Of Comments, Readers and Gratitudes

Apr 11, 2010

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Writing this blog, as I’ve mentioned before, is a purely selfish addiction. I can’t stop myself now. I need this outlet to digest my day to day. I think of post ideas constantly (like 2 or 3 a day!), and write volumes in my head while I’m pressure-washing puke out of carseats.

Several of you have mentioned that my blog reads like a letter from a friend. Well, that’s about how it writes too. And let me assure you it is often eerie writing an intimate letter to a nameless number of (mostly) strangers. It’s a leap of faith to wrench your heart onto a keyboard and then send it flying into the Unknown.

Do you remember the best part about writing a letter? (Back from the days when people did such things…) Oh yes, the best part was opening your mailbox to find a reply!

I am a comment junkie. I check my comments at least twice a day. My heart jumps at compliments like a little lost puppy, and suggestions for practical things are often trialed that very day.

I don’t know what the protocol is for comments. Am I supposed to respond to every one? Or only when a question or specific point has been raised? I guess it doesn’t really matter what the protocol is anyway, because the fact is that I only have so much time, and it usually comes down to that I could respond to comments, or write a post. And I pretty much choose writing a post.

But! This does not mean I don’t read and treasure each comment. Truly! I want to make sure you all know how grateful I am for each and every comment. They validate my time here. They make the walls of this dark cave a bit less echoey. They remind me that I am among company, and inspire me to write more.

I especially love long comments. The longer the better! Tell me all about who you are, why you read, what you had for dinner. Write me a letter back. Don’t be shy. I’m not some big famous blogger with 57 comments to each post. There’s a small, cozy readership here. If you comment more than once, I will probably recognize your name. If you tell me something about yourself, I will remember. If you want to write me a real letter– well, as real as it gets these days– my email address is scarletfevir at yahoo.

Please do not think that because I don’t respond to your comments I’m not reading them with rapture. Thank you for taking the time to read at all. Thank you especially for your letters back, big and small.

Thanks for coming by. Don’t be a stranger.

Comments

17 responses to “Of Comments, Readers and Gratitudes”

Andrea

April 11, 2010

hey, how do you get rid of diaper reek? i read the soap post and i was so, so curious.

i use a top loader and i have to pay 1.50 for it, so i don’t like to run it twice.

but seriously, i hung the suckers up last night and it STUNK.

i don’t want to try bleach, just cuz these diapers are on their last legs anyways and i’m afraid the bleach will just disintegrate them.

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1. Calamity Jane
  
  April 11, 2010
  
  unfortunately, once the Toddler’s diapers started The Reek, the only real fix seemed to be bleach. someone recommended vinegar, which i tried. baking soda, tried. only bleach really did it.
  but having seen what the sun does, do you hang them in the sun?
  also, i never tried boiling. i felt like The Reek was some kind of beastie that had taken up residence.
  sorry to give you such images….
  
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kelsey

April 11, 2010

speaking of diapers… i finally got motivated enough to wash diapers before …oh shoot theres none left…..
so i got them hung out (also rare for us to get a few nice sunny days) and holy smokers the sun does wonders for the green baby poo stains….. they look and smell so much better. So im gonna do my best to do this much more often. plus im sure the dryer is one of the biggest power gobblers and ours takes almost 2 hrs to dry a load of diapers.

very much enjoying your posts…..
:)

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Meagan @ecoMILF

April 11, 2010

Well, I better say a little hello then. I’ve just stumbled across your lovely space recently and am inspired by your gorgeous photos. I am living in as urban area as it gets in Australia but try to grow as many potted fruits and veggies as possible, get outside most of the day with my little one, bake my own bread, make things from scratch and take other small steps to living a more holistic, eco-friendly lifestyle. I’ll be back wandering your pages often! xo m.

