Happy Anniversary to FKIA

My blogoversary quietly came and went while I was on the road.

I started this blog when I was teaching college freshmen and sophomores about newspaper reporting. Back in 2000, when I started teaching, our goal was to publish a campus newspaper. That was fine for 4-5 years, but then it was clear that (sadly) newspapers were being dragged kicking and screaming into another direction. To be sure, most newspapers had Web sites by the late 1990s. But few really took advantage of them, at least not the way they've had to in order to survive in the 21st century.

By 2005, I began to suspect that some dailies would become weeklies or Web-only papers. (That suspicion is now reality.) I thought blogging was an easy way to harness the power of the Internet and learn how to survive online. My first experience with blogging came in early 2002, when I played around with a site I called Blue Ginger. I ran out of things to say, and didn't stick with it. That was before I thought about sharing my passion for France and food. I was a much more reticent person seven years ago, I guess.

I've never run out of things to say here, although I have run out of time. Most of my posts in the past two years have not been recipe posts, but if you can bear it, I certainly can. I never intended for this blog to be a recipe blog, because I think food is more than ingredients and step-by-step instructions. I love recipe blogs, don't get me wrong. I just wanted my blog to be a conversation around a kitchen table that often involved food.

But not always.

During the past three years I have learned much from other bloggers. And I've made some friends.

That's the best part. As we say in Wisconsin, "You guys are the best."

To celebrate (albeit belatedly) my third anniversary as a blogger, I searched my iPhoto files for a photo that resonated with me this morning. The one I have chosen to share was taken on a misty September morning in the Lot Valley in the Quercy in the southwest of France. I hope you enjoy it.