About Fig and Thistle

When I first began blogging many moons ago (i.e. 2004) I was predominately a book blogger.  I posted reviews like mad and made extensive reading lists and tried my utmost to be super-nerdy at all times.  Then I had a bunch of other things going on in my life and I really and truly needed a place to discuss my child, my job, my move, and just life in general.  I felt like I was cheating as a book blogger.  I need to be 100% bookish or 100% "life blog" and I feared that my book-blogger friends would be bored with my non-bookish life and my friends would get sick of hearing me prattle on about Charles Dickens, or American Poetry, or paperback collections.

I deleted my old blog -- The Blog Jar -- in November of 2007.  My life had been up-heaved that September by a major break-up with my boyfriend of 6 years, I was lonely, single motherhood was daunting, and I felt like my life could no longer be on display.  I had gone from an all out book blog to a life complaining blog and that was quite sad.  So in a drunken funk one day I deleted three years of my blog life.

The following January, 02 January 2007 to be exact, I resurrected my blog.  I also in the course of this blog adventure changed my name from The Blog Jar to Fig and Thistle.  I love Millay's poetry, the image of the fig tree that is predominant in The Bell Jar and I felt it was a prettier more mature title.  I also vowed that I would not box in my blogging.  This is a life blog -- truly it is.

In Fig and Thistle you'll find:
My family
Books
Baking
Stitching, crocheting, and knitting
Thrifting
Overly Ambitious Projects that Go No Where
Rants
Tears
Joy
Me

I've tried to think of this blog as a quilt with little patches of my life.  If you were to ask me why I blog I don't think I could give you a fast and steady answer.  I mostly do it because when I am sad or lonely or something goes awry I can click through these old posts and watch how my life has increased with joy and how I've matured and deepened as a person.  I love my life and this blog is a bit like looking through a cozily-lit window.  Yes, I do blog the difficult stuff as well, but I enjoy seeing how even bad things can't stay bad forever.  Something good always comes along to brighten my life.

I hope you enjoy visiting Fig and Thistle.