Wednesday, December 07, 2016


Hello to all who may still be checking my blog
for signs of life on occasion.   It's been a while 
since I last posted and I have no excuse except
perhaps laziness.

And it does seem that blogging is becoming 
something of a fading fad ... albeit a fad that
lasted for roughly 10 years or so.

So many bloggers have stopped posting or
have gone to private settings or have moved
to vlogging on Youtube instead.   Not to 
mention other forms of social media that I
may not be familiar with, dinosaur that I am
when it comes to things techie.

When it comes to Youtube I follow:  booktubers,
flosstubers, journal-tubers, art-tubers etc.  There
are "tubers" for every interest it seems.

(Hmmm .... wonder if there are such things as cat-
tubers???  Probably.  But I digress .... ).

Confession:  If a vlog post lasts longer then 20
minutes I don't bother.   I can happily read a blog 
post as long as your arm but when it comes to the
newer fad of vlogging I usually get bored sooner
rather then later.

With the exception of a few vloggers that is.
(Hello Vonna!!)

I have been tempted to try my own hand at vlogging
though it would more likely be of the booktube 
variety rather then flosstubing.

But when it comes to vlogging there's something that
you need there that you don't need when blogging.
Blogging you should to be able to compose your
words into pleasant, interesting sentences.   You don't
even need to know how to spell as long as you have
spellcheck.   Thought I suppose having a grasp of the
sometimes discombobulating theories of grammar
might come in handy as well.

I don't worry about that sort of thing too much myself.

Obviously!

Ahem!

But there is something more you need when vlogging.
Personality.   Enthusiasm.   Charisma.    Stage presence.    

You can't just drone on, and on, and on .... not if 
you want to attract viewers and keep them as 
subscribers/followers.

I don't know that I'd have that ... whatever it is.
It's easier for me to express in writing what I
want to say.   Well, usually.    And I would be
so self conscious on a vlog.   Does this camera
make me look fat?  Is my hair on straight?   Are
my eyebrows even?    What's that on my chin?

And then there's the lighting, camera, setting,
props, editing.   OMG!!!!

No, I'll stick to blogging.  Sporadic posts 
not withstanding it's more my thing.   


An important reason that I wanted to post today is a 
wonderful package that I received in the mail 
yesterday from Andrea at The Craftroom.


Talented stitcher,  amazing finisher and long time
blogging friend ... and a more generous soul you'd
be hard pressed to find anywhere.

Andrea gives away a number of her Christmas
ornaments every year to lucky followers of her
blog and has done so for many years.   I won one
of her ornaments way back in 2009 and it's a
cherished possession let me tell you.


This year Andrea sent me this beautiful ornament
along with the other treasures that you can see in
the previous pictures.   It's freaking gorgeous!!!
I am stunned.  I am speechless (well, I was when
I opened the package .... trust me).   It may be one of
the nicest memories that I'll have of this Christmas
season.

Thank you Andrea.  Just ... ah .... thank you!


Other pastimes of note.   Journalling.  The days of 
writing in a little pink diary with a tiny lock and key
have evolved, as have so many other creative pursuits,
into so much more.


Not just writing but also adding photos,  magazine pictures,
ephemera from daily activities,  clip art and on an on.
Being a visual person it appeals to me a lot.   I have kept
written journals in the past but these "visual" journals please
me even more.


Part written journal,  part photo album,  part art journal,
part place to keep favourite images from magazines
like Victoria that I can't allow myself to hoard,  much as
I might want to.


And for someone with a short and often faulty memory
it's a great way to remember.

And I am using up a lot of those craft supplies that are
taking up space in my craft room.

Win, win.


Reading.  

Here are a few of the books that I have been
reading this Fall.

Ann Bishop's "Others" series.   I've been 
collecting these books for awhile but just 
picked up the first one in October to read.
Tore through all four in no time flat.  

Fantasy,  strong characters, good story lines
that evolve through each book.   Humor.  

