I’ve Got Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

 Well that’s a lovely surprise.

Dull and cloudy here in Glasto, but the lovely and hugely talented Swetha M has nominated me for A Sunshine Blogger Award.

Cheers, Swetha!

So here to celebrate are The Temptations, circa 1965, and assorted deer, badgers, foxes, frogs and things. (I know – the relevance eludes me too.  Very sweet, though.)

Now the rules for sunshine blogger award: 

• Thank the blogger who nominated you for the award.
• Display the banner /sticker /logo on your blog.
• Share 7 facts or things about yourself.
• Nominate 5 bloggers that you admire and inform nominees by commenting on their blog.

So I’ve said ‘thank you’ and the banner is up there above the warthogs, and it now falls to me, as the proud recipient, to list 7 facts about myself.

Let’s see…  I was going to do a bucket list, but I’m actually the most ridiculously contented of people and I don’t think I could come up with that many desires, so I suppose it has to be facts.

1. I don’t have any pets since the last of the goldfish died in October, and I have no plans to replace him (Could have been a her – not sure how you tell with fish – but its name was Merlin, so ‘him’ it was.) as I want to encourage wildlife in my pond.
2. 

   I love animals, but it has to be a glimpse of a red kite, hare or fallow deer on a country walk to really rock my boat.  The neighbour’s moggy relieving itself in my garden or a pug-on-a-pink-lead just doesn’t do it for me.

3. I lose myself totally in gardening and disappear off somewhere magical – that’s the kneeling on the ground with hands deep in loam variety of gardening.  When I return to the planet, I feel pure joy for hours afterwards.
4. My favourite place in the world is the Chalice Well Gardens.  I used to regularly travel hundreds of miles to visit them and now I live just across the road.  How lucky am I?
5. 

   I don’t drive.  Never have.  Yet I love travelling, so do masses of bus and train journeys; less convenient perhaps, but greener, and they’re far more fun, as you get to meet such amazing and interesting people.  Last year I had a bus ride around North London chatting happily with a  pair of young Afro-Caribbean guys nursing a huge aspidistra; would