Pssst! Wanna know a secret…

Psssst! Do you wanna know a secret? Do you promise not to tell?? Okay. Here goes…

I can type with one finger only since having hand surgery a couple of months ago, and my fingers (accustomed to touch-typing learned eons ago) refuse to share knowing where those darn letters are located on my keyboard with my brain, so I couldn’t write any posts for awhile.

PHOTO RIGHT: ‘Things are improving. No more hand brace!’

Life is a learning process. I keep discovering stuff and you, dear reader, are lucky because this is a BIGGIE, and I’m sharing it with you free of charge.

The secret????? ‘If you don’t write, they won’t read!!!!!’

It isn’t that your followers purposely desert you. It isn’t a devious plot — but without a reminder from WordPress about a new post, they just go on with their lives with nary a thought about you. They’re having coffee with friends or guzzling gin tonics and you’re the last thing on their minds. There’s nothing deliberate about it. It just happens.

You are hereby advised. Be aware!

SWhere you been?

Meanwhile, WordPress has ‘improved’ their system and I can’t figure out how to fix the quote below this last image. It should say: So, where have you been.’

Nor can I figure out how to get the quotes I want to be below the images to work like they used to. Oh, well. This isn’t the first time in my life I’ve been confused.

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Write a blog? Who? Me?

Photo, like so many others, by daughter Susan Kauffmann

I feel lucky. My son, Rafi, is loving, warm and considerate — and so is his

Son Rafi, who with wife Chandra and their Remy bring me joy

wife, Chandra. I am certainly blessed to have them, and they are doing such a great job raising my grandson, Remy, that I proudly claim all three as my own.

Then, there is Brian and his wife Rebecca. Brian claims to be my #2 son and as such, like Avis, he says he tries harder. I saw Rebecca grow up, but not Brian. I would have liked to. He always manages to make me laugh and I’d love to know where or when he developed his crazy sense of humour. There is also something very special about someone who decides to adopt YOU as a mother and I love Brian especially for that. Plus, he’s a good sport and puts up with my nonsense, and, as you can imagine, that ain’t easy. He listens patiently to how thrilled I am with this blog, and not for the first time, suggested a topic for a post — this one.

Whenever I visit #2 son Brian and his Rebecca it is my ‘birthday’ and we celebrate

Daughter Susan, who understood what this blog would mean to me before I did

Before that, however, I must attribute the whole idea of this blog, which brings me so much pleasure, to my daughter Susan. Susan suggested it to begin with, set it all up for me, taught me what little I know about managing it, and continues to help whenever I mess things up which I do regularly — very regularly. Because of her thoughtfulness and loving patience, I’ve had a grand time since she talked a reluctant me into it.

I wonder if at times Susan doesn’t feel she’s created a Frankenstein. The poor thing has had to take time out of her own busy life to rescue me again and again when the technology gets the better of me.

It was also Susan, who, seeing how excited I get about the people from other countries who visit my little blog, suggested I start keeping track of where you live. Clever girl — I started doing so in July, 2013.

This is my list so far:

Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China!!! (just today), Columbia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Finland, France,

An outdoor market in Latvia

Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, (South) Korea, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan,

Flag of Montenegro

Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Republic, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam — and any day now, I may be able to add yet another.

A scene in Saudi Arabia

At the very beginning, it was a thrill to approach and then reach 500 views. After that I looked forward to 1,000; then 1,500; and now, here I am at 6,998 — 7,000 coming up! And, you are the one who makes it all possible. Thank you!