Thursday, January 24, 2013

An Awful Warning



I really enjoy blogging which has brought me friends from all over the world. I love sharing the place I live and some of the things I see, which is why I was horrified yesterday morning to discover that this blog, Buster's blog and the old one about Marrakesh had been DELETED.


Here is the florist's window all steamy and fogged up. (When I was a child in England, before double glazing, lovely ferny ice pattens used to form inside the glass.)


Here is the coffee, bagel and donut truck exhibiting the same phenomena.


A very odd sighting --people wearing red coats at the bus stop. (I thought you were required by law to wear black!)


You can tell how cold it was by the fact that everyone is wearing a hat or hood --except the young woman in the foreground adopting the archetypal cold weather pose....


Steam was billowing up from the bowels of the earth.


Here is an accidental art work. A detail of the paper Robert uses to clean his brushes when he's doing a different kind of painting. He works at home. See below.


This is his airbrush and other brushes.....


and another accidental painting. I feel, at the moment, that my blogs are my accidental artwork, recording images and sharing them....

 So, to get back to the DELETED business.....I have been on Blogger since 2007 and never had a major problem before. But there were my blogs, GONE !
I spent much of the afternoon and evening typing into "Google Forums" --a most frustrating exercise, though someone seemed to be trying to help me......(you can't actually get to talk to a real person.) I started getting phone calls and emails  ---were we all right? had anything happened to us? We are fine, thank you for thinking of us. Where is Buster?
This morning I contacted my super helpful and lovely and pragmatic techie son who asked all sorts of questions.....but did say at one point, "Ma, you get what you pay for..." Then, lo and behold,  after 24 hours, the blogs miraculously re-appeared.
I'm just writing this for those of you who really value your blogs and put effort into them in case it happens to you. I think there is someway of 'backing-up' a blog --don't ask me how.

I close with some very lovely flowers. Happy blogging!
And consider Wordpress and Typepad.....






27 comments:

  1. I have something called LaCie which I think serves as a backup. Digital Society, an authorized service provider for Apple, may be able to help yu on this - www.digsoc.com (60 East Tenth Street - close to Broadway and tenth).

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  2. I've tried to back up my blog with no success. There is a button that says "back up template" but it does nothing. I should check into it further.

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  3. So glad to see you back! Good advice to back things up somehow. It would be quite a shock to loose all that work.

    Love all these photos, but especially the artist at work stuff. Sometimes I think I should just put my scrap impressionistic paper out there for sale and keep the realism for my own walls.

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  4. What a relief! I've thought about backing up, but it always seems to be one of those things one puts off for tomorrow.

    Red coats in NYC, what is going on!?!

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  5. That is so aweful, Elizabeth, so glad you have your blogs back, though!

    I always hesitate clicking on that backup button, afraid I'll do some damage. I wonder if any of your friends and readers have ever actually backed up their blogs. Do you need an external hard drive, how do you know how large the file is, etc. - would immensely appreciate if anyone has any experience with this business.

    Thank you for the warning,
    good luck for the future,
    Merisi

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  6. I was so worried yesterday. I was trying to figure out a way to contact you and see if you were alright. I googled your name and got some other Elizabeth Wix...can you imagine??? There is another one! I'm so glad you're back and everything is back to normal (hopefully). As bad as Blogger is, it's better than Wordpress. I haven't been able to comment on some people who use it. I have something called "My Passport" to use for backing up.
    I wouldn't like to go through my days without you and Buster.
    Barbara

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  7. I was wondering about your blogs but thought maybe you had company. I was going to e-mail to see if all was well and how Buster is regarding the very cold weather. But your blog popped up today.
    I lose my blog off and on, can't post or all the one I follow get deleted. I just wait till it comes back usually within a day.
    I don't have any idea how to backup a blog either.

    cheers, parsnip

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  8. That is a rude surprise! I don't think much of my blog really , it is like air writing or an organic installation that will disappear in time...sort of "be here now" thing.. I am not bothered but it really terrifying to find that ETSY shops sometimes vanish for periods of time.
    People that I care especially for are backed up in my addresses- I know where you and Buster live...so I feel secure!

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  9. What really lovely comments.
    I will have to work out some sort of back up system, I suppose (though, being rather lazy, it might take me a while...)
    What I'd miss most is my side bar list where I get to see who has posted recently so I can check up on you all!

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  10. We care a lot more about Buster's blog than our own! Glad to see you're back! Ozzy and Nancy in Pa.

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  11. yes ...the interweb is a virtual by name and nature it would appear!!

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  12. What a fright for you Elizabeth. I am glad you are back, we don't want to lose you... Let's hope they were just working on something.

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  13. Well, I'm glad you're back even if I didn't realise you'd gone away!

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  14. yikes ewix!
    I have missed you...

    keeping the homes fires burning
    up here in the tundra
    happy belated birthday
    yes typepad
    maybe in may?

    love to you,
    xox

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  15. Yes - that's seriously worrying after years of work. Thank goodness they came back. I love the accidental art works....you should frame them. The steamy photo is gorgeous too.

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  16. OM goodness Elizabeth you frightened the living daylights out of me! I've heard many mysterious and puzzling things about blogger. I think they now have a solid Duty of Care to uphold.
    Life without BUSTER??? Unthinkable!!
    Thank goodness for happy endings but thankyou for sharing what happened - we will all be less likely to completed fall apart if we find it happening to us one fine day.
    x

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  17. Jeepers, Elizabeth, all this going on with you and Buster and I had absolutely no idea!

    You all must be quite relieved to have all restored. I know that this visitor is quite relieved.

    xo

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  18. What a shock - for you and for Buster. Hmmm - surely Google must back up everything just in case they have gliches. Can you iagine all the irrate people in the world if they were to permanently loose a bunch of other people's stuff?

    glad you're back,
    Jenny

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  19. I'm glad you got it all back! I've thougtht of having a book made of my blog every few years, so far I haven't gotten around to it but probably should!

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  20. Love the "accidental" artwork, and the red coats! (There is a way to back up your blog through blogger, and I've done it, but so far I've never had to try reinstating the blog from a backup copy, so I'm not too confident about it!) I belive it's Settings/Other/Export Blog. Just make sure you don't hit the "delete blog" button!

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  21. So glad you got your blogs back E!! I think you can back up by going in to your dashboard...I never back mine up. They have been reporting on the British news how freezing it is in NYC and other bits of the States - they hung a T shirt out for 10 minutes and it was rock solid. The red coats at the bus stop is too funny. Keep warm :-)

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  22. Oh my, I'm so glad you're back- your blog and Buster's are both some of my absolute favorites.

    I've heard of the Blogger "disappearing blog" problem. Here's a link to what another blog friend did:

    http://mockingbirdhillcottage.com/2012/08/moving-from-blogger-to-wordpress/

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  23. thank goodness your disappearance was only temporary!!

    I love your winter shots

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  24. I'd hate to lose mine, glad your's are ok.

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  25. Glad you got your blog back. Love it and your photos -found you through Seth's art blog directory. Your class sounds fantastic.

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  26. If you go to Funky Junk blog, she talks you through the process of backing up your blog. x

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  27. Whew...glad you're still here, Elizabeth in all your wonderful blog-forms! I've been using Typepad since I began blogging in 2006, and it's been worth paying for. You do get what you pay for in many instances. ;o) LOVE the images here today... especially of Robert's brush marks--art in itself! Happy Days ((HUGS))

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I look forward to hearing from you!