One year ago today, I created a blog on a whim and wrote my first blog post. Little did I know then, that I was stepping into such a wonderful community of bloggers the world over. 
I had no idea how much it would change my life – in so many good ways.
How can I even begin to put into words my appreciation for those who have stopped by here and who have opened their blogs to me? Each person has made my little corner of the world a better place.
I have been awed by the kindnesses of people who’ve written encouraging words, when they were most needed.
I have been challenged – often – to rethink my way of viewing things. I have travelled the world over through photographs and words and have encountered many new delights.
I have also learned much on subjects previously undiscovered and, at the same time, I have uncovered new passions (mostly for tropical flowers).
I have laughed uproariously at reading humourous posts and comments. I have had moments of sadness – wishing that, in some way, I could do something to ease another’s sadness.
I have learned not to take myself too seriously. In life, I think that is one of the most important lessons to be learned – just me saying that of course.
I can’t quite picture what the next year of blogging will be like. The only thing I do know is that it will be different and I imagine, it will be just as exciting.
Without further ado, here’s the text of my first blog post, Beginning Smudges, 20 February 2007.
Lately the word, smudges, has intrigued me. It has an earthy ring to it and evokes all sorts of cool images. Blurring images and ideas and watching their transformation into something entirely different holds a certain fascination for me.
Maybe this has something to do with my recent foray into watercolour painting. Every time I sit down and mix paints, I feel as if I’ve entered an incredible world of magic. I’m drawn more and more to blurring objects with water or colour. Mostly I marvel at my newfound ability to create all sorts of shades of different colours by the simple combination of blue, red or yellow.
Smudges remind me, too, of my garden and the sheer joy of digging and playing in the dirt. At the end of a long gardening day, I love seeing all the smears of dirt that I’ve managed to collect.
And mostly, I love closing my eyes at this time of year and picturing my garden on a spring evening with the flower colours all smudged together.
in the autumn light 
Congratulations on your first anniversary for this blog. What you say about this blogging community and those people behind the blogs is so true!Carol, May Dreams Gardens
Congrats Kate, keep writing!
Congrats Kate on your 1st year in blogging. You have shared so much through your blog this last year. I Am looking forward to reading more posts in the years to come.
I was surprised to hear your blog was so “young”! (I just started my own blog in April of 2007.) You have done a wonderful job with it and I have enjoyed the glimpse into your life there on the prairie…not far from my childhood home.
Congratulations for a blogging year kate. Hope to keep on reading you for several more years.
Wow! Congratulations on your blogoversary! You will have to start showcasing some more of your watercolor works for us relatively “new”comers! I’m very glad we met even though I don’t remember how that happened now. Just glad it did! 🙂
Congratulations on your first year anniversary Kate. I am glad you put your first post on tonight. I missed it of course becasue I didn’t read blogs back then. I am a real newbie and just discovered blogs this summer. I am so happy to have found you and your blog.
I add my congratulations to the chorus. Blogging has brought the world to my desktop and changed my life in ways I never could have imagined. I sometimes wonder if I am dreaming. I am glad it has done similar things for you.
Belated Happy Blog Anniversary Kate! I look forward to the second year and more. Thanks for adding my to your sidebar – I like the idea of playing in all that dirt 🙂
Isn’t Blogland a great place? I have met such amazing people here, and I’ve only been around for 4 months.I’m glad you re-posted your first piece. Now I have a better appreciation for your blog title. 🙂
Happy Blogday Kate. A lovely post!
Kate, your first post was as wonderful as every post thereafter.Happy Blogiversary! I’ve enjoyed YOU, your gardens and well-rounded talent. I just wish I had your green thumb :o/Blogging is a joy. Keep it up!
Kate – echoing Connie I’m surprised to learn that your blog is so young. It feels like one of those very seasoned ones written by somebody who started blogging long before it was fashionable. Happy Anniversary!
Can’t imagine the blog world without yours! Congrats and here’s to many more years!
Congrats on your anniversary! May you have many more!
Sheesh my comment sounded like a greeting card!
