According to my trusty Stats, it has been six months since this little space on the net has been in existence. It has been a pretty interesting experiment so far, and overall I am fairly pleased with the results.
Since the kids have been gone I have been a bit listless and felt the need for a hobby. I feel like I am the creative type, but not in an artsy-crafty way. Any kind of project that I tried just didn’t seem to work, and I found that I can often buy what I want with much less aggravation I have always written my thoughts down in one way or another, and have even been recruited by friends and family on more than one occasion to write a letter or some other document. I often send long, rambling messages to friends and family when I have a hard time verbalizing my feelings (imagine that!). I usually write letters to commemorate big events, like birthdays and graduations, so it only made sense that writing might be the answer.
I have been a blog reader for quite some time and follow several regularly. I even encouraged my daughter to write her own after discovering several “Mommy Blogs” that I enjoyed. It seems like I always encourage my children to do what I really want to do. I hesitated to start my own blog for quite a while because I had a hard time finding a niche where I felt I fit in (sounds a bit like high school, doesn’t it?) and coming up with a title.
After much searching a reading, I decided that blogs that focused on the “empty nest” or “middle age” seemed to be my current peer group (sigh), I decided to give it a try. Squirrels on the Hill is the result, and for the most part I like the path that I am travelling here.
I have tried to write a few different kinds of posts, but my favorite ones to write are (as my daughter describes them) the poignant ones. These are my favorites to write, but they are a bit like knitting a sweater or painting a portrait. They take me a few days to complete and I am never fully satisfied with the results, often going back and tweaking them a bit from time to time.
I have also started a series of letters to my first granddaughter Fee. She lives so far away that I don’t see her much and sometimes I just feel like I want to communicate directly with her, but since she may or may not ever read them, why not invite you all in as well?
I have been greatly encouraged by your support (and comments), and I can’t tell you how many times that I have run into someone that I know and they mentioned that they read my blog. That always surprises me, because often when I write things I spend so much time with the story that I forget it is out there for public consumption. So far, I think I have been successful at not embarrassing myself or my family (although I am not sure that Jim will always agree with that statement).
Right now I have a long list of subjects and half written posts that I want need to share with the world. I just need to get organized so that I can make the time to actually publish them.
Thanks for joining me this past 1/2 year. I hope that you have enjoyed some of the things that I have shared with you as much as I have enjoyed writing them. My goal for the next six months is to be more deliberate (and regular) in my posting. I want to tweak the looks of the place a little and add some extras. Stick around…it might be fun to see what happens!
squirrelsonthehill 
Well I’ve just found you today! What a heart-warming blog – love those squirrels. I too started writing via letters – in my case to my baby daughter, from her birth until she was three. I knew I would forget so much of those happy days and wanted to get the memories down so that she will have them as a booklet, later in her life. Keep at it – I feel I learned how to write by writing. http://topofthetent.wordpress.com
Thank you for the compliment! I appreciate hearing from folks who read my words. I agree with you that I am learning as I write. I visited your site as well…it is beautiful! I hope to read more of it when I can find a little time. Thanks for visiting!