Peering Through The Fence

I don't know about you, but when I fist began visiting the Blog World I had absolutely no idea what was really going on?!! I was like a little girl peering through the fence,

trying to grasp something that I couldn't quite conceptualize or particularly understand.

farm5static flickr

I was intrigued & curious..

state library New South Wales via beauty in everything

and soon drawn into the magic world of beauty in everything (go on, have look at this page, but come right back!), knowledge, discovery & inspiration in a way that I had never encountered in my life before.

via beauty in everything: http://feuille.blogg.se/

 I discovered a realm where the gentle arts were being honoured, fostered & shared.

Gary Melchers Woman sewing

Encountering the gracious ways of a past age where, manners & kindness prevailed, replenished the hope in me that the world was indeed a good place to be & best of all, there was so much more to discover, unveil & reveal.

Unveiling, emal.com

It's taken me 15 months or so to really get the hang of many of the complexities of blogging. Now I understand better the conversational aspects, the ways in which friendship can burgeon & flourish. In the early months I was really glad to come across a post that Floss wrote entitled "What is blogging all about". I was so grateful to her for giving me an overview & some helpful tips at that time. Later, Angela of Tracing Rainbows wrote a post during our Wind in the Willows week: Which WITW character are you? describing the characters in the delightful story & relating them to blogging styles & our various motivations & approaches. I found this post really helpful too. Angela reminded me that we are all so different & that we each have our own unique personal style & motivation.
In this past fornight, dear Anne of Ungardened Moments wrote some important & eloquent reflections about what blogging has come to mean to her. It's such a peculiar feeling when someone else expresses the very things that have been on your mind. It's all about..."belonging & having a voice & being heard".
Then, right on the heels of Anne's post came along one by Megan over at Shabby Blogs "Say no to blog envy". Brilliantly written from a place of personal success, experience & generosity. Such a helpful read for any blogger, the principles applicable to all of life...it's just one community or another.
  Which rather brings me to the concept quite often expressed by many bloggers that there is blogging & then there is real life. That is a little like the debate over the printed word & books

via weheartit

 versus the online cyber version & kindle, the printed photo versus the digital image, faith or religion versus science. Sometimes we just need to enlarge our view or allow it be altered just a little.
Actually, I came across this quote on Facebook today & although it's rather serious it is also apt.

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is a proof against all argument, & which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance-the principle of condemnation before investigation"- Herbert Spencer

via tumblr
 Sure we need to keep tabs on our balance & make sure that we're not neglecting those that we love but for me my blogging expression is now pretty much indivisible from my real life. Blogging & the internet have given me a space to thrive, true freedom & wings to fly ..

  to be fully me without fear or shame. No more "carpets made of eggshells" in my house. I am not seen, yet I am no longer invisible. I am not heard, yet at last I have a voice. Finally I have license to exist. My lifetime struggle...living the reality of familial invisibility, no longer binds me. And, as I write, I leave a trail, a legacy. I shine a light on the path..at last I can glow. Because of blogging, my life is richer, fuller, deeper & I now have skills that I could never have once imagined would be mine.
One of the surprises for me in this journey, is finding myself opening up to new concepts & knowledge of topics that I had previously thought that I had no interest in, for instance (just a little), art history. It's About Time has been an enlightening find. I shall be returning here to learn more. One fascinating quote I found there I wanted to share with you:
"Why blog?" on making art & history available to all
 "Traditionally art history has been inherently elitist, both socially & intellectually. Art tended to be commissioned by the upper classes. Connoisseurship was seen as a superior refined skill & the products of art-historical scholarship were guarded almost as fiercely as the art itself"
 quote from the blog "Treasure Hunt" of the National Trust in the UK written by Emily De Bruijn.

The gate is open..

no longer is the road closed to woman 

we now have access to music, art, instruction & knowledge & a vehicle for self expression (even to make a living) that can take us places we have never dreamed possible before. In the words of Dr Seuss (thanks Alisa)

Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to great places, you're off & away. You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose...
..the path is right there waiting,
at least for those of us privileged to own a computer (only 1 in 100 people do in the world) & I once read that 80 percent of blogs fold in the first month!

via beauty in everything

 I love the words of Jo Hamilton's song,
 "There it is"

Climbing in to the future

leaving a wake of life

fresh ideas for the picking

throw the messes behind

and there it is..a world of hope

make a way through the undergrowth

...intriguing adventures all around

leaving the road slightly unmapped

focussed, but not too tight..

I think that I might write some more along these lines. But then again I may not..isn't it so nice to be able to chose!

Thank you my sweet readers, bloggers & visitors. 

I hope that you enter this week with a song in your heart & a dance in your feet.

MUCH

 ♥♥♥♥♥