Monday, March 06, 2017

AROUND THE WORLD BLOGGING

One day in February, on a whim, I viewed my blog "Stats", which I hadn't done for years.  I was startled to see that almost six hundred "Page Views" were occurring in Russia after I published “Spirits Huddling” -- those Russian numbers continuing most of February, finally dwindling toward month’s end.           

This caused me to start thinking more about who is blogging from where.   On our own continent I enjoy visiting Canadian, Newfoundland bloggers.  I would really like some bloggers from south of our border "down Mexico way" and any of the South American countries. 

I've gone blogging across the pond again in recent months having been intrigued by comments I've read on the blogs of others I visit.   I've already been to Great Britain, Scotland, India, periodically crossed the Pacific to Australia, New Zealand, probably some other exotic places, but more recently I stopped off in Ireland and Wales.  I thought I'd share a few brief thoughts about some of them here as I used to do when I first started blogging and featured other blogs, as I added them to my sidebar list. Please note there is no significance in terms of ranking assigned to these blogs order.

I want to note, I'm always interested whenever those in other countries write their thoughts and impressions of the United States.  Such commentary is especially of interest to me now given our government's current administration and actions.

Nickhereandnow writes from Northern Ireland and has a cadre of followers who engage in some interesting conversations.   Recently several who commented introduced terms with which I was quite unfamiliar, so quickly searched them on the internet -- expressions in common or slang usage there, just as we have our own in the U.S.  such as “posh" people.  But in another post discussing discrimination there was mentioned "pikeys" and "orange people".  I brought up "gingers" since, as a redhead, I knew the term was used in Great Britain but not so much in the U.S.  

Going Gently is a blog I just found.    Chickens pictured in the head bar greeted me at this blog, but then a whole raft of side bar and other colorful photos of various animals really intrigued me.   I especially enjoyed seeing Albert and Winnie.   Their home in this picturesque small Welsh village where all reside will have me visiting to learn more about the community.

Betty Bishop Hangs Here presents some of her interesting paintings, and drawings.    Recollections are prompted with one of her paintings "back in the day" where she stayed at Manhattan's famed Chelsea Hotel.   This Canadian octogenarian activist's various posts reveal a wide variety of experiences including the tragedy of her brother's death.    

Big John, having survived the WWII Blitz, Cold War and heaven only knows what other calamities, especially in the 20th century, is in Great Britain presenting as a great danger with his blogging as might be expected from an elder.  So, all should be wary about visiting there -- do so at your own risk!

Write Into Life by Rachel McAlpine in New Zealand features poetry, prose and photos for a stimulating variety of words, thoughts and ideas that can be a real pleasure to read as she shares her joy in writing. 

Ramana's Musings from India I've been visiting for a while, as well as a few of those above.   He writes especially with several others regularly on a variety of thought-provoking topics.   He also shares interesting commentary on his homeland.  I always welcome reading what he might have to say about events in the U.S. as I do with all those in other countries listed above. 

Day to Day Life of a Very Busy Gardener  in Scotland posts infrequently, but I've done much the same at times, so doesn't prevent me from stopping by occasionally to see what she's been up to.  Most recently I became interested there because she was incubating some chickens of a breed I was unfamiliar with -- and heaven only knows I'm no foul expert,  though my parents did raise chickens of a few more common U.S. breeds during  several years in my youth.   While the outcome wasn't as she had desired, I'll be checking back periodically to see what's next in her Scotland garden, or other "stuff" in her life.   

Still the Lucky Few sheds some interesting observations from Canada.  She writes about her pre-Boomer generation and why they are important.  She grew up on a farm but now lives in a major city with her husband, "a talented piano maestro".   Their family adds to her life's pleasures.  Her wide variety of interests reveal themselves in the topics about which she chooses to write.

The Other Side of Sixty I've been visiting for a while.   Wisewebwoman, "Irish by birth, Newfoundler by avocation"  introduces many subjects that set the wheels turning in my head.   She presents such a broad range of topics from the seemingly mundane, that can subtly transition into the profound, to a major idea that might not be so overwhelmingly important after all.  Her observations and photos keep me returning.

