Reflections on actually meeting a bloggiste

I have had a most interesting and fabulous weekend! There wasn't the slightest trace of apprehension beforehand, and not even the daunting task of making room for an esteemed guest could diminish the excitement. I think because Ang gives so much of herself in what she writes, and because she is so generous of her time with emails, meeting her was like picking up a thread of conversation that had been but momentarily on hold!

At the start all was just so deeply, deeply interesting- being able to hear more, learn more, share more, laugh more. It is blogging at its pinnacle, I think, to move from a friendship that happens in sporadic episodes into a face to face encounter that joins the dots and fills the whole with colour.

Then it struck me! I was no longer composing little vignettes from a nearly fictionalised land. These were my real boys, this was my very real house, that was my altogether real and fallible cooking! And so I felt humbled, not in a negative way, but certainly the weekend gave me a new perspective on what I put down here in fraise.

So thank you, Angela Almond, for visiting us in the Land of the (sometimes as you now know tearful) Strawberries! Thak you for all that amazing treasure pouring forth from your suitcase for us! Thank you for the just as amazing treasure of words and encouragement and wisdom that poured forth on me! Thank you for letting me see us through your kind eyes! It is good to visit the edges of your land in safe company!