Search Me
Because a couple of people were hunting for it this morning, here’s my Presidents Day Dessert post. (I’m now wishing I’d made it yesterday. I could really go for some cherry cobbler for breakfast today.)
A peek at the stat counter showed a hit for this post—someone was looking for Miss Rumphius—and I was interested to see that that post about the arrival of San Diego County’s beautiful grape-soda lupines is dated March 24. Here it is only Feb. 21 and we’re already seeing the lupines around town. Which reminds me: Rilla doesn’t know Miss Rumphius yet. (Shocking!) Must remedy that.
Beside the usual flurry of searches for the order of the Little House books and how to teach a toddler to blow her nose, there have been, in the past 24 hours, twelve queries having to do with Lark Rise to Candleford—most of them wondering, as I did, what happened to Nan. This tally is about typical. After my own name, my books, and Little House-related searches, the most common search topics in my stats are Lark Rise (and lately, Downton Abbey) and, interestingly, Vivian Vande Velde’s Stolen, an extremely gripping and mysterious middle-grade novel that, as far as I can tell, is showing up in the homework of a horde of sixth-graders across the nation. They’re all looking for plot summary of and I hope that after the frantic homework googling is done they’ll actually pick up the book and read it, because it’s well worth their time. Not homeworky at all, if you know what I mean, O Ye 6th-graders of America.
Scott just read the draft of this post and said, “But what about the one you read me this morning? You have to include that.” And so, dear person who searching for the answer to the timeless question, “Can I put the current weather as my Facebook status,” I’m sorry you didn’t find the answer on this blog. Okay, I’m not that sorry. (But I can tell you from experience, if you live in a climate that allows unexpected tomatoes to appear in the neglected back corner of your garden in January, your snowbound East Coast friends will not appreciate your crowing about it. I’m just saying.)
Jennifer says:
I was the one searching for President’s Day desserts! I was delighted to see that you were the third Google result for that search – AND that it brought me to (I think) the very first post I read at Here in the Bonny Glen. Ah, memories.
Alas, no time to go to the grocery store for cobbler supplies.
On February 21, 2011 at 7:58 am
sarah says:
Ooh, that does look delicious (and easy)! The oddest google search leading to my blog so far was “Paul Bunyan’s hot sister”. I don’t want to know…
On February 21, 2011 at 8:04 am
sarah says:
You have the most interesting searches. If one described your weblog just by a list of the searches it answered, one would have a very … colourful … idea of it indeed!
On February 21, 2011 at 9:10 am
Leslie says:
Just an opportunity to say thanks for your posts! You have blessed our family in many ways: great reading suggestions, kindred spirit moments (even though you dont know us!) My eldest daughter (13) has been watching/loving Larkrise on youtube. I just noticed that you have an early reader coming out. . .CONGRATULATIONS! Looking forward to the additional YA work as well.
Blessings and cheers from VA
On February 21, 2011 at 9:22 am
Ellie says:
Oh that final paragraph gave me a much-needed giggle. Oh to have tomatoes springing forth, all unlooked for 🙂
On February 21, 2011 at 3:42 pm
Charlotte (Matilda) says:
We substituted strawberries for the cherries since I am the only cherry fan around here. It was still red though and very delicious!
Thanks!
On February 21, 2011 at 5:26 pm
Melissa Wiley says:
Oh, Jenn! If that post is what brought you to me in the first place, then I’m super grateful for it. What lovely friends this blog has given me. 🙂
Sarah, re “Paul Bunyan’s hot sister”: the mind boggles!
Sarah of Knitting the Wind, these are nothing compared to some of the crazy searches I’ve seen in my statcounter. My post on Wonderboy’s ear molds (for his hearing aids) has shown up in some extremely squicky Google searches having to do with ears and mold but not *ear molds* per se. Also I get some interesting ones related to the murderer Scott Peterson, who is definitely NOT *my* Scott Peterson. Lately, a significant number of searchers are trying to figure out what’s the deal with Elizabeth McGovern’s accent on Downton Abbey. (My take is it’s the accent of a woman—both the character and the actress, in this case—who was born and raised in America but has lived in England for many years.)
Leslie, you are so very kind! I do hope our paths will cross in person some day—I’ve always been sorry that didn’t happen when we were still in VA. I’m delighted your dd is enjoying Lark Rise! And thanks for the cheers about the early reader and & the YA…I actually have a third book-in-the-works to announce just as soon as I get the go-ahead from my editor…this one’s a middle-grade novel scheduled for publication in Summer 2012. I’m really excited about it. I had better update my sidebar soon!
Ellie, these past few weeks I have felt sort of guilty posting any pictures here—and indeed have refrained from posting a good many. It’s planting season here; we’ve had a good bit of rain and I got my lettuces and strawberries in the ground today, and the cosmos and sunflower seeds are planted. It’s a bit surreal to come in from the garden and see blogs full of snow snow snow. Of course San Diego gets its comeuppance in October when the East is a blaze of glory, and we are living in a crispy brown wasteland under winds like the blast of a giant hair dryer. And that’s a *good* October. In the bad ones, entire neighborhoods go up in flame.
Charlotte, STRAWBERRIES!!! What a heavenly thought. I adore strawberry pie but have never tried them in a cobbler. How did you do it? Fresh berries? Frozen? Canned? (Do they even sell canned strawberries?) In what form must the berry be before cobbling? 😉
On February 21, 2011 at 5:52 pm
Hannah says:
Yes! Rilla’s childhood cannot possibly be complete without Miss Rumphius. Or what I think of as it’s companion, Ox-cart Man. Go forth and remedy! 🙂
On February 22, 2011 at 5:52 am
Love2learn Mom says:
Oh, Miss Rumphius is the best! I recently picked up a copy at a thrift store and presented it to Ria so that she’ll have a copy with her at college. Most essential!!!
On February 24, 2011 at 6:05 am
Melissa Wiley says:
Oversight rectified as of yesterday! She adored it, of course.
On February 25, 2011 at 5:34 pm