Thank you to each and every one of you who reads these pages.
Thank you to each and every one of you who looks at the photos I’ve taken.
Thank you to each and every one of you who takes the time to join in the conversation by leaving even one word in the comment section. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.
Catching Days would be a lonely place without you.
And a very special thank you to champion commenter Darrelyn Saloom–who first commented here on July 22, 2009, and since then has left 276 more comments. Hugs, my friend. Darrelyn also wrote one of the essays in the How We Spend Our Days series, in case you missed that. But here are her first words at Catching Days, back on that July day in 2009, in response to Mark Strand’s the continuous life:
So beautiful! And so true that we fear “slipping away with nothing completed, nothing / To prove you existed.” It is at the root of why I write, which is good, I believe.
I am thrilled to have found your blog Cynthia. Your writing is beautiful and inspires my attempts to do the same. “That one thing leads to another, which leads to another;” reading sublime poetry and prose leads to good writing and on and on.
Thank you
No. Thank YOU.
Thank you ALL.
Congrats, Cynthia! I’m glad I found you, too 🙂 And I hope to be joining the blogging ranks at some point in the near future. Your content is worth my (our) time, and that’s saying a lot 🙂 Thanks!
Thanks so much, Donna Marie! You are on quite a comment roll yourself : ) I’m enjoying getting to know you and I’m looking forward to the “grand opening” of your blog!
Thanks, Cynthia 🙂 (You can just call me Donna, btw 🙂 ) It’s funny you say that, too, ’cause I don’t really pay attention to how often I comment or post anywhere, but being a natural conversationalist, they do build up! Quick anecdote:
Back in 2005 when HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE was released, B&N University (online) offered a 4-week discussion group of the book. They actually did 3 separate, consecutive discussions of which I participated in all 3, though it was the first one that was FANTASTIC! I hesitated getting involved because I knew I’d spend inordinate amounts of time on it when I had many other things I needed to be doing. I opted to do it and it turned out to be one of the most memorable and enjoyable times of my life AND benefited me TREMENDOUSLY as a writer!
Anyway, some nasty person I ended up having a problem with actually stated that out of all the people participating, I had the most comments or almost the most or something to that effect, as though I was doing it for the purpose of having the most posts! Like it was some sort of competition! I couldn’t care less about that and actually have a small group of friends from that time, having made our own little HarryPotterTheoryMongers group. So, whatever tallies you look at (I guess you can see stuff like that in your blog stats?), chances are I’ll be racking them up! lol And trust me, it has nothing to do with numbers 🙂 To me, it’s all about great content and interesting conversation, whether intellectual or just plain fun.
Again, I’m glad to have found you and your blog 😀
I love the back and forth, Donna. It’s a real treat. Thank you. And no mean people here : )
I think it’s a fantastic achievement, to be able to look back over five years and see where you’ve come. Thank you for sharing that with the rest of us!
Rebecca, thank you! So glad you found CD and that now I’ve discovered path: ethic. as well!
🙂
No idea I’d left so many comments, C. But I’m not surprised. Yours is my favorite website and blog. You’ve created a lovely place to spend part of my days. xo
Thanks, D! I keep thinking I’m going to make friends with Tumblr but so far not yet : (
Your blog and photos are a wonderful and inspirational respite. Congrats on five years! And Darrelyn certainly has that way of loving, caring support. 🙂
Thank you, Dave. 🙂
Yes, she does–as you can see, she beat me to responding to you : ) Thanks, Dave!
Indeed! 🙂
Your blog actually changed my life, Cynthia. (And my writing.) I found you through reading an essay you wrote that I so liked I had to track you down to thank you. Then I stayed. We bonded over Annie Dillard, my graduate mentor, and even more, I think, over Ellen Gilchrist. That led to me reading your writers’ interviews series, really one of the best of its kind of the many I’ve read. One of the writers described how she started her day by going into her guest room and spreading books and papers all over the bed. That was the epiphany. You mean she’s not tethered to a desk?
As I shared here from time to time, the idea of shifting to a new technology tool, from a desktop to a laptop, to what I considered the “cliche” of Apple (and how workers were treated in the factories), was huge. It took me several years to finally buy first a smart phone, then an I-Pad, and finally a laptop.
It was like shifting from my beloved Selectric II from college and grad school to my first computer, torture and suffering that then went on for years. This learning curve wasn’t as difficult, but it was still an act of courage.
Next, as I also shared here, was realizing I really could move to MY guest cottage, which I’d previously only used for daily meditation (and guests, of course) and be my own best guest. Gradually I moved my writing stuff into Eagle Cottage, as it’s called for the eagles that surround us, and gradually I started taking more time in my life for myself. (Now I give guests the master bedroom, and my husband and I sleep in a tent out under the stars listening to the sea. Eagle Cottage has become Kirie’s Cottage.)
That is all thanks to you! Keep writing! Keep sharing!
Kirie, it’s so good to hear from you. The thing I miss most about not posting everyday is hearing from readers. I loved reading your first sentence, your first paragraph, your last big paragraph, especially the taking more time in your life for yourself and the Kirie’s Cottage part–actually your whole comment. Thanks so much for writing it up like a little story and sending it to me like a gift. xo