Vagabonde and her recollections must be included here, even though she resides in the U.S.  She is originally from France, a nation I hold in high regard.   The United States and France have a special bond, I believe, for many reasons, but especially because of their significance to our nation's founding.    Our Statue of Liberty is  also a very symbolic gift from France.   What it stands for as printed on the statue's base are sentiments that are so pertinent now  -- perhaps more than at any other time in our nation's history. 

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The writings at Vagabonde's blog reflect her views as a world traveler that I enjoy as being informative,  entertaining and educational about France, at times, as well as historical sites in the United States.  She and her husband visit interesting places that she describes in fascinating detail and share in often spectacular colorful photographs.   Recollections with visual memorabilia add special attraction to her thoroughly researched subjects.  I also appreciate the observations and commentary she offers about our nation from a unique perspective.

I especially enjoy all these blogs above because while serious topics are sometimes explored, each of these bloggers demonstrate a delightful sense of humor which has always been an important quality I've valued throughout my  life.

I mentioned earlier there is no significance in terms of ranking assigned to these blogs order, but in retrospect,  there might be one exception.   I may have saved the best 'til last.


37 comments:

  1. I can't wait until I have more time to come back and check out all the blogs you enjoy from around the world. I know I have some international readers but I haven't found any blogs beyond our shores. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Thanks for posting these blog titles. I shall go adventuring this morning to read them. :-)

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  3. I also was getting hundreds of visits from Russia and then they disappeared. At the time, I wondered if it was a fluke of whoever counts these things or that the US got tougher on their entry as part of the sanctions. I know sometimes we bring back readers to our blogs when we visit theirs, but I had never visited a Russian blog. Since I read very few blogs these days, I don't go much beyond our own borders for the ones I do read.

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    1. Interesting, because I wondered if any other bloggers were having page visits from Russia, too. Could be just one blogger reading or copying all those pages. Or, I wondered if hacker-types were scouring my posts for personal information so they could try to scam me -- cause I've been subjected to just about every scam you can name, some more than once, and there have been definitely heavily accented European-sounding voices on the phone. The reality is, one or a few Russian bloggers might have found our blogs for whatever their reasons and just want to read about us -- private individuals, school or university students on assignment or for fun. No end to speculation about who they might be or why -- commercial entities -- or in our conspiracy driven culture we can conjure up all sorts of intriguing stories given the accusations being made about our current President and some of his cohorts.

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    2. That is true but the equally weird part is how they all just disappeared. I had also gone through a time where more readers came from the Ukraine than from the US. That was equally strange.

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    3. If it was a class assignment, for example -- maybe studying English, sociology, government, then there would likely be a specified time period. Maybe somebody writing an article for publications there, or a fictional story and needs to create realistic American characters; or a Russian elder curious about U.S. elders. It's more interesting to think there's some sort of intrigue -- like the KGB educating new agents to infiltrate the U.S., or making a list of U.S. dissidents for our current Administration to neutralize when the time comes. ;-) I don't know, and guess we'll never know unless somebody would leave a comment to tell us -- and then, could we trust they were who they said they were? More fun speculating!

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    4. I actually thought it was probably a server promoting it or a glitch in counting lol. I never could see why the Ukraine would have so many either. Now it's pretty balanced and when I get readers from India, which is regular, I know it's real as i have some of them also on my FB. Russia and the Ukraine always seemed strange not being English speaking countries like India is.

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    5. One more possibility -- they're never-ending, aren't they.

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    6. I just checked my stats and I've had 16,000 visits from Russia compared to 18,000 from Canada. It never bothered me. For one, I don't publish my email address in connection to my blog or on Facebook so I know no internet crawlers can find me to spam me or target me for scamming. And I never share the exact date or year of my birth or my last name in my blog. It might not even be actually humans visiting our blogs from Russia and Ukraine. There could be software skimming data for useful stuff for hacking.

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    7. The hacking option you describe above was also one I wondered about. Coincidentally, I received repeated calls this week from a new scam to me -- left a message I'd won 25K and to call 800 number he gave. Another day was an old scam but from an accented European-sounding male voice calling about my computer. I'm not bothered by the sudden visits, just find it unusual and curious. Perhaps a reflection of what's happening with our nation's tourists, too -- a decline in other usual countries but a significant increase in Russian inquiries:
      https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/travel/2017/02/14/trump-ban-causes-tourism-drop-and-industry-fears-lasting-effect/yzMAVzeLvqywP8gEekoFsL/story.html

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  4. Thank you for the mention Joared. And thanks also for my intro to some new-to-me blogs. It's always a pleasure coming here and reading your thoughts. I cone away a little more enlightened every time.

