This blog has actually went through three incarnations. The first and second ones were spotty at best. I only blogged on occasion, and once even went a couple of years (maybe even three) between posts. It had no sense of itself, and while I didn't know for a long time exactly what I was going to do with it, I knew I didn't want to give it up. It had something to offer, and I'm happy to have found it.
I spent some time looking back at some of the pictures I had posted on Facebook. Included among them was the very first banner I ever made for Historical Sherlock. It's kind of cool, and I'm not sure what made me change it, but I do prefer the one I have now. (The one above.) Here it is for those who've never seen it. (That's probably most.)
The one I use now features a Peterson churchwarden pipe. Should I ever decide to copyright it or use it in any advertising, I suppose I will probably have to ask the Peterson people for permission. For know, though, that's not a problem. In the future I do see some products wth my logo on them. Maybe hats and polos, bookmarks, things like that. Later, not right now. Right now I am only concerned with doing research so I can bring you the findings.
Speaking of those findings, some of the places we've been together this year have been very interesting...and pretty cool. We've been all over London, a good portion of Southern England, and even went out to sea a couple of times. Sometimes I was able to find enough to put together a string of posts that I could schedule for weeks, other times I was up the night before a post was needed looking for a spark. When I first started this journey I had so very few resources to use, but now I have hundreds of websites, books, and publications to peruse for ideas. One of the things I'm most proud of is that I have rarely used someone else's findings for a starting point. My copies of The Annotated Sherlock Holmes, The Sherlock Holmes Reference Library, and The Oxford Sherlock Holmes all stay on their shelves (or on my desk) and are almost never opened for inspiration. Nearly all that I post is from my own research.
A number of the things I find don't even appear in those books. It's amazing how much info is still out there waiting to be found. The fun part is looking for it. On any given day you'll find me looking into just about anything having to do with Victorian London, and trying to find a way to connect it to Holmes and/or Watson. (Or I'm looking in The Canon and finding something new to research. Either way, it's a blast.)
I don't really have a point to this edition except to thank all of you for being on this ride with me. You really seem to enjoy it, and that's matched by my enthusiasm to find data and bring it to you. So, if you're expecting something different for next year you'll be very disappointed. I plan on doing exactly what got me to this point for as long as possible. I do have a few ideas to add to all of this, but nothing that will radically alter it. Why mess with something that works?
(I'm also very aware that this is the only post this month. I promised more than that, but December can get hectic. Please accept my apologies.)
Well, that's pretty much it. Thank you all so, so much for sticking with me. I'll see you next year, and as always...thanks for reading.
