If It's April First, I Must Be Back

A year passes so quickly.  Here I am, back to blogging after a full year away.  I left on April 1 and thought a return on the same date would be appropriate.  The joke, however, may well be on me that no one will even notice my return after my very definite quitting announcement and being so long away.

Hello? Is anyone out there? Or am I shouting into an empty canyon?

Why am I blogging again?  Oddly enough, a number of people have encouraged me to come back (and I'm not even related to all of them!).  I miss the connection to fellow bloggers.  Being a blogger sometimes pushed me to try new things.  I like having a record of things I've done and places I've gone.

What will be different this time?  Very little on the surface.  The biggest difference will be in my own view of my blog. I'm going to try not to get caught back up in stats and trying to increase my readership, worrying about how often I post. Blogging is not a job, after all; it's for fun.  I'm going to keep it fun.

What have I been up to?  When I look back over the past year, I'm not sure I've done all that much.  I

crocheted three afghans, none of which I have pictures of -- a yo-yo design, a large single granny square, and a granny stripe which used up stash yarn.  I made a couple of hats using a Ravelry pattern, The Journey Hat by Reenie Hanlin.

I cooked a lot of food, including roasting a duck for the first time and some new recipes for brussels sprouts, asparagus, and some extremely lime-y cookies.

Ready for adventure with my Outback.
Cue "Born to be Wild" music.

I also watched the oldest obtain her master's degree, helped said kid move -- twice, took a few minor trips, bought a car and a digital camera, lost twenty pounds, made several glitter house decorations and an awesome glitter Merry Christmas banner (stole the idea from a Pottery Barn catalog).

A graduating kid and her new small town.  Off our payroll and practically off the map!

Kayaking in alligator and manatee infested waters.  Okay, we didn't see any alligators that day, but we did see a couple of manatees.  We also saw a tour boat on the wide part of the river, which was heading straight for us.  In our hasty paddling to get out of the way, my camera fell into the river.  The photos were salvageable, but the camera was not, hence the new camera mentioned above.

I lightened the exposure here so you can see my fabulous banner.  Made it with stencils on heavy card stock and lots of cheap silver glitter.  Hole punched the tops, added ribbon and voila!  Saved serious cash.  I really loved it.

I'm so happy to be back in the blogging world.  I hope you'll join me again from time to time.