For Jeanne

It has been brought to my attention that my presence in the blog world has been missed. 

When I began blogging, oh so long ago it seems, I was very much a different person.  I think in a way, I needed a blog to validate who we are and what we do.  We were receiving some pretty harsh criticism (from some close to us) for our choice to homeschool, and even in the homeschooling "world" I felt different.  Choosing a Charlotte Mason education drove a wedge between us and non-Masonites - that wedge being the lack of a big packaged curriculum.  Homeschool moms, at least those just getting started, love to talk about curriculum and curriculum switching and matching.  Most people do not understand Charlotte.  They usually think it is an unschooling approach or that we have to just "make up our own stuff," and while people are respectful, they are not interested enough to ask questions about Charlotte Mason, which automatically cuts us off from that area - a big area - of discussion.  Also, despite the fact that we have considered ourselves homeschoolers since our daughter,who is now eight, was a baby, I am never the person that a new homeschooler goes to for advice, which is a big way that homeschoolers bond.  It's a sort of a mentor/tutor setup.  I'm not complaining about not being noticed, but it makes one feel a bit lonely at times.  So in blogging, especially blogging about homeschooling, I was seeking companionship and conversation about how we homeschool, and a chance to talk about all these great books that we get to read. 

And while not much of this has changed, I have made a few good friends, not all of whom school like we do.  But that's ok.  Most of them are seasoned homeschoolers who don't always need (and ladies who are new to homeschooling, I understand this is a real need) to talk about curriculum, and we've found common areas of interest.  So I don't need the blog for companionship. 

But what do I do with those few people with whom I've formed friendships through the blogs?  Some people would say that a blog friendship is not real because the blog only portrays slices of life, usually the best slices, but the real person never actually is revealed as they are.  I would beg to differ.  The best bloggers are those who reveal many aspects of their lives, and not only the good stuff.  They talk about doubts, fears, and concerns.  It is true that through a blog, you will never get to know a person "as they truly are" but I could say the same about close proximity friendships. 

So my question, what to do with my few blog friends.  I will try to check in here more often.  Because there are a few of you out there that I do miss. 

I will try.

And one more thing.  I know that this is a blog for primarily children's vintage picture books.  I moved all of our personal posts onto a separate blog.  I intended to blog about picture books I was reading with the kids.  Problem is, we're not reading so many picture books anymore.  My kids are growing up, and are choosing fewer and fewer picture books for reading time, and when they do choose picture books, they are those books that we've been reading for a long time - never new ones.  So I could just use this blog as a venue to feature books in my etsy shop - a sort of advertisement page.  But to me that just seems so sterile.  I want my books to sell, but not badly enough to spend time talking about them as if we'd actually read them.  The pictures are lovely, but most of the books in my shop, I honestly haven't read and probably won't read, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time blathering about them, as lovely as they are.

So I will probably just move those personal posts back over, and make this my only blog, and I'll post about whatever I want, whenever I want. 

Ok? 

I need to get off of here now and cook breakfast, and then clean the house to get ready for my daughter's birthday party tomorrow.  Maybe when that's all done, I'll get on here and drop in some pictures and let you know what we've been up to.

But then, maybe I'll just curl up on the couch with a cup of Earl Gray and one of my current reads.  Probably Vanity Fair (which is just delicious, by the way.)