Hard to believe I’ve been penning this blog since November, 2012. In case you suck at math, that’s 169 blog posts at once a week. That’s a lot of posts. Just between you and me, sometimes I wonder if I’ll run out of words. Although, as you’ve probably discovered, days when I have little to say hardly ever happen.

I don’t write about anything life changing or probably even interesting, mind you. It’s all mainly humorous observations about my life. That’s a quote from my About Me page, which you’d know had you read it. No worries.

If I’m being honest here, I have to admit I didn’t post a new entry every Sunday. And the reason I know this? Because I get a stat report at the end of each year from WordPress. You can’t believe the stuff they track. Don’t worry, nobody’s stalking how often you read my blog. That would just be creepy. I don’t actually know my readers’ identities unless they comment. (Hint, hint.)

I don’t have a huge audience, so thanks for being one of my 100 devoted readers each week. I’m not good at marketing. I don’t Twitter. Can’t even tell you how that works. (You probably know by now I’m technologically naive.) But there are bloggers out there who reach tens of thousands. There’s even a lady in middle America I mentioned in My Chosen Few who writes about her gout. How is that interesting? Dunno. It’s a mystery.

Nearly 1000 people read a blog about gout

Regardless, I’d write even with 25 devotees. I enjoy writing; simple as that. Now don’t get me wrong. Having you as my audience is incentive enough to keep it up. Actually, when I saw my stats, I was pleasantly surprised.

Turns out last year 4,461 people read my posts, or at least clicked on them. What they did after that, who knows. On average each one looked at one and a half posts. That’s 6,433 views of individual blog posts. Not bad. In fact, WordPress describes my stats like this: A New York City subway holds 1200 people. If all my readers last year got on, it would take almost 4 trips to carry them all. I can live with that.

All aboard!

October 18 was my single busiest day with The Big Apple. That day, 90 people read my post. I credit this particular achievement to my travel buddies, Patty and Karen, who are sisters. They come from a huge family with a gazillion relatives. No doubt they were the 90.

Patty and Karen, far left (with Mandy, me and Kim)

All told, I used 800 photos last year. I figure if my prose doesn’t entertain you, maybe the pictures will. The post that got the most comments was The Sweetest Gift, which I run each Mother’s Day. Interestingly, the post that was read the most, with 261 views that week, was Observations on the Ridiculous. Don’t know what the fascination was but I plan to figure it out and repeat it.

The second most read post was A Felon With a Pretty Face. Guess it was the title. Or maybe people are fascinated by felons and want to see what a pretty one looks like. Your guess is as good as mine.

A pretty felon?

People from 102 countries have visited my blog. They include Brazil, the United Kingdom, Australia, Russia, Italy and Canada. How in the world those folks found my site is beyond me. But I’m happy they did.

So in 2016, let’s hope I find some interesting things to write about. Oh, who am I kidding? As you’ve probably already discovered, that’s never stopped me before.