LUCY BURDETTE: I got to thinking about how long this wonderful group of writing women has been blogging, how many posts we've written over the years. That's 5261! And you've written 239,029 comments, if you believe Blogger's stats! Wow! First of all, we’ve shown our delight when a new book arrives on bookshelves. We've also had hundreds and hundreds of amazing guests, mostly authors but not always. Plus blog posts on so many topics from the mundane to the utterly serious. We've kept each other going during those horrible pandemic years, and through tragic losses, and everyday doldrums. We've celebrated so many happy occasions and traveled all over the world and eaten amazing food. It's kind of a shame to see the older posts fall into obscurity so I thought I'd ask all the Reds to recap a couple of their favorites.
I love to write about traveling and share photos–I promise this blog about the Galapagos is better than a relative’s slide show--it's also lessons I learned while traveling. And here's one more, probably the most mind-blowing trip I will ever take--to India.
We've also gotten the men behind the Red women involved in blogging. Here's one about what happened when my hub retired. And this is an oldie but really goodie when we asked our husbands to blog. For some reason Julia's Ross didn't make it into that blog so he got his own...
And one more in which the Reds dish out (rather good) marriage advice…
HALLIE EPHRON: So much fun stuff out there! This was hard. As usual I defer to food…… an homage to canned soups and fruit cocktail.
And because it seems as if I completely lack any ability to remember what’s in my rearview mirror, this one that posted during Covid lockdown… I share it here because somehow it feels better to remember when things were worse, if even microscopically, than they are now. And I can always go for a good kvetch.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: So much fun scanning through the blogs! I love the blogs about food, and writing, and just weird stuff that only we could come up with.
This particular blog, from May 2017, I'm always going back to because I love Hallie's shrimp pancake recipe and I make it every summer when the zucchini is in season!
Here are a couple that jumped out at me from not long after I joined the REDs. This one, because I am in the midst of our very own Texas version of SAD, waiting for August to end.
And this one, because it was so interesting to see some of our writing influences.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: It's definitely hard to tell if we blog more about writing or more about food. My very fave is my Christmas morning story, and ‘Twas the Night Before "poem,but I won't post those until the time comes round again.
But here's a midst-of-the-pandemic about dinner disasters. I still feel the same way about spaghetti squash.
Here's our happy fifteenth blog—and this photo was taken in Dallas, the last time we were all together in person before the pandemic hit. So that's unsettling.
Remember Wordle? Ha. Here's Where I tried—and failed—to convince you to play Tradle. Which I tried again TODAY, and still didn't win.
And here's one on food cravings, which I totally stand by.
And the memory of a life-changing experience.
JENN McKINLAY: So many blog posts to choose from! Ack!
I went with an older one that I thought was poignant at the time. While it still is, I had no idea when I wrote it how much more life was going to throw at us all. It’s entitled MOTHERHOOD IS NOT FOR THE WEAK.
And the second one, is newer and skewed humorous. Now it seems more like a cautionary tale, given the rise of AI and what not. It’s called THE ROBOTS ARE COMING.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: When I joined Jungle Reds, I expected it to be a great way to keep my name in front of the reading public, and to network with other authors. I had no idea it was going to turn into a living journal of my life with my family over a twelve year period (and counting!) I’ve written about teaching your teen to drive, and welcoming them back on midwinter break. I’ve shared my kids’ college tours and tours of duty. We’ve had graduations from high school and from basic training. And, of course, I’ve shared my dear Ross - in his own words - and shared what it was like to be widowed at 56.
The ups and downs of a perfectly ordinary life, captured in words and pictures right here. I’m looking forward to the posts about engagements, career successes, weddings and someday (fingers crossed) grandkids…
Red Readers: Are there particular favorites that you all remember? I'm a huge fan of the 'what we're writing' weeks, but we'd love to hear what kind of posts do you most look forward to?
