It’s time

to say goodbye…

 

Source:  pexels

 

There comes that time when it is obvious that to continue would be foolish. The creative juices (what there was of it) has gone dry, and one’s health makes it more difficult. You only have to look at the latest About page photo of me to see that age and the hard life I have led have caught up with me. So, it’s time.

I have cancelled my WordPress subscription, but I’m paid up until july2018. I think what that means is that the advertisements won’t start appearing until after then! I will leave the blog here for those who may wish to explore further, and you may find me in the More on WordPress section of the Reader at some point in the future! LOL. Yes, my humour hasn’t quite left me and I do see the irony in that statement.

For those who are interested in such things:

1. I have published 984 posts, since june2014 (the latest incarnation).
2. There have been 745 comments made on those posts.
3. There are six Pages: the About page at the top of the site, and five others which are Galleries of themed images. Those you connect to by clicking onto any of the five button links at the footer of the site, where normally the social media icons appear. Hover over each one to see the topic matter. Enjoy!
4. I have added a Blog Stats widget too. That tells you the real story of this blog.
5. You will not be able to Follow this blog.
6. Comments will remain open, but close after 90 days on this final post.

My six or so years on WordPress have been an interesting learning journey. After blogging since 2005, on many different platforms and for different reasons, whether writing or photography or showing anything that I would consider more ‘arty’, I finally settled with WP because, simply put, it is the best out there that I could find (I’m a very fussy person and highly critical when it counts). Ease of technical execution to create and keep a site functioning well, the many blog or website themes to choose from (sometimes I think there are too many), and the wonderful support community, whether the Happiness Engineers or the Forums, where one can learn lots or contribute as well, if the mood takes you. But, most of all, it is the people I call the WordPress Family, those fellow WP bloggers who come and visit and Like and Comment, with consistency, and often with great humour. I like a good joke, just like the next person, and my sense of humour tends to be either very dry or quite whacky. I have had many laughs as a result. Thank you, so much!

Most of all, I have learned and evolved my technical skills, along with WordPress. My own natural computing aptitude tends towards stretching the boundaries, and I was always pleased when it became clear something had been changed to make it easier for all of us. Sometimes I would make suggestions, more often I would just wait. Rarely was I disappointed. Technology changes at the speed of light. I have no doubt WordPress will be at the forefront of that change. My thumbs up to Matt and all the engineers and other contributors who make it all work. Thank you!

As an aside, I haven’t been able to draw this yet (I saw it quite lucidly as part of a dream one night recently), but just imagine an open heart partly embedded in the earth, with classic simple outlines of faces grouped together, bursting forth from that heart. That describes me. Perhaps a futurist, which also describes me. Perhaps a sign of people who love future technology. As a segue, the only real regret of my life is that I never took up the opportunity that was handed to me in 1982 to work for Rank Xerox here in Melbourne after they saw how I was doing other things, not expected, on their wonderful state-of-the-art 850 Page Display dedicated standalone word processing system (I think a definite forerunner to the Apple Mac, if only they’d been quick to get to market), and which I had chosen as the word processing system to be used at the research consultancy where I worked. The artificial intelligence side of things Rank Xerox were doing really got my attention!

Anyway, enough. Talking about myself hasn’t been a part of what this blog has been about. I hope the work I have posted, and the sometimes godawful attempts as well, will show who I am. I will remain in touch by keeping up with your activity in the Reader.

One final drawing, made by me on my Lumia 950 Windows 10 smartphone:

Echidna, a cute Australian native mammal. Finger painting using Fantasia Painter.