The State of Burnsland 2023

Around this time of year, the President of the United States will give the State of the Union address. And state governors will often give a State of the State address. But who cares about all of that boring political stuff? Why not something fun? So here is the State of Burnsland for 2023.

I even got all dressed up for the occasion. Like my suit? And how about that fancy podium and curtain backdrop? Anyway, let’s get started.

Some Numbers

Looking back at 2022, Burnsland had a pretty good year. There were visitors from over 65 countries. And when anyone says that, they usually mean 66 countries. Why not just say 66 countries? So Burnsland had visitors from 66 countries. There, no “over” term, just the honest number.

Closer to home, Burnsland had visitors from all 50 of the United States! The state with the most visits? California! The state with the least visits? Delaware. Hello, all 6 Burnsland visitors from Delaware. Thanks for being here and representing your state!

Thank you to all of you who have visited in the past. And a special thanks to those of you who have visited more than once! That must mean you saw something you liked, right?

What’s New?

One thing new for the new year is a new short-link system. Introducing Burns.land. Actually, the main Burns.land page is a brief overview of the main Burnsland site, with links to recent posts and a few other things. That was set up instead of one of those links pages that so many people share on their Instagram profiles. Burns.land is a links page, too, but customized for the Burnsland world (Burnsland land? Whatever.)

But the other component of the Burns.land site is that each new post now has a shortlink, which is handy for sharing on social media sites and other places. For example, the shortlink for this post is burns.land/state2023. You can click on that link if you want, but it will bring you right back to this page.

I actually had something similar several years ago. For some unknown reason, I decided to revive it. But I had a little trouble setting the old domain back up, and that domain was about to expire anyway. So I looked around, and sure enough, there is now a “.land” top-level domain. And no one had taken Burns.land yet, so that worked perfectly!

Just one of those little things that you might not ever notice, but I think it is pretty cool and a fun addition to the whole Burnsland thing that I have going on here.

Name Change

One change around here is a name change of sorts, and it applies to the art posts. The overall art category was originally known as Steve’s Sketchbook. However, that sounded a little limiting, and as you might have noticed, the art posts here go way beyond sketches these days.

So Steve’s Sketchbook is now known as Art by Burnsland. That conversion is still somewhat in progress at the time of this address. And you will probably see the old name in old posts, too.

I have not yet come up with a new logo. The old logo is a sketchbook, which went well with the original name, obviously. I will see if I can come up with something more appropriate in the near future.

What About Photos?

Astute observers will note that the last several Burnsland posts have been art posts instead of photos. Does that mean that photos are going away around here?

No, by no means at all. Photos are still a large part of the whole Burnsland universe, and the photos will keep coming. Just as soon as I take some more. Actually, I took some new photos just a few days ago, so watch for them soon, once I do a little processing on them.

The main reason that there have not been any photo posts lately is that I have not taken any photos lately. It happens most every year that I don’t take many photos between Christmas and the spring. After Christmas, we don’t go many places for a while, except maybe for a quick Kansas trip during this stage of our lives. And around home, there is not that much to take photos of, since everything outside looks brown and dead, except for when we get some winter weather (hint: photos coming soon).

I do wish I had more time for art projects. And then I wish I had more ideas for art projects, too. There should be another Tiki of the Month coming sometime this month, obviously. And I want to do another landscape painting along the lines of the first one, too. Plus, I have a few other photo ideas as well, which might last until we go somewhere interesting again, or until I find some other photos from our past trips that I have not shared yet.

So stay tuned for more photos, and more artwork, too!

Thanks!

As always, I am thankful for you. Yes, you! You who are reading this right now. Because without someone reading these posts, this site would just be me talking to myself. And enough of that already takes place as it is.

So thank you for reading, for commenting, for following along on social media. Thank you for being a friend (sorry, Golden Girls).

I appreciate you!