Hello? Anybody out there?
It’s been a record 34 days since my last post. I wish I could say it’s because my summer has been full of jaunts to Europe and glorious days spent picnicking, skinny dipping, and sipping gin and tonics in my garden.
The reality is more like jaunts to the drugstore and days spent at various mom and baby groups, doing endless loads of laundry, and wiping poop off my jeans.
The culprit responsible, of course, is Lila, my now almost four-month old daughter. [This is where I’d insert a cute but completely gratuitous photo of Lila if I could figure out how to successfully upload photos via WordPress. Grrr – what am I doing wrong??] Update: Solved! Thanks everyone who commented with their suggestions, and Ryan for fixing the issue.
I won’t start talking about how amazing and beautiful and highly advanced she is, because, let’s face it, that’s boring (and debatable) to everyone except maybe her grandparents. What I will say is that the girl fights sleep like it’s the worst thing that could happen to her, leaving me with very little time for things like Heavy Petal. And eating.
But I can’t blame Lila entirely for the lack of posts. I’ve also been busy switching blogging applications. (Goodbye, MovableType, hello WordPress!). I’ve made a few small changes to start. I’ve changed my blogroll (“Heavy Petal loves…”) so that only two links from each of the four categories show up on the homepage (to reduce clutter). Click on “view all” and, well, you can view them all. I haven’t had a chance to add all my favourites, so if your site is missing, it ain’t personal. Please leave a comment or send me an email and I’ll make sure to add you.
I’ve also added a few new link categories: Home and Design, Sustainablity, and Vancouver. Home and Design made sense because I find a lot of inspiration for the garden from these sites, some of which makes it into my posts. I’ve got tonnes more links to add here.
Sustainability was also a no-brainer, because of the organic slant of this blog, as well as my tendency to digress into non-garden-related sustainability topics. More links to come here, too.
Finally, the Vancouver links section will be helpful for Vancouverites, of course, but there’s also some great links of interest to all gardeners (see City Farmer, for example) and those planning to visit our fair city.
With all the time that went into updating Heavy Petal, I’m dedicated to regular posting once again. It feels good to get into the garden – if only virtually.
Elaine says
Welcome back. Good to hear your voice again. Some of us don’t have valid excuses for not blogging for 30+ days — yours is reasonable and understandable. If I had a child, I probably wouldn’t be able to blog again until she/he started school.
RE inserting photos. When I used WORDPRESS as my blogging platform, if I wanted to insert a a photo, I would switch my post draft to HTML mode, then cut and paste the code from the appropriate Flickr photo page. If you think this might work for you, please email me and I’ll cut and paste an example for you.
Also, I wanted to let you know your (I guess it’s mine, now) tomato plant is growing very well. Yes it survived relocation and repotting and the extreme heat of August.
I like the new categories you’ve set up.
Sara Bearchell says
Hey!
I’ve just started up my own wordpress blog and I found the easiest way to add images is through a flickr plugin. Check here for several options: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tags/images
It’s very easy to add by downloading the plugin, dropping it into your content folder, and then enabling it through the design section of your admin login. You have to have a flickr account and do this weird secret code business (instructions are totally included.
Then, when you’re writing your posts, there’s a little Flickr icon you click on and voila it inserts the image from your flickr account.
I like using flickr because it keeps my file space down on my site and it also spreads my network a little further. I’ve received random emails from folks on Flickr who want to use my photos for other things, and every little bit helps.
Good luck and keep it coming! Love the guerrilla gardening posts…
Juree says
Glad to have you back Andrea! I look forward to reading your new posts! and Lila is so adorable………..
Alicia says
Hi…I’m an Oregon, organic gardening, fun loving, homeschooling, garden gnome indifferent lurker on your blog and absolutely love it. Glad you are back, and many congratulations on baby Lila!!
Laurel says
Yep, I’m here and glad to have you back! :)
dee/reddirtramblings says
My first child, now 15 and affectionately known as the Diva, also fought sleep. I thought for the first two years I would die. Your Lila is a darling, and a wonderful excuse. Changing applications is also no piece of cake. I’m on WordPress too if I can help.~~Dee
Karen says
Congrats on the baby, don’t worry about not blogging (or gardening, for that matter). You’ll get to all in good time. My kid is five and I’m still not out there in the plants too much unless she’s asleep or otherwise occupied. That’s just the way it goes! We do what we can. They are lucky to have moms who will plant them cool stuff to sample and snack upon!
Happy late summer,
Karen (Seattle)
http://greenwalks.wordpress.com
Cassandra says
Welcome back!
Penina says
So glad I found your site! I’ve got a work site I put most of my spare time into (being a mom, that’s a laugh), but I, to digress into sustainability, and plan to jettison the work blog for my someday blog on making community sustainable and sustaining. Someday, for me, generally translates out into a late-night-turned-all-nighter, when I just can’t stand waiting anymore and to heck with that deadline. My kid is nine now, so soon… soon… :-) Thanks for the inspiration: I’m looking forward to more!
Penina says
grr… spelling/grammar correction: I, too, digress.
(Gramma returns with boy in half an hour, so I’m rushing)
Andrea Bellamy says
Elaine – good to hear from you too. My brandywine produced a few good ones, but certainly wasn’t prolific, like it was last year. I’m curious to see what you get from yours.
Sara – Looks like you and Elaine are in agreement about the Flickr thing. I’ll have to find the time to install it. Thanks for leading me to your new site!
Juree – thanks! I’m going to email you now…
Alicia – aw, shucks! Thanks, and thanks.
Laurel – good to know you stuck around. Keep tuned, I’ll be writing a lot more now.
Dee – thanks for the empathy – and offer of WP assistance. I might have to take you up on that offer at some point.
Karen – that’s a great way to look at it!
Cassandra – thanks. Glad to be back.
Penina – Glad you found me, too. So, I’m curious – what’s your site?
Patti says
Yep, my now-14-year-old hardly slept as an infant, too. Gave up naps completely at 18 months. Fell asleep in public *ONCE* ever, at about 6 months, for about 10 minutes. NEVER slept in the car, and actually hated car rides. Loudly.
He’s great now. :P
Glad to see you back!
Penina says
I put the link to my work site in the comment form, but here it is again: http://www.fantastic-machine.com/penina
My son and I started up one for him this weekend (he wants to monetize :-) so we moved off of wordpress, and into my own domain):
http://www.fantastic-machine.com/tal
I have a wordpress-hosted community blog that is sorely neglected here:
http://livingcommunity.wordpress.com/
Penina says
Oh, and did I mention that the photo of Lila is GORGEOUS. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!
Andrea Bellamy says
Patti – OMG. Wow – thanks for making me feel grateful that Lila naps at all!
Penina – Thanks! I think so too, but I’m a bit biased. ;)
Anja says
Have you tried a sling? That worked for us. Although she might be getting a little big for lying down in it you should be able to for anoher few weeks or so (after that it’s a still a great carrier). Also putting my son down for a nap every two hours (on the clock) really worked – he was getting overtired all the time. You might have tried both these things already but it’s worth a shot. (My son is 7 months now and sleeps a lot better so hopefully the same will happen to you – she’s awful cute by the way!)