Spring Clean Your Blogs: Reap the Rewards of Renewal

It's Spring!!  It's Spring!!  After a particularly trying Canadian winter I'm more than ready for this season of renewal and since Mother Nature still hasn't gotten the spring memo for my neck-of-the-woods I'm expending my new found energy on a much needed blog cleaning.

Truth be told, I really enjoy this creative process and so I thought I would share some of my enthusiasm.

First off, I'm really not talking about the little maintenance tasks that you should be doing all year round. Ensuring that your links are still working & your pictures are still posting are best dealt with on a regular basis otherwise they become a bit of a slog.  If you have fallen behind, and who doesn't on occasion, you may want to take some time to get those in order before proceeding.

Now on to de-cluttering!

The older I get the more I value a well curated space be.  Since this appreciation for restrained elegance is constantly at war with my natural magpie tendencies I have to compromise.  I find it helps to take a step back and try to look at my blogs with fresh eyes all the while mumbling "... less is more ... less is more".

In Other Related News

I've never been a prodigious poster.  Perhaps it's because I really like to ponder over my posts before I actually write them.  Perhaps it's because there are just so many hours in the day and I'm not the quickest scribe in the west.  Whatever the reasons, I knew that having two blogs was apt to complicate my life and make my blogging frequency appear even more sporadic than it actually was.  I went ahead and created them both anyway.

Tatiana's Tea Room, the first of my blogging endeavours, grew out of my adventures in Second Life® including the small business that I run there.  I often describe Renaissance Daze, TTR's younger sister, as my "real life" blog which is kind of an inside joke since both blogs deal equally with real life and fantasy.

Channeling "Paris in the Spring"

My Cherry Blossom Tree by Bardot in Blue 

Seems like today is the perfect day to be channeling "Paris in the Spring" from Ottawa!

Seeing that it was Saturday, I indulged myself with a little reading before I got out of bed this morning. As it happens, I am currently enjoying A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle and so I greeted the day with March:

“The almond tree was in tentative bloom. The days were longer, often ending with magnificent evenings of corrugated pink skies …. The People of Provence greeted spring with uncharacteristic briskness, as if nature had given everyone an injection of sap.”

I wandered down to breakfast, images of those blooms in my head and found the Ottawa Citizen’s “style” magazine waiting for me on the kitchen table. I was immediately drawn to the article Paris on the Rideau by Charles Enman.

“It may not have the same ring as “Paris in the Spring.” But Parisians who live in Canada’s capital say it has its own virtues."

Sure it does, excluding days like yesterday when the temperature dropped overnight from 15c to -18c sending all the budding crocuses back into hiding.

Over to the computer with my morning coffee where I mentioned to a friend that I wanted to go to the Ottawa Home & Garden Show today prompting him to mention the 2011 Philadelphia International Flower Show with the theme of, you guessed it, Springtime in Paris.

I topped off the morning with the latest post (March 26th, 2010) from Barod in Blue My Cherry Blossom Tree  with its beautiful images.

Yes, it’s warming up out there in Ottawa, -2c with a high of 6c predicted for today so I’m off to Landsdowne Park where I’m sure to reinforce my daydreams of springtime in Paris.

So You Think You Can Garden? (Canadian Edition)

Even in my current "bedazzled" state I'm not so far gone as to think that I stand a chance in So You Think You Can Dance (seniors' division of course) but is it possible I could compete in So You Think You Can Garden?

Here's the story.  Last week I picked up the 20th Anniversary Issue of Canadian Gardening.  Now I'm a long suffering magazine junkie and since the Ottawa weather was exceptional for the month of March (sun shining, birds singing, snow melting) I NEEDED a gardening magazine.

Imagine my delight when I came across the magical phrase "Do you have what it takes to blog for canadiangardening.com?"  Prizes include a $500 cash prize plus goodies from Canadian Tire & Lee Valley Tools.  So far so good. 

Among the rules "The winner will be required to post one blog entry (minimum of 100 words) at least once per week between April 15, 2010 and September 30, 2010."  No Sweat.  I could blog 100 words in the blink of an eye. 

"Are you a savvy gardener who loves to share growing tips and advice with fellow green thumb?"  Hmmmm ... what exactly is the definition of "savvy gardener" and how "green" are we talking?  Best to investigate further and check out the competition. Let's see, you can provide your own picture.  That would certainly help to make your entry stand out!

Photography by Virginia MacDonald, illustration by KC Rasmussen

Now it seems to me that the last time I looked, my garden was somewhat similar to the Folmer Gardens featured in the April 2010 Issue.  Let's see what's out there now ...

Sadly, reality doesn't measure up to memory ;) 

At least it's not still looking like this!

So I guess I'll be giving up my chance at that dream blog (for now anyway).  I wonder if my truly "savvy gardener" friends would be interested?  Wade ... Amie ... are you listening?

Beginning a Blog: Horton Hears a Who!

I was having a wonderful time putting this new blog together and then it happened ... 

I was busy, working on the blog design, getting connected to Twitter (and subsequently working on that design), planning articles, looking at all my favourite blogs for inspiration, reviewing code & widgets and then it struck me ... the connection between starting a new blog and the Dr Seuss classic Horton Hears a Who!

I admit that it may be a case of too much pixel editing in one day, but as I started blogging & tweeting I kept thinking of those Whos yelling "We are here, We are here, WE ARE HERE".

Too funny!!  So before I pack it in this evening, I decided to blog a little tribute to kind hearted Horton the Elephant who helped the Whos get connected.  This example of networking was a truly a life saver (fictional as it may be).  Making connections through my blog to a greater community is nowhere near as dramatic but I'm thinking it will be just as much fun!

Renaissance Daze/Days

“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.” ~ Basho ~

ren·ais·sance ~ noun ~ A rebirth or revival. 
daze ~ noun ~ A stunned or bewildered condition.
daze ~ verb ~ To dazzle, as with strong light.

I love good renovation stories. I love how they seduce me with their whispered promises, endless energy, optimism and, of course, their humour. Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes is a classic renovation story. Classified as Travel/Memoir, it tells a tale of a woman that manages to renovate her life along with her beloved Bramasole.

Much to my surprise, I find myself embarking on just such a renovation or renaissance. No, I’m not packing up and moving to Italy but I did find the nerve to quit a job that I had held (or had increasingly held me ever tighter) for twenty seven years. And, no I don’t have something else lined up to take its place but I do have a sense that life is short and I had better get back to enjoying my journey through it before it’s too late. You can imagine that for a “risk adverse” person, this has left me a bit dazed!

Now that I can view both my home and my life with a fresh eye, I see all the ingredients of a great renovation story. Things appear a bit tired & run down but the “bones” are still good and potential abounds. I’m looking forward to my journey from Renaissance Daze to Renaissance Days and I would love to share the tale with you. Please come along for the adventure!