This Just In!

O my goodness! I came back from dinner only to find that I'd been awarded the Dardos Award by mouse (aka kimy) of the mouse medicine blog. I'm fairly new to the whole blogging adventure, and I often stumble, but I also ask a lot of questions. I discovered mouse medicine when it was a "Blog of Note", and on reading it I knew I'd discovered a kindred spirit. I've been reading Kim's blog ever since, and I often ask her for technical advice (hence my Label Cloud and the nice, big 800 x 600 photos!). So to find that she considered my own blog as something worthy of this award was flabbergasting, to say the least.

The rules and reasons behind the award are as follows, copied from mouse medicine (with a note of my own regarding the jpeg of the award):

The Dardos Award is given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing affection and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web.

The rules:
1) Accept the award by posting it on your blog along with the name of the person that has granted the award and a link to his/her blog. [Note: Don't forget to copy and paste the award jpeg itself to include on your own blog!]
2) Pass the award to another five blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment, remembering to contact each of them to let them know they have been selected for this award.

As I said above, I'm still new to this whole blogging scene, and I haven't quite built up the blog list that others have. Two of the people I would have picked already received the award, and two of the people I intend to pass it on to have two blogs each. So that really makes it tough to choose 5 bloggers. So we're just going to have to make do with 4!

The first person I'd like to pass the award on to is Kelly of Red and the Peanut. I went trolling for fellow birders in the blogosphere and luckily ran into this wonderful birding blog. Kelly is a good photographer, and she writes about her discoveries with panache and humor. I always check to see if she has a new post up whenever I log on.

The next person I'd like to pass this award on to is ladyiris313 of 2009 - A Daily Search For Beauty. This is somebody I'd love to walk around the neighborhood with! She sees so much that most of us would probably pass right by without even noticing, and she brings it to our attention with a great deal of grace. She muses over what she finds and exposes the philosophical subtext behind the act of stumbling upon the mundane. Definitely one of my favorite reads every day.

My next pick is Patrice Lynne Young, who has two blogs: her eponymous Patrice Lynne Young blog, where she displays and talks about her paintings; and the rabbit hole, where she does pretty much what the rest of us do - indulges in what I like to call "philosophical musing", accompanied by very good photography. Her paintings are definitely very good. And she had me both fascinated and chuckling over her last two posts on the rabbit hole dealing with chasing down clouds and photographing them. More good reading!

And last but certainly not least is Arleen (Hodge) Oliver, who also has two blogs: arleeno, which showcases her photography; and Cranberry Creek Herbs, where she talks about wildcrafting, handcrafting, and all sorts of "country living" arts. I've known Arleen for a good while now - we're both on Gather.com - and I had gotten used to checking into the Cranberry Creek Herbs blog on a regular basis, to see things like how to make dried flower wreaths or penny rugs. It was her blog that got me motivated to reactivate my own (I've had this blog since 2006 but never really did much with it). She's an excellent photographer, doing brilliant work in black & white, and her knowledge and expertise in handcrafting is priceless. Definitely go check out both blogs!

And those are the people I think deserve the Premio Dardos Award. My thanks again to Kim for thinking I deserved this - I'll try to keep up with your perception of my work!

Enjoy Blogger, folks; there's a world of great stuff waiting out there!