Hello, my blogging friends! Coming to you live from Lake Superior where the April weather snows like crazy one minute and then sunshine and clear skies exist the next minute.
Yep, it’s spring in the Upper Peninsula. It’s almost bipolar. We locals learn to expect its ups and downs, its refusal to fit neatly within the seasons. We may WANT warm weather and chirping robins and blossoming daffodils but, darn it, it’s still often snow showers and 28 degrees. (-2.2 C)
Just like me! One minute (last June, wasn’t it?) I’m ending this blog forever. Now it’s being resurrected, similar to the Easter Spirit of last week.
I just paid $99 to wordpress.com to roll away the heavy stone from in front of the cave where this blog was buried, perhaps never to resurface.
Why? you ask. Why did you bother doing that? What’s changed?
Because, I reply, I really miss writing. I need a space to yak. Last weekend I joined Google+ for five minutes, invited twenty friends, posted a blog, felt like it wasn’t quite right, and deleted.
I came, I wrote, I deleted.
Isn’t that a story some of us know?
So today I’m forking out the hard-earned cash to resurrect this forgotten blog. To have a space for the next 365 days to write whatever comes to the surface. I may write once. In which case, this blog post will cost $99.
Two times–well, then each will cost almost $50. You do the math. If I write 365 times, well it’s almost free–but, really, please do not expect that!
Some of you may be wondering: why the heck does she have to pay money to post on her blog?
Well, my faithful friends, it’s because she’s exceeded the allowed gigabytes in photographs by almost three times the allowed limits. (That’s because she was ignorant when she first began blogging in 2010 and inserted those HUGE photos with multi-MB’s, instead of the ladylike pictures with kilobytes. She’s sorry now, but it’s too much work to go back and prune yesteryear’s photos to appropriate size.)
So I say “hello” again maybe nine months later–about the time it takes to have a baby–although that wasn’t happening here–and we’ll see what develops. Thank you to any faithful readers who are still around!
This was Baby Kathy. A long long time ago. (She’s still rather unpredictable!)
Lake Superior Spirit 
Glad to see you back Kathy! You’ve been missed! Happy Spring!
It is so good to see you, too! I’ve missed yous guys (as the Yoopers say). Happy Spring to you as well!
Seeing this post in my reader just brought a big smile to my face, Kathy! Welcome back! I missed your intelligent and lighthearted insights about your life and the whole big world. Thanks for writing!
Cindy, thank you! Part of me has missed all this SOOOO much! The other part was perfectly content not to write again. But it feels so wonderful to be back here and seeing your smiling faces. Honestly, I can see yours all the way over there on your little island in Lake Michigan!
So glad you are back! Missed your blog!
Robert Stearns Of The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians
How kind of you to say! Thank you for reading ‘way over there in the Sault. 🙂
Welcome back, Kathy!!! We’re supposed to get snow tomorrow, too… Love your pictures – the snow is so pretty even if it is unwelcome. And you were definitely an adorable little one. 🙂
Hi Barbara! It is the strangest day, all snow showers and then sunny. I snapped these pictures off the deck earlier this afternoon. The snow IS pretty! I told Barry that–it’s beautiful even when unwelcome. (Baby Kathy says thank you, as well. Grin.)
Oh I am so glad to see you back, no matter how often you blog. I have really missed your words.
Bonnie, it is so nice to see you. Makes it worth to spend the $99! Thank you!
Okay, I am almost inspired to join you — blow away the cobwebs on my two blogs, and get my not-ready-for-prime-time thoughts organized into verbs and nouns,
Barbara, nice to see you! Yep, it sounds like you may be ready to spring-clean your blogs and get ’em new & shiny. As for not-ready-for-prime-time thoughts: I don’t think mine are ever ready for that. They just come anyway at times. Let us know if you get those verbs and nouns going.
Ohhhh Kathy! Welcome back!! I’m sorry you had to pay the fee in order to return. I didn’t know wordpress charged people to blog. This makes me appreciate your stories even more now! They always bring such inspiration and lovely peeks into life in the northwoods. It’s so nice to see you back here!! ❤ ❤ ❤
Brenda, most people don’t have to pay to blog. Only those who’ve exceeded their quota in photos. Or, like Laurie just said, those who don’t want ads. It has just been feeling necessary to have a space to spin stories again, should anymore arise. Thank you for encouragement. P.S. It’s snowing like crazy again today.
So glad you are back and I am sure I am speaking for all those who followed you faithfully once–I hope this is not a $99 post.Have missed you so much. I have not been very faithful to my blog of late, but I am thinking of resurrecting it too–started with a poem yesterday and I may just post again…. Please keep posting–you are a lovely voice from the not too distant past……….
