I had every intention on the blog being my main priority. But then I got sucked into Instagram.

I started from basically zero with one follower that’s a friend and 3 followers that are family. I don’t want to reach out to people I know and talk about what I am doing. This is special to me. Not a secret, but special to me. I’m writing into the void.

Instagram has been fun, humbling, and I’ve met a great group of people so far. Growth has been organic and while I’ve read many complaints about Instagram, I have to say that it’s all interesting to me coming from a background in online community building.

With Instagram, it’s kind of crazy how people follow to unfollow and that strategy seems so empty and not sustainable long-term. It’s easy to get caught up in the whole followers count. Even I want a base foundation; however, it is very much a thing where I’d prefer 50 engaged peers than 50K that don’t engage at all. I mean it’s not really S-O-C-I-A-L if no one is communicating. My reels do well and my posts and carousels don’t do as well, but I don’t let that deter me from posting in a variety of ways. I also like that I am okay with not being perfect about what I’m sharing.

I’ve been learning a lot because Instagram has changed a lot since I last used it.

I’ve also changed a lot since I last used it. It’s been 12 years. 12!

Right now, I have been mostly posting funny captions to my bird videos. It’s not that I think birds are a joke. I LOVE birds. Watching them the past few months has been joyful. It’s given me so many mindful moments. But I am so far past the point of caring if people think I’m immature or silly. Guess what? It’s about time, I am! I was born a mini adult. I’m cutting loose! I’m not going to be everything to everyone. My little birds and little backyard critters are like a cast of characters. They’re entertaining and hilarious to me. That’s not to say that I’m only going to share bird memes.

You can pretty much expect the following:

Birds, Cats, Houseplants, Garden or Nature-related topics, Books, Home-related strategies and solutions, and Food topics. I’ll throw in random thrift or antique store finds, too. Over time, my writing will get tighter and more column-style for topics that warrant it.

So back to the fact that I haven’t written anything lately.

This is not new for me. When I wrote professionally, I wrote daily and had deadlines and I had 6 months of columns banked. I was a writing fool! Syndication was meant to be. There were way too many coincidences throughout my life that were like these little breadcrumbs leading me to a dream that I had stuffed down since childhood. I barely let the words escape that I was ready to write professionally and then boom, syndication happened. It also ended in exactly the way that I knew it would. I would walk away and feel like a part of me had died. It’s taken me many years to write anything. So for now, you get the free flowing, unedited version of just writing whatever pops into my head. It will be long. It will be disjointed for a bit. But it’s a process and I’m starting with no rules. There’s no word count to adhere to. I’m going to type and share all of the words.

Sooooo

Spring has not quite sprung here in the Great Lakes Bay region.

I’ve been busy planting seeds and bare root plants.

I also have been dividing plants, making dish gardens and propagating houseplants.

I created the above for Instagram and then opted to not use it. So I’m using it here. The last plant couldn’t be captioned properly, but it’s an Echeveria.

My spring bulbs haven’t even bloomed yet. Sure, the typical Snowdrops and a single crocus have bloomed.

Soon there’s going to be a spring explosion of flowers blooming. Some definitely in the upcoming week. I’m excited for garden season.

I need to get my hummingbird and oriole feeders up. I have a GoPro I could setup. I need some mounting clamps. In my mind, I have this concept of setting up adorable little vignettes for the birds and little critters. The goal being a Youtube channel. I also have a mini project on the dining room table that I want to do.

I’ve also been researching and shopping for a new camera. I gave my camera to my daughter because she’s away in Laos. I’d like to get back into photography because much like writing, it’s something I love, but I set it aside. I don’t know what camera I’ll end up with. I’m fairly certain it will be Nikon. My previous cameras were Nikon. I’m starting from scratch, so I need glass and the camera body. Yeah. Cha-ching.

Plant-wise, I bought my Boston ferns super early again and will be hauling them inside and back outside for a couple of weeks. WHY do I buy them early?! I buy them early because of the cost ($19.99/each) and because they’re huge by June. Why have small ferns when I can have MEGA FERNS at a fraction of the cost?!

Whenever my big ceramic planters are placed on my front porch for my ferns, I know it’s the beginning of my favorite time of year! Guys, that started today! I need to order my mulch!

The End. I hope the sweet potato helped you get to the end.