Sunshine and Brotherhood Awards

This blog has been nominated for both the Sunshine Award and the Brotherhood Of The World Award by the lovely Bella from ThoughtsnLifeBlog. Thank you so much Bella! I really appreciate it as well as your loyal following and many encouraging comments.

It is funny that we started blogging in the same week in March of this year and I am so glad that we are both still enjoying it. A big hug across the border for you Bella and wags from the whippets too.

I gracefully and gratefully accept the awards and I will answer the questions and nominate fellow bloggers for each of them below.

The Sunshine Blogger Award is an award given to bloggers by bloggers. It is given to “bloggers who are positive and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere.”

Here are the rules to accept the Sunshine Award:

1. Thank the person who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
2. Answer the eleven questions sent by the person who nominated you.
3. Nominate eleven blogs to receive the award and write them eleven new questions.
4. List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or your blog.

Bella did not write any new questions and I am happy to keep them the same as well.

Question 1: What book are you currently reading?

At the moment I am re-reading “Words Under The Words” by Naomi Shihab Nye, one of my favourite collections of selected poems.

Question 2: Name one goal you plan to accomplish this week.

I plan to write this post and contact all the nominees.

Question 3: Three words that describe you.

Honest, loving and deep.

Question 4: Paper and pen, or a laptop?

Always a candle, paper and pen. I love the stillness away from technology. This is when the words flow. The editing is also done by hand and the final version is typed up on the blog, once I have selected the photographs to go with the post. When I write haiku, I start by selecting a photograph, then light a candle and write by hand.

Question 5: In one sentence, write a message to your younger self.

I love you.

Question 6: Complete this: _______ is life.

Love is life.

Question 7: Even without them speaking, whose presence causes you to smile?

My husband, our whippets, our friends and all those family members and animal companions passed on to spirit when they present themselves in our memories.

Question 8: Anything you want to say about yourself.

When we lived in Cumbria I joined a Women’s Writing Group run by Janni Howker. One of the first things she showed us was her ‘compost heap’, a scrapbook full of newspaper cuttings and ideas she would like to use in future stories. “Sometimes you just have to give it time to compost,” she said, “until one day, you wake up knowing exactly how you can write it into a poem or a story.”

I am very grateful for her advice. I wrote snippets of conversations and meetings during our many dog walks down on pieces of paper and napkins and collected them in an empty shoe box to ‘compost’. Dipping into this ‘compost heap’ and weaving them into stories with my photographs for the blog posts is something I really enjoy doing. There are many layers to my stories and I believe the ‘composting’ of ideas plays a big part in this. I continue to add scraps of paper to the shoe box for future stories.

Question 9: What song makes you dance carefree?

‘Slippery People’ by Talking Heads. I first heard it back in 1984 when I saw them play live in London.

Question 10. How many tattoos do you have?

None.

Question 11: What good will you do today?

Having great walks with the whippets, listen to those who want to talk, smile at those who need a smile, help my husband with his work, read as many blog posts as I can manage and create this post for the blog.

The Brotherhood Of The World Award is an award given to bloggers by bloggers.

The rules for the Brotherhood Of The World Bloggers Award are:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.
2. Answer the questions sent to you.
3. Nominate around ten bloggers.
4. Create your set of questions for your nominees.
5. List the rules and display the Brotherhood Of The World logo in your post and/or blog.

A very big thank you to Bella from Thoughtsnlifeblog for nominating me for this award as well!

Bella did not change the questions she was asked and I am also happy to leave them as they are for the nominees.

Question 1: Which blog post do you consider your best one so far?

From the photographic posts I particularly enjoyed putting together ‘Partners‘ and ‘Opposites- Part 1’  in response to the Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge.

From the poetry posts Soul Mates in response to Ronovan’s Weekly Haiku Challenge is my favourite and from the story posts I enjoyed putting Leader of the Pack together, with the text and images illuminating each other.

Question 2: What is the best comment ever on your blog?

I so appreciate people taking the time to comment on my posts and they are all the best in their own way. I am grateful for the people who comment directly to the whippets, the people who showed their love and compassion on ‘An Angel In Our Midst’ and ‘Sweet Dreams Sweet Seamus’, the people who leave comments that make me laugh, that move me deeply, the comments that encourage me to do more of the same. I am also grateful to the fellow bloggers who have been moved by a post and decided to reblog it, like Denise from Thoughts Of An E’ville Woman or share a link to it, like Sally Cronan on Smorgasboard Invitation.

One comment on my blog post ‘Haiku: Mountain Monument’ that the whippets were particularly taken with was a comment from ~~dru~~ from Saywhatumean2say, who wrote a haiku for the whippets. That was such a lovely surprise and really appreciated from poet to poet, from whippet to human. Thank you again ~~dru~~.

Question 3: Did you make blog posts receiving much more attention than you expected? Which one, for example?

When I posted ‘An Angel In Our Midst’ one blogger, Kathie from Chosen Perspectives, left a comment “I am crying in joy, sadness and recognition.” I could feel her pain and a connection in that moment from heart to heart, soul to soul. A few hours later, on the other side of the world, she posted ‘For Whippet Wisdom’.

It was so moving, so powerful,  so unexpected and so beautiful. Thank you again Kathie, you are such a kind and loving soul and the tears of gratitude are rolling again as I am typing this.

Question 4: Did you make blog posts receiving much less attention than you expected? Which one, for example?

Some posts may not be read by as many people as others and yet there may be a comment from someone saying it was just what they needed to read that day or a comment that really moves me.

The nominees for both awards are:

Haiku Hound
Heaven’s Sunshine
A Kinder Way
On the Land
Rodo Dovris
My Sweet Painted Dreams
Samantha Murdoch Blog
Chosen Perspectives
Zero Creativity Learnings
Windrush

I hope you are all able to accept and enjoy the recognition. There is no obligation if you prefer not to.

A very big thank you to all the followers of the blog, I am very grateful for all your love and your comments and I will be visiting your blogs again soon.

Lots of love to you all,

Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Daily Prompt: Guest