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Andrea

April 11, 2010

it’s sunny enough to try hanging them on the balcony, except that my pots have sort of taken over all the space! i do remember the sun/fresh air combo works better so i’ll try that before risking bleach. sahid is showing no signs of wanting to use the potty so i have to make them last.

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Linda

April 12, 2010

You have mentioned Riana’s blog several times, but one needs an invitation to read it, it seems. Do you know how I can go about contacting her to get permission? It sounds like a great read!

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1. Calamity Jane
  
  April 14, 2010
  
  i’m actually not sure. i finished the archives just weeks before she said she was quitting the blogging business, and then her page went private…. if i can get to it, i’ll email her and ask, i think i do still have her email, i was a bonafide stalker.
  
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  1. kelsey
    
    April 14, 2010
    
    I was too… but never made it through the archives. She said its private for all now. No one is allowed in. She does have a flikr account though…. under the same name “these days in french life” and its as good as the blog! I really do need to say hello to her one day as ive been a shameless lurker too long……..
Debbie

April 12, 2010

Hello
I have just found your blog and in response to your last post thought I would leave a comment! I had a go at novice jam making in september – we are renovating a house with a bit of land (hoping to live in a eco way there but that’s another very long story) and I picked so many plums there that I spent a week making plum jam, plum chutney, till I was sick of the stuff and had stained my fingers orange. BUT I had lots of jars of jam as christmas presents to give away :D

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1. Calamity Jane
  
  April 14, 2010
  
  mmmmmmmm, plum jam. trade ya for a jar of marmalade.
  
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Elaine

April 13, 2010

OMG, I am not only a lurker but probably should be qualified to be called a stalker! I am trying to slowly go back and read your entire blog but life catches up and the spousal unit insists I cook or something…wtf? Anyway, I have more or less brow beat my dil into reading your blog. And you live in the south, how cool is that?? I live in NE Texas, @ 100 miles east of Shreveport. Don’t bother with your google map, it’s a long ways to NOLA, dammit!
You have inspired me to look very hard for organic and especially free trade, when I shop.
My dil wanted to use cloth diapers on her first baby but has not used any of them! It didn’t help any when I gently reminded her that her babe’s carbon footprint was going to be huge now….please God, just slap me and tell me to shut the hell up! So anyway, I made her some newborn diapers out of up-cycled t-shirts, they are on my blog, but she is using the non-earth steward disposable diapers. No, I didn’t really say much about this, I swear! So now I have a 55 gallon box of washed and cut up t-shirts aimed for diapers. Are you having more babies, I’ll send them your way.
Your balsamic vinegar sounds heavenly. I read on down-to-earth blog on how Rhonda makes her own vinegar. So I ran out and bought a pineapple. The next time I went to the store I found a huge cart between the meat and produce section with bags of overripe fruit and/or veggies for a dollar each. Great bargain, so I bought them for my goats and horses. Then it hit me, duh, vinegar! Now I have a added another jar with mangoes and another with blood oranges. They are perking away!
I am attempting another garden this year. I dug up a section of the horse pasture last year, by hand, and tossed the sod with roots away. After several backbreaking days of sod busting, my neighbors’ comment, it rained for several days. When I went back out to the promised land, I discovered FIRE ANTS TOOK OVER!!!! I hate those little suckers. So I went to the yard, same thing with the sod thing. After I planted it just wasn’t in me to be a good gardner…too much heat not enough growing.
I really enjoy reading your blog, as I am sure lots of others love it as well. Thanks for entertaining me, Elaine

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1. Calamity Jane
  
  April 14, 2010
  
  don’t worry elaine, i love stalkers!
  yeah, texas is big, so they say. long ways ‘cross. too bad, i’d love a visitor!
  no more babies in the plan, though you never do know…
  sorry your gardening fantasies are not panning out as hoped. people here pretty much close their gardens up for summer (inc a plastic weed barrier) and stick to spring and fall for growing. what’s your climate like in north tx?
  from my experience, gardening is more about learning than anything else. and accepting constant failure (success too, but that’s easy!)
  keep at it!
  -cj
  
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Kylie

April 13, 2010

Hey ladies! didn’t intend on saying anything, but y’know I just can’t keep my trap shut so here I am!

