It was a year ago that this blog saw the light of day, so I am allowing myself a little self-indulgent contemplation of its first twelve months.
As a parent, I believe that every stranger encountered on the internet is a potential axe murderer. Yet one of the great joys for me in this year of blogging has been the chance to step through the screen, as it were, and get to know people in the flesh whom I have first met in cyberspace: a day in Philadelphia with Carolyn from Carolyn’s Shade Gardens, attending her hellebore seminar and visiting Chanticleer; an April Saturday with Adam of Invisible Paris, on a guided tour of a curious local landscape; a morning in Paris with Jan of Salutations, who had managed – from 3,000 miles away in Massachusetts – to arrange for the two of us to visit the Peace Garden at UNESCO headquarters, when all my local efforts to obtain entry had failed.
Carolyn's hellebore seminar
Adam's tour of the Jardin d'Agronomie
The peace garden, visited with Jan
Over its first year, this blog has flourished in ways I could not have imagined. It started simply as a way of recording personal reactions to places I had visited, an opportunity to write short pieces without footnotes or peer review or the other trappings that accompany my more academic work on landscapes. I expected perhaps a few friends to read it, and the occasional student or Paris visitor to stumble over something via Google. But 12 months later, Landscape Lover has thousands of visitors every month, a wealth of informed and lively comments, lots of subscribers, and links to and from scores of related sites. I have welcomed my first guest blogger, and have been invited to write for other sites.
It’s been surprising to see what has interested visitors. Easily my most popular post is this one: more than a thousand visitors, and yet for some reason not one single comment. The post that was much more popular than expected was this one, and the one that I’m disappointed so few people have found (especially given the wonderful photographs) is here. Most comments appeared for this post, about a photograph of a little walnut. The most popular search term that brings people here is Dan Kiley, which pleases me, given my great love for the work of this American designer. And, for no obvious reason, the links most frequently clicked (after the one to my website) were these two: a plan of parc André Citroën, and a photograph I took last May of a French rose garden.
Plan from viguier.com
Roseraie de l'Haÿ
With my imminent departure for a very different adventure in India, I am delighted to have found time during my last year in Paris to create this blog, and send a warm anniversary thank you to all my visitors over the last twelve months, and a hope that you will continue to call by.
First, Happy Anniversary! and what a surprise you will be blogging from another continent, thank you for continuing offering so many interesting topics in your posts. Best, Lula
Happy first blogaversary!
Will you blog from/about India? Does your ‘last year in Paris’ mean you are leaving for good?
Congratulations! Good content will always find an audience, and what you post here is never less than fascinating.
I’m glad also that you have a transportable concept and that you will be able to continue from a new continent!
A very happy birthday, and I hope for more of your excellent posts to come.
Sincerely yours, and not an axe murderer,
Maggie
happy blog day to you! i too have enjoyed your posts, and have learned something new every time. your perspective is unique and valued.
to another year of exploration ahead…!
Thanks for these kind words and wishes. Yes, we leave Paris for good this summer and head off for three years in New Delhi. I am certainly hoping that, probably after a short interlude, Landscape Lover will prove a ‘transportable concept’ and will return with views and images from India.
But I have a fair amount still to cram in while we remain in Paris for a few more weeks…
Jill, I am so happy that you enjoyed your day at my nursery and at Chanticleer as much as I did. And you used that photo of me gesturing grandly during my seminar!!! You are so right: what would you say to your teenage daughter if she told you that she “met” someone on the internet, was invited to their house, took a train to a station they designated, and got into a car with a strange man who was not even the person she “met” on the internet? You are lucky to be alive. On a more serious note, happy anniversary to your blog. I look forward to each of your posts with great anticipation because they are so interesting. Carolyn
It is a year ago for my blog too Jill! Happy Birthday….
Love to read your informed posts back here in the UK and hope you continue to write when you get settled in India.
Look forward to seeing you all next month….
Julie x
Happy one year of blogging. Good luck in India, what a remarkable place that will be.
Congrats, reading your blog always brings sunshine into my life. May you have another few decades ahead!
Jill, Happy Blogaversary! I’m one of many who has been happy to discover your blog this year.