Journeys of an aging, changing blog(ger)

This is the ninth December for this blog, started in May, 2009, and it has changed over the years, as has the writer, and perhaps more so this year.
What started off as a text-heavy journal the first year, modeled on a newspaper personal column  seems to have evolved, as has the blogger. This is only the 136th post this year, ranking it in the lower half of those years. It was almost comatose in 2016, and what has saved it this year has been watercolor. 

July paintings tuckered out me, Sophie and Snoops

Daily paintings in July and this month boosted the total.
I'm not so concerned about quantity, but know most blogs dry up and don't last this long because they cease to have quality content consistently. and it's not a niche blog, that makes money, so that makes it more difficult to have a voice, a reason to even sit down and compose.
What also saved it through  the years was creating and teaching a semester-by-semester blogging course at UCO, which was motivation--you have to do what you teach. But with retirement, that has also changed, as has my urge to write--writing well and blogging well takes time and commitment, and focus. 
It has been a year of looking back, and exploring the future. The blog will change even more in 2018, if it survives, as retirement sets in. But there are more stories to tell, more paintings  to go with them.
Favorite, or best  posts of the year? 

• November, and September--farewells to newspaper friends Ray Lokey, Steve Booher, respectively.
• June--Riding in the classic aircraft, Ford Tri-motor, 3 parts
• May--Mother's Day, 3 parts; last graduation, 2 parts
• April--My retirement reception, 7 parts
• February--Why do you teach? 2 parts
• January--Retirement clock
• December and July--31 daily watercolors.

There have been  about 254,000 page views, up 20,000 from a year ago, from at least 150 countries around the world. Some of this mystifies me, that readers so far away would click on a personal, non-political, non-religious blog. But I wish I knew who, because there are so many stories to tell.

Countries with the most all-time readers:

United States-- 146,300+
Russia--14,136
China--12,080
Germany-11,994
Ukraine--11,692
France--9,00
UK--3,824
Turkey--1,391
Poland--1,277
Canada--1,187

Number of posts of the years:

2017--136--December, 36
2016--137--December, 39
2015 --136--December 26
2014--246--December, 33
2013--203--December 2
2012--2013--December, 15
2010--292, December, 9
2009--339, December 47

Here are the 150 countries with readers.

Actually there might be more, but I lost track of checking it every day this year. This is the list from last year:

• Africa--Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Togo, Ghana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Tunisia, Gabon, South Africa, Mali, Mauritus, Mauritania, Cameroonx, Zambia, Mozambique, South Sudan, Senegal, Benin, Angola, Botswana,  --26
• Asia--Russia, China, Taiwan, Cambodia, S Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Kazahkstan, Azerbaijan, Japan, Mongolia, Armenia, Georgia,  Nepal, Uzbekistan, Macau, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Burma (Myamar), -26
• Caribbean--Caymans,  Sint Maartin, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, The Bahamas, Anguilla, Netherlands Antilles,  St. Kitts and Nevis, Bermuda-11
• Central America--Panama, Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador-5
• Europe--UKx, Isle of Man, Francex, Spainx, Germanyx, Italyx, Switzerlandx, Monaco, Czech Republicx, Polandx, Croatia, Greecex, Macedonia, Netherlandsx, Icelandx, Norwayx, Swedenx, Denmarkx, Finlandx, Latviax, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, Ukrainex, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Austria, Sloveniax, Belgium, Irelandx,  Bulgariax, Turkey, Portugal, Luxemborg, Slovakiax, Albania,Slovenia, Leichtenstein, Montenegro-42
• Indian Ocean--Maldives, Seychelles-2
• Mediterranean--Maltax, Cyprus,-2
• MidEast--Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait,Qatar, Bahrain, Palestine, Lebanon, Oman, Yemen-, Syria-14
• North America--US, Canada, Mexico-3
• Oceana--Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Indonesia, Guam, New Caledonia, Fiji-7
• South America--Colombia, Peru, Chili, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Bolivia, Paraguay-12

(Ignore the little x at the end of some--those are countries I wrote about. And the Flag Counter on the sidebar is not accurate because I started it long after I started counting countries)