Hello my friend–nice to see you–and will come visiting your poem/blog sometime in the near future. It IS nice to have a space to share. When I discovered the necessity of paying $99 to start blogging again a few months ago it was quite the shock! I have missed blogging at times, but had just burned out so badly on the blogging front. Part of the trouble is the mind thinks it has nothing to say anymore. We shall have to ascertain if that’s true!
do not listen to your mind; if I listened to mine, I would not get up in the morning, much less try to write…..
You are so right! Those minds are tricky characters indeed…
I’m SO glad to see you here! I’ve missed you!
Hello, Dawn King! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? At least we’ve kept up on Facebook over the past year. 🙂
🙂
Hooray !!!!
Hooray!!!!!!
Hooray!!!!!!
Fountainpen
Fountainpen, you are one of the people I’ve missed seeing, except in email and snail mail bits & pieces. Thanks again for the lovely simple cards. They are so cool.
So good to hear from you, Kathy. Honestly, I was thinking about you last week. I am very happy that you have decided to begin writing here again. Looking forward to your future posts. Welcome back!
Maybe you were thinking of me because Barry & I were having a conversation about California and Yosemite and my friend who lives out in your neck of the woods. Have you been hiking yet this year? Will have to check up on you one of these fine (or stormy) spring days. Snowing here again today…
I am dancing the happy dance because you have returned to the blogging world. Missed you so much! Thank you thank you thank you!!
Well, Switcheroo, your continual encouragement probably helped make this happen! I was overcome with nostalgia every time I paused at the doorstep of your blog to read your posts (which was shamefully few times during this blogging break due due to terrible burnout). Another thing that happened–Barry met a woman from nearby Marquette last week and she said to him, “Are you related to a writer?” Wow! What a compliment for a former writer to hear. It was so inspiring I had to see if the writer might reappear for at least $99. Ha ha!
Music to my ears – to be acknowledged by family, friends, and strangers as a WRITER. You, my friend, are a fabulous writer.
Do I have to pay to comment? lol
Welcome back kiddo.
That will be six cents please, Sybil. Send via Paypal. If I post once a week (just playin’ around with this thought, you understand) it will cost $ 1.90 per blog. If 30 people comment six or seven cents would add to the coffers. Gosh, I LOVE being a business manager and township treasurer!!
Kathy — You can’t begin to even come close to imagine the heartfelt cartwheel my heart did when I received an email indicating that YOU had posted. Oh boy howdy — it’s a yippee, skippy, doo-dah day!
Like you, I pay the annual $99 WordPress fee. Not so much for the photo space (although I do appreciate that), but to elect the option of keeping ads off my site.
I’m so happy you’re back in the blogosphere, even if it’s for just one $99 post, or if you elect to post every-single-solitary day for the next year.
Welcome back — I’ve missed YOU!
Laurie, you fully cracked me up when I read this last night before bed. Then had to turn off comments because all this yippee skippy had started going to my head!! Couldn’t sleep until almost 11 p.m. just thinking about blogging again. Hey, my blogging guru, where do you elect to keep ads off one’s site? Is there a special place in settings where one can do this? No need to research for me, thank you kindly, because I could delve into it one of these fine days.
Seriously, thank you for your kind welcome. I am really blown away. And so very happy to have at least the possibility of blogging again!
Kathy – Without researching… yes, there is a box that you checkmark as electing to be ad free. I only have to “renew” now (so it’s already checked), so I don’t know right off the bat where it is because it’s been several years now. But it’s there! 🙂
Thank you for responding, Laurie. I will have a check-see one of these days.
I will join the rest of your fans and say “glad to have you back”. You have a special gift of writing glad you are willing to share. Oh by the way it snowed down her today. Take me back to Florida…
Gosh, Christie, it is so humbling to have so many positive comments and “welcome backs”. I have missed blogging, but had burned out so much after all those years. We’ll see what happens now–if anything!
I know what you mean about that desire to return to Florida. Mom, Tim and Mich were out on the boat yesterday while we lunkered down during this snowstorm. It’s snowing again today. P.S. Dreamed about you last night. Can’t quite remember the dream details, but you were there.
Kathy, I am elated! This is such a wonderful surprise just when I needed one. Whatever subject you choose, I anxiously await your next publication. You have enlightened, educated, entertained and calmed me over the years. Write what you can, write when you are motivated, your followers are ready when you are.
