Folks take different approaches to launching new blogs. Some will jump on blogspot and start writing on day one. Others might select a template from the hundreds that wordpress, for example, has to offer. And other, like myself, devote a lot of energy to personalizing the look of their sites.
When I decided some weeks ago that, with the election over, I was going to get back into blogging, I really wanted to do it professionally. I wanted to blog… and look good doing it. But when I embarked on customizing this blog, I found myself selecting a design not for YOU, dear reader… but for myself.
So before I start prating on day after day, let me share a little about how the look of this site has come together.
I wanted to attract modern anachronists. You are everywhere. Sure, you have your iPhone and your facebook page; but you are also grounded in our traditions. You are interested in gardening, folk art, furniture, nature walks, philosophy and - for those of you who know me - our progressive political traditions.
To appeal to you modern anachronists, I thought of using for the banner one of a few photographs I took up in the Hudson Valley (near Hyde Park) back in the spring. Particularly, I had in mind this picture of an old field stone wall.
When I think of Dutchess County, I always think of these mortarless layers of field stone that seem to be everywhere, lining desolate dirt roads and shopping plazas alike. This wall was probably defining the reaches of an old estate or property line.
I think I have a personal connection to field stone walls because of the one my father laid around our house when I was a kid. I’ll have to dig up a picture of that for you some time soon. Moving on…
I also had these two photos that captured my interest because of those glares. Warm colors but a reminder that you can’t have this picture without someone using a camera (a digital one in this case.)
Lots of great color.
That little escape nestled in the woods down there was off-limits to us by the way. There was a young couple, um, making use of it when we showed up. From all the carved hearts and arrows in the trees on the path, this was a lover’s lane.
Then I had these other seemingly more generic photos. Rolling hills of the Hudson Valley. Again, these warm colors. Eh.
Lots of anachronist. Short on the modern.
I left it to my friend Jim to make the banner and invited him to do whatever he liked. And I was right to leave it to him. It came out very nicely. Having that rail bridge (the Poughkeepsie Bridge about which I’ll write more soon) extending out of the woods and over the river is pure Americana to me. Progress and beauty.
And that’s when I realized, having loaded Jim’s banner into my site, the look of this site is more important to me than it is to you. The “place” where I will write will be topped by a relaxing and subdued picture like this with an autumn color scheme to match it. It will keep me focused and force me to hone a voice of temperance.
So, anyway, I just wanted to share with you some of the thought that went into this blog before I get started. I hope you come back quite often.
PS - About that autumn color scheme? No, I’m not color blind. That sky blue everywhere will go away as soon as I learn style sheets. I hope the offensive blue-olive clash won’t scare you away forever.
Share on Facebook
In an effort to bring in more modern anachronists, this page has been finding ways to stay linked through Facebook and Twitter.
