A Year of Contemplating

Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday to me,
Haaaaaaappppppy birthday dear Contemplating the Clouds,
Happy birthday to me!

Yes, today (Sunday 16th October 2011) marks the first birthday of Contemplating the Clouds! It hardly seems any time since I posted the picture I took from my bedroom window of the clouds – What I see out the window. And yet it feels like a lifetime ago. As previously mentioned (in the 100th post) this blog was originally set up so I could share photos on the internet and as a procrastination tool. Back then I was a humble fourth year undergraduate at St Andrews, living in good old Nelson Street and working away in the Bute and the library. So much has now changed.

Words came to the site in March, as part of an overhaul. The blog got a new layout (to accommodate these new word things) and a promise to give it a proper purpose. The new layout and the words were immediate, the cohesion of the theme possibly less so.

Since the words came there have been posts on a whole variety of topics, from rugby to royal weddings; my love of sunsets to waterfalls and other things that have been happening in my day to day life. There have been challenges (the Photo Challenge and the Bucket List) as well as reviews of restaurants (namely Mitchell’s in St Andrews) and farmers’ markets (both in St A and Edinburgh), not to mention a behind the scenes tour of this year’s end of festival fireworks at Edinburgh Castle. There was a post with its title in Latin and some of my holiday photos. But is there yet a unifying theme?

I would say yes. Well, no. More like three. Food & Drink, Photography, and travel. There are a multitude of posts about Food & Drink, ranging from the farmers’ markets, to cake, and the occasional mention of gin (and even, once, a gin cheesecake). There are so many posts about St Andrews and Edinburgh it almost hurts, but more importantly this summer saw the start of the Home Town Tourist. This little venture aims to show what’s on offer in Edinburgh, and to teach me about my home town as I go. I am loving this feature and have so many more places I want to visit – look out for more posts in the not so distant future. And as for photography, well, there are only a few posts I can think of that are not based around photos I have taken, so I think that’s going pretty well too.

But now the blog is one. So what did I do? Well, obviously I had some cake.There have been many changes over the year (as I’ve mentioned quite a few times already), there are the obvious changes such as graduation and moving back to Edinburgh, but others you might not know about. This blog is on Twitter (@contempclouds – give it a follow, you know you want to) and also on Paperblog (where there are actually quite a few readers – Hello!) a site I love quite a lot. I’ve also written for other people (like the lovely Visit St Andrews) and I am hoping to write for another site quite soon.

I think that since I started my photos have improved. Well, you can be the judge on that score, but that was one of the background reasons for setting this whole venture up, so I hope it has helped. My writing has also improved, I’d like to think, to be more relevant – if not always succinct – and perhaps even funny on occasion. Maybe another year will help on those fronts – we can but hope.

But less of the past. They say that yesterday is history, tomorrow’s a mystery, and today is a gift; that’s why they call it the present. So how is the blog celebrating? Being an inanimate object it cannot eat the cake I got it (I was too lazy to make one, hence the cup cake with a candle), and whilst I took one for the team and wolfed it down, it means I’ll have to come up with something else.Thus, for the next week (Monday through to Saturday) there will be a special week of posts celebrating one year of Contemplating the Clouds. Each day the post will contain two of my favourite shots from throughout the year and a little bit about each shot. I have had a look through all twelve months worth of photos – there are over 400 of them in total – and have whittled it down to those which I deem the best, or most significant. I hope you enjoy my choices – look out for them at 1pm each day.

So Happy birthday Contemplating the Clouds. Here’s to a year of contemplating and procrastinating; and here is to many more. I do not know where I will be or what I will be doing by the time this date comes round again, but I hope the blog is still going strong. There is certainly much more to come from Home Town Tourist, I think there are still many photos to take (in Edinburgh and beyond), and I want to go on holiday again some time soon. That’s not mentioning all the other ideas that are in the pipeline, and those that haven’t even been thought of yet. Thank you to all the people that have been involved over the year, and thank you to everyone who reads my ramblings (be you first time or long term – there’s a link to subscribe up in the top righthand corner). I very much hope you enjoy it and continue to do so.Cr