John, I am kinda laughing out loud reading this you. You are really sweet. Truly. And don’t you dare send me any kind of money–I MEAN it. It would be awful to have someone else help reimburse for this and end up never writing again. Now wouldn’t that be horrible? But your kind words are worth more money than gold. Hope you and Jenny are well.
I pay to read Barry, why are you any different. At least with you, we don’t have to put up with any wack jobs taking up print with rambling rants. 😉
No, the only wack job you have to put up with here is ME! Ha ha. (John, you can’t read those guys. It will just result in a rise in blood pressure and poor health. Pass them by!)
Welcome back, Kathy! I’ve missed you. We just keep getting snow and more snow in Breck, so we left today to find spring. We’re only a couple hours from home, but lower altitude makes all the difference. Will look forward to “seeing” you here.
Hi, Barb, do the locals call it Breck? I like that! My brother kept debating whether to fly out there skiing one last time. He kept thinking your snow would melt before he got there. It has been snowing here all weekend. We can’t go searching for spring because I already went to Florida…sigh…enjoy those lower altitudes!
Maybe something is in the air. It’s delightful to read your blog again and to know that somebody else has been struggling with writing…and with not writing. I’ve started again, mostly for another blogger, but yesterday and today two things that were really hanging over my head have been resolved and I feel most giddy! Ready to get on with my life and that includes writing. Welcome back.
Esther, I can understand that giddy feeling when something feels resolved. Glad to hear that you may be writing again, too. Thanks for coming by and reading and commenting. Happy for that “something in the air”!
Welcome back, Kathy!!! 😀 I was so surprised and happy to see your notification in my email inbox this evening. I have yet to resurrect my blog, and I don’t know if I ever will. But it sure is good to see you and the beautiful U.P.!
Hello Holly, nice to see you again. Do let me know if and when the Universe urges you to resurrect your blog. Glad to show you a couple of pics of the U.P. Although it was snowing so hard at times yesterday it was almost hard to see anything!
Oh Happy day! Now all I have to do is dig mine out from months of layers of unused dust! Glad the word muse has struck once again!
Jeff, it sounds like quite a few of us are getting blogging “spring fever” with the desire to dust off the wintertime of our hibernation!
It’s wonderful to hear from you in this forum! I’ve missed you. We have been having “mostly” spring this year. I keep waiting for the other (snow) shoe to drop. I did plant peas. I figure I won’t be out much (not $99!) Now I have to look and see how many gig’s of space MY photo’s are taking up!
Lisa, hello there my Monday blogging friend. Had to smile with your comment about waiting for the other (snow) shoe to drop. Good one! I looked at our snow shoes in the shed yesterday and thought it was all over. Guess it was not. Good luck with the peas. A chipmunk ate all our newly-planted peas one year and we never planted again. Hey, I have the cutest chipmunk video from last summer. Could post it here…but it’s sideways and there doesn’t seem to be an option to turn videos. Well, maybe that would be OK. Good luck with your photo count. 🙂
Thanks! My peas tend to go in my tomato buckets, because they’re usually long done by the time the tomatoes need them. That little bit off the ground seems to help reduce the rodent problem.
Welcome back, Kathy!
Your blog is just what I needed to cheer me up today. Love, love, love your description of the weather up there. We’re having the same thing down here in Naperville, though I wouldn’t have described it as nicely as you did. I’m so looking forward to reading your new posts!
Hullo Shirley, thanks for the “welcome back”. Really, you’re having bipolar spring weather down there as well? We’ve got it again today. Figures. Thank you for the blogging encouragement!
So good to see you here again! Perhaps once my last bird flies the nest to college in the fall, I will find more time again for more regular blog posting and reading. The blogosphere is a wonderful place.
Kat, it is indeed. To think you are so close to having a childless nest! Yes, when those fledglings leave there seems definitely more time for blog posting and reading. (Unless something new catches our eye.) I have had a tendency to blog “whole hog” and then get burned out. It may be congenital. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Oh Kathy, rolling out the red carpet of welcome to you! My blog (like Jeff’s) has been hidden beneath the layers of dust for a while now, although I have added a post recently to my family history blog. Who knows where this new-found burst of inspiration may take you! Maybe nowhere at all, but it is so good to again read a Kathy-ism (~ who else do I know who refers to herself in the third person whilst blogging? No one but Kathy!) As you wax and wane with the moon, your faithful friends remain and continue to love you.
It is so humbling and lovely to see all my “old” (as in long-time) blogging friends coming by to say hello, Joanne. These dusty blogs of ours! Who knows when they’ll come and go? (She had to laugh out loud–and read your comment to her husband–when she read about the third person. She loves doing this! Although she is surprised, almost every time when the figures start typing thusly.)
