Today, though I can scarce believe it, marks the first-year anniversary of this blog.
From my first post, an introduction and explanation, to the most recent post Tuesday evening, 227 posts along, my blog is still evolving and changing. It has filled my need to occasionally free-associate and ramble and sometimes rant outside of my normal daily grind, and it has allowed me to explore, a little bit, the new social media outlets and think about applying them to my day job. It has given me a chance to learn more about gardening and especially about roses, through research and from others. And it has opened some doors to inward reflection. I now know more about the passions that exist in my life and have an ever-so-slightly better appreciation of the important things in life from writing about them.
As for the future, I'm content to let it develop as it will. One thing that life (and gardening in Kansas) surely teaches us over time is that we all need to take it a little less seriously and be able to roll with the seasonal and sometimes tornadic punches. Somewhat-daily blogging has slowed down my efforts on a second gardening book, but I hope it continues to better my writing and helps me find a unique voice. Certainly, my grammar is slowly improving and the ideas are stacking up.
And, anyway, blogging is but a garden of the mind, sometimes budding to bloom, sometimes wilting in the harsh light, but always expressing life in every thought and paragraph.