226: What’s in a name?

(Note:  This is another auto-post, prepared and scheduled before I left home.  The photos are all leftovers from the past week or so.)

It occurs to me that there is something I have failed to explain on this blog.  Or maybe I explained it long ago, but with new visitors dropping in, it is time to explain it again.  I should probably put it in the Bogs Blog FAQ while I’m at it.  I’ll have to remind myself of that when I get home.

Apple blossom

You may have noticed the copyright thingie on my photos.  You know, that thing that says © 2011 by MaidinSun Photography.  Who is MaidinSun Photography?

Bird nest

The short answer is:  That’s me.  A couple of years ago, as a Mother’s Day gift, my youngest son (that would be M the Younger) gave me the gift of my own website.  I had to come up with a domain name for it.  After much hesitation and indecision, M the Younger suggested I use my email address name.  It was highly unlikely, given the spelling (or what may appear to be a misspelling), the name would already be taken.

Fungus in the wood pile

Well, I couldn’t come up with anything better so, why not?  Thus, MaidinSun Photography (and the MaidinSun Photography website) was born.

I’m fairly certain I’ve explained that part of things here.  What I don’t think I’ve explained is where I got the name MaidinSun and what it means.

A little cap

Way back in the olden days, when the internet was still fairly new and most of us were connecting via dial-up through such wonders as AOL, I had to come up with a user name for my brand spanking new email address.  I did not want to use my real name because I wasn’t giving out my real name in those days.  Everything I tried in terms of variations on my name was taken.  I was stumped.

A tall stump

Having exhausted the possibilities with my own name, I then tried putting together words that might have some meaning for me.  Once again, everything I tried was already being used.  I decided to give up on English.  I pulled out an Irish Gaelic dictionary and started looking up words.

At that time in my life I was waking up early every morning.  4:00am early.  I don’t know why.  It just happened I would be wide awake at 4:00am.  The nice thing about it was that it gave me the house all to myself for a little while, before M and our sons were up and about.

Our computer at that time was located in what we referred to as the Ohio room.  Other people call them Florida rooms.  It was basically a big room with lots of windows that was added on to the house by a previous owner, and it faced the Ohio River and the hills of West Virginia to our east.  (This was long before we moved to the Bogs.)  Every morning, just before sunrise, I would log on to the computer and enter a chat room where there were other people watching the sunrise.  We would sort of follow the sun as it made its way west, each of us describing the sunrise we saw that morning.  It was a pleasant way to start the day.

This is actually a sunset

While looking through the Irish-Gaelic dictionary I came across the word maidin, pronounced majin (as in imagine without the “i”), meaning “morning.”  I took that, added the English word “sun,” and I had a user name for my email address.  I’ve been using it ever since that time, although I no longer use AOL.

Apple blossom revisited

So there you go.  MaidinSun is MorningSun, with a Gaelic twist.

As for the MaidinSun Photography website, those of you who have visited it in the past may have noticed some changes.  I have a new design, thanks to a good friend, the artist Jenna Hannum.  I love the new design and really appreciate all the work she put into it.  Thanks, J!  Now it’s my turn to work on it so, if you should happen to wander over there, please pardon the dust and confusion.  I need to do some work (lots of work) on the Gallery.  I started before I took on this proofreading job and have not had time to get back to it.  I have ideas, but no time.  Once I’m finished with the book, I’ll be doing an overhaul of the Gallery and adding new photos to the front page.

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