So, what happened fourteen years ago today? I posted my first entry on this blog. So today is my blogaversary.
Over the years I have added posts on several topics, but the posts I enjoy adding these days mostly involve my garden, be it what I am doing – or have been doing – in my garden, or the results of my time spent there. Over the years I had forgotten what subject I wrote about for my first post, but hey, it was about the mango tree in my garden – gardening again. 🙂 So it could be assumed that nothing in my world has changed much in fourteen years.
Actually, there have been many changes. My four children – none of whom are into gardening, I might add … (where did I go wrong?) – are now grown, married and have homes of their own, And my family has grown, I am now Nana to five gorgeous little people who have stolen my heart. The eldest has even shown interest in helping me in the garden, so perhaps the next generation is more suspectable to my (constant) training! 😉
We lost my father-in-law early last year, who I mentioned in my first post. 😦
Since I began blogging I have completed a degree, a Bachelor of Arts majoring in English. Along the way, I also completed a Diploma of Family History and a Diploma of Sustainable Living. University study is now officially out of my system – unless it involves learning about gardening, of course.
When I look back on the posts I added during the last fourteen years, there are gaps, some for long periods, when I have been otherwise occupied with “life” and haven’t added any posts. I always return though.
During my most recent absence from blogging, I have been devoting nearly every day to my garden and my family (along with a few hours each day working in our family business, but that’s too boring to blog about!).
And my love of photography has been constant. Yesterday afternoon I took closeup shots of three gorgeous roses in full bloom in my garden. I am rather excited about sharing these photos! They are three of my special favourites … hmm, maybe every rose I grow is my favourite! The Souvenir de la Malmaison and Gertrude Jekyll are more established than the Emily Brontë though, which is a new addition just a few months ago. It was a rose I just had to have, as Brontë is the name of one of my gardening companions. ❤
Thank you to all of my blogging friends for constantly returning to visit me here after my many absences. And thank you for inviting me into your worlds too! I find it quite incredible how invested I have become in the lives of other bloggers, people whom I have never met, yet it means so much to me to know you can be there with just a click of my computer mouse for a brief chat. ❤
In My World 
Congratulations! I am always happy to chat with you from around the world. I like the way you compared your life and your blog from then to now. Time flies. Blessings to you! XOXO
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Thank you, Stacy. ❤
I always enjoy chatting with you as well! I think it was through Kathy from the Big House in the Little Woods we may have met and started talking? I thought of her today as I wrote this post. I must message her and see how she is!
Blessings to you also. xx
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Congratulations on 14 years of blogging. It’s amazing how time flies! I’m into my 10th year and didn’t even know what a blog was when I started. Like you, I love photography and that has taken over my life to a degree, especially with phone cameras being so good these days I’m always ready for a photo opportunity. It’s lovely to ‘meet’ other bloggers.
Lovely photos, I especially love the pink rose and the Butcher bird. Brontë is adorable 💕
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Thank you, Cathy. 😊
Like you, I was clueless when I began blogging. I had been reading a few blogs, getting heavily into photography and just thought, why not start a blog … that was the easy part. I didn’t know what to write, but that has changed now, thank goodness!
It’s been lovely “meeting” you this week. 💕
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Lovely meeting you too 💕
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Congratulations on 14 years Joanne. What an achievement, even with small breaks in between. I think it is wonderful how a blog can remind us where we were at stages in the past. And you were -like me- clearly most at home among the flowers. 😃 The blogging community is so much more than I ever expected and ‘meeting’ people from around the wolrd has to be one of the best bits!
Your roses are gorgeous. (And Brontë is pretty cute too!).🌹
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Thank you, Cathy. 😊
The phrase, “it’s my passion” has become so cliche these days, but I really do feel the happiest when I am gardening. When I was sitting at my desk, feeling bogged down by study, a walk around the garden always cleared out the cobwebs from my brain. Now uni is finished I can lose hours in the garden and love every minute of it. And being back blogging again, I have the best of both worlds, gardening and keeping in touch with my blogging buddies. 💕
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Congratulations Joanne 14 years is amazing! I love seeing and hearing about your world Down Under and hope there are many more years to come! xx
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Thank you so much, Nicki. 😊
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Happy blogiversary! 14 years is impressive. 🙂 It is a great record of the changes over the years as we learn and grow. Lovely post!
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Thank you, Eliza. 💕
When I looked back at the early visitors to my blog, you were one of them! You must have visited when you were new to blogging as well. 😊
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Probably! It’s always interesting to see who is still in the game. 🙂
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Congratulations on 14 years, what a beautiful diary to look back on. Also, 5 grandchildren, I envy that! Beautiful roses, too.
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Thank you, Tracy. 🙂
My grandchildren definitely keep me occupied. I have added blogs about some of them … perhaps not all of them if they were born during a time where there are gaps in my posts. I must check back.
I love looking back on some of the things I wrote in the past and find it interesting when I think to myself that I never would have written the same now! Ideas definitely change over time.
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I had a blogaversary also recently, although their years didn’t add up to my post dates, I still am happy I have stuck to it for so long. It is easy to give up on things in this life and I have so enjoyed making friends and reading other blogs here. Keep going for another fourteen.
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Perhaps you started the blog but didn’t add any content for a while, that’s my guess if the dates don’t add up. I didn’t receive a notification from WordPress to say it was 14 years, but I knew the date of my first post! To me, the first blog post is my blogaversary. 🙂
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Congratulations on 14 years of blogging, Joanne! It seems to be true that a lot of talents seem to skip a generation — one of the things that makes grandparenting so delightful. 🙂 I always enjoy seeing the lovely pictures of your birds and blooms here!
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Aww, thank you, Barbara. Our blogging friendship goes back many years now, and I do hope we both stick with blogging for many years to come. 🙂
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Oh congratulations 14 years! That’s fabulous .. And haven’t you been busy! Congrats on the BA too .. The blogging world is such a great place for those special chats. Thank you so very much for your kind words about dear Bill .. hugs Joanne
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