once upon a time ...

... there was a blue-eyed, red-haired woman. together with her husband ... no no wait, that's better: her husband, she flew off to northern scandinavia for three weeks. they had a brilliant time and came back with loads of photos, a handful of cartoon drawings in a travel diary, and multifarious memories of a vast sky, the magical midnight sun, blue lakes set amid tall green grass, reindeer herds, cosy red houses and inviting wooden churches, peaceful places, cold nights in a tent, big-bellied clouds, majestic mountains rising from fiords, hikes in national parks, and their friends. the woman wanted to share her memories, and sat down to think about the where and how, and had a brainwave: a blog! yes, a blog would be perfect.

so she sat down and, on 4th august 2005, signed up with blogger.com, called her baby home and away and started to write. over the following days, she added entries about every single day of their nordic adventures including pictures. when that was done, she left the blog alone for a while, but in september, she found she had something to say that she wanted to share with friends and acquaintances, and whoever happened to stop by. the rest, as they say, is history.

a year after the first entry, the name of her blog has changed to between you and me, and she is still at it - posting poems, subs&pubs notes, vital blogthings quiz results, pictures of plants and people, sort-of concert and poetry reviews, and stuff about that thing called life, and she has no intention of stopping any time soon. for one thing, she does not want to disappoint her readership (*ha!*), but of course she could not stop if she tried. she's hooked.

she likes to find email alerts in her inbox that tell her someone has stopped by and left a comment. she likes to see her counter reaching the next full hundred or thousand. she sometimes marvels why on earth people look at, enjoy looking at, and even comment on pictures of her plants. and she is happy when she realizes it is because, somehow, they care. she has made new friends, and found a couple of old ones. her link list is growing. her weather pixie is beginning to seem *real*. she likes it here. stick around; she will, too.

and since such an occasion is the perfect time for a little change, she will abandon her "three things in every subject header" pattern. and she makes one half-promise: she will try to write more poetry book reviews. she owes the world (ie certain poets) some.

if you want to party, bring a drink. she likes australian shiraz, bailey's, and prosecco with strawberry juice! :)

happy birthday, blog!

(please tell me if the links don't work. they do for me but i am not sure they work for everybody.)

song of the day: sančuari - vilbá