Writing a blog post is something like putting a message in a bottle—you send it off into the world and hope someone will find it and take the time to read it.
Today’s blog post marks FanningSparks’ six-year anniversary. This is the 316th blog post I’ve published. Miraculously, over 158,000 people have found their way to the blog since it was launched in March 2018. I’m so glad you’re here! Let’s take a moment to celebrate this special milestone.
We’ll start our little celebration with a look back at some of the messages and comments I’ve received from readers in the last year. It’s not as if I get feedback every day so all notes are carefully read and much appreciated.
Wrought Iron Design
Just the other day, I received an email from a reader named Leigh triggered by the blog post Lines and Patterns in Wrought Iron in which I shared lots of photos of wrought iron from the cities and towns of Portugal. Leigh’s message said “Hope you’re having a wonderful day. I came across your beautiful site while researching window bars / grilles for our home in Lisbon. The builder was unfortunately unable to salvage the original bars, so he tasked us with finding a new style. Immediately when I came across your charming photo that paired the blue oval-shaped grille next to the stunning tile, I fell in love.
The image is below the description ‘In this example from Viana do Castelo, the simple linear window grille complements the more intricate tile pattern.’ ” This is the design that caught Leigh’s eye.
Leigh goes on to say “I know it’s a longshot, but wondering if you would have a photo of the entire window that I could utilize to show the builder?” Unfortunately, I didn’t have a photo of the entire window but I did have one of a balcony railing with similar lines. I emailed it to her with best wishes for her project. Thanks for writing Leigh!
Floating Boat
I recently received an email from a reader named Wilma. She wanted to use the below photo as a reference for an oil painting. I was tickled pink to say yes. Good luck Wilma!
Statue of Evangeline
Last spring, I received an intriguing note from a reader named Gail in response to my post The Enduring Tale of Evangeline. “I read your blog post about Evangeline and the memorial to the Acadian way of life. It brought back lovely memories. Growing up in Maine, we studied a lot of near-Maine history and in 8th grade English classes we were required to memorize the preamble to Longfellow’s poem.”
Gail goes on to say, “When I was 11 … my family went to Nova Scotia to visit a great aunt and while we were there visited the church and site of the Evangeline statue. I have a very clear memory of being told to walk slowly around the statue to watch the face of Evangeline age (as she searched for Gabriel). I’m still sure I saw that but may have just been convinced of that by the docent’s sincerity.
When you visited, were you told anything about the features on the statue aging? I hate to ask because I’m afraid you’ll say “No” but I also don’t want to have been lying to friends and family for the last 63 years. Thank you for the wonderful article. I’m not sure I could still recite the preamble but it made me want to read the poem again.”
I wrote Gail to tell her I’d never heard about Evangeline’s face aging—I saw no mention of it at the Grand Pré visitor site nor in my follow up research. But when I did an online search for that specific topic, sure enough, I found a couple of references stating the same. I promised Gail to examine Evangeline’s face more carefully at the next opportunity—which turned out to be last summer. I walked around that statue several times and looked at the face from every possible angle but I could not see anything but a beautiful young woman.
Newfoundland Visit
The blog posts from my visit to Newfoundland, Postcards from Newfoundland #1, Postcards from Newfoundland #2, Bibs and Bobs from Newfoundland, Some Day on Clothes and Inspired by Memories of Home, generated a fair bit of interest.
Readers wrote to tell me about their own visits to this extraordinary place.
A sharp-eyed reader named Don sent this message: “On Bibs and Bobs from Newfoundland you state that the moose were imported from Labrador. That is not a correct statement. The first ones came from Maine, but they died. The next four were from Burnt Church, NB.” I dove a little deeper and found a 2012 research paper titled The Introduction of Moose to the Island of Newfoundland by Allan Byrne. The paper states four moose introduced in 1904 came from New Brunswick. But it also states “… in 1878 when a cow and a bull were brought from Nova Scotia and released at Gander Bay.” I updated the blog post accordingly with thanks to Don!
Spark Plugs
OK, I have to admit, not ALL notes and messages are carefully considered and much appreciated. For instance, the email I received from a spark plug supplier in China promoting their products was simply ignored. Yes, I can see how someone MIGHT make a connection between the name “FanningSparks” and spark plugs but, seriously, one look at the site would have dispelled that notion. The email did make me chuckle though so it wasn’t a complete waste of time!
Visitors By Year
According to Google Analytics, the system I use to track visitor counts and other analytics, www.FanningSparks.com has had over 158,000 visitors over the last 6 years (including 13,000 thus far in 2024). It’s encouraging to see the number of visitors continue to grow year over year—most recently from 37,000 visitors in 2022 to 64,000 visitors in 2023… a whopping 73% increase. Hurray!
