One Lovely Blog Award

 

Until I started blogging, I had 'won' exactly three awards in my many decades of life:  Elementary School Citizenship Award: Grade 3 ; Elementary School Citizenship Award: Grade 7;  High School Bursary Award ($500): Grade 12.   I have now lapped those in the course of 1 year online.  Perhaps I do still have time for an Oscar?

The One Lovely Blog Award was a nomination from the even lovelier KD Rush (thanks Chris - that's a handy phrase!) who has one of the busiest and best blogs in our writing community.  I've gone on about his site previously so just go there already and check it out! www.kdrush.net
 
The rules of acceptance for this award nomination are as follows:

• Thank the person/people who nominated you and link back to them in your post 
• Share 7 things about yourself
• Nominate 15 or so bloggers you admire ** you'll see I've nominated only one blogger officially but have named several very honourable mentions too***
• Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know

 So thank you again KD! 

Seven things about myself (sorry if this is getting old - I'm trying to be as fascinating as I can be!)

1. My favourite colour is yellow though I usually say it's green. I don't know why.
2. When I'm waiting for a bus, I usually hum "Yellow Submarine" or "What'll I do" or "Ain't no sunshine". Not a large repertoire but it seems to make the bus get to the stop more quickly.
3. I also hum loudly on the bus if someone starts to do something rude in my line of vision; in other words, I hum a lot on the bus. Sometimes it makes the person stop, but alas, not every time.
4. I have to look up the word 'repertoire' in the dictionary every time I want to use it in a sentence
5. My favourite flowers, in order: Gerber daisies, pink roses, irises, freesia, daffodils, peonies.
6. At work, whenever there is a baby in the office, the rule is that the child must be brought to me first.  Everyone knows the rule. I heart babies. Nothing more affirming, nothing more important, nothing I'd rather do than hold a baby. It's the circle of life!
7. This music makes me extraordinarily happy as do the movies in which it played. :)))

Now because I'm a rebel (this started only after the age of 40),  I am going to do the same thing I did with the Kreativ Blogger award and pass the One Lovely Blog Award on to only 1 person; however, I am going to name more blogs as honourable mentions.

So first, I pass this award to: Mathew Lyons !! Mathew is a historian and author, whose most recent book "The Favourite" is a must read for anyone interested in the various aspects of Elizabeth I's reign.  When you visit Mathew's blog, and you must, you'll be won over by fascinating articles about the Tudors.  Mathew is a scholar, but he also is a very nice fellow with a good sense of humour.  If you follow him on Twitter, you'll find he's a bit obsessed with witty word/hashtag challenges.  Sorry Mathew, I had to mention that!  If you are a writer who sets stories in historical times, then do visit his blog.

Now, other lovely blogs and bloggers who I visit on a regular basis, some of whom will have already received this award from other admirers. Extremely honourable mentions go to:

Chris James - does chatty, update vlogs as only a witty, erudite, handsome & tall English author can do (P.S. he will also be contributing articles at Indies Unlimited, as well as finishing two new books soon, so he's someone to watch & read)

Louise Hastings - a poet who shares much of her luscious poetry on line. Her first anthology is being published late summer

Daniel Swensen - irascible Surly Muse, thought provoking blog posts

K.M. Weiland - every writer should be following her, excellent tips & so very nice

Veronica Sicoe - every writer should be following her, excellent tips & so very nice

Angie Richmond - one of my very first writing tweeps, just updated her blog to WordPress, creative beyond measure with a heart to match

 Broke many of the rules for this award, but I know KD won't mind:))  Onward!!

Five Sentence Fiction - Silence

Although I’d asked my father for many things in my short life, I had never before asked him for his understanding.   Throughout my twenty two years, when our ideals and values differed, I let it slide; whenever my priorities collided with his plans, I let him have his way.  I never voiced an opinion, never uttered a sound that would have given him the prior knowledge he needed to dull the pain of my now spoken request.

In the end, my words just tumbled out, urgently, far ahead of conscious thought, thoroughly disregarding my much edited script;  half way through my impromptu speech, my father gave up looking at me and turned his eyes down, seeming to inspect the yellow formica kitchen table where we both sat.

When I'd finished, and he stood to leave, I felt it would be the last time I’d  see him, for my life had now made a two-wheeled corner turn from which it could not recover; but as my father reached the back door, he stopped and, looking me in the eyes so I could see he had begun to weep, he said: “I’m very proud of you, son - we’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

Visual Dare Challenge

Every week the graceful, dear, Angela Goff, puts a photo up on her lovely blog as a 'Visual Dare'. The photo, and it is always a stunning photo, can be used in one of two ways:

• incorporate it into your current Work In Progress - literally, or figuratively

• use it as a 100 word flash fiction to get the brain going in a different creative direction.

This week is Visual Dare #6.  My response is below the photo. 

Standing on tiptoes, seeking sun, seeking warmth, seeking life, I follow the gray out to sea.

There is a moment, one fragile, distant, unattainable, moment when I realize there is nothing.

I am here, yet I am not. 

My feet do not feel the ground, dirt, stones, water, there is nothing but air above and below me.

Has it happened?
Rising is easy, needed, useful, for there is exploration that challenges me.
The path is unknown but I feel no fear, concern, distress, to travel it with certainty.
I am beginning, again.
My life, and now my death, has brought me wonder.

He takes me to a place...

He takes me to a place
Unknowable on my own
But with limbs entwined
And fingertips pressed together
Our hearts, no longer single metronomes
Beat double time

We speak in staccato messages
Thoughts interpreted by us into a language unique
Words meaning more than originally intended
When spoken in short, furtive, urgent strokes

Peace overwhelms panic
Passion burns reality to ash
Turning and twisting what is
Into what could be
If only we could discover this dream
Broken from selfish parties
And their careless days