Septennial

March 20, 2007.  Aye, it was a cold and blustery day, winter turning to spring, as I sat myself  at my desk, took quill in hand, and began writing the first pages of this journal.

Actually, I have no idea what kind of day it was, and I was sitting at my computer.  I hardly knew what a "blog" was, and I recall spending quite a bit of time setting up the format that has remained unchanged since that first day.  I chose my "boy on a haystack" photo for my first illustration.  And I do recall skiing with relatives shortly thereafter, and receiving a certain amount of kidding (and a few congratulations) about my new avocation as a blogger.

I hardly knew what a blog was when I started, as I say, and I certainly didn't know what I wanted to talk about, or what tone or writing style I should adopt.  When I read back over my first couple of years, I see a lot of posts that I would have written differently today, or not written at all.  Not that they were necessarily bad posts, just different in style and subject matter from posts I would be interested in writing now. 

If you care to read them all, you'll find 659 little essays of varying lengths.  This past year has been less productive than average, with some slow months in the fall and early winter.  No idea why that was.  Some odd fluctuations in my brain's biorhythms, perhaps.  Temporary, I hope.

So, with the first day of spring, I pull down from the shelf a brand new volume of blank pages, sharpen my quill, refill my inkpot, and begin another year of enjoyable writing.