Versatile Blogger

Kat at I saw you dancing, gave me this lovely green versatile blogger award and as a result I've been reading lots of new blogs! I have also been enjoying basking in the glow of someone being lovely enough to think of my blog as one worth adding to a list!

The other good thing about getting such an award is that it is a chance to enjoy blogging with little effort on my part! I started this post last Sunday, after having been out walking and whilst suffering with all sorts of ailments, including a toothache. I am finishing it today after a "crazy" week, and wishing that I really was a versatile blogger who could rattle off a blog post or three in between the rest of life! I marvel that people can blog from a mobile device in a car and still turn out amazing writing! Unlike many bloggers however, my blogging effort isn't in any way a part of my work and doesn't have any other function but to create a pleasant space in which I can express myself if I feel like it!

Ok then the rules are as follows:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.

2. Share seven things about yourself.

3. Give the award to 15 bloggers you've recently discovered.

Kat's blog, "I saw you dancing" is fast becoming one of my all time favourite places to visit and so thank you Kat for including me and giving me this award. This is so funny! I feel I am giving an acceptance speech now! Thank you to my family for all your support....sniff....sniff....I can't go on.....ramble, ramble.......where are the tissues?

I always laugh at those award acceptance speeches that go on rather too long, and joke about the hook coming on to yank the speech-giver off the stage.

So seven things about me:

• My favourite foods are couscous, chick peas(and anything chick pea related), bananas, corriander, breads and veggies. Oh yes and can I just add in macademia nuts and sticky toffee pudding with cream.
• When asked to make a list of seven things or give an answer, I will cheat by cramming in as much as possible to each point - in other words I find it hard to pin myself down to just one thing!
• I was technically the youngest sibling in the family, however at different times in my childhood I was an only child and an oldest sibling. Confusing.
• As a child, I used to think that my ribs moved each birthday - up one year, down the next. Yes I know that was very strange!
• I could watch films with Barbara Streisand, Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp, in them all day long. I'm sure there are more but that's enough - if I think of anyone else I'll tell all later. I wouldn't want to miss anything out.
• As a teenager I spent weeks/months/days/hours researching and writing two novels. They were both complete and probably extremely badly written, but I must have put in an awful lot of work! So I sort of groan at my younger self, when I recall ripping them all up and throwing them away. I never showed them to anyone (probably for the best).
• I love playing with clay - so I'm promising myself an "Artist's Date" with some squidgy clay very soon.

Now for the best bit! As I am new to blogging and because I am me, it was difficult to just choose 15 but I managed it!

There are so many wonderful people out there blogging aren't there? Enjoy these 15 treasures for now:

1. Penny Red makes me think and gets me all fired up about issues that matter. The comments on her blog are sometimes a little bit aggressive but then I like a good debate and she is often playing devil's advocate.
2. Jo at Shapeshifting has me hooked or rather hooped with her videos just lately - she just gets under my skin and right into what is real.
3. I found this blog just yesterday and just know that Bridget's blog and website are going to be places to explore some more.
4. Rachel at Go Placidly has been so welcoming in my first weeks as a blogger. I love the joy in her blog, it is jammed packed full of LIFE!
5.  The Painted Path - is becoming another of my favourite places - full of love and wisdom.
6. I'm following this Single Parent Dad- please go and look at the Hardian's wall sponsored walk he and others are doing right now! What an awesome Daddy!
7. Rachel is another parent-blogger who I read regularly. An awesome Mummy!
8. Jill at Willingness is the partner of life has also been very encouraging of my baby blogging steps and her blog always has something delightful to look at or something to make me think.
9. Wendy from "Unravelling" and her Snakeskin Journey.
10. Another Unraveller’s blog that I love to visit A Rosy Outlook is just that!
11. 37 days has been a favourite for a while now but I still want to read Patti’s book “Life is a verb” and still have so much to learn!
12. Something drew me here recently and I stayed to read a little. Another Wendy, her writing and images at "Daring to Write" make me feel quite cosy.
13. Hiro so wise. A must read!
14. I am quietly watching and thinking about the summer of loving kindess here.
15. Helen Heath’s writing is a joy and it was her post about her mother’s death which helped me to write about my own experience. Thank you Helen.