Wow.😁
I’m having that “Wow” feeling just seeing you here, Ruth. When are you coming home? I miss you!
sometime in May dear Katita….I think. 😉
Gee I am glad to read this post and to know that you are back-more or less as you have written. I do hope that you’ll write more. Don’t post everyday and you’ll not get burned out.
Oh, Yvonne, I should heed your advice and not post everyday. I SHOULD. (Kathy, do you hear that?) I already have one I want to post right now but am trying to put duct tape on mouth and fingers to prevent future burn out. We shall see. Thank you for stopping by to say howdy.
Try not to be impulsive. Write in a journal of you must write or begin writing America’s next great novel. Really.
You know, Yvonne, it’s weird. Lately I have no desire to change who I am. Impulsive or not, predictable or not. There’s a deeper acceptance of whatever arises. After a lifetime of trying to change it’s now just so relaxing and peaceful to learn to love what’s appearing here, now. Thank you for your kind words here!
I have to admit I was very surprised to see your blog pop up on my reader. But, oh what a nice surprise! Welcome back from hibernation: refreshed, inspired, and hungry to write and share! Looking forward to hearing more from you!
We spent Easter weekend in the Copper Country (Hancock to be exact!) It snowed close to 12 inches 2 days before we arrived. Thankfully, it didn’t affect our travelling, but it did fill our senses with that Upper Peninsula wonder. (My last blog post is pictures that we took along Lake Superior and in the woods.) It took my breath away… again!
Oh Debbie, I know exactly which 12 inches you’re mentioning here. We had 14 inches here in Aura that time. I had just returned from an adventure to Florida. We thought it might be the last big storm, but alas, Mother Nature is not finished yet. Will have to peek at your blog post–hopefully soon-and see some of your pictures. Your enthusiasm for the U.P. always makes me smile.
My enthusiasm wasn’t so great while I was growing up in the U.P. But then again, it was just a part of everyday life in the sticks. (It took time, maturity and wisdom to recapture the wonder of the U.P. seasonal beauty! I miss it now and don’t get up there often enough to visit family!)
I think our kids would totally agree with you about growing up here *in the sticks*. It takes a while to appreciate it for many folks.
Cool! I found your blog….only to see that you were “taking a break”. My subscription was for the email service….I cancelled last week. I was doing one final check for stray emails and here you are. Subscribed with the new addy.
I am very glad you hadn’t skedaddled completely away! Thank you for subscribing.
You know I just clicked back here on a whim this morning and here you are Kathy! Welcome back (or not …). Facebook was full of exasperated messages & photos after our (Wisconsin) late snow yesterday. Ah, spring will come… (and go and come and go)
Inger, I know you get the heartfelt exasperation when Winter decides to postpone its departure. (Or Spring refuses to arrive in a timely manner.) We did have 70 degrees the other week, so maybe you had warmer. I wasn’t here for that fun as I was in Florida and missed the heat wave. Nice to see you!
Welcome back! I missed your beautiful pictures and musings.
I still love your name. It always makes me happy to see you. 🙂
Welcome back! It’s been good to see you on Facebook, but better to see you here. Sometimes we need a break – sometimes it just seems there is little or nothing to say.
Hi, Carol. Yes, there seems to be those times. (A time for blogging, a time for hibernation, as the Psalm goes…) I did burn out quite fully for some time. I have made peace with Facebook but have missed the more in-depth connection that a blog can bring.
So glad you ate back. Hugs and warm wishes from San Antonio.
Celeste, how very nice to hear from you. I sure hope you are well. Hugs and warm wishes back from the northern woods.
Welcome back, dear Kathy! What a joy to read your blogposts again. Wishing you much creative inspiration in the months ahead!
Hi Reggie! Ki and I were just talking about you recently. About when you visited her in NYC and brought her those little stuffed animals–which she still has and loves. Thank you for your kind well wishes about the blog! Hope to get reading your blog again soon.
Oh you have made my heavy heart glad today, Kathy. And as for your bi-polar weather, don’t get too comfortable thinking you in the upper peninsula are alone, we are having the same issues on the prairies. An odd winter and an odd spring, but what would life be without surprises. I must say this is by far the best surprise of my day, week and month. I too had to fork over the big 99 and my husband had even encouraged me to go to the 399 and get it over with to do what ever I wanted. I, though, erred on the side of being frugal and will see how it goes. Again, so great to have you back.
