Windows

A first today; a 'proper' Blipmeet. Sure I've met blippers before, but they were already friends. I'd thought about going for a few days, would it be too photographistic? Would I be intruding in an established group? Would I be bored?

In the end I shuffled some stuff and it was only 45 minutes from home, so I thought what the heck.....
Arriving I saw a group of people outside the designated meeting place so I ambled over & loitered near them, they smiled, I smiled, and then I realised not a one of them had a camera to hand - they were in fact there to celebrate their Grans birthday..I wished her many happy returns and wandered into the café - to a very welcoming welcome from the actual Blip gang!
All told there were 13blippers, 2 mates and 5 doggies - and some serious cameras on display. Hmmmmm, whilst I had little camera with me recently I've been mostly using the new phone....and I've very little inclination to change.
But, and it's a fairly central to my love of Blip but, the photographs aren't really it for me. I'd finally decided to come to meet the blippers - some I follow, lots I don't, some knew me, most didn't. I never follow someone for their images alone, I did in the early days, and none held my interest - I doubt I follow anyone now who doesn't ponder well on their words, who doesn't give something of themselves in the journal. Sure the picture is a substantial part of that - but alone a meal it does not make. The journals that come to mean something to me are the ones that offer a window into another's life - how else could I know of Trevor, Ros & Chloe's inspirational fortitude, Ken's gentle wit or Paula's thirst for local knowledge. Ive long known that everyone has at least one tale to tell, most have many, and the wise man, having taken the time to listen, is richer for it.
Meeting so many blippers was of course a joy, so many more windows to look through, more riches to enjoy.

Additional Info ( for me, for the time to come when I don't remember where I was...):
The Blipmeet was in Caldbeck, somewhere I've seldom been. With a rich industrial history we walked along to The Howk which once had England's largest water wheel - my extra shows one of the many signs of that industrial past that I noticed whilst clambering around the little gorge. I liked the juxtaposition of man and nature.