Looking back

Looking back to my first post, I revealed then that I was becoming more and more conscious of my own mortality and that I felt I was living on ‘borrowed time’.  Since then, I’ve had two more years of precious time and they have, unpredictably, seen me become a regular blogger.

I said in that first post that I wanted to write in order to leave some sort of legacy of my life and thoughts. However, I had had that idea for a long time and realized that, like most people, I didn’t have enough discipline to actually do the writing. I needed some sort of incentive to keep at it and hoped that posting blogs would give me the nudging along that I needed. It has!

Blogging has been an interesting and compelling experience that I have enjoyed. It often gives me the stimulus to do enough research to really understand a concept so I can write clearly about it. Having taught for years, I was well aware that it takes time and effort to understand a subject well enough to be able to teach it clearly and I’ve found the same is true of writing.

As a beginner, another thing I have found about writing is that having a my own vague ideas about a subject isn't good enough. To sort out what I really think is not a trivial exercise – actually it is often so difficult, it sometimes takes several revisions of what I write to get it right. So looking back, I see that the blogs I meant to write about my personal philosophy, old age and even on dying, are few and far between.  Mostly my posts are science or travel related – two of my passions - and they come more easily. 

Unlike the cartoon I am never at a loss for ideas to blog about and I plan to continue but summers are short and are a time for other things. We are at the cottage and with its big gardens, many visitors, lots of reading and even kayaking, I’ve decided to take a break. 

Lately I’ve noticed that some of my earliest posts are not so available online and, as is often the case with radio, where the best of winter fare is repeated in the summer, I think I’ll do the same thing with some of my earliest posts.  So I’ll still post every Sunday and be back in September when my resolution then will be to give more of my personal views on life, philosophy and getting old.    Rie