I'm Back...Yes, I Promise to Provide Regular Updates

A fellow blogger noticed recently that I hadn't posted in quite awhile.  And as indicated in my last blog post, I hadn't followed up in providing updated posts regularly.  This blog used to have at least one post a month, and at various times, I was providing 8-10 updates a month.  My move back to Seattle, the death of my father, and then my return to Germany precipitated a lot of my blog's lack of updates.  There were too many things going on and I just could not find time.  I can provide more excuses, but in reality, I didn't have the motivation or the drive to continue posting (at least during that time).

This blog was the window to allow family and friends updated on my life while thousands of miles away.  It was a way to share my experiences, tell my stories, and share pictures from past and present.  Typically and still a recluse, it was my way of opening my life to everyone.  I am the quiet type and usually reserved in sharing experiences verbally; sharing my stories in writing was a lot easier.

I still posts photos in my flickr account ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/8745081@N04/sets ) -- nearly 16,000 pictures loaded.  I still have thousands to upload.  I file the photos into sets so that viewers are able to manage poring through them.  I also have been utilizing instagram with a few family and friends.  But somehow, I have not kept up this blog.  A few family members recently have tried to get me to open a Facebook account.  The "recluse" in me drew the line as far as FB.  I did not want people knowing who's FB updates I have been reading, nor did I want them regularly reading my updates.  Instagram still has some controls that I can manage.  A blog is only updated as much as the writer wants.  

I also don't like imposing on people.  Readers and followers can read or view pictures in my blog, flickr account, or in instagram as they wish, with no conditions imposed.  I send notes once in a while reminding of the several sites I manage when I want to show them photo or post about them.  I know that some follow because they will let me know about a certain post or a photo that they have seen in my websites.

Before this blog, I would send a long e-mail every couple of months or so to provide updates.  The e-mails would serve as "catching them up" of what I was doing overseas, work and personal, and would add a bit of encouragement and motivation to the younger ones in the family and that they were always in my thoughts.  Copies of these e-mails were given to my father to read to also keep him updated about me.  Once the blog was established, it also served the same purpose, but now with more information and more updates.  I visit Seattle often enough (2 to 3 times a year) that I don't even feel that I am that far away from them.  Another excuse on why I do not update this blog.

I have several drafts of blog posts on file, that for some reason or another, were not completed.  Last year, in a range of four months I visited several world capital cities (Berlin, Brussels, London, Lisbon, Warsaw, and Manila).  I wanted to provide updates of these travels, but did not.  I had two great-nephews who stayed with me for three weeks this past summer.  We explored many places in Western Europe.  You'll have to wait for future posts to read our adventures.  Or you can check out our pictures in my flickr account.  I have been uploading a few pictures at a time, because there is a great quantity of pictures.  I attended another successful family camping event this past summer while visiting Seattle, but did not provide any write-up about it.  Most of my nieces and nephews are reaching or have reach adulthood.  My great-nieces and great-nephews are growing leaps and bounds. These are the topics I usually cover in this blog.

Anyway,  all of this gibberish is to say that I am committed to provide at least two updates a month on this blog.  I want to write my stories again, share my experiences living overseas, see the places that I explore, and crack open the window again, even only for a little bit, to my life.

Check back every couple of weeks for my updates, or at least to make sure that I do my part of the commitment.

Paris in January 2013