Blog On Fire
The wonderful Agujas has very graciously awarded me with the Blog on Fire Award, and now I can’t stop singing the theme tune to Absolutely Fabulous. Her blog is not only full of knitting goodness, but also wonderful posts about her travels. Always thoughtful, always beautifully written and photographed.
The rules for the Blog on Fire Award are to write 8 unusual things about yourself or your pet and then to share the award with 8 other bloggers who you think are on fire. According to Agujas, who herself wrote about her delightful dogs, this award comes from a line of dog lovers. I’m in good company :D As I’ve worked so hard this last year trying to help my rescued dog achieve some semblance of normalcy, I don’t want to think too hard about all his unusual qualities, which are many. So I’ll take one for the team.
1. My super power is turning any song into a country song. Really. Any song. But this super power does not stop there. No, I believe in bending genres by singing songs in ways they were never meant to be sung. “I Need You Tonight” in the style of Sandi Patty? Heck, yeah. I love the human voice. It is powerful. My greatest musical love is to hear a singer who is sung—that is to say the song sings them rather than the other way around. That is literally an embodiment of a direct connection to the creative spirit. I love a wide variety of voices, but my favorites are the voices with cracks, twangs, and rasps. I sing all the time—not only songs, but everything—as a mode of expression and as a force of my will. I have to.
2. I have synaesthesia. I hear sound as colour. Letters and numbers have specific colours, genders, and personalities. And time and annual cycles have very specific spatial placements in my head, so much so that in my mind time is space.
3. I spent the first 36 years of my life hating olives, especially green olives, despite periodically trying them to see if I could get over my revulsion. Then one night while out with my husband, we ordered an olive-centric dish—some type of tapenade—and I fell in love. Turns out that the key to learning to like a food hinges on two things: First, get really, really, really good ingredients. Second, taste without expectation. Just appreciate it for what it is.
4. I have only one memory before the age of 5.
5. I have an unusually keen sense of smell. I’ve saved people from eating food they couldn’t tell was spoiled, can tell a breastfed vs bottlefed baby just by how they smell, and have detected 7 gas leaks successfully when no one else could smell them. The gas man was impressed. Strangely, though, I always fail at the stupid “guess the scent” test display at the Science Center. I have a hard time identifying synthetic fragrances. It really kind of irks me.
6. I have an uncontrollable revulsion to both jazz and ragtime.
7. I do, however, have a complete and utter adoration for plinky, tinny sounds like those made by steel drums, wind chimes, and mbiras.
8. Although I am an anti-theist, I come from a long line of espiritistas, and this gives me a rather…dichotomous world view. But, hey, I’m a gemini, so that’s part and parcel with my nature. Not that I believe in that kind of stuff. Much. I think the ability to hold multiple world views is pretty handy, and since I’ve been this way since my earliest memories, I don’t dwell on it too much. It works just fine in my brain.
Now for the easy part. Here are 8 awesome blogs that I enjoy reading immensely—each for their own unique way of sharing their thoughts, skills, and vision with the world. I encourage you to go take a look. They are On Fire!
1. Colour Cottage Infectious love for dyeing, painting, and life in the country.
2. Eclectic Kettlebell Very smart and insightful posts on fitness, and health.
3. Katie: Normal Girl Awesome DIY herbal tutorials and herbcrafting goodness.
4. Lil’ Suburban Homestead Inspiring posts on homesteading in the ‘burbs.
5. Wind Against Current Gorgeously chronicled adventures on the water.
6. Sea Green and Sapphire Beautiful posts on dyeing, knitting, and craftiness.
7. Trovare di Spada Pure dedication to the art & science of fencing. And mad skillz.
8. The Witch of Forest Grove Astounding ability to see the world and do her thing.
I hope you all enjoy these blogs as much as I do!
Grackle & Sun 
Congratulations—well deserved! And thanks so much for nominating us!! :-)
Thank you very much! And you are welcome—I enjoy your blog immensely. Beautiful writing, beautiful photographs, and always incredibly informative.
Thank you Dre for nominating my blog! It’s my first ever such nomination, so I’m very chuffed. I think I’m going to have to nominate you back because yours is one of my favourites :-)
:D That is so sweet! This was my first, too.
Thanks for the nomination. I’ll spread the love… (as soon as the cat gets off my tummy, giving me more than 2 fingers to type with)
Lol. Cats.
Thanks so much for nominating my blog! I, too, was a green olive hater for many years, then tried to see if one can truly ‘acquire a taste’ for something, and it worked. I just ate a few here and there and I do like them now, for whatever reason. It hasn’t worked for beer and wine, although that’s probably a good thing, I suppose!
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