Both post are great! I can’t believe you did so well with your first post and it set the stage for the now famous Kate Smudges. I too think of my gardens as smudges of color and a mish mash of togetherness. Every time I go to a nursery, I squeeze my eyes to blur the colors together—then I set on my journey to create that canvas that pops out and appeals to me at the moment. Today, it is the color peach. Kate, you do a wonderful job of welcoming and keeping up. You are a true blog lover and creater. Thank you.
Congrats on your first year!! That is really exciting, I can’t even begin to imagine how my blog will look in a year, but it will be amazing to find out. I too look forward to reading your blog. You have such a wonderful perspective.
Congratulations Kate, on the first anniversary of your blog, you’ve expressed in words my exact feelings about blogging and blogland.Wish you much happiness and joy in the coming year and I’m so glad I discovered your blog. Maya
Congratulations on your blogiversary. Isn’t it amazing how quickly that first year flies by? A sign that you’re having fun.
Smudges is such a great word and one I don’t use nearly as often as I could or ought.Happy one year of blogging to you!Hooray!take care, g xo
Happy Blog-birthday to Kate Smudges!!!Gosh you’ve gone far in the blogosphere!Celia 🙂
Happy First Anniversary 🙂 Your words are beautiful, we all feel the same I am sure, laughter and sadness and reaching out and being encouraged by others. I enjoy reading the words of others so much – sharing, and seeing there is still so much beauty in our world.
We add to the long list of kudos for giving us a calm, thoughtful, beautiful place to visit. You are an inspiration.Frances at Faire Garden
Happy Anniversary Kate. I suppose this means your blog is not an infant any more. (Reaching the age of one is always a milestone!). Bindi xx
This is a beautiful post, Kate, and reflects my feelings about blogging perfectly.
i’ve so enjoyed getting to know you/your blog a little bit. Your flower photographs are lovely – my garden doesn’t have much colour at the moment, but lots going on.And i love this artwork – is it yours?
oh me, too! dreaming about the gardens in a warm, sunny Feb day – heaven! i just did a post about this very thing…spring is just around the corner!
Oh Kate,That is such a nice post.RegardsK
Happy Blogiversary!
You have accomplished so much and created such a following of admiring bloggers like me! We all thank you for your creativity and ability to remain a continuous presence in our lives. I thoroughly enjoy you and your writing. My blog is just a few months old, but I aspire to greater heights. And oddly, I’ve found more friends in Canada than the US! Brenda
Happy Anniversary. It’s a joy to read your posts.
Happy blog-anniversary, Kate! I love how you’ve noted all the new doors open to you in the last year and how you’ve grown.
Kate, Happy Blogoversary. I’m so glad I recently found your blog. Aren’t we lucky to have such a creative outlet and so many dear friends all over the world?~~Dee
Happy Blogiversary! 🙂 I, too, have learned and gained so much through my blog. I hope your smudges are around for many more years!
Happy anniversary to the world’s best smudger who has kept me greatly entertained all year long!!! C
Happy Birthday to Smudges! You have remained true to your first post about painting and dirt, much to my joy. Your blog has given me so much inspiration, and so many interesting musings to meditate on – I can’t believe it’s only a one-year-old baby! ow quickly they grow up, eh?
Happy Blogiversary, Kate! I’m so glad we stumbled onto each other’s blogs. My world (both blog and real) are much richer because of your posts and comments.
Kate…you sweet pea. MY world is a better place since finding your blog. Your writing is a real gift…you are always inspiring, funny and interesting. And you have the cutest Lab in the world! xox!
Congrats and know that you bless those who read here.
Wow, a year! So many beautiful posts and photos!Congrats! And here’s to many more.
I’m a recent visitor, but I can say with heartfelt meaning “Smudge on!”Best wishes for many more years of communicating and community.
Happy Blogversary! I’ve enjoyed my visits here and look forward to more!
Happy Blogiversary!!! Your blog is a joy for me to visit, and I am glad you are here, Kate.
Happy blogiversary Kate! I passed my second in January and didn’t even realize it until after the fact! It’s been fun getting to know you a little and here’s to another fascinating year in blogland! 🙂
This post encapsulates so much of how I feel about the adventures of blogging and the personal rewards from it.Your post from a year ago also resonates with me as an artist and a gardener. Those smudges on my face, hands, and clothes at the end of the day, whether they be from paints or soil, make me happy too.Hugs and congratulations,Cindy at Rosehaven Cottage
Your blog is one of the highlights of my day. Congratulations on your anniversary. I hope there will be many more.
