I can’t believe I’m so shallow!!!
I originally started this blog to save myself some time. My husband and I have been transferred many times with his job, we’ve never lived anywhere long enough to feel like it is our home. When we were transferred back from England, to work in Toronto, we decided to look around and decide where to make our home.
We had lived in a 424 sq foot flat in London and were still married, so we decided to buy a palatial 700 sq st flat in downtown Toronto, and look for a weekend/retirement house. Where to buy it was another matter!
We had loved living in Kingston, we sailed during the summer and Ian snowboarded in the winter. The problem was that the good snowboarding was in Mount Tremblant and that was a 4 hour drive. A bit much to be driving on a regular basis. So where else could we live?
Well it had to be within a 2 1/2 hour drive of Toronto, we decided. It also had to be near the water so we could sail, and near a ski hill. There was only one area that we could think of that had that, so we started looking in Collingwood.
Let me tell you, Collingwood has gotten very expensive in the last 10 years (damn those rich Toronto people, driving up the price) and we didn’t look there long. Meandering along the shoreline we looked at all the small towns and then got to Owen Sound.
One of my many requirements was a big garden with an historic home. Ian and I have always lived in old houses and just love the character that you get. We found the house that we are in now, it has 3/4 of an acre so that will keep me gardening for a good long time. Blue Mountain is 40 min away and the Owen Sound yacht club is 10 minutes, so that will keep Ian busy for a good long time. So we bought it in 2006 and have been very happy with it so far.
(I had to go back and read the beginning of this post, I couldn’t remember why I had started it).
I had been sending out so many e-mails to the friends that we have all over and it got to be very time consuming. When a friend of mine (Hi Kelly), started her own blog, I thought that might work. I can write 1 post with pictures, and my friends could read it, at their convenience.
Then, it started. There is blog statistics on WordPress. I just couldn’t resist looking at it. When it got up to over 15 hits, I figured out that it was just not my friends. Then I started checking it everyday, just to see how many more people had looked at my shabby work. When I started reading other peoples blogs about how to increase traffic to your blog, then I knew that I had a problem.
Now, tell me, how do I get off this merry go round?
I am a floral designer living in a tiny condo in downtown Toronto, Canada's largest city. But on the weekend, I am a gardener/frustrated architect trying to keep up with a 3/4 acre garden in Owen Sound, Ontario, a warm (to Canadians, Zone 5b, and a cold (to Americans, Zone 4b) garden.
Green Theatre 
puppyparents said,
August 10, 2009 @ 6:40 PM
Haha gets pretty addictive, doesn’t it!?
Mention a celebrity name, and your stats go up, up, up!
kilbournegrove said,
August 11, 2009 @ 7:27 AM
You are absolutely right, maybe I should mention Mary Hart’s broken arm!
EACH LITTLE WORLD said,
August 19, 2009 @ 9:17 PM
Deborah — Thanks for the kind words on my blog. And yes, these visitor counts — let alone blogging — can get pretty addictive. Still, it keeps up my writing skills and helps me to keep track of the garden. Where do you live — sounds like Ontario? Years ago I used to live in Buffalo and Rochester, NY, and went to Toronto quite often.
kilbournegrove said,
August 19, 2009 @ 9:42 PM
Very good, I live in a condo in Toronto, although my house is in Owen Sound, which is on Georgian Bay near Collingwood. However, I grew up in St. Catharines and spent lots of time shopping (and drinking) in Buffalo. Heading across the river, was a time honoured tradition if you grew up near the border.