The Innocent Abroad

Yesterday I got an e-mail from Blogger saying that they 'will no longer support FTP publishing in Blogger after March 26, 2010'. Sigh. FTP is what I use to publish this blog.

When I first made the blog, BlogSpot didn't exist and I used FTP, then I tried BlogSpot and it worked fine, but when I bought my own domain, I wanted my blog to reside there so I went back to FTP and have continued to use it.

In the meantime, Blogger has implemented new ways of hosting and linking blogs which, I must admit, are better than just plain FTP. Since things were working as they should, I haven't poked around or changed anything, but now I shall have to.

This blog has been hosted in at least four places and each time I have moved I've lost readers because of it. I do not want this to happen again! I will do my best to keep the blog as stable as I can over the transition. Hopefully, the only things that change are the technical ones in the background, not how they look.

This time, I didn't exactly rearrange everything. I just made the 'bedroom' corner presentable. If you are interested where the various things came from, click on the photo and take a look at the notes.

The whole corner after tidying up.

Window after putting up a blind and arranging the curtains differently.

I'm not done with this space. I want to add pillows and some plants or lamps on the window sill. Pillows will probably be black, but I want a bamboo or another grass in the window to tie that corner in with the 'living room' space.

HaloScan is my second provider for comment software on this blog and I've been happy with them up to now. Today I received a notice that HaloScan will shut down on 13th of February.

This is the second time my comments provider went under. The first provider just disappeared and I lost a couple years' worth of comments. Luckily, this time there is a two weeks notice and a possibility to save the comments in xml form.

I was very sad to lose the comments back then because I appreciate each and every one of them. Maybe there will be a way for me to import the comments I saved this time, but at least I have them.

I had been so happy with HaloScan that I chose not to use Blogger comments when they were implemented. Now, I'm enabling them and I hope they are as painless to use as HaloScan was.

Update: Sigh. And within two days I get my first comment spam. That's why I loved HaloScan so much, I got no spam whatsoever. I am sorry, but I had to turn on the comment moderation to keep spam away.

There isn't anything exiting going on to blog about. There are a few finished knit projects, but it's too dark to take any decent photos.

Everything is quiet, it is snowing outside and the cats are asleep.

When I say I love winter, most people look at me as if I'd suddenly sprouted two heads. I have tried to explain why I love winter, but I constantly get told I'm insane/weird/nuts/bizarre/etc. I still love winter, especially this winter, since it is what I call a "proper winter". None of this muck and slush you get with wimpy horrible wet winters. It is cold and snowy as it should be.

I love winter because it is breathtakingly beautiful.

I love winter because I don't have to hide from the sun when I go out.

I love winter because the snow muffles sounds.

I love winter because it snows and I adore snow.

I love winter because it is lighter outside than in the autumn.

I love winter because it is cold outside and warm inside.

I love winter because I can wear fun handmade wool accessories.

I love winter because I can knit fun warm woollies for others.

I love winter because the snow glitters like the whole world has been covered in faerie dust.

I love winter because the snow makes crunching sounds when I walk on it.

I love winter because there is ice to skate on.

I love winter because the days are getting longer.

I love winter because I don't melt from heat when I go outside.

I love winter.