As a lovely start to a Sunday morning, as I settled down to write my blog, I discovered that I’d been nominated for the ‘Very Inspiring Blogger Award’ by Andrea Stephenson of Harvesting Hecate.  Andrea’s blog is about writing and living the creative life in general and I’d like to encourage you to take a look.  I’m really grateful to Andrea for the nomination and am duly following the rules of the award…

Those are:

1.) Display the award logo on your blog.

2.) Link back to the person who nominated you.

3.) State 7 things about yourself.

4.) Nominate 15 bloggers for this award.

5.) Notify those bloggers of the nomination by linking to one of their specific posts so that they get notified by ping back.

Right, so here goes…

Here’s 7 random, fairly off-the-cuff things about me:

1) I have a degree in English Literature – not art – and in fact haven’t been formally trained in art since I was 16 years old; I found my way to oil paints completely by accident when some paints fell out of a cupboard when I was well into my 30s and have never looked back. Same approach to photography – entirely self-taught with no technical know-how whatsoever!

2) I have a passion for Rhodesian Ridgebacks (so far, I’ve had two) which are the lion hunters of the dog world but really gentle giants; fun, sensitive, intelligent, affectionate and very very beautiful.

3) I live in the UK and, whilst I’ve been settled in Berkshire for over half my life, I was born and raised in Nottingham – land of Robin Hood, Maid Marion, Sherwood Forest and all of that.

4) One of my ancestors was reputedly a pirate on the North Sea and was such a character that he had a sea-shanty written about him…

5) I wrote a journal from the age of 8 until well into adulthood…and as a child wrote so much each day that I would stick extra paper to the end of each page which would be folded, rolled up and tied together like hundreds of miniature origami shapes or scrolls covered in the tiniest writing! I still have many of them in my attic…

6) My mother lived in India as a child, before the war and during the days of the Raj (she remembered elephants, scorpions, heat, dust and the long ocean voyage coming home) and its something I wish I’d encouraged her to talk about much more when I still had the chance.

7) I’m a compulsive multi-tasker and always seem to have numerous projects on the go, finding it almost impossible to just sit there – anywhere –  doing absolutely nothing, plus my mind is usually travelling at around 100mph!  Except, increasingly, when I meditate…or paint…or walk in nature…which is one of the reasons these things have become so very important to me!

Now for some recommendations. Its a real mixture: some are blogs that I’ve followed for some time because they’ve managed to capture my imagination by sharing a nugget or two of a life so very different to mine that its been like stepping into another world. Others resonate with my general approach to life and at least one is brand new yet so full of promise that I wanted to share it. A few (especially where photography is involved) are blogs that I’ve dipped into just long enough to encounter visual gems that have made my heart sing and which make me so grateful for this medium that makes such sharing easy and accessible to all across the whole world community.

Of course, nobody that I’ve nominated is beholden to accept and follow through these reasonably time-consuming steps  – and I know that at least one of my nominees has been put forward before (and quite recently at that), in which case I quite understand any reluctance to go through these steps all over again… Nonetheless, based purely on my own personal enjoyment-factor, this is my (non-exaustive) list of recommended blogs and so, at the very least, I invite you all to dip in and enjoy:

Live Simply, Travel Lightly, Love Passionately & Dont Forget to Breathe

Gratitude Every Day

Little Yellow Door

Rebelle Époque

Mindful Walking

Ruby Slippers & The Yellow Brick Road

Hovercraft Doggy

Fitsoul Nutrition

The Curious Journey of Living

Louis’ Page

Up Hill Down Dale

Your Personal Motivator

Bountiful Healing

Old Broke Bones

Bohemian’s Eye