Here’s part of our costume (old school newspaper carrier, complete with time warp hard copies of the Ravenna Blog):

Yes, that is a kale plant in the masthead.

In August 2008, after six months of strolling an infant through the neighborhood, we decided to start the Ravenna Blog.

Four years later, and with the addition of one more staff member last October, we’re still here!

Since we started keeping track in June 2010, the Ravenna Blog has reached 61,226 unique visitors and served up 137,680 pageviews. (And that YouTube video of President Obama’s motorcade driving down NE 75th St in October 2010 has now been watched a mind-boggling 347,419 times).

And this post, this very post right here, is the 444th post.*

But this year on our birthday, instead of looking back at the biggest stories of the last year, we’d like to share with you our dreams for next year. They are three-fold:

1. We’ll turn FIVE next year, and that deserves some kind of PARTY, don’t you think? You’re all invited, of course.
2. Have you noticed, the Ravenna neighborhood doesn’t have a fair/art walk/bite of/festival? We need to change that. How about a family walk/run/ramble through the neighborhood? We’ve just begun to plot about it, here.
3. We’re also thinking of putting together some kind of Ravenna Blog Pledge Drive Week, for neighbors who might like to contribute to the costs of running the site. (Tote bags would be involved, OF COURSE.)

More on all of that in the near future. STAY TUNED.

To close out this here birthday post, we’d just like to say: thank you for reading, thank you for commenting, thank you for sharing our site with your neighbors, and thank you sharing your stories with us.

See you around the neighborhood!

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* Kind of a cool coincidence, all the fours. Unless you’re Chinese. *gulp*

Why plant crocuses when you can plant rhubarb?

At 10:14 PM PDT last night, the plane of the earth’s axis was parallel to the sun. Exciting stuff, no?

Okay, perhaps not. But it does mean that spring is HERE, with its longer days, stronger sunlight, and that blissful first day of warm weather in the early afternoon that makes you peel off your wool sweater for the first time since September. Ahhhhh.

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Dear Reader, you may have noticed it has been rather quiet around here recently.

This was partially due to my finishing up the Ravenna-Bryant Community Association Spring 2012 Newsletter (I am on the Communications Committee).

But it was mostly due to the site getting hacked.

If you visited the Ravenna Blog at any time during the past few weeks and ended up elsewhere* instead, we sincerely apologize.

A vigorous bout of spring cleaning has purged the site of all the nefarious code, and things are now as they should be.

Happy spring, friends.

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*Please don’t make me say where. We’re so embarrassed we could die as it is.

Welcome to 2012!

And welcome to a redesigned Ravenna Blog!

Everything is still in pretty much the same place as it was in 2011, but with a more polished look…and TABS. Oh, how we have longed for those tabs.

There are also a few new features down the road — a community forum, for example — to look foward to a bit later in the new year. Keep an eye peeled for those.

All of these improvements are made possible by our sponsors, whose financial support helps pay for the technology (and the childcare) required. THANK YOU.

And YOU, dear neighbor. Thank you for visiting, thank you for reading, and thank you for sending in your questions and concerns. We hope you’ve resolved to do do more of the same in 2012.

Happy New Everything!