WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - WHY DO I WRITE ?

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I have got an email from Kate at Five Minute Friday, asking me why I write or want to write.

The reason is simple, since I learned to read and write, I have always loved writing and honestly the best notes at school was for my writings. My friends too enjoyed my letters, at that time there was no internet of course but  I wrote in my diary. I also invented little stories, which nobody read besides me.

When I discovered Blogs in 2006, I thought that's it ! Now I can write to my hearts content. But the big question was, in what language should I write ? My mothertongue being German I thought then I will only have German bloggers and in 2006 there were almost none. It was not very well known. The same was for French, I could have written in French too, but France was even more behind, there were only a few Canadians who had a blog in French. There were no translation facilities on the blogs neither, they were very simple.

I decided to try in English, and to my big surprise it worked, not so in the beginning because I had a big lack of vocabulary and when I read the posts today I have to laugh sometimes ! But I started 
a blog ! I wrote and was surprised that I didn't get comments. I don't even remember where it was, but then I discovered Blogger and it started !  First it was one blog, where I mostly told stories about my cats. But soon it became too small for all memes and I split it into two, this one and  My Cats and funny stories there are so many cat lovers around I had to make a blog apart.

Now I couldn't imagine my life without blogging. It has become my hobby ! Over the years I have learned so much and been in contact with people from all over the world.

I write stories about my childhood, my life, my adventures, my travels .... Writing lets me forget all worries, I am in another world. I only regret one thing, that Websides, Blogs and Internet in general didn't exist when I was young. I was already 63 when I started but I also learned that it is never too late to learn new things and go with the future !



2006, even on holidays !

COMMENT STATISTIC ?

My blogfriend Loree from Stories and Scribbles had participated in a meme in which you had to list your most beautiful post
Your most popular post
Your most controversial post
Your most helpful post
Post whose success surprised you
Post you feel didn't get the attention it deserved
Post you are most proud of

Considering that I blog since September 2006, I refrained myself to participate, but it made me curious. I thought if I could only find a post which had the most comments. Of course it was a post with only a funny picture for Wordless Wednesday which made over 45 comments. But I wanted a real post where I wrote something and not the once where I have to be wordless. Anyway these wordless posts had a lot of success over the years, I have to admit the comments are easy to write too. (lol, hahaha, funny ... etc. ...)

But the once which really had lots of comments, (now don't think I am a comment collector, far from that) were these once :

Christmas ornaments with 41 comments in 2007

First trip to the USA in 1971 with 38 comments in 2008

8 things about you with 33 comments in 2007

Virtual friends with 32 comments in 2011

I came to the conclusion that the posts I liked the most, have maybe readers but not commentors, which is a big difference and the once I didn't like at all, where I had only done my daily "duty" got the most.

It also happens to me that I read a post, but don't have time to make an intelligent comment, so I rather leave it instead of making a stupid one, or just copy and paste the same comment in all posts, to make a comment marathon.

I also noticed that either my writer quality has diminished or that there are less Bloggers as in 2007 because there are less comments or that today the comments are rather quality before quantity, which honnestly I prefer.

Conclusion : Blogging is and remains my favorite hobby ! And if you feel to do statistics with the above mentioned questions : go ahead !

FUN MONDAY - Why do I blog ?

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Our host this week is Bee Dancer and her assignment :

I'd really like to know WHY you blog. Tell me how you got started or why you got started and why you keep it up. Plus there's a photo requirement: Post a picture of the one person/place/thing that most symbolizes the town or area where you live.


I didn't start blogging. I just fell into it. In 2006 coming back from Egypt I was looking for documentation about Egyptian cats. Mr. Gattino told me to look in Internet.

Now I and a computer were two very different things. I just used it as a typewriter and from time to time I managed to send an email. Otherwise I didn't know anything about this thing standing in Mr. Gattino's room since 1994 !

Since he started working at Analyst and programmer in 1972 I was allergic against computers. He spoke about programs, back ups and I don't know what all the time with his collegues and friends and I sat there like an idiot. I refused to learn anything, I was allergic !

After he had explained to me how Internet worked I suddenly became addicted ! I found my Egyptian cats, then cat forums and suddenly a cat blog ! I never had heard about a blog and nobody around me either.

