THE SWEET—TOOTH SLEUTH recently sent out this World’s Shortest Opinion Poll!
Please answer either one or both questions:
1. Should blogs play a role in the Senior Population?
2. Do blogs have worth & are they understood by the Senior Population?
(Opinion Poll opinions at the end of blog.)
Zilch, Zero, Zippo
My Blog & Me
Why write a blog? Please realize that the lion’s share of my blog knowledge translates to Zilch, Zero, Zippo! My early research essentially discovered a huge number focus on fashion, cooking, lifestyles, travel, etc. I love words and writing and trust me, at this time of my sort of sedentary life, I have the time to begin a lifestyle blog. So I did and do as a late-blooming blogger and a certified member of the ebbing tide group, I hope to have a more thorough understanding of social media in my senior world. This is about deciphering blogs and ebbing and whatever. My sources often develop from the internet, same place where social media resides. Stick with me, maybe we shall figure the whatever!
I looked up descriptive synonyms of ebbing and found moribund, doomed, giving up the ghost, etc. Ohhhhh dear, that is not the ebbing in my mindset. I was thinking of gently and gracefully swinging to the sweet rhythm of a waning—a mellowing cadence—a caring/sharing cadence with added color and pizazz. That’s where I want my blog to perch.
I next tried blog synonym: online journal, diary, record. Needless to say, I was looking for a ray of light such as pleasing, stylish, creative, a bit cheering, maybe somewhat ditsy.
So far what I have learned is that blogging is like making soup—throw thoughts and words into a pot and pray it will be palatable.*
WORD SOUP!
To digress: A little about my ebbing! We know from time immemorial that tides have flourished at coming and going. Since a large proportion of me has passed many a tide, think “octogenarian”. So I have also kept coming and going, but realistically now my gears are shifting toward the going. Nothing dramatic, just part of the autumn-ebbing of life. My hope for blogging, (forget the ebbing part for now) is to be a writer who is transparent and uplifting, but stays rooted in the real world. (Are those realistic goals for an octo???) …Fervently hoping so!
My strengths come from what I love most in life—my family. They are my success. 
I also find energy from my enduring friendships, (the positives of Retirement Realm Living), forms of design, design history, reading and research. These all add to the language of my blog. I know also that laughter from the sublime to the silly can speak volumes. 
When I started my blog over a year ago, it was partially to not only write a lifestyle story, but to explore social media cartoons, photos and the absurd. It seemed to tie into a form of article writing that had formerly pleased and challenged me for some years. I wrote for a design magazine and some regional newspapers. I loved interviewing outstanding design personalities and organizing photo shoots of creative interiors with first-rate photographers. Now, there is no professional photographer for my blog, but there is that wide range of media’s heady and inventive elements and my i-phone camera is now my professional photographer for pictures. Google Safari/Chrome are my search engines. So now, the $64,000 question—am I writing an article or a blog?
Once again, I looked up the difference between an article and a blog. Generally, a blog contains less words and expresses views, pictures or stories. An article has the same objective along with an editor, a set format and calendar and possibly an artist/photographer.
Yet another conundrum!!! Passing a friend in the hallway, she mentioned, “I read your newsletter.” Could it be that I’m not writing a blog or an article, it’s a newsletter! Good Grief! Now I need to sort out newsletter??? Newsletter: a monthly issuing, a journal, a throwaway, etc. (The throwaway part sounds so disheartening).
I wonder if Gertrude Stein would blog if she and her set were transposed to 2022. Of course she would …..“a blog is a blog is a blog.”**
So far the best I can come up with is that my blog is a sort of/kind of/maybe a “mini”type newsletter article that’s a blog. Shoot, that’s my blog in a nutshell!
I want to thank you for reading this nonsense because now you know that I still know Zilch about A Blog!!! (Also, Zero & Zippo)
Although, if you have an appetite for a tasty, flavorful, healthy thirst-quencher composed with Zing, Zest & Zippity-doo-dah, may I please tempt you to try the flavor of my 
WORD SOUP!!!
Comments From The Experts Regarding World’s Shortest Blog Opinion Poll: SHN: I see no reason blogs shouldn’t play a role in the senior population especially if each blog is clear, true and offers understanding. A blog has worth to me if it has qualities/characteristics that relate to my senior topics of interest. If someone is unfamiliar to blogs, do Blog Apps or Blog Platforms exist?
MKS: Yes, I think blogs have a place in the Senior Population. Aging gracefully is a very important issue for seniors. If I’m looking for inspiration in writing a memoir, I want a blog that will give me some ideas on how to go about it. I think blogs should be fairly short and easy to follow, focusing on one idea at a time. I also like the “Accidental Icon’s” blog, which is somewhat philosophical on the subject, as well as a fashion display…..I appreciate her flair.
MMC: Any effort to build a senior community is valid. As more become comfortable with electronics, then personal communication is an avenue of comfort and humor in their day. Blogs can play a role here. Personal memories, shared times, are a link. I have not pursued blogs. I read Louise Penny’s newsletter and your blog. They are date sensitive. If you start one the next one is always due, like a newsletter. Sometimes I think blogs are a new name for newsletters when worth is a function of good content and good writing.
PFJ: Your questionnaire regarding Blogging presented an interesting bit of homework. I felt I needed a description….Where to go? Amazon of course! If I had to go to Amazon to find out just exactly what a blog is, (Blogging entails skill, i. e. writing, editing and designing,) they are not understood—at least by me! However, keep in mind that I am at the high end of “Senior.” Probably those in their 70’s blog to a greater degree. Nonetheless, yes. they do have worth simply by their interaction with others.
LAED: 1. and Yes, blogs can be condensed and a readily available source of information and entertainment for select parts of society-including. seniors. 2. Blogs have worth in the sense that “work or research “ has already been accomplished by the author and the recipient just has to be amenable to the ideas of information contained within. I think they most certainly are understood by our intelligent senior population as long as the author stays on track and retains continuity of the subject throughout the blog.
SY’S SALIENT POINTS
When I asked a few brilliant friends to answer my opinion poll, their answers were/are worthy of a full scholarship to Harvard. So much so, I did take the liberty of using key sentences to reduce their dissertations. Now you know one of my important reasons to live in a Retirement Realm—THANK YOU, my accomplished & savvy friends!
As for my blog: it is published with an Einstein—like editor, Betty Barnecut, a Steve Jobs—like web designer, Matt Karl, who takes the banners I make and the words I write to format the blog and two artistic virtuosos, Sue Berman who drew my dazzling Intrepid Lady cartoon and my new captivating Sweet-tooth Sleuth Lady cartoon, Caroline Meade. All are the quintessence my blog.
* From Potluck, The Wise Scarecrow by Sheila Yates **britannica.com Gertrude Stein poem Random House Encyclopedia: Gertrude Stein 1874-1946 US author & critic. She abandoned the study of medicine to devote her life to literature in Paris (1903) and established a famous salon entertaining, consulting and a confidante of great artists & writers.
Happy back to school, Blaire!