I am going to take a look back at the year. Honestly, I love the New Year for this sort of thing. I am eager to reflect when I get the chance, and WP makes it easy to look back on a single year. (But NOT on my all-time stats anymore though. Wasn’t that included before? Ah well.)
I began blogging on Word Press for real on March 17, 2010. But if you skim through my archives, you will see that my first post is dated June 20, 2007. That’s because in March of 2010 I began transferring all my posts from my former web host onto Word Press before that host closed down. I have never actively sought readers or attention here, and often forget to even mention to people that I have a blog, so it took years before I even had regular readers. Today I have just under 1,000 subscribers, and I think that is amazing.
During the year 2025, I apparently received 26.8 thousand views, 1.1 thousand likes and 1.3 thousand comments. Thank you for being so chatty with me! The most viewed page was my home page, with 1,466 views. Most views came from the United States, followed by the United Kingdom, then Canada, Mexico, and Italy. Thanks Mexico and Italy ❤
#1 Ceilings
My post “Ceilings of the Vatican Museum” came into being because of crowding on the way to the Sistine Chapel. Pedro and I did visit in 2021, which was much less populated due to the pandemic but we did find crowding in a few places, and one was among the chattel funneled through the maze of halls and rooms on the way to one of the premier artistic destinations in the world. So many, many people that I got bored looking at backs of heads and shoulders, and turned my eyes up to gaze at something better. Viola! So many GORGEOUS ceilings that I had enough photos for an entire post.
There were 1,245 clicks on this post during 2025:
#2 Crystal Bolls
A perennial favourite. Anyone who has ever randomly or accidentally clicked on my blog probably clicked this one. The photos are terrible, but it’s funny and has received so much engagement over the years that it is my number one post, far and away, with 28.5 thousand views. It was published in 2010, and had the most views in 2016, and another roaring year in 2024 with 2,689 views. Despite being #2 this year, there was a dramatic drop with only 942 views.
#3 Fairy Houses
If you are someone who reviews stats like this, you have found a similar occurrence: the same posts keep getting clicked on. Why? I think it would be very hard to know why. One of my guesses is that algorithms somehow make one popular, and from then on, it is always popular.
Anyway, Fairy Houses on Mackworth Island in Maine. I had a great adventure finding these, then experiencing them, then researching them! I also had fun posting. I am happy it has caught on. In 2025 it received 737 views.
#4 Anderson School
There is a quirky local business chain here in Oregon and Washington called McMenamins. They began as a beer brewery, but have expanded to cider, wine and spirits. Their original pub to sell their brews expanded to many bars, restaurants, and hotels. They operate movie theatres and spas and golf courses, and several highly popular music venues. They are known for buying and occupying historic buildings. The business invented this McMenamins Passport, in which all their establishments will give you a stamp in your passport if you show up and complete a task: solve a riddle or a scavenger hunt typically. There are more stamps if you attend events like brewfests and holiday parties and tours and things.
Pedro and I have visited a lot of them, in the quest for stamps. In December 2021, we stayed at the McMenamins Anderson School in Bothell, Washington. I am not sure why people click on this one more often than others. It was not a particular favourite McMenamins stays so far – except for the pool & poolside restaurant, which were both excellent. Now the most interesting thing about this post is a long discussion between me and a reader who was hoping this was the school she used to attend when she was in Kindergarten. I completed a lot of online research on her behalf, ha ha!!
#5 Modocs
Fellow blogger Andrew at Have Bag, Will Travel mentioned that it’s disappointing when he puts a lot of effort into a post and then for whatever reason, it gets few views. I feel that pain as well. But here we have an example of what we want: a post that deserves a lot of views because of the effort I put in. I worked my butt off for an end-of-term final paper on a subject dear to me for a grumpy, begrudging Native professor with a chip on his shoulder. I split the paper into two parts because it was so long, and this one, Modocs As They Were, is part one. It has been in the top ten since I posted it in 2020. In 2025, it received 705 views.
