Yesterday was my second anniversary (blogiversary?) here at Hoarded Ordinaries: yes, it’s been two years and a day since I posted my first tentative blog entry on December 27, 2003.
This past year has been an eventful one in my blog-life, with me making many face-to-face connections with bloggers whose lives I’ve read: Beth and Ivy in Peterborough, NH in January; two overlapping bands of bloggers in New York City in February and Cambridge, MA in May; Leslee, Rachel, and Andi (now Soen Joon!) in Northampton, MA in April; Fred and Tsuga in Floyd County, VA in July; and that girl in New York City in October. Yes, it’s been a wide-roaming year here at Hoarded Ordinaries…and that’s not counting summer trips to see Gary in Findlay, OH or my aunt in Washington, DC.
When I first started Hoarded Ordinaries two years and a day ago, I envisioned myself writing a place blog that would focus on the human and natural history of my adopted home here in Keene, NH. Looking back over those two years and a day, I see my place blog is movable, focusing on Keene when I’m here and other places when I’m not.
In the spirit of last year’s first blogiversary post, here are my five favorite posts from 2005, listed in order of appearance.
Keep Out, January 23, 2005. I wrote a post about the boundaries bloggers do or don’t place around their personal lives…and what resulted was a lively comment exchange on the question of how much self-disclosure is too much. What I find interesting in retrospect is how Hoarded Ordinaries quickly morphed from being a “place blog” into being a “kinda place, kinda personal, kinda literary blog.” I’m still unsure how to categorize HO…but since I’m still here blogging two years and a day after starting, I must be doing something right, categories be damned.
Conspicuous Projection, February 5, 2005. Of my various posts on consumer culture featuing reflective shots of Yours Truly, this one from the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua, NH is my favorite (with my March 15th post on Ikea being a close second). I’m particularly fond of the blind reflective shots I captured on an assortment of shiny household items in the mall’s Target store as well as a fuzzy picture of a photogenic baby in a nearby portrait studio.
The art of possibility, February 20, 2005. This post (along with the companion piece Why not “yes”?) summarizes in word and image a whirlwind trip to New York City to see the Gates in Central Park with a merry band of blog-buds. It was a memorable once-in-a-lifetime experience seeing installation art with “virtual strangers” turned friends, and I cherish these two cyber-souvenirs because of that.
Aftershock, April 7, 2005. Illustrated with more reflective shots, this post checked my emotional pulse six months after my divorce. Try as I might to insist that HO is nothing more than a place blog, some of my favorite posts are intimately personal. So sue me.
Hunger, April 17, 2005. When I wrote this post about my lean and hungry years in Boston using an image of the Irish Famine Memorial as a central metaphor, I had no idea the essay would garner such positive comments. In my mind, this was another self-centered musing about time and place…but now that I re-visit it as a reader, I can see why it resonated.
I’m not sure what it says that my five favorite posts from 2005 come from the first four months of the year. Perhaps those first four months were a particularly fertile time for my writerly imagination, or perhaps these “older” posts seem more seasoned and properly ripened than relatively newer ones. In recent months, I’ve suspected the obligations of a particularly weighty semester interfered with my ability to devote the kind of attention I feel good writing demands: at times over recent months, I’ve felt I’ve had too many days where a hurriedly posted picture substituted for “real” writing. But maybe 2005 isn’t yet seasoned and ripe enough for me to be a real judge. Maybe I have to wait another two years and a day to tell how resonant my words and accompanying images truly are.
Dec 28, 2005 at 10:55 am
Happy Second Blogiversary! I have only been reading a few months ago (when I discovered blogs) but I enjoy reading HO and all the pictures you share
!
So thanks for what you bring to all the folks who read your blog! I appreciate it very much.
Hope you are having some rest and relaxation during this break!
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Dec 28, 2005 at 11:23 am
Happy anniversary – it’s been a pleasure knowing you (in real and cyber space!)
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Dec 28, 2005 at 11:32 am
It’s such a lovely blog and always a pleasure to “visit” Keene through your eyes. Happy anniversary, and many more.
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Dec 28, 2005 at 12:06 pm
Happy Second Blogversary Lorianne! I love coming here and seeing what you see everyday through your lens, and reading all about it. Keep up the good work!
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Dec 28, 2005 at 1:32 pm
I just read the April 2005 entry for the first time. It is exquisitely poignant, and personal in the most universal way, a coming-of-age story in a few paragraphs. You have such an ability to share experience. Thank you for the glimpse into loneliness that maybe we all share from time to time, but I for one am ashamed of, as perhaps you were then. “Psychological self-starvation” – perhaps I am in a fit of it now!
Happy New Year to you!
Thank you for your words and pictures which add richness to my life.
Nancy
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Dec 28, 2005 at 2:09 pm
Happy anniversary. Hope I’ll be able to wish you many many more in the future. ๐
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Dec 28, 2005 at 2:44 pm
Happy belated blogday. (Maybe by next year at this time there will actually be some consensus on what to call the anniversay of a blog’s launching!) I too have fond memories of that February trip to visit the Gates in Central Park. I was just thinking about that this morning: how orange they were, under a cloudless sky.
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Dec 28, 2005 at 3:15 pm
Happy anniversary! Looking forward to another year of HO…
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Dec 28, 2005 at 4:24 pm
Congratulations. It takes a lot of work to keep this up for two years of solid writing, whether you think so or not.
The Keene Chamber of Commerce should have a link to you at a minimum, but you are deserving of cash for what you have accomplished for them.
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Dec 28, 2005 at 6:44 pm
Happy 2 years and 1 day anniversary! Perhaps we’ll meetup at some point in 2006.
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Dec 28, 2005 at 7:41 pm
Happy 2nd Blog-iversary!
I have enjoyed reading you blog and want to wish you many more years!
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Dec 28, 2005 at 7:54 pm
Congrats! My how time flies. I remember your blog birth and now look at you, all grown up and so many candles on your cake. You make your Virginia blogparents very proud. Wonder if we’ll cross paths in ’06. Do hope so. Be well
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Dec 28, 2005 at 8:07 pm
Happy 2nd blogiversary! Always a joy to read your posts, and even more to get to know you in person. Dave said he remembers how orange the Gates were, under a cloudless sky. I remember how freaking cold it was!! (That’s why he’s the poet.) I also remember how much unexpected fun we all had. Here’s to another great blog-year! (toasted with a buenisima margarita, fuerte)
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Dec 28, 2005 at 9:22 pm
Happy Blogaversary and congrats on the 2 years!
I am jealous that you got to meet Fred and Deni!
and Tsuga, too!
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Dec 28, 2005 at 11:42 pm
Happy Second! Thanks so much for sharing several things:
your favorite posts, your always great photos, your openness, your writing, your town, your students, your flood and yourself!
I have been stopping by for a long time and look forward to your 2006 good stuff, and even the quickies. You deserve much credit for modeling commitment to regular blogging. Thanks.
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Dec 29, 2005 at 4:23 pm
Happy anniversary, Lorianne! Congratulations!
Thanks for sharing your intelligent and creative text and beautiful photos! I am looking forward to next year.
Wishing you and your family a Happy New Year filled with Joy, Peace, Health and Love!
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Dec 29, 2005 at 7:23 pm
Thanks, everyone, for the Happy Blog Tidings! Considering I started blogging as an experiment, I guess the fact that I’m still doing it says *something*, although I’m not sure what. Maybe a stubborn spirit is a benefit in the blogosphere? ๐
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Dec 30, 2005 at 7:10 am
A belated Happy, Happy, Happy Blogiversary to your blog, Lorianne!
Tout de bon pour l’an 2006!
Kevin
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