Kate wishing you a Happy Blogiversay!What a world of inspiration encouragement and friendship this world of blogging has become to me.You dear Kate is one that inspires me..keep up your great postings..hugs NG
Kate – Your wonderful personality and empathy for all beings is a winning combination. I enjoy your lyric prose and lovely pictures as well as wry humor. I’m glad I can wish you a Happy One Year Anniversary!! Keep sending your love and joy out to all of us.
Kate,I believe the reason you have such a wide circle of friends around the world is that with your wonderful posts, visits to others’ blogs and thoughtful comments, your kindness and caring shine through. People just naturally take to you. I know I have! Congratulations on your anniversary, and please continue your lovely blog for many more anniversaries.Aiyana
Congrats Kate!It has been good to nowing you.I hope we shall keep locking on our blogs and encourage each other. It´s so exatining to see outhers garden in a other part of the world.Ken
Congratulations on the anniversary. My, what a body of work you’ve collected in that time!And I agree that blogging is much fun and a community of wonderful people. I wish I could spend more time with them.Robin at Bumblebee
Thank you to everyone who commented here or sent me emails. It has been a wonderful year of blogging … I will continue to visit all of your blogs and enjoy them! Here’s to another blogging year!
Lovely anniversary post, Kate. You echo many of my own feelings about blogging.And your year-ago post is equally beautiful.
Happy 1st anniversary, Kate. Beautifully expressed sentiments in this post, as well as in your first. The future of garden blogging seems very bright, indeed.Glad you liked the tour and I am always thanking the photographer and his wife for the generosity of sharing those photos of last fall’s cruise.I took the lunar eclipse viewing in small doses, also – it was pretty chilly here and the dog thought I was running away from home, so she’d check up on me, every time I went for a viewing. She was wise and waited for her normal “last outies” call before actually emerging from the house… Deb
Congratulations, Kate. I love reading your blog and getting your artists perspective on things. You are so right about the community and connections. Here’s to another great year!
happy blogiversary! i’ve really enjoyed stopping by… keep up the good work!
Hi Kate, I feel so much like that, too. Blogging has been fun and it has been so interesting to meet people from around the world. It has been a great experience to share with everyone. I am glad I have met you this way! Have a great week! Andrea
Happy Anniversary Kate! I truly enjoy your blog, and by the looks of it, so does everyone else.Did your blog get a cake?? I am sure Lytton would think you needed one.Thanks for all you have given.Sandy
Happy 1st Blogoversary! May you have many more to come. Enjoy!
I so agree with you, this is exactly how I feel about the benefits of having a blog. Only the other day I was thinking of what knowledge I have gained out of having one and visiting others, the list is endless. Here’s to another year of blog fun and friendship. x
Oh happy blog birthday, Kate. Keeping up a blog for a whole year is a triumph.I love visiting your blog it’s an inspiration and although I don’t always leave a comment, I often think of you.
Every one of your comments has really been wonderful – thank you again to all who have left a comment. I appreciate all of your visits!
Congrats on the one year annvy!
The congratulations are late but the sentiment is strong – your blog and your presence were such welcome additions to the blog world, Kate – your writing was terrific from the start – Happy Blogiversary! Annie at the Transplantable Rose
There is so much to catch up reading your posts since my last visit here…so for the moment just a little “hi” and many congratulations on your blogs “birthday”. I’m glad to have found your blog some months ago!Have a wonderful day!Barbara (just back from rainy holidays!)
Congrats on one year of blogging, Kate! My first anniversary is coming up too. Your post said all of the things I’ve felt during this year – blogging is so much more than I ever imagined it would be!! I’m so glad we met – I love coming here. Your photos are beautiful – your posts are thoughtful – and your many interests are inspiring. I’ve enjoyed having you as a friend very much – I imagine if we met in person it would feel as if we’ve known each other a very long time. I’m looking forward to this next year of blogging with you – thank you for being a kind, thoughtful, sweet person!