot about Gilgamesh and myself.

Here is one of my posts from that weekend.

May was a glorious month, mother in law was 99yrs old, hubby had a birthday the day after her but he is not as ancient! We had a trip to the Gower Peninsula and took Ruby with us. We have not been to Wales for years but instantly fell in love with the beauty, history and feel of the place💜

June arrived and I was so excited because The Blogger’s Bash arrived. I travelled up to London by train and this year there were no hitches and I met up with four fellow bloggers as arranged and we all sauntered along to the venue. A great day was had by all.

Here is my post of the day.

June was very busy because a few days after the Bash we had friends join us from Canada. We had a fun but extremely busy week.💜

July was not a good month I got sepsis from a tiny scratch and ended up in hospital and nearly loosing my finger. You can read about it here and here.

See how small the scratch is , it was yellow by then
© willowdot21 2019

August was more fun as I got better we met friends for lunch and went out with our youngest son and our eldest grandchild to see a Dinosaur show in London. A great day out.

September we had friends from Colorado and Portsmouth visit us and stay that was great fun too.

Then finally it was time for our Canadian adventure, we toured from Calgary to Vancouver on the Rocky Mountaineer experience and via Helicopter rides and fabulous scenic attractions, then we had three days in Vancouver, after which we hired a car and drove to Whistler for three days. Then back to Vancouver and home. It was a holiday of a lifetime. I met dragons

Then Autumn arrived and I love Autumn time for Halloween and golden and red countryside. More visits from the grandchildren.

Then I won a competition run by Suzi Tench. Read here

Then it was the run up to Christmas, pressies, food and decorations.

And now it New Years Eve, the Eve of a new decade. I did all this and more and I tried to blog daily, sometimes I failed some times I won.

I wish you all and all your loved ones a very Happy and Healthy New Year and a brilliant decade.

I look forward to seeing you all in 2020. Thank you so much for all your support 💜💜💜

Thank you for the Bloggers Recognition award

20 Dec 2019 46 Comments

by willowdot21 in humour, inspiration, Talking Straight, Thank you Tags: advice, An award, thank you

Many years ago I decided to stop accepting awards and made my blog an award free zone. That is not to say I do appreciate these awards because I do and I always acknowledge them and thank the blogger who nominated me and if I know I also mention the blogger from whom the award originated.

Well this one The Blogger Recognition Award has plopped into my email box four times this week and so as it is mainly about passing tips on to new bloggers I have decided to accept.

First of all let’s say thank you to Jim Webster and Roberta Eaton and Sue Vincent and also Mary Smith for nominating me. All of them eminent bloggers and I am sure you have come across their blogs and their books and really enjoyed them.

Now here are the rules

1. Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.

2. Write a post to show your award.

3. Give a brief story of how your blog started.

4. Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.

5. Select up to fifteen bloggers you want to give this award to.

6. Comment (or pingback) on each blog to let them know that you’ve nominated them and provide a link to the post you’ve created.

I started blogging over seven years ago while I was recovering from a serious accident. I was in hospital over a month and had three operations. When I finally left hospital I had to learn to walk again and cope with a changed life. I found this very hard at first, my friends circle grew smaller but as I have since realised those who remained are the good ones. I had to retire something I was not in anyway prepared for. Anyway it’s been a long process. At first I was very depressed, I felt limited and trapped and actually very angry. After nearly three years I was referred to a pain clinic where I met an excellent pain phycologist who after talking with me for a couple of sessions suggested I write my pain and frustration out. Two of my sons suggested I start a blog. With their help I did. At first my blog was a miserable and dark place to begin with.

I feel I have grown since those dark days, I have learned a lot from the many beautiful people on wordpress. I can honestly say blogging saved my life ..thank you everyone you have all helped me.

Advice

My first piece of advice is take time to find your niche you may try a few different styles before you are happy with your blog. Try not to talk too much about your private life unless that is what your blog is about. It can get nasty and cause rows if you are washing your laundry in public.

My second piece of advice is always read and comment on others blogs. Do have conversations with other bloggers it feels so good to give and receive support from other bloggers. Always be kind remember you may need support one day. I have made so many real friends on wordpress and this will be true of all blogging platforms.

Now I have to nominate some bloggers.

Sadje

positivesideofthecoin

LindaGHill

Geoff Lepard

Mum C writes

Savoring sixty and beyond

purplerays

Rantings of a third kind

Look what I have got.

07 Dec 2019 44 Comments

by willowdot21 in colouring, inspiration, thank you, Thank you Tags: thank you

Well Hello everyone, I am excited and delighted, why? Well I don’t usually win prizes…. I even once came second , but because only the first places were announced and I was told quietly, I have had to keep that a secret too. But I knew and for that I am happy.

Now I digress I was telling you all about my beautiful prize 💜. My lovely blog sister, Suzi Tench who blogs at My Colourful Life. Ran a competition drawn, the prize was a journal made by her. I won!

I missed the post lady when she brought the package on Thursday so Hubby popped up to town on the Friday to collect the package for me. Unfortunately he came up against a jobs worth , so he asked for it to be delivered again. It arrived today.