    XO
    WWW

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    1. My pleasure -- visiting you! Thanks for your comment.

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  5. This is very nice. I follow some of these bloggers and will go look at the other ones.
    I wish bloggers would take blogging more seriously! It's a great medium.

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    1. Thanks, Hattie -- I recently found one of these bloggers on your blog.

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  6. Excellent post. It's a joy to meet bloggers in person, too.

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    1. I've only had the pleasure of meeting a blogger once -- a person who actually blogged infrequently and ultimately ceased doing so at all.

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  7. I also enjoy visiting bloggers from countries other than the U.S., and note that we share a few. Your post gave me a few new leads I'll be sure to follow up on. Those Russians also have been visiting my blog, and I have no idea why.

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    1. My curiosity stirred, I've paid attention to the stats since, and have seen some other countries pop up some days -- Spain, Portugal and other European countries I haven't named here. Some bloggers list all the countries that visit their blogs and they're quite extensive compared to my few. Enjoyed a blogger in Japan a few years ago, but haven't had any others in the Far East -- China. Interesting to hear your blog has attracted Russian page views, too.

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  8. I wish I could do more than hunt and peck to type. There are a couple of other bloggers I follow ear round.

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    1. In time you will -- already you're pecking even better as gain more use of your fingers.

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  9. Try Heather Lende in Alaska.

    http://www.heatherlende.com/

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    1. Thanks for the link. I went out to her blog and read several of her posts. She does have a way with language and her writings sound interesting as does her book. I like the personalized nature of the obituaries she writes for her local newspaper which our city newspaper does also -- unlike "just the facts" formula typically seen. Her discussion of issues in Alaska offered a serious but light touch and sense of humor --as with resident's coming to a city meeting all riled up about a non-issue. http://www.heatherlende.com/blog

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  10. Thanks for the special mention. I enjoy visiting your blog too. I would appreciate your adding a feedburner plugin so that I can subscribe to email advices of your posts.

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    1. Thanks! I must admit to being so naive about the technical aspects that I will have to research "feedburner plugin" to see about adding it.

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  11. So your comments aroused my curiosity. France is where most of my hits come from. Most of my users have Firefox...which isn't working well right now with any of G's work sites. I use Chrome as does 15% of my readers. I do have 11 hits from Russia....why I don't know.

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    1. Most of my hits cone from U.S. but I do have some from France. Most use Chrome as browser, but second is Firefox which I used mostly until recently. For whatever the reason, I heard a recent news report on tourists -- has been a decrease in countries previously prominent but an increase in Russian tourists. I'm not sure what the source of L.A.'s KNX all news radio station's report was, but I found this link in a quick search: https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/travel/2017/02/14/trump-ban-causes-tourism-drop-and-industry-fears-lasting-effect/yzMAVzeLvqywP8gEekoFsL/story.html

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  12. I've never noticed the correlation between my subject matter and visits from other countries. It seems they take turns. I was concerned the first time I was deluged by visits from Russia, but I am okay with it now. I can't think what would interest the visits - I'm pretty boring.
    I have been a follower of John's (Going Gently) blog for many years now, he can be a hoot!

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    1. There probably isn't any correlation -- just an interesting coincidence -- but then, have heard there are no coincidences. Fun for conspiracy theorists, especially in these times.

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  13. Thanks for the mention of my blog - and top of the list, what's more! It's always fun to discover new blogs I haven't visited before, so I must have a look at some of the ones you mention. I've been following Going Gently for a while, it's hilarious. John tells us every detail of life in his Welsh village, no matter how embarrassing or crazy or disgusting, and spares nobody. By now I probably know more about John than I do about myself....

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    1. Glad to have you stop by with your take on some of the blogs I've just started visiting.

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  14. I just discovered YOUR blog! :)

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  15. Thank you for including me in your Bloggers I Read list Joared. A very generous thing for you to do. I will be visiting them.

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  16. I think you would enjoy Anne of "http://20thcenturywoman.com" - wonderful writing , paintings and photos although she doesn't post much anymore. I miss her.

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    1. Thanks for your visit. Will check out the blog you mentioned.

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