I wish the best possible for you all. Some of you are struggling with your own personal challenges, like sickness, or loss, or fear of what the future might bring. Some of you are celebrating, and finding – despite it all – some of the best the world has to offer. Most of you are in there in between, caught in life’s jumble of good and bad. My New Year’s Hope For You (and for me): I hope you notice the good more often in 2026 than you did in 2025. It’s always there, but doesn’t shout for attention like the bad does.
I love you. Your blogger friend, Crystal.
Conscious Engagement 
I guess one person from Australia wouldn’t show up in your stats 😂
Ha!!! Australia was actually in the top ten! I thought of you, of course. 🙂 I know Manja reads from Italy, but other than her, I can’t imagine why Italians click more often than Australians.
Yay 👏🏼👏🏼
Crystal, just two observations.:
1.) You missed a calling as a photojournalist. Your posts are always wonders of illustrated narrative that put the reader into the picture
2.) The picture you started off with just floored me. Without reading a word, my mind filled ina story of a little sweet old lady with a porcelain Peacekeeper in her pocket “just for emergencies, dear!”
Happy New Year’s to you, Pedro and cat hockey playing Jupyter!
I am sure the artist would have loved your feedback on the blue porcelain gun, Lou. I am sorry if the impact was unpleasantly startling. For me, the shock is mild yet pointed, and makes me consider overlapping themes of my military history, and wars past present and future, and how peace can feel like a war zone (our country sometimes) and how there are moments of peace in a real war zone. The fragility of peace means I want to cherish it, and promote it. Anyway… there is so much in this remarkable exhibit. I absolutely love the image your mind conjured for you, of the little old lady with a porcelain uzi in her apron pocket.
Your words of encouragement on my writing are so kind. I hardly know what to say in response. Your reaction is exactly what I am aiming for, and to see that it worked for even one person is a gift. My first gift of 2026! Thank you, friend. Our hockey-playing Jupyter and we wish you a Happy New Year.
I don’t even know how to gather these numbers. “I hope you notice the good more often in 2026 than you did in 2025. It’s always there, but doesn’t shout for attention like the bad does.” is a sound observation
Ah! Well, then, I’ve got one skill at least, in being able to squirrel out statistics from Word Press, ha ha! I will cease complaining that they don’t share All Time stats with me anymore, and be grateful I can find any stats.
I appreciate your feedback on my observation. Coming from someone like you, whom I believe has a lifetime of professional and personal observation of humans and their behaviors, I take it as a compliment.
Thank you very much for your compliment, too, Crystal
Always fun to jump on the stats and see how they are performing. Congratulations. My funny story is that my top performing post year after year in on Hawthorn, Nevada. It’s a small town on the road between Reno and Las Vegas that served as the major depot for explosives on their way to the Pacific in WWII. The military didn’t want them on the coast for fear that the Japanese would blow them up. As for why it’s so popular, it may be the only post that anyone has ever written on Hawthorne. Grin. Or it’s been viewed by more people than anyone else so Google puts it first when people look up Hawthorne. Success begets more success. Motivated by your post, I just glanced at my stats to see how Hawthorne performed in 2025. It blew my mind. Apparently 8,000 people wanted to know about Hawthorn!
I remember this post, Curt. It’s a good one! So interesting and unique. I’m sure that some of the readers are actually curious to know, and I agree with your other guess: success begets success. That’s my best guess about why some posts stay popular year after year.
Like they say in Hollywood about a movie that keeps attracting viewers over a long period of time: “It has legs.”
Welcome to 2026 (even if it has been a rough start due to 47). I never thought about looking at statistics! Good for you for doing so. Just look at all the information, love, and joy you have shared and been the recipient of! Keep on friend!
So kind of you, Laurie. I love seeing the card from you and Greg each year. Hugs and all the support I can send to you over there to help you both get through the next year of 47 while still smiling.