Two Cups of Tea at Hope’s Cafe
To Blog or Not to Blog….that is the question. Last week in my blog “Fare Thee Well” I conveyed that my blog had been disrupted on WordPress in some way that I found unacceptable. I was considering ending the blog, moving it to another platform or putting my energies elsewhere. I didn’t write a blog to post today but went to my WordPress site to review it. What to my wondering eyes should appear but a notice about the change in how statistics are displayed. The numbers were even more startling. My readership in the United States alone was up 2,1222 percent! Have people just been hiding in the shadows for weeks now, waiting for an opportunity to show themselves? (“Tongue in cheek” of course, but also an expression of my total astonishment).
When the statistics were jarring, I thought “What a fine kettle of fish this is” then immediately wondered where and how that term evolved. My search yielded this: Apparently in the late 1700’s, it was customary for gentlemen on the Scottish border with England to hold a picnic by the river to entertain their neighbors and friends with a “Fete Champetre,” a kettle of fish. Tents were set up, fires were kindled….and live salmon were pitched into kettles of boiling water. Reportedly “the chaotic, jumbled appearance of cooked, flaking fish in a pot—or the potential disappointment if a much-anticipated picnic went wrong—led to the figurative sense of a ‘muddle’ or a mess.” (from Google).
Certainly felt a bit chaotic, kettle-of-fish-like, to go from significantly diminished numbers to dramatically increased soaring numbers. I had set my trajectory and now was questioning it again! Maddening!
Back to the drawing board! For the coming weeks during the holidays I plan to repost some of my previous blogs and to seek clarity about future direction. (Stay tuned!)
May we bearers of hope, the “wait staff” at Hope’s Café, for each other and all those we encounter. Shalom, Kate
