One Year Old Today!

I can hardly believe it. My blog is one year old today.I know I'm only an infant in blogging terms and I have much to learn but when I set out one year ago and typed my first words on these pages I could never have never have imagined how many people would be interested in anything that I had to say about my fly tying and fishing exploits. I have had visitors to my blog from all over the world as well as all over the UK.How they found out about my blog is beyond me. I suppose the Internet makes the World a global Village.My blog might not be up there with the likes of Davie McPail's etc in numbers but over this last year I have watched with interest as my hit counter has been steadily recording a pleasing increase in viewers month by month. I am currently sitting at just over a thousand visitors a month now. I set out originally to publish photos and articles of my fishing trips and also somewhere to publish pictures of my fly patterns. I hoped at first that my blogging would attract the attention of my fellow Airdrie and District Club anglers and friends and didn't really think beyond that. During the course of the season it was such a buzz to meet anglers at the Hillend Loch side and then for them to ask if me if I was the bloke that did the Hillend Dabbler Thingy! I think I bored my mates rigid by telling them this and that and that I would be putting their pics on the blog etc.In the end I think they actually looked forward to seeing their pics and stories of our exploits together at Hillend and further afield on the blog. I have really enjoyed recording a year in the life of my favourite pastime. You may have noticed that over the course of the season I didn't catch huge numbers of fish but I can assure you that I have enjoyed every minute of my angling and blogging over this last year because for me angling encompasses a whole lot more than just catching fish and I hope you agree that I have tied to express and articulate the pleasure and enjoyment I gain from my pastime within the pages of my blog...The Hillend Dabbler.
I was wondering how I should mark the occasion of being one year old on here.In the end I decided just to post a simple photo of Hillend Loch as it looked this morning. It looks exactly as it did one year ago when I first started blogging. Anyone fancy ice fishing! Its hard to imagine that in 84 days time this place will be free of ice and snow and once again I will be afloat drifting along the north shore casting the flies that I have been tying all winter.