The Liebster Blog Award

Thank You Nichole!

I'm pleased to announce that recently I was honored with The Liebster Blog Award!  

"Liebster" is a German word which can be translated as "beloved" or "dearest" in English. This award is given by one blogster to another to acknowledge the excellence, beauty, funniness or "sparkliness" of their blog.

Thanks to my fellow blogger Nichole at Born in the Wrong Century for choosing my blog!! The timing of this award could not have been better!!

I was feeling a bit under appreciated this week because my painting, "Nichole in the Poppies" had been rejected...excuse me...declined from a juried art show.

But to follow my train of thought, you must hear the back story:  Nichole Joyce, along with her mom, owns and runs All Things Italian, an Italian specialty store in Bozeman, Montana.  We met online.  Not only did I love her blog, there was a photo of Nichole in a field of poppies that really appealed to me. 

Now, one of my vocations is that of an artist...an oil painter to be specific.  And I never tire of painting my favorite flower: the poppy.

Long story short: Nichole sent me a jpeg of her profile pic on facebook along with her permission to interpret it as an oil painting. Here it is: "Nichole in the Poppies."

Do you see where I'm going with this?? First Nichole gifts me with the inspiration for a painting.  Which I happen to like, but the jury doesn't. 

Then she gifts me with the Liebster  Blog Award, a sign of appreciation!  Today I feel appreciated... the heck with the art show!!

I'll be making a THANK YOU card of the painting to send to Nichole in Bozeman, Montana.  And then I'll be presenting the award to some other bloggers.

For the rules to the Liebster Award are as follows:

• Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
• Link back to the blogger that presented said award to you.
• Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
• Present this award to 3 to 5 blogs with under 200 followers that are beautiful, funny, good, and or sparkly. (See?  Sparkly. I bet you thought I made that up.)
• Let them know they have won by commenting on their blogs.

I admit that many of the blogs I follow have large subscription bases. Though I'm not sure of their sizes, here are three that I follow that I think are on the smaller side.

My first award goes to Sandi and her blog The Dirt.  Sandi is a Master Gardener, but humbly assures the reader that she is still learning!  Sandi gardens in Moorhead, Minnesota and offers a wealth of gardening and cooking advice. I think you'll find that she is plenty knowledgeable, and I love it that she gets so excited about the color of her vegetables and that she can't wait to photograph them!!

My second presentation goes to City Sister, Country Sister, an informative and well written blog about cooking, gardening, and home centered life, both in and out of town.
I fell in love with this blog when I found City Sister's tutorial on making tomato sauce without having to peel the tomatoes...just bake them and go at them with the stick blender!

Another blog I thoroughly enjoy and admire is The Gardener's Table. Here experienced cook and gardener Linda Ziedrich shares her enthusiasm for gardening, and for cooking and preserving the bounty of the land.

If you have any blogs you think I'd enjoy reading please link to them in the comments.  You can also check out other blogs I follow on the list on the right side of my page.