Using social media…Is Twitter or Instgram in our future?…New Facebook friends…Feedback, please…Horses…

These foals are hard to get close for more detailed photos when they’re very shy.

Glad we left Fiji!  Yesterday, there was a Category 5 Cyclone/Hurricane on the island where we spent our last month ending on January 4th. Our love and wishes for the safety of all our Fijian friends we left behind. According to this morning’s local news, that same cyclone may be heading our way. We’ll keep our readers updated.

Both Tom and I are Facebook users. Tom shares his opinions and humor with family, friends, and the many co-workers/friends he made over 42 years working on the railroad. Many of his friends are retired, spending a fair amount of time online, as does Tom.

For me, it’s less frequent, although I usually post a  favorite photo at least every other day. I read what my FB friends are saying, sharing and showing photos breezing through the posts in minutes. Overall, I may spend less than 20 minutes a day. Whereas Tom, a slower reader, can spend hours reading every post. We all have ways of entertaining ourselves.

This farm is close to our home in Taranaki. When we first arrived, we hadn’t seen the foal, only the two pregnant dams. Within a few days we noticed the young horses, hovering close to their mothers.  Both are still nursing.

If you’d like to friend me on Facebook, search at this time, Jessica Lyman, location, New Plymouth, New Zealand. (My location changes each time to move to a new country). There are a number of others with my name so please check the photo and location. 

As for Twitter, I’m on a fence about using it and have been so for some time. Isn’t Twitter more appropriate for younger folks who enjoy sharing their every moment or celebrities trying to build millions of followers to enhance their “brand?” 

I really don’t know what I’d say when I already spew many of my thoughts and opinions right here. It would be redundant. If we were involved in many other activities that took us to restaurants, malls, theatres, or multiple social occasions, as is the case for many active seniors, we may have more to say on Twitter.

They run together playfully as do the alpacas, especially in the evening when these photos were taken.

Instead, we do exactly what we love to do, get out to enjoy our surroundings, staying home to enjoy our surroundings, shopping and preparing our healthy delicious meals, taking endless photos in the process. These aren’t necessarily good fodder for social media.

The bottom line is a lack of desire to be online spending most of my day updating. As it is, I spend considerable time preparing these posts, managing hundreds of new photos, and joyfully responding to emails and comments from our readers. Occasionally, I check into my LinkedIn account, but spending a lot of time on that site, makes me feel as if I’m working.

Although there is a “working” element in preparing a daily blog with photos, I try to keep it within the framework of the pure pleasure it is after uploading 1300 posts. It’s hard for me to fathom, we’ve done 1300 posts. If I’d been told by an employer to deliver a post with photos 365 days a year, I’d have quit my job! The pressure would have been unbearable.

This foal has the same facial markings at it mother. Its elegant gait is amazing to see.

Posting here of my own volition, I feel energized and fresh-minded each morning as I begin. Writer’s block?  Never for more than a few minutes. When we have a TV we need only watch the news for a few minutes for a morsel of news to trigger my mind into a flurry of thoughts and ideas.

No, it’s not easy to manifest a concept for each day’s post. When we’ve been out touring, it’s easier. When we stay home at times for two or three days in a row, especially during rainy weather, we’re subject to sharing the most minute details of our daily lives, which may be of little interest to some readers.

They still stay close to their moms at this stage.

Each day I read our stats and can’t seem to find any connection between our content and the number of visits we have in any one day. I often think when I post a unique event more visitors will come although it’s not the case. There’s no rhyme or reason. In any case, we appreciate every reader that comes our way, whether it’s once, occasionally, or daily.

Please write if you feel you’d be interested in seeing us on other social media. How many respondents will be influential in our decision? I’m assuming many of our readers may be over 40 years old, people who don’t necessarily post “selfies” on a daily basis, nor would we. It will be fun to hear from YOU.

Have a beautiful day! 

Photo from one year ago today, February 22, 2015:

It is ironic that I’d planned to post photos of horses today and when I researched the year ago photo for today, this was our main photo. We took this photo on our way to Poipu Beach in Kauai while on a short holiday for my birthday. This horse seemed happy to see us as I approached the fence, giving us his version of a smile.  For more photos of that trip, please click here.