Book five comes out in the new year.


I'm not at all religious but I do enjoy the
Mitford books.   I own and have read them all.   
This is a nice ... wouldn't it be great if the world
and the way religion was practised was
really like this ... series of stories.  Heart
warming, comfort reading.   

Also great character building, humor and
story weaving.


English humor.   Great characters.  Perhaps a bit of a 
satire?  Or a commentary on a way of life? Gentle
love story between two diverse characters ....
one set in his own ways and not inclined to
see any other way of living or thinking.
Oh, and the love story is between two people
who are, shall we say, of a more mature age?
Nice change from the 20 to 30 year olds we
usually see in books falling in love.


Wow!!   Loved this one.   A bit of a history story,  a bit of
a love story,  a bit of a time travel story.   Could not put it
down!!



Another historical novel,  based on true events.  Did you
ever read or hear about the apartment in a Paris building
opened for the first time 70 years after it's doors were locked
at the beginning of the second world war????

The author creates a history and a backstory about what might 
have been behind this fascinating event and the people 
who might have lived there.  How the contents of the apartment 
might have related to those people.  Why it was abandoned.

Very good read.

And finally ....


My latest obsession.

I got Netflix in November.    Started watching a few 
programs and movies.   Picked out the first episode of
Downton Abbey remembering all of the hype about it 
from a few years ago.   Started watching it.   Ohhh myyy!!
I'm doomed!!!

Crushing on Matthew and Mr Bates and Tom.


And the reason that I got Netflix in the first place.
The Crown. 

Devoured it!!  

Tried to space it out.   Watch one a night or every other
night.   Just to make it last.

Yeah,  that didn't work.

Soooo,  when's the next season coming????

*****************************************************

And that's about all from me for this time around.  If you've
read this far I congratulate you.   And thank you.

Have a great day!

Cheers!






4 comments:

Maggie said...

Well i made it to the end, always love your chatty posts :-)
Never watched a vlog yet but i do watch a few podcasts and yes, i get bored if they drag on a bit too long, also people seem to say 'well' and 'so' and trail off their sentences with 'yeah' an awful lot. I'll stick with blogging, no one would ever want to listen to my broad nasal Black Country accent anyway, much less understand me, lol

Thanks for the book recommendations, they are all new to me and it's always good to add to the reading list :-)

Take care, and blog more! yours is one of the better ones :-)

Andrea said...

:) You're so welcome. Love your journaling. No vlogging, FB, Twitter or any other thing that requires technical brains for me, it takes me all my time to write a post!

Judy S. said...

Great to see your post. Keep it up as it's always fun to see what you've been doing. BTW, I have never heard of vlogging. I'm still sad that Downton Abbey is done.

Brigitte said...

Hi Judy, how nice to see a new post from you - and as always it's a real pleasure to catch up with you.
You are right, so many bloggers have disappeared but I'm sure that we would find some of then on the platforms which I don't belong to and won't join in the near future. Fortunately there are always new blogs to discover and lots of bloggers that have been active for years. I still love visiting blogs to see what others are stitching and crafting and frankly, I don't have time to be active on FB or IG.

Quite a while ago I started visiting floss tube and watched all sorts of floss tubers while I was stitching. After some time I limited myself to watching just some of my favourites, people who just talk about their stitching and show their progress and finishes. And of course their stash acquisitions, lol. I love this part and every now and then I get strongly enabled and have to buy the chart or kit myself. But I have never been to book tube - just lack of time.

Thank you for your book recommendations, they are always welcome. Next year I want to read a lot more books than this year (only 8 this year) and I hope that I will find my reading mojo again. Book lists always help with that.

What a wonderful gift you received from Andrea. She stitches great ornaments and finishes them so very skillfully. Her blog and some others (like Carol's and Vonna's) are my reference blogs when I want to finish a small. I always find some good ideas there. Enjoy your gifts.