As I started to love to fumble around on the computer, I created one in Yahoo (must still be there) and was quite proud of my result. But then ? I wrote and published pictures, and nobody read me. I don't know how but in June 2006 I suddenly discovered Blogger. I subscribed. I didn't know anything about htmls or links or whatever, feed and atoms and such stuff was chinese to me. But I subscribed. I subscribed to everything I could without knowing to what I subscribed. I subscribed to Feedblitz,Technorati, blogflux, blog linker etc. I inspired myself from other blogs and meanwhile visitors started to come. Slowly slowly, but it worked. Now when I want to subscribe to something to my big surprise I am already member !

As I am retired and have nothing special to do anymore blogging became my hobby. I started with photography and I learn a little about htmls. I learned how to change a background and how to make headers. I love it and I still learn a lot. It allows me to make friends all around the world and to see how people live in other countries or continents.

Around me only some friends of my son know what a blog is. In my generation only very, very few do ! and I gave up to explain. It's useless !

I live in Waterloo the famous town where Napoleon lost his battle and which was taken as a song by Abba. Waterloo is situated only 15 km (9 miles) from Brussels the capital of Belgium. Most of the people living in Waterloo are working in Brussels.



The Lion Hill of Waterloo



The Atomium of Brussels

MY BLOGGING TYPE

Your Blogging Type is Confident and Insightful

You've got a ton of brain power, and you leverage it into brilliant blog. Both creative and logical, you come up with amazing ideas and insights. A total perfectionist, you find yourself revising and rewriting posts a lot of the time. You blog for yourself - and you don't care how popular (or unpopular) your blog is!

What's Your Blogging Personality?

I found this somewhere on a blog and tried it out and this is the result. The only thing which really isn't true is that I am a perfectionist ! I am not at all, quite the contrary. I write I don't think and I publish.

When I discovered blogging and started posting I did it for myself without thinking farer. I had finally found something which made me really happy : writing ! Of course I wrote before but that was in a little note book which nobody could read, but know I write on Internet and people even read what I write. That makes me happy. Now when I get up in the morning I have the head full of plans. I have to hunt for pictures for different themes, and to think over what to write. This keeps me busy and I love it. When I had to leave the "active" working world it hadn't been easy for me. I got depressed, I felt useless and had far too much time. Now with 4 blogs to run and still participating in the real life keeps me more than busy !! My days are filled, I learn a lot and I see a lot too. Now I can say that being retired is great ! I started a new life !

FUN MONDAY - A WEBSITE CHANGED MY LIFE

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Ann proposed for FUN MONDAY :

"I want to hear about a web site and not just about any old web site. I want to hear about a web site that's changed your life. A web site that you can't live without. A web site whose inventor you'd like to see win a McArthur Genius Grant".
My first thought reading this was I don't know any web site which changed my life or I can't live without but suddenly I realized it wasn't true. I certainly can live without this web site, but indeed it really changed my life !

I came back from holidays in Egypt in Feb 2006 and was looking for informations about the cat godesses of Egypt. I didn't use Internet very often I just had learned it and besides sending emails I didn't know anything of using a computer.

Of course I don't know exactly if it was this page The Cat in ancient Egypt or another similar one but from there on I suddenly found myself in a Forum and there were people who had Blogs. I didn't know at all what that was and had to look it up in Wikipedia, which I discovered at the same time.

Now I became curious and started looking for blogs. First I dropped on Yahoo blogs and as always I don't think I just subscribed, and suddenly was owner of a blog. Now what to do with it ? I looked what the others had done and wrote. Of course nobody read what I wrote and I was not satisfied at all.

I subscribed to another Blog provider, don't remember the name but there it was not better. I don't know how, but I discovered Blogger. From that day on my life changed completely. The time I spend at the Computer increased and it wasn't possible anymore to share one with Mr. Gattino. I bought a laptop for myself. My friends thought I am crazy because I always had hated computers ! The first blog was called Travels-Cats and Paintings. Which I had to split later into one for Travels, one for Cats, one for my paintings and this one.

In some way I found the ideal thing to keep me busy. I was so bored since I stopped working and didn't know what to do with my days. Now I am always busy, I go somewhere I think "is that a subject for my blog" ? I travel and take pictures for my blog and everything I do I ask myself "can I use it for my blog ?" For me this site has changed my life and for a retired person blogging is really a very nice occupation.






The Godesses Sekhmet (a painting from me) and Bastet