Where to from here?

My thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts on topics to write about. It was quite overwhelming reading such heartfelt comments. I also received over 50 emails from readers who explained what they get from the blog, how it's helped them over the years and what they'd like to read in the future. I cannot reply to all of those emails but I am grateful that so many of you took the time to explain what the blog means to you. Having all those opinions and suggestions allowed me to focus on what I want to write now. I started the blog because I'd written the beginnings of a book that no one wanted to publish, so I used those chapters as posts. The blog has been a platform from which to share ideas, a way to encourage change, a continuing record of my home life and sometimes, a confessional and a way to test my own thoughts. It's been a rollercoaster, that's for sure. This blog made me a Penguin author, gave me a lot of self satisfaction and helped me earn a small amount of money while tapping away on a key board in my sewing room. I loved that as an older woman I was given a platform and that so many people listened, believed and saw a reason to change.

I'm still not really sure what I want the blog to be in the future but I know what I don't want. I don't want to write to a pre-determined formula, I want to surprise you. I want to surprise myself! 

I'm nearing 70 and in May next year this blog will be 10 years old with close to 3000 posts.  I imagine I'll keep writing on a semi-regular basis for a few years, explaining what I do at home, especially those things that have changed over the years. I'll also write about ageing. That's something we should all be interested in because we're all doing it. If we only listen to the voices in magazines and on social media, we'll all feel like failures. There needs to be a balanced view. I feel quite privileged to be growing older because that means I haven't died before my time and I get to examine and digest what growing old feels like. I can't say I enjoy every part of ageing but I'm sure that it's much better than the alternative - death.

I hope to have a post ready tomorrow. It will be about that most domestic of topics - rags and cleaning cloths. So if you want an antidote to mainstream life and want to read about the basics, come back tomorrow and we'll continue the story.