Final Pickett Line Blog Post

As recently announced by Nora (see March 24 post, below), NPIDA has now merged with Scoil Rince DeDanaan, which has their own Facebook page and Instagram account. All NPIDA dancers will be registering for future competitions under DeDanaan. The Eire Born Irish Dance Performance Company will be a combined group of selected dancers from NPIDA and DeDanaan.

With this merger of NPIDA and Scoil Rince DeDanaan, it's a natural time to end the Pickett Line Blog. I created the blog in October 2009 to serve as an "in-house" source of communication, sharing, support and celebration for the families of the Nora Pickett Irish Dance Academy. It has been my honour and pleasure to support Nora, NPIDA families and EBIDS here on the blog for the past eight years!

Steveston Docks 2007 (Hanna and Kali)

The Pickett Line Blog became increasingly popular over the years, and to my amazement, "page views" often soared to an incredible 500-800+ views per day during major competitions (Oireachtas, NAN's and Worlds)! It's hard to believe that the blog has now far surpassed half a million page views.

It was tremendously gratifying and heartwarming to receive feedback like the following from NPIDA dancers and parents over the past eight years:"The blog is the first thing I check online every morning"; "My kids are obsessed - they look at the blog several times per day!"; "During lunchtime at school, I show my friends all the latest photos on the blog"; "Our extended family members love to check the blog for feis results and photos after every competition". I'd like to express my sincere gratitude and thanks to all of the people who supported the blog over these past eight years!

NPIDA dancers, past and present: It was my privilege to both witness and share on the blog your progress from young Pre-Beginners all the way to NAN's and World Qualifiers (and in a few cases, World Medalists!) It's been a delight over the years to watch young dancers become committed Open Championship competitors, poised team leaders at major Eire Born performances, and well-rounded highschool and university students. Thank you for allowing these important highlights of your life to be shared and celebrated on the Pickett Line Blog!

NPIDA parents, past and present: I have appreciated your kind support and enthusiasm for the blog! Special thanks to those who generously took time to submit photos over the years; often sending them "from the road" while out of town at feis and major competitions. This blog truly has been a collaborative effort! Dozens of parents submitted photos over the years, but I'd like to particularly express my gratitude for the hundreds of contributions from former NPIDA parents Gillian, Jennifer, Connie, Nicole and Leanne.

EBIDS Board members, past and present: Thank you for eight years of generous support of the blog, and also for providing the prize money for the Dancer Photo Contests from 2011-2015.

Cheryl

Cheryl has been a steady source of encouragement since the onset of the blog, and has shared hundreds of her photos with NPIDA families here on the blog! She has also been an incredibly dedicated feis and Oireachtas photographer for many years; countless Western Canadian Irish dance families - not just NPIDA - have benefited from her beautiful photos. I also wish to thank Cheryl for understanding and sharing my strong belief in the importance of photographs in preserving priceless family memories!

As well, I appreciate the many long hours we spent each spring creating NPIDA's year-end "Ceili Slide Show". (I loosely calculated one year that on average, we were spending close to 100 hours to create a 15-minute slide show). A true labour of love, which we both hope will be cherished by NPIDA families well into the future!

Pat and Vic

Pat and Vic, NPIDA's long-time and remarkably dedicated Eire Born "Sound Guys", have been enthusiastic supporters of the blog since it's inception! I've been most grateful for their shared commitment over all these years in our mutual efforts to support Nora and NPIDA families from "behind the scenes" - even in the years after our own daughters Kali and Hanna retired from dance.

Hanna (1999, age seven)

I'm ever-grateful to my daughter Hanna, NPIDA dancer from age six to 23 (retired in 2014). Despite her intensely demanding current life as an Oxford PhD student, she continued to encourage me from afar with her ongoing support of the blog. Her well-honed editing and error-spotting skills were especially appreciated over the years! As well, for many years Hanna very patiently and cheerfully spent many weekend evenings helping me to check and double-check hundreds of Feisworx results. With her generous assistance and impeccable attention to detail, I could always be confident that I was posting NPIDA's feis results on the blog mistake-free :)

Nora

It has been my pleasure to support Nora and her vision for NPIDA here on the Pickett Line Blog. I've witnessed her pour her heart and soul into NPIDA and its families for the past 19 years! Despite the inevitable ups and downs of running a large successful dance school, Nora maintained patience, energy, resilience, a consistently-positive outlook, and genuine care for every single dancer - these are qualities that I will always respect and admire.

Since Day One of the blog, Nora has spent numerous hours sending photos to me from hundreds of feis, Eire Born shows and major competitions from around the world in order to share them with NPIDA families here on the blog - despite the many other demands on her time at these events!

Nora also supported my goal of wanting to post very timely updates about recalls and results from Oireachtas, NAN's and Worlds. She made a dedicated effort to send "real time" text updates to me - often mere seconds after the recall and results announcements were made in noisy chaotic ballrooms! Many NPIDA parents have shared funny anecdotes with me over the years about family members and friends at home repeatedly clicking "Refresh! Refresh!" on the blog, and how they were so appreciative to see these almost-live updates.
Thank you for all you've done and continue to do, Nora!

This is the final blog post on the Pickett Line Blog. I extend my warm regards and best wishes to all current and former NPIDA dancers and parents! Slàinte!

The Pickettline Blog
 By The Numbers!
2009-2017

Total Number of Blog Posts: 2076
Total Pageviews as of March 29 2017: 526,311
Pageviews by country, in descending order: Canada, USA, United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Malaysia, France, Switzerland, India, Australia, Guatemala, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine and South Korea!
Total Number of Comments: 1230
Total Number of Blog Posts about Feis Results: 166
Total Number of Blog Posts with Feis Photos: 258
Total Number of Blog Posts about the Oireachtas: 107
Total Number of Blog Posts about NAN's: 143
Total Number of Blog Posts about Worlds: 131
Total Number of Blog Posts about Eire Born Shows: 231
Total Number of Blog Posts about St. Pat's Shows: 149
Total Number of Blog Posts about Steveston Dock Shows: 101
Total Number of Blog Posts about NPIDA's annual Ceili: 77
Total Number of Solo Dresses Sold through Blog Ads: 44