Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Why We Blog


Perhaps "why we don't blog" would be more apt.  But that's another post.  As I told my son recently, I think the golden age of blogging has passed.  And yet, here, after all these years, I want to come back to it.  There is a lot to be said for self-sourced news and opinion.  I blog, when I blog, to share my pictures and my words - to passively search for an audience.  But there have been other entirely unintended and happy consequences.

A woman who was tasked with dealing with the possessions of her late family members Googled the name of my great aunt Gertrude Evans who had signed two paintings that the family members displayed.  She found my blog, and sent me the paintings.  A nephew of Pio Rimando, our former veterinarian who I mentioned in a post, contacted me from the Philippines because his uncle was ill and he wanted to get in touch.  I provided names of local hospitals, and I hope he located Dr. Rimando.  I know he was happy to read my memories of his aunt and uncle.  I shared a brief email correspondence, some grief and memories, with an old friend of Claire Crowley.  I made a friend, with whom I attended high school, but hadn't befriended back then.  She is another former blogger, who I hope blogs again.  We paint together sometimes now.

I started this blog post last June, and I'm finishing it tonight, 4/19/17.  I don't know which date will post.  I've done a bunch of paintings since last June, I've grown ever so slightly wiser, and gained some free time.  I hope to blog more.