Happy Blogicito Blogiversary!

Hey, today is my second blogiversary! I almost forgot about it like I did last year.

The beginning - the barren lot

I started out with "The beginning" showing a photo of our bare property (above). What a struggle that was to build a house. I said in July 2006 that the house still wasn't finished and, guess what, two years later, it still isn't. Hahaha. It's not even like we are trying to get it finished. I think the perfect ebanista (carpinter) will have to fall into our lap before we ever do. Bad experiences will do that to you − makes you gun shy.

The trees have grown

One interesting thing is that in the 2002 photo, I mention that the tops of the trees look like they were on the ground. Above is a photo from July 2008 and the tops of the trees are miles above the ground. I couldn't get a photo from the same angle as it only showed the house and muro (wall), but to give this photo some perspective, the Elephant Ears in the lower right are about 3 feet long (1 meter). Everything (except my mangosteen and macadamia nut trees) grows so fast here in La Ceiba, Honduras. Our views of the mountains are almost gone.

Next I wrote "What's a blog?" and it was a serious question. I had been five years without home internet. Internet cafes in Honduras are often crowded, uncomfortable, and very, very slow. I rarely even used them to check my email. After finally having home internet for a few months, late one night I ran across Blogger and the page said "Start your blog in three easy steps!" So, okay, what the heck: Let's see what happens. It was free!

Then there was "Starting the garden" which was my initial half-hearted attempt to put some sort of order to the saga I was going to write. Heheheh. That attempt at chronological order didn't last long. El Jefe asked, "How do you remember these things?" I don't know. I have a good memory and because everything is new and different, it made a bigger impression on me.

My biggest regret is that we didn't take many photos during our first five years here, except for a zillion photos of our house construction (some can be seen in "Building a house in Honduras" and "More OSHA unapproved"). It was the whole focus our lives for several years. Now, it seems to be again but for different reasons.

Next I wrote my snippy "The good, the bad, and the ugly." I was in one of those moods. Yes, it's snippy, but it still holds up today. It does tend to make some people angry, though. El Jefe can laugh about it and he agrees with it so that's all that matters to me.

Rereading it two years later, I would have to amend the plastic bag section; we now have a few different colors and more and more stores are going to the flimsy, N. American style bags. Over the past two years, we have gotten a few more "thank yous" and the more rare "I'm sorry", but it's still like pulling teeth most of the time. I don't have any recent information on the mail deliverers so that could have changed as well.

What a view!

Looking back at "Where to live", I think it is embarrassingly long and rambly (the real me?). Today I would cut that into two or three blog articles. Only the most devoted readers have time to read those long articles. I really should go back and edit, but where's the time?

After I had those articles posted, I announced to the world that I was a Blogger! Well, to be more precise, I announced to my two internet gardening pals and El Jefe. :-)

El Jefe started reading the blog out loud and to my horror, he read the title as "Blow-hee-see-toe" using the Spanish pronunciation. I realized that in my attempt to invent a clever 'Spanish' word, my title was the worst kind of Spanglish. I admitted my error in "Title delimma," though over the years, numerous readers have felt compelled to write me to point out the error again.

I suppose that was what started my long trend of writing about my screw-ups. Oh, well, most N. American readers have no problem at all in pronouncing 'blogicito' the way I do. In fact, it's very similar to 'blogiversary', isn't it? I googled 'blogversary' (21,000 results), 'blogaversary' (41,000 results), and 'blogiversary' (182,000 results), so that settles it!

A month and about 20 articles later, I thought, "What on earth will I write about now?" Something came to me and the ideas have been coming ever since.

Now here we are, two years, 752 articles, almost 104,000 visitors, and 358 subscribers later. I think that I learned to stick to the subject at hand a little bit better. I've learned a little HTML, prettied up my blog, and "met" a whole lot of people. I notice more all around me and pay more attention to the news since I now feel it is my duty. I've learned more about Honduras, more about myself, and more about people in general. I hope you've learned something, too, and even more importantly, I hope that you've enjoyed your visits to my life.

If you have enjoyed the Blogicito, please do a favor for me and sign my guest book. You don't have to, but you can upload a photo from your computer (it's easy − just follow the instructions). It doesn't have to be a photo of you, if you are shy. Show me your garden or your favorite flower or....something interesting. There is no spamming. It just makes me happy. (You may have to wait a moment for it to magically appear below.)

If you've really, really enjoyed the Blogicito, you can even buy me a present from my Amazon Wish List! People often ask if they can bring something to me, but it's just so embarrassing to ask, so I thought I would try this. Just click the link below, browse the items, and click to buy one. It will be shipped to Texas, where it will be later shipped to me at my cost. If you are coming to La Ceiba and want to bring something with you, that's fine, too.

Thanks for visiting the Blogicito wherever you are!