Wednesday, July 19, 2017

It's been ten years...


Early evening. One of my favorite times of day.

Two anniversaries: I started writing this blog in 2007. It is ten years old. In Internet terms that is about 1,000! It grew from my first not very good photos, taken with a series of small, much loved Canon point and shoots. Hi tech, in those days. But these pocket sized creatures led to an almost obsessive interest in digital documentation and to a level of confidence I had never felt until then. The cameras were somehow a screen and filter, letting me move through the world without worrying as much about what it thought of me. I created the blog in a year that had begun very badly for me, where I was so despondent that I was prescribed anti depressants by a shrink who should have known better (he said he would not treat me if I was not on them. I never went back and ditched the pills after four weeks - I'm not saying they are not important for some people, but they were not what I needed, then. I needed someone to listen). A few weeks later I began to write.

My interest in photography led, a couple of months after I began blogging, to the Frenchman, who was waiting and waving at me from the west coast of this huge continent, in Vancouver, BC. Our July emails set off an electrical storm that culminated in his touchdown at Newark Liberty International that September. Four months later we were married.

I know. It's an old story. But I like telling it.

This blog, and its offshoots, on Facebook and now evolving on Instagram, led to new friendships, locally and across the globe, and these have enriched my life in innumerable ways, personally and professionally. My work changed, my skills improved, I was and remain challenged and inspired by what comes to me via 66 Square Feet.

Happy birthday, blog. You saved me.


40 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Marie! Here's to the next ten!

    You have certainly added much to my life and I thank you.
    Bobbe in Chicago

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  2. Beautiful post. i love your writing and how economical you are with words, saying a lot by saying very little. congratulations on ten years!

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  3. Dear Marie,
    I discovered your wonderful blog and soon after the fascinating forage walks you lead in New York parks. Now I'm waiting for your new book. You have enriched my life!
    Congratulations on the anniversary!
    Joan

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    1. Joan, thank you very much. You are always the most elegant forage walker!

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  4. That is a wonderful story that I never will tire of hearing! Congratulations on ten years of enriching our lives through your blog and almost-ten years of marriage!! Greetings from the Pacific Northwest, Leslie

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  5. And, mine, too. I think of you so often adn wish i lived close enough to go walking now and then. Keep on writing! It's the joy of my days.

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  6. I love your blog. Here's to hoping that in another 10 years, we're doing this again. And I agree w Leslie: I never tire of hearing that story. Mary

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  7. I had to play "catch up" at one point--having missed the beginnings of 66 square feet. But ever since I am here every morning to see what you have to share. You are the reason I have two fig trees. You are also the reason I keep trying to "capture" native yeast to make my own loaves. Lead on Marie---

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    1. Thank you, Joanne. How are the wild yeasts going?

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  8. Congratulations! Your writing has proven to be a much-needed oasis of calm and beauty in this turbulent world. Thank you and thank you and thank you.

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    1. Thank you, Leon! And thank you for being such a generous and calm voice of science.

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  9. Congratulations. I am so glad you came to Buffalo a year ago - and that I was the chosen one to take you to dinner. I find your writing honest and beautiful and I don't think I'd ever tire of that story either. I am a true believer that more times than not "out of darkness comes light."
    Matisyahu

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    1. That was such a delicious meal! If you are ever in Brooklyn, I would like to reciprocate.

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  10. Congratulations! I feel much the same way you do about my own blog. It was good to meet you in real life too!

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    1. Thank you, Jim - it was a treat to meet you, too. And good luck for the upcoming Walk!

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  11. I'm a new reader of your blog.
    I have been binge reading,
    starting with your very first post.
    I'm about half way through now
    but I check your home page almost
    every day.
    I'm having a wonderful time following
    your around your garden, your city,
    and the world.
    Thank you............

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    1. Gosh, thank you Janet - that is real commitment, and very flattering. And I know the layout of those early posts has become quite scrambled as Blogger has evolved.

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  12. Ca va, Marie. Et felicitation! -- vous etes un inspiration pour nous.
    Your approach to food, to being present, and to these wonderful growing things we so often dont see helps keep us awake.

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  13. Congratulations Marie! Thanks so much for sharing your blog with the world (it saves us too!). I love opening my work inbox of a morning and seeing your email there, it's a nice little escape ;) One day I will come to New York and do one of your tours!

    x Jo
    Newcastle, Australia

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  14. congrats marie, it has been an adventurous 10 years. i too have lost dearly loved pets in that time and found solace in this blog.
    here is to many more fun posts.
    betsy

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  15. Time does fly, I've enjoyed this time, and the adventures you share. Congratulations and keep growing!

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  16. I hope I count as one of those friends you've met along the way ... my blog turned 10 on July 13th. I don't post often lately and I don't write much ... I post artwork. My blog saved me too ! taught me who I am, what's important to me and what I love in life. Much love to you Marie and to Beence too ! I just spent some time recently on E's blog and was so happy and relieved that it's still there. xoxo Susan & les Gang

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    1. Susan, of course you do. We send love back to you and your pretty town.

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  17. Happy Belated to your Life Saver! It has been a wonderful to read and share in your adventures. Loved the many moods of Estorbo and miss his charming observations. hugs! Mary Lou

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  18. Happy blogiversary! I'm a new follower, found my way through your beautiful instagram feed! I really look forward to perusing your old posts. This was a great introduction!

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  19. Happy Birthday to your blog and Congratulations to the two of you. I adore the story ... happy stories and lovely outcomes are never old. Your blog has brought me joy in bleak moments- so many thanks for the pleasures, the interesting information, the delightful photos, the fascinating journeys abroad... and everything!

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  20. Happy anniversary Marie! I've enjoyed your blogs for years and was probably one of first South Africans to buy your book. It was a privilege walking with you last year. Wishing you continued success in your botanical, foraging, photography and culinary pursuits! Sterkte!!

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  21. Happy Blogday.
    From New Zealand, you make me envious in my winter with your summery posts, cold in my summer with your wintery posts, superbly jealous of missed opportunities forging for unknown flora and just happy to see pretty pictures and another person adding colour and life to the world.
    Thank you.
    Leigh

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  22. Happy belated anniversary! Love the story!

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  23. Happy anniversary, as a fellow ex Capetonian I first tuned in on one of your visits to your mum in Constantia, loving the lush planting of blue hydrangeas, agapanthus and roses, and vicariously walking the mountain trails with you. I stayed for the beautiful spare writing, the intimate insight into living in New York as an artist, and the beautiful gardens you fashion from the least promising beginnings. I love seeing too the native animals you entice into your little patch of green, from the hummingbirds to the opossums. You make me want to try growing plants from seed, and that's saying something! Love too the story of how you met the Frenchman, it has the ring of a fairy story to it, like Rapunzel.

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  24. Happy much belated birthday to your blog! I discovered it after a long difficult period in my life which included cancer and surgeries and treatments. Oy. I had just moved house just before diagnosis and had a small north facing backyard. Your blog was (and is) so inspiring, and beautiful, that i obsessively binge-read, it was a tonic on those days when i could not get out of bed. Now i have moved again to a house with 2 gardens. Happy anniversary (saucisson) to you and Vince. Here's to next ten years xx

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