Tuesday 23 September 2008

Quite a surprise

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Well, it was quite a weekend.  After months and months of keeping a secret it was finally time to party!  


Despite it not being a complete surprise at the end, I'm sure Mary was pretty blown away by the crowd of friends and family who were waiting for her at the lovely Paragon Cafe in Katoomba on Saturday night.


Of course I also got a surprise when Mary introduced me to two of my favourite bloggers - M and Fairlie.  This was the first time that I have met any blog friends and it was quite strange that we knew so much about each others lives despite having not met in 'real' life before.  Fairlie's recent post about the weekend really describes this colliding of two worlds beautifully.


The whole weekend really made me think about blogging and what my blog means to me.  I think of my blog as a journal of my family's day to day activities and try to have a craft/creating focus. But of course it is so much more than that when you start connecting with the large, lovely community out there!


This is particularly highlighted every time you read a post that describes struggle, loss, frustration, love, etc. and see the response the blog world has.  It blows you away the connections forged around the world over shared responses, how we all relate to each other. These connections and emotional responses are real.  They have a real impact on people's lives.


But the main thing that I keep coming back to is how often I smile and laugh when reading other blogs.  Often I can't believe how much time has passed by, as I travel from one blog to the next following some thread.  Often I think it's sucking up too much of my time, but I've never failed to be inspired and energised from these journeys.  

So thank you blog friends, it's great to be a part of this world.


(Walking around the house today I suddenly noticed waratahs in various stages of flowering everywhere.)


sss

10 comments:

Jennifer said...

You've really captured it here -- the small and large pleasures of blogging, of friendships; I envy you the opportunity to meet some fellow bloggers in person! Sounds wonderful. And I'll never tire of seeing the flora by you -- can't imagine having something so wondrous right in the yard!

M said...

It was so fabulous to meet you on Saturday. I wish some of my non-blogging friends would read some of the wonderful things being written about the blogging community lately, I think it would really help them understand the phenomenon.

Oh, and you are so lucky to have those beautiful waratahs blooming around you - they are one of my favourite flowers.

Fairlie - www.feetonforeignlands.com said...

This is a beautiful post, both visually and in sentiment. It is so true - blogging creates communities that stretch beyond any geographic constraints.

It was so much fun meeting you (and family!) on the weekend.

Mary said...

It IS a beautiful post - and captures what blogging is about so well.

Thank you , of course, for being part of such an amazing party!

Anonymous said...

I wondered what those flowers were... I'm glad you mentioned their name at the end. (Blogging also helps out the horticulturally challenged as well!)

Jacqueline said...

this is something I've been thinking about a lot lately - the pleasure of connecting with people through their blogs, how vibrant the community is and how creative - it really is inspiring and I find it strange that others consider it a waste of time or as somehow not real. You've summed it up so well with this post. I really enjoyed reading about the party you gave Mary and how you all met - wonderful stuff.

Jacqueline said...

PS the waratahs are beautiful! I'm really missing the lovely one we had at our old house and sadly the little one I got from the plant conservation people isn't doing well at all and the nursery ones aren't the same

LBA said...

It sounded fantastic ... glad everyone had a good time - i've always enjoyed my blogmeets very much.

Bloggers are great people.

Stacey said...

It just about killed me keeping the secret of Mary's party.
I actually stopped visiting her blog as I was afraid I'd some how let it slip!
It sounds as though it was a resounding success.
There is such a community in blog land that I never knew existed.
It really can be heart warming.

Stomper Girl said...

This is such a lovely post. And so true! I do so enjoy the connections you can make through blogging. And I have also been known to lose a few hours!