As an aside, I started FanningSparks after retiring from a 34-year career as an IT professional specializing in the implementation of enterprise software solutions. I shudder to think how many hours of my life I spent discussing the complexities of migrating data from the system being replaced to the new system being implemented. Oh, the countless debates about how much historical data to migrate and how to do it accurately.
So, when Google Analytics, announced they would be replacing their website analysis tools, I was surprised to learn they would not be migrating the historical data. Nope… none… no historical data was moved from the old system to the new G4A system! It’s surreal to find myself at the receiving end of that decision—pasting together analytics from the first 66 months and the last 6 months of the blog’s existence. I do realize, of course, that having accurate analytics for my little blog is not important in the grand scheme of things. But it is helpful to examine the data and assess the blog’s health periodically.
Weekly and Monthly Visitor Trends
Another data point I monitor is the weekly and monthly visitor trends. Here’s how those counts look from a year-over-year perspective. 
Shown below are the visitor trends at a more granular level—daily, weekly and monthly—from October 1, 2023 (the start of the new Google Analytics system) to March 9, 2024. The numbers fluctuate so I remind myself to take a long-term view.
Google Analytics also reports which posts are most popular. Shown below are the top 10 posts from Oct 1, 2023 to this week based on the number of visitors. Interestingly, Maker Apron – DIY Tutorial (with 3263 visitors) nudged DIY Turkish Mosaic Candle Holder Tutorial (with 2217 visitors) out of the number one spot after 3 years. The DIY Bluebird-Approved Birdhouse Tutorial (with 2074 visitors), currently in third place, is a perennial favorite which typically takes a jump in the spring when, I assume, makers are busy building birdhouses! Links to the blog posts are listed below the graphic.
1. Maker Apron – DIY Tutorial
2. DIY Turkish Mosaic Candle Holder Tutorial
3. DIY Bluebird-Approved Birdhouse Tutorial
4. Hello Marvelous Photo Embroidery – DIY Tutorial
5. Lessons Learned from my First Barn Quilt Block
6. Strawberry Tower Planter – DIY Tutorial
7. Fused Glass: From Fan to Maker
8. Lucet Cordmaking – DIY Tutorial
9. 6 Fascinating Facts about Sable Island
10. Flat Plane Carving with Harley
Facebook and Instagram
FanningSparks has a presence on Facebook and Instagram where I announce the weekly blog posts. I’m grateful for the 118 people on Facebook and 205 people on Instagram who have chosen to follow these accounts.
Pinterest
FanningSparks has a more significant presence on Pinterest with 2,000 followers and about 588.9k views per month. All the photos featured in my blog posts are pinned on Pinterest. To date, I’ve created nearly 5,000 original pins on my 4 major boards for Make, Travel, Nature and Decorate.
Three new special interest boards, designated as “FanningSparks Favs”, were created this past year in support of topics featured on the blog—they are Coiled Rope Basketry–FanningSparks Favs, Collage–FanningSparks Favs and Needle Felting–FanningSparks Favs. These boards hold primarily photos and images created by others. Special interest boards created in previous years cover topics such as Fused Glass, Swans, Sea Glass, Mosaic Artwork, Art Nouveau and Ferns.
Email Notifications
A modest number, currently 68, loyal followers have signed up for weekly email notifications. They receive a “FanningSparks Just Posted” email with a brief overview of the blog post published that week. Anyone can subscribe to this service—simply sign up via the “Can I Count You In?” feature located in the right column on any page of the FanningSparks blog.
Google Search
Every time someone searches for something via Google Search, the words they’ve entered (aka the search query) and the results they clicked on are tracked. That’s how Google Search Analytics is able to report that in the past 28 days, Google Search resulted in 7,871 views of FanningSparks’ content. They are also able to report which content is viewed most often and what queries were used to find it. For instance, shown below in the number 2 slot is the DIY Bluebird-Approved Birdhouse Tutorial with 608 views and the top search queries used. Visitors found this blog post by searching for: Birdhouse dimensions, diy bluebird house, bird house dimensions, and bird house tutorial.
Here are the results I got when I searched for “birdhouse dimensions” on Google. There were 4,870,000 results. Notice the 3rd, unsponsored image is courtesy of FanningSparks!
Thank You
So, there you have it! FanningSparks has successfully completed another year and continues to show healthy growth. I recognize that none of this would be possible without you, my readers. Thank you so much for your support and interest over the last 6 years!
About the Photos
The photos in today’s blog post were taken at sunrise and sunset on the beautiful beaches of Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. Please note: The shots were staged—no bottles were actually thrown into the ocean (or anywhere else for that matter)!
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