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. ❤