Five Things Friday: just five things I’m thinking about or things that made my week, or things that I otherwise feel like sharing.
These last few weeks have been great for me personally (spending time with family and friends), but hard on this blog. I just haven’t found time to keep up. I can already hear your responses in my head, that it’s ok, that I should prioritize family and friends and embrace the unplugging part – and I do! – but it’s so hard to come back here and write regularly when I feel like there’s so much I have to catch up on. But there’s no other way than to start posting again, amirite?
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But then there is the whole Feedly fiasco, which doesn’t make this easier. Feedly hasn’t been able to pull any of my (few) blog posts in over 2 weeks. It is so beyond frustrating. I want to reiterate that it’s not really a Feedly issue per se, although there seems to be an issue with their feedfetcher (crawlers) that are being blocked – for whatever reason – by (some) server security companies.
I have to be honest, I’m seriously contemplating switching blog hosting again, if I can’t get Feedly and the security company (BitNinja) that my blog host (Hostinger) uses, to talk. It should be such an easy problem to fix, but what do I know? As you can guess, I haven’t been able to let this go and have been trying to do more research on the issue (but haven’t gotten very far and with little cooperation from the three parties involved.)
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Random thought for May: My (maternal) grandmother would have turned 103 years earlier this month. She was only 62 when she died and hasn’t been with us for 42 years (gasp) but I still remember her so vividly. My sister and I spent a lot of time with her when we were little and I am so grateful that I still have these memories.
I wish we could have had more time with her. We were so very lucky that her sister (our beloved great-aunt Ina) stepped in as our substitute grandma after she died.
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As you might already know from my “Weekly Run Down”, I spent last weekend in Southern California. My friend Tanja, who used to live in Orange County for 14 years before moving back to Germany in 2021, came to visit. I didn’t get to meet up with her in Germany, so I ensured I got to see her while she was here. We had a fantastic time, we even worked out together (who’s surprised? She’s my #PeloBestie), and I was so happy we could make it happen.
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Also, Jon and I went to see Pearl Jam at the Golden 1 Arena here in Sacramento on Monday. I’ll have to write a separate recap about it (so many emotions!) but needless to say, it was an epic night. I hadn’t seen Pearl Jam in 20+ years (gaps! I KNOW!) but if you know a little bit about me (and this blog) then you know that I’ve been a huge Pearl Jam fan since the early 90s and that this blog was, fittingly, named after one of their songs.
Did you do anything fun this week? See a friend or a concert?
Birchie
May 17, 2024 at 2:23 pmI’m with you – I’m having a hard time blogging right now. Some of it is having a very playful puppy who makes it difficult to concentrate, and I think that some of it is just general burnout. Hopefully when I start my new job next week I’ll get a mental boost. But honestly…it’s fine. Blogging comes and goes. And thankfully the old Blogger reader is able to do what Feedly can’t and it lets me know when you post.
Ally Bean
May 18, 2024 at 6:09 amFeedly has been my go-to for following bloggers, but in the last few months something has gone sideways with it. You’re not the only blog it is not showing me, like it is frozen in time, while my bloggy friends keep writing something new and I unknowingly miss it.
Stephany
May 18, 2024 at 7:43 amI can’t believe how long you’ve been struggling with Feedly. That’s so frustrating.
Hooray for a Pearl Jam concert – how exciting!
Nicole MacPherson
May 18, 2024 at 7:44 amIt’s so cool you got to see Pearl Jam!
I use The Old Reader and it mostly works pretty well – I have tried Feedly but I don’t love it. There is sometimes a delay with my reader, but never more than a day.
Ernie
May 18, 2024 at 8:54 pmI relate so much to that opening paragraph. I often find myself overwhelmed by the stuff I want to share, but the limited time I have to post things -not to mention, if I post everything I’d like to share, my posts would be ridiculously long. So yes, it is great to take time away, but I do get the challenge of re-engaging and thinking, But where do I start?
I didn’t know you were a huge Pearl Jam fan. How exciting that you got to see them in concert after such a long break. Hooray for meeting up with a good friend. I’m glad that worked out. I saw one of my favorite friends (I used to babysit for her kids and we are good friends now) when we were in Dallas last month. So much fun. I hope Feedly starts to cooperate for you.
Lisa’s Yarns
May 19, 2024 at 3:53 amI definitely know about your love of Pearl Jam so I am glad you got to see them in concert!! How fun!!!
The feedly issues would be so frustrating. I’m so sorry you are dealing with this! I am tempted at times to change to WordPress but it seems so overwhelming and then I hear about hosting issues etc and think – ok I guess blogspot isn’t so terrible.
My grandma would have turned 101 yesterday! I know she did not aspire to celebrate another birthday but I definitely thought about her a lot as we approached her bday.
I did not go to a concert this week or anything really epic like that but Phil and I did have a date night last night and then we stopped by a party at a friend’s house on the way home. It was a family gathering and so many parents were like – you are lucky to be kid free right now. Ha. It was very nice to be able to talk to people with no distractions!!
Elisabeth
May 19, 2024 at 1:35 pmThis post did show up promptly in Feedly! So there’s a bit of good news. But how frustrating!!
For a while, Old Reader was giving me grief, too, so I’ve switched exclusively to Feedly now.
Daria
May 19, 2024 at 4:49 pmI saw this post w/o any issues, hopefully it’ll be fixed soon. That sounds aggravating.
I think unplugging is totally valid. For me personally, it ebbs and flows, too. Sometimes I have time to write but no time to read/comment, and vice versa. We can just do our best, right?
I love Pearl Jam! Just send me back to the 90s.
No concerts for me, but I did a god job going for walk, and then.. drumroll.. started running during my walk. I ran out of gas real quick but it’s a start. maybe I can fall in love with exercise.
Melissa
May 19, 2024 at 8:10 pmI hate that feeling of having so much to write that you just don’t even want to start. You are right that it’s best to jump back in. The Pearl Jam concert sounds like fun.
It’s a pain that Feedly is still causing you problems. Your last couple of posts came through for me today in a big batch.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
May 20, 2024 at 10:48 amWhat a wonderful exciting time. Germany, SoCal, concerts. So fun.
Sorry about the whole Feedly issue. It is an annoying for sure.
NGS
May 21, 2024 at 8:45 amI can’t believe this Feedly issue is still ongoing. It’s not just your blog! I guess that’s cold comfort, but you are not alone. I honestly do think I might just go back to an old-fashioned blog roll that I check daily.
I did see a friend this weekend and we did have some fun, but, sadly, it wasn’t for a great reason. My best friend’s brother died and I went to the funeral. It was wonderful to see her and be there to support her, but it was so sad. *sigh* Onward!
Kim
May 24, 2024 at 12:46 pmI love that you got to see Pearl Jam again after so long! Hurrah! And love that you have those memories of your grandma.
Do not love the Feedly nonsense, obviously. What a freaking headache.
Anne
June 7, 2024 at 4:13 pmFeedly is working now! I get notified of your posts x2, but I think I subscribed twice, somehow? Maybe to a comments feed? Regardless, it is THERE!
And I can’t wait for your Pearl Jam concert recap. Not a huge fan, but it was the music of our teens and college years, so…
Finally… blog inertia. It’s real. I get overwhelmed, too, and then just can’t get going again. I need to be better about that, because I am so much happier when I post. Have missed you, my friend. Glad you are back, regardless of how long it takes you to “catch up”. <3