I don't KNOW what I'm doing with blogging - but I like it!

I admit I have been laid up with a rotten cold for the last day or two which has allowed me to snuggle up on the sofa and dip into blogs all around the world. What a crazy madly interesting world we share! People lead lives SO different from mine, and yet there are such coincidences in peoples experiences too! 

I don't know how to add links to anything and I must say sometimes I read one person's blog post.... and then read posts from all the blogs on their sidebar! So an eclectic mix.... and that way leads to similar bloggers, with one thing or another in common.

For me, I am drawn to creative blogs like Lucy at Attic24, or Penny at Planet Penny and their "favourite blogs" have led me to many others like Little Woolie or Rett at a shoebox of photographs. I LOVE the colour, but then find what keeps me going back is the glimpses of real family life.

I just add to my reading list and waste spend hours working my way through to see who has posted recently. There are just too many on that list now to make any sense. I am drawn to people with dogs, with grandchildren, who knit, sew, crochet, quilt. Many of the bloggers have been teachers like me...so I suppose there are similarities in personality.

Then there is the serendipity approach...when I first wrote my blog (ShirleyGoldenDoodles) about the puppies, just about a year ago now...I accidentally clicked on the button that said "NEXT BLOG" and believe me that took me to places I never imagined! I discovered the weird and wonderful, and found an international world of people living lives like mine in Australia, USA, Romania, Russia, Holland, Brazil, Singapore etc. 

Then there are the blogs with the most beautiful photography which draw you in, people like Debbie at Serendipity Patch, and Chronicles of a Country Girl, and I have to mention Documenting Delight...I have fallen in love with a baby called Florin!

Photographs really draw you in, they do tell a thousand stories.... and I feel I can't join in as I've ruined not one but three cameras in the last couple of years and am having to make do with a very basic camera on my phone. I have a tendency to drop things or leave them in bags with milk or ratatouille (don't ask!) I really do find it hard to put photos up on blogger, spend way TOO MUCH time trying to get the pictures WHERE I want them!

So, peeps, please accept my humble offerings in the manner that they appear.
Spring has finally sprung, new life thank goodness.

Frogs! Yay! Noisy, happy, busy frogs..... no more slug pellets! 

My gorgeous son is about to make me a Granny again! We have about 4 weeks before he becomes a daddy! To a girl, or boy, we don't know yet! I'm knitting every colour under the rainbow!

There WILL be plums! Golden juicy plums.

It took me four days wrapped up against all the thorns to get 30 feet of brambles under control.... but the jam will be worth it, and a great excuse for a bonfire! 

If you are wondering where the Art comes in? Well, in my last post I think I mentioned my lovely husband had a birthday. I managed to buy him a fabulous card with one of our favourite places in the world on it. Do you like it? The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square is just 30 minutes away from where we live on the train - and he gets there for free! I just need to drag him away from the allotment. Or Pinterest! But that's another story.....

So peeps, what makes you visit a blog? Let me know.... how can I make this better?  Mary Xxx