I love this place CJ, and the raw honesty you bring it is real refreshing. I wish that we were neighbours, cos I know that the frustration would be worn on ya sleeve just like your love is. Tis real nice to hear and (kinda) see someone who knows that an emotion is an emotion, don’t gotta be scared of one more than any other.

Ok, the real reason I am commenting is cos my nappies got a bit of a reek to them. I didn’t notice it as much as what the blokething did. So I started religiously pre-washing (just an initial rinse, really) with white vinegar in the cycle. I have found that they no longer smell ‘pissy’ at all. Hope that helps someone! My prob with the nappies is I have mcn and the gusset elastic on some of them is slackening. I’m hoping it’s just the secondhand ones that are a bit worn out, cos if more go slack I’m gunna be soooo mad!

Ok, have a nice day all. I’m hoping to make some sort of Forward Progress today with a jacket for my boy, and maybe, just maybe get to writing a blog post at some point. But the mountain before me, well, I need to make a molehill out of it!

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urban craft

April 16, 2010

oh, I love it when people talk about commenting. There really are no rules but I know for a fact that there are many um, celebrity craft bloggers, the ones that do have 50+ comments per post, they do not read their comments cause I have asked questions and made some crazy blurbs in some just to get their attention and nothing. OR maybe they think I am crazy or something and just ignore me. Either way, I like to comment and share my thoughts on peoples stuff. I also like thoughts on my stuff too but it’s not about commenting to get comments back. It’s more like spreading the love.
BUT then again, those celebrity craft livestyle blogs get people who comment on their posts and all they have done is post something about their dog laying on a hammock or “hey, look how cute my kid is!” Then bam – 250 comments.
And you know they do not respond to 250 people. What’s that about? Anyway, thanks for having an actual interaction with your readers.

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1. Calamity Jane
  
  April 16, 2010
  
  oh i know. i hate to be snotty, but there is some real tripe in the blog world. and that is the stuff that gets the hits. people want tripe. i don’t get it.
  anyway, no desire here to get 250 one-liner comments anyway. i’ve got more than i know what do with already!
  
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Heather

April 17, 2010

Hi! I’m a relatively new reader to your blog. I can’t actually remember how I found your place, but I’m glad that I did. I’m sort of a living oxymoron (though honestly, who isn’t?) I have a public blog, and another (smaller) not-so-public blog but most of the time I have to work myself up to actually leaving a comment. Even though I put myself out there on my public blog (and soon, writing for somewhere else, too), it still gets to me. Not too sure why!

I’m currently living in the Smoky Mountain region of TN, but originally from KS. I used to think that I wanted to live in a big city. I fancied myself a city girl. Now, though? Now the husband and I are just trying to figure out how to get *out* of the city and start a farm. Who’d of thought. I used to dream of Seattle. Now? I just want enough space for the kids to run free, a nice big garden and some cows. Well, and some sheep, too. Because I sort of have this fiber addiction. (Ha. And the husband just scoffed at the “sort of”. And asked aloud whether 20lbs of yarn in various states of knitting or dyeing counts as “sort of”.)

Anyhow. Really. I love your blog. I love your writing. And, well, hello!

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1. Calamity Jane
  
  April 18, 2010
  
  welcome heather. i used to NEVER comment on blogs. till i started watching my own comments like a junkie, then i realized i’d better give back. i still only manage it once in awhile.
  TN! not far away! i have dreams of a road trip to TN at some point in our three years here, to see The Farm, and hopefully meet one of my favorite authors Sandor Katz at Short Mountain Farm. keep in touch and maybe i can visit you on your new woolly acres!
  pretty much all the interesting people are, yes. oxymorons that is.
  
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