Westlakemusings is celebrating a one year anniversary today.   Happy us.  What a year it has been.   We’ve grown,  learned a thing or two and I think improved.

I started this blog with the intention of using it as a diary to journal my new life in the country.   I knew nothing about writing a blog.  Finding WordPress.com was just a lucky break.  One of the blogs I was following happened to use WordPress.  I googled their name for more information.   Voila!    WordPress had all the answers,  quite a lot of support and best of all it was free.   Off I went. I have now written 170 posts.

The biggest surprise of the past year has been how my readership has grown.   To date I have had 8,445 viewings.   I have regular followers from across north america and beyond.  Many of my readers are other bloggers.  It is a community of supportive cyber friends who often leave encouraging messages on each others sites.  Who knew?       475 comments have been posted to my blog. They have all been positive and kind.  I value ever one of them.  Thank you.

I have had a lot to write about over the last year.  We have been busy.  Warren built a wonderful dream garage/man cave.  He gutted out the upstairs and two bathrooms, spray foamed installation, re-sanded all the floors and painted through.   I learned to drive a John Deere lawn tractor, built new gardens, grew plants from seed and harvested wonderful vegetables.   I wrote a lot about nature: e.g. the birds migrating over this island, the towering old trees and my flowers.  I was also out and about experiencing the highlights of life in Prince Edward County.  I wrote about the wineries, the cheese factories, the beaches, and community festivals.  Over the last year I took a photography course and attached countless pictures as  evidence that this part of the world is very special.

If I had to pick only one post from the last year that I am proudest of  it would be “Measuring Up”  https://westlakemusings.com/2013/01/16/measuring-up/  Coincidently it was the post that received the most traffic.  Thank you for your support.

What lies ahead?  You can only write once about lilac festivals, being an extra in a zombie movie, demolition derbies or the stunning beauty of a roadway lined with thousands of hollyhock flowers.  This coming year must be about new discoveries, new impressions.

This would be a good time to ask for your input.   I have heard from numerous sources that I am not taking enough time to properly spell check my writing.  Sorry about that.  I will try to do better.  What other feedback do you have?   What kinds of things would you like to read about in the coming year?  Do you want more photos?  Less?   Are my blogs too long, too light weight?  How can I improve?  What would you like me to write about now?

This is starting to remind me of an annual meeting I use to have with my manager to discuss my performance and to set achievable, measurable goals for the coming year.  Nuts to that old stuff.   I’m retired now.   Time to party and celebrate the anniversary.

Thanks for joining me.     Diane