Hi Lucinda–gosh it’s good to hear we’re not alone with this crazy winter. Our winter was mild and warm and the ice fishermen could hardly go out and fish. Now that it’s almost spring the weather has become cold. Odd indeed! (I am happy to hear you forked out the big 99 because I don’t feel so alone now. Grin.) Great to be back!
Welcome back, dear Kathy! So lovely to see your name, face, and words grace my inbox today. xoxo
Hi Dana! So nice to see you, sweet pea. Hey, I still often read your blogs but don’t comment. You sound like you’re doing so good. I should change my email address with you sometime. Love, K
I am late to the party, but I am happy there’s a party to be late to 😉 Welcome back, friend. I look forward to reading the stories your heart compels you to write!
Hi Ms. Heather–I don’t think there’s such a thing as LATE to an Internet party, do you? I mean, relatively speaking, couldn’t they last for YEARS? I am glad to have seen you *in person* during this blogging absence!
Heather, I miss your blog too, and hopefully, one day you will start writing again.
Kathy, I’m happy to see that you have come back. Sorry for being number 50 or so who writes the same 🙂
Ben, I don’t mind people saying “welcome back” whether it’s the first time or 50th! As for Heather writing on her blog, have you gone to her new site? There are some blogs published over there. I was reading some of them, but you can’t comment.
Thanks, Kathy 🙂
About Heather’s blog, I know only “Adventures in Up North Michigan”, and this hasn’t changed since November. I don’t mind of I can’t comment. I enjoy your blog as well as Heather’s blog because of the stories about Michigan and Lake Superior.
This is Heather’s website, Ben: https://snaphappygal.com/
It sounds like you are a great fan of the Great Lakes!
Link is saved 🙂
I’m not a fan of the cold 🙂 but I like all of your stories. Your Michigan blog community is a rare group in the English-speaking blog world. I found several good blogs through your blog and added them to my EN (glish) blog collection. I have a collection of German blogs too. Back then, I noticed that the English speaking world prefers to have topic related blogs, but who wants to read daily about recipes or religion? The Germans prefer to write personal blogs as you do.
I live now in Wiltshire (near Avebury and Stonehenge) but started my life in Berkshire (near Windsor Castle and the Queen).
Well I do have some German ancestry, so maybe that is the reason, Ben! (I have about eight nationalities in these genes.) Thank you for sharing a little of yourself. It is so interesting to ponder who reads our blogs…
I waiting for my blog to get full. Another blogger friend started a new blog and left her other one when it got full. Welcome back to the blogging world. Good to see you.
That was supposed to be I’m waiting, not I waiting. I’m battling an awful virus. Can’t think straight. 😛
Lori, nice to see you. So sorry to see about that virus–think I noticed that on Facebook, too. Are you feeling better now? Hopefully!
Not feeling any better. Still in bed, but I was told to prepare for 3 weeks. One week down. Thanks, Kathy.
Three weeks! That sounds way too long. I was sick once for three weeks–when I had mono at age 16. Not fun. Do get better soon.
Happy to see you blogging again !!
It will be interesting to see how many blogs come forth–a couple or a hundred. I am wondering if this returning-to-blogging is a result of cabin fever. 🙂
Although I’m quite late to the party, I still wanted to say hello and welcome back to the blogosphere. Our friend Gerry has recently resurrected her blog as well so it is quite nice for me to have “old friends” to read with my Saturday morning coffee. My own blogging habits have waned but every now and again the muse pipes up! If you do decide to keep blogging after 365 days have gone by, you can avoid forking out to WordPress by embedding your photos from a hosting site like Flickr. Love your stories and thoughts from the Michigan woods, and wherever your feet take you.
Hey Karma thanks for the suggestion about embedding the photos via Flickr. And I might just need to hire a certain someone who knows how to do it! lol…you know, technological problems at times. I had to smile as you shared about reading blogs with your weekend coffee. That sounds so cozy and appealing.
Welcome back, Kathy! 🙂 It’s so good to see you back in the blogosphere again. As Karma mentioned, it’s like seeing “old friends” again.
Our weather has been bipolar, too. Perhaps it’s come down from the UP of Michigan to show us what we’re missing. Today started warm, then it rained, then it snowed, and now it’s cold with howling winds. Crazy.
Robin, it’s good to be back. It felt weird “disappearing” like that, but it also felt necessary. I am sorry to hear you’ve been experiencing bipolar weather, as well. I don’t know about your forecast, but ours is hinting of almost spring-like weather (highs in the 50’s and 60’s) by the end of the week. If we get that you’ll surely be almost summer-like!
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