Photo by Michael Hood, used with permissionHappy New Year! I've chosen to start 2009 with a few reflections on my third year of blogging.
The Truffles category – representing my vegetarian aspirations -- did not have a single post this year. I am, however, still a vegetarian. Participating in Farm Sanctuary and Humane Society of the United States email campaigns for better treatment of farm animals, I've learned much about how meat and poultry are raised and slaughtered. At home I'm using more cruelty-free products (products not tested on animals). I plan to have more Truffles posts in 2009 because vegetarianism and treatment of farm animals has become a more focused interest in my life.
The Turtles category – representing my interest in animals, particularly turtles – saw 4 posts in 2008. I was very pleased and gratified to be mentioned in one of the newsletters that Anita Salzberg (The Turtle Wife) distributes. There will be more Turtles posts in 2009, guaranteed, because I want to move my turtles to a larger tank and set up a small tank for growing aquatic plants as food for them. Expect pictures as well!
The Tunes category – representing my interest in music – grew by a whopping 14 posts. Yes, I had a good year, musically. The decisions that accompanied the order of my new flute accounted for many posts. Whenever I could find time, I continued taking flute lessons with Mike Rafferty and on September 30 posted a tribute to him. I was very pleased that Brad Hurley included a link to that post on his site, Guide to the Irish Flute. And remember last year's goal of attending more sessions around NYC? Well, I now attend a session nearly every week. As for performances, in 2008 I performed with 3 different Irish groups, but the vast majority of the performances were with the Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra, sponsored by Mick Moloney and New York University. This group has become the mainstay of my music life. Musical standards are pretty high, and as performances increase I find myself spending more time on the music at home in addition to the weekly group rehearsal. Next year holds the promise of more and better performances and the arrival of my new flute, so look for many Tunes posts in 2009.
Altogether I wrote 25 posts in 2008. 18 were classified as either Truffles, Turtles, or Tunes. The annual New Years post added one more, so that's 19. I wrote a Copyright post after doing some reading on copyright ethics as they apply to blogging. Now we're up to 20. The other 5 posts were in the new Technology category. 2008 saw a technological revolution in our household. I converted to Mac, purchasing a MacBook for my husband and an iMac for myself. I also switched our DSL carrier and installed an Apple Time Capsule which does automatic backups while serving as a Wi-Fi base station for our wireless home network. I hope to extend my Mac expertise in 2009, so I'm sure there will be more Technology posts.
So what categories were not present in the posts of 2008? Books, Travel, and MMF. I'm embarrassed to say I started about 6 books and haven't finished any of them. I did some US travel which I intended to write about and may still. I performed less music in worship services at Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship, but I was very involved in Menno House activities. As a matter of fact, I have a Menno House post under construction right now.
When I expressed frustration over fewer posts this year, a friend responded by saying that I spent so much time living that there wasn't much time left to write about it. While I think there's some truth to that, I'd like to strike a better balance in 2009.
Overall, nobody is sure what to expect in 2009. We hope we won't lose our jobs. We hope President-elect Obama will make a difference here and in US relations abroad. On a less political note, may we all stay healthy, find avenues of growth and enjoyment, and discover ways to work towards a better world.
© 2009, Linda Mason Hood
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