Thank you, Kelly and Bear

A very sweet blogger, Kelly, of America As Seen by Kelly, has given me an award. It's a lovely one, and comes with very easy rules to follow. Just list six things that make you happy, and pass it on to six others. Six things that make me happy should be easy. Well, on second thought, maybe not because it is hard to limit it to six.

l. Family has always been the center of my life. My husband made me happier than anyone has a right to be. And my children and grandchildren are a joy.

2. Friends are so important to happiness. I have very few old friends left any more. We do grow old and we do die. That's just the way life goes. But all of them are still in my heart and memories make me happy. I have a handful, scattered across the country, and we keep in touch, mostly by email now. And I have two very dear friends here, now. They are both young enough to be my daughters, but are precious to me nonetheless.

3. Fotography is a great joy to me. (I had to keep that "F" theme, didn't I?) I just love it and find it a diversion I never want to give up.

4. and 5. Flora and Fauna. I do love Mother Nature.

6. Fun. Fun encompasses all of the above and more. It includes blogging and other writing, music, art, people watching, finding humor in whatever life tosses my way.


Most recently, I have passed when it came to choosing others to receive awards, with the one exception of the one for Solidarity Among Left of Center Bloggers.
And on that one I kind of regretted not including several more. I don't generally like to choose, partly because of having to leave out some, and partly because of not wanting to obligate others. There are so many really creative bloggers! I find more every day. My "Favorites" list is so long it is getting absurd. My list of "Must Read Every Day" on my sidebar doesn't look very long, but in reality, there are so many others, I've given up trying to list them all. Please feel free to sit yourself down and list six things that make you happy, and send this fun award on if you like.



Kelly, thank you once again. I enjoy your blog and your pictures and your comments. I appreciate your award so very much. Here. This is for you. You will probably recognize it. It originally came from Michele, up in the Rocky Mountains. She graciously extended it to all of her blogging friends, and so I'm passing this one on to you. She won't mind.


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And this morning Bear Naked gave me another award! It is the Million Dollar Friend Award.

Well, Bear, here is one of Michelle's hugs for you, too.





I love your blog, Bear. I love those teddy bears, and never cease to wonder at how you manage to come up with a new and different way to dress them appropriately to whatever topic is on the menu each day. Always an interesting topic.




Once again, there are rules that come with the award:

1. Only five people allowed.
2. Four have to be dedicated followers of your blog.
3. One has to be someone new or recently new to your blog.
4. You must link back to whoever has given you the award.

Well, that last one is easy. The other three, not so much. And once again, I am going to decline to pass it on. As you said of your own followers, Bear, every one of them is a Million Dollar Friend. I feel that way too, and just cannot begin to choose only five. In the short time I have been blogging, my readers have become a real necessity in my life. I cherish each one. Thank you so much for thinking of me as a friend, and giving me this award!

Mutual Admiration Society

Deborah Godin, who writes a beautiful blog called The Cloud Messenger, has nominated me for the Brilliant Weblog Award. Thank you, Deborah. It is only recently that I have found your blog, and it has already become one of my top favorites.
And then there is Bear, whose blog Bear Naked is so very entertaining as well as informative. She has presented me with a whole Bouquet of Bears. Thanks to you, Bear. You are so creative, and I do enjoy your blog so very much.

I have received a few awards recently, and they have started me thinking.

The first time I received an award it took me by surprise. I was stunned. Me? Why would anyone think my blog was worthy of an award? I had seen them on other blogs, given to people whose writing I admired and who had things to say really worth hearing.

As the months went by, new people started to comment on my posts and I went to their blogs. I have two blogrolls: one of those I feel I want to read every day without fail; the other of those I read whenever I find the time. As time passed, both of those lists grew longer and longer. Today I should just consolidate them, because I really want to read them all every day. That would be impossible of course, because by now the list is far too long to even put it onto my sidebar. My list of personal favorites that I have bookmarked contains dozens of blogs, most of which I can't possibly read more than about once a month, and I spend waaaay too much time sitting in front of my computer.

I think our blogging community has become a large group of close friends. We read one another's posts and feel we know these people and love them, and feel support and validation from them. It has become a mutual admiration society in the truest sense of the words. And we all feel the need to tell one another how we feel. We give one another awards in an attempt to do this. Bear Naked said it. She offered her appreciation to all of her readers. Perhaps that's what we all should do. One BIG AWARD! I love you all. You have all done so much for me, knowingly or not. And you're a lot of fun to have around.