Mikes Writing

my new 11ty blog

I found a really nice how to on creating my own 11ty blog. It needs some final things like rss support and I want to add some image gallery stuff. The guts though are ready. The liquid framework is pretty easy to understand. Even for me.

To this point been using the base blog starter. What I think I will do is simple shift everything over at some point and make it the blog. It was a lot of fun and very educational seeing how various things worked. Or did not work at more than a few points. I learned a little about how 11ty works. What needs to go where in configuration and layouts files. Connecting to netlify is an easy step. I just want a few changes and to play with the css a bit. It’s kinda barebones now but I will add related posts, reading time, and a few other plugins I enjoy.

If this is something you may want to do the feeling of ownership and creation of a thing is very nice. I also learned some.

Here’s the howto.

Going on

It’s the morning so coffee time. I just decided why write two blogposts when I have this one about something that started about some fun creating a new blog. It’s been raining this morning again. Always seems to stop by 6am or so. Nice schedule Khmer rain gods. The dirt roads here become somewhat a mess so I have other ways of not walking on them too much. I’d never live in dirt roads here if it were me. Just not enjoyable. Siem Reap has been paving more roads. Even paging our road doesn’t fix what’s broken here.

In a few weeks I will be going to Kampot. I really enjoyed last time there. A week gives me time to get better at doing nothing there. I strive for that. Also a break from here is needed. I’ve felt lately life hasn’t been this desirable thing here and getting away will help.

My primary way of coping and wanting change has been mornings. The morning coffee out and then a walk. Both things do for me. They give me a sense of life beyond a house and a dirt road. I get to see this other Siem Reap. Sit at a nice coffee house. Watch people do things I won’t see again. Even if I do it never feels exactly the same. Like walking for me I guess. Which is the other part of how I do things. The walking has been a practice for decades. It has only been lately that it also has been an escape. Like writing in the journal. There is no too much or better left unsaid in my daily thing. There’s me and there’s it. And I get to cross over and move beyond and maybe find good and bad in measures. It has always been life is different here. That we expats don’t fit really yet we live here and often enjoy the not fitting. We are differently made and what we did to get here are stories sometimes told over coffee and beer.

And a blog for me. Which brings it all back to this and trying out my new blog. That will be fun. And I will write. And walk. And do coffee. That’s me of course. You’re stuck with that in these places.