Thanksgiving and Home

It’s Thanksgiving morning, and in the O’Shea household we’re busy watching the parade, drinking coffee, baking, talking, and hanging out, enjoying one of the few times per year when all of us are together. Morning sunshine in this small 1957 suburban ranch house – my childhood home – is always a loving place to be, no matter how old I am. No matter where you are – your own home or the home of friends and family, I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. Take time today to give thanks and count your blessings.

Last week we began talking about home (here and here), and many readers left comments discussing how they think about home. Everyone’s thoughts were interesting to read, and collectively they show the importance of home and similarities between us all. Check tomorrow for more.

Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you, all, for being a part of the Preservation in Pink world and a part of my life. I’m grateful to live in such a wonderful time and to know, whether in “real life” or social media life, all of you.

Previous Thanksgiving Day posts:

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Happy 5th Birthday Preservation in Pink!

Preservation in Pink turned five years old on May 28. Five years ago was the debut of the very first (short) newsletter and this blog address served only as a placeholder for newsletter issues throughout its first year.

The newsletter ran for six issues, while this blog continued to develop and grow, starting as a regular blog in spring of 2008. The early blog days began with oral history anecdotes, field school lessons and subjects that I found to be preservation inspiration. As it turns out, once I started writing, I couldn’t stop! From community related issues to roadside America to national preservation concerns, landscape, transportation, historic architecture, graduate school, all things flamingo and coffee, these 900+ posts have been near and far.

Although PiP has evolved over the years, it remains true to the original purpose: to encourage communication between preservationists and non-preservationists, to keep us all inspired and enthusiastic, and to explain the benefits and relevance of the field to everyone.

To see the growth in Preservation in Pink is humbling and inspiring, quite frankly. To know that more and more people are reading about preservation and making the connection from one field to another says to me that we are all making a difference and people are becoming more aware and in touch with their built environment, communities, and heritage.

Perhaps understandably so, it is hard to remember my preservation life before Preservation in Pink or a time when most people I know did not associate me with every flamingo they saw. Without being too sentimental, Preservation in Pink has always been and continues to be a true joy in my life. When a post resonates with a reader (a preservationist or not) and that person can make a connection to the field, it warms my whole heart.

Thank you readers, longtime and new, regular or passersby, for your support, interest, conversations and comments, emails, word-of-mouth publicity and of course, for the flamingo links and photos. You are a wonderful bunch (dare I say flock?), and I learn from you constantly.

Just some of the Preservation in Pink flamingos.

Happy Birthday to Preservation in Pink!

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Some of My Favorite Posts Over the Years, New and Old

Grandma’s Pyrex Mixing Bowls (April 2012)

You Do Not Have to be a Historic Preservationist (March 2012)

How to Photograph a Bridge (February 2012)

Anatomy of Preservation Guilt: HGTV (January 2012)

I Am A Historic Preservationist (January 2012)

Preservation Grammar: Historic v. Historical (December 2011)

If Someone Offered Free Vinyl Siding (October 2011)

The Upside of Interstates (May 2011)

Preservation Basics – Series (April 2011)

I Wear A Hard Hat (January 2011)

My Ode to Derby (January 2011)

My Road to Preservation (September 2010)

Vermont in Pictures (August 2010)

A Response to “How to Turn Young Adults into Preservationists” (July 2010)

Gold in Them Thar Hills: Part Three (June 2010)

More of Carl’s (June 2010)

The Kitten Who Studied Architectural History (December 2009)

Landmarks Shaping Me (December 2009)

Right Place at the Right Time (July 2009)

Why They Don’t Let Me Outside (February 2009)

Interstates, Rest Stops, Service Roads, Old Asphalt, and Coffee (January 2009)

The Time Warp Effect of Home (December 2008)

Concrete v. Asphalt (December 2008)

Five Stages of Small-Town Preservation Induced Grief (August 2008)

Why Do All Preservationists Love Flamingos? (August 2008)

Old Memories, New Memories: The Evolution of My Favorite Place (July 2008)

South Carolina Road Trip (July 2008)

My Ode to Oral History (May 2008)

Nebraska Schoolhouse (October 2007)

Happy Veterans Day

Happy Veterans Day 2011. A flag flying proud in Bethel, VT.

Thank you veterans and families. Because of you, most of us will never understand the sacrifices you made day after day. Thank you for everything and for preserving and improving our American way of life. Happy Veterans Day.

Eternally Grateful

Dear Veterans of the United States Military,

It always seems as though a thank you is not enough to express my gratitude and my respect for your commitment to the United States of America; but, I am going to say it over and over. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your selflessness. Thank you for your sacrifices. Thank you for everything – things that we civilians cannot fathom and horrors that we cannot face. You are the reason we live in such a wonderful country and have the freedom that we do. You are the reason we can continue to study and practice our passionate pursuits such as historic preservation. You make us proud and your story is an important, collective, intertwined chapter in our American history. I cannot imagine another life than the one I have. Thank you for fighting for and securing my freedom, my free will, my life and the life of every citizen. Thank you for fighting battles that we all cannot fight.

I am always proud to be an American citizen.

Thank you.

Love, Kaitlin

May 28, 2007

Three years ago today, I wrote the very first Preservation in Pink blog post. It was more of an announcement than a real post, but still, PiP has been a blog since May 28, 2007.  This goes back to the very first newsletter (6 pages only, all but one article written by me – just to get it out there). Three years ago I wasn’t exactly sure what I would do with a blog other than post the newsletter rather than requiring readers to rely on email. If you browse through the archives you’ll see that nothing happened with the blog again until October 2007 and then posts remained scattered through much of early 2008.

Blog posts began to take shape and routine around May 2008, when I attended the Poplar Forest Architectural Restoration field school. It wasn’t until the summer/fall of 2008 that I decided the Preservation in Pink should be more dynamic and that it should serve more of a purpose than announcing the newsletter. By August/September PiP became a daily (weekdays) routine.

Since those early days, readership has increased from a whopping average of 2 readers per day in 2007 (really, there was nothing to see anyway) to 19 per day in 2008 to 130 per day in 2009 and already at 200+ per day in 2010. Wow! And here we are hovering around 86,000 visits to Preservation in Pink.

This is the perfect time to say thank you to all of you, readers, who visit PiP, leave comments, share the link, display your magnets, and who offer encouragement and show interest. A great big thank you to guest bloggers. You have made PiP so much more diverse and are a wonderful addition to the blog! Mostly, I continue to write and share thoughts because it combines two of my passions – preservation and writing – but it makes me so happy that other people can connect to Preservation in Pink. From current events to ethics to road trips to the occasional soap box and personal essay with flamingo pictures and jokes, I hope that you can always find some way to connect with historic preservation through Preservation in Pink.  As always, whenever you have a suggestion for PiP or something you’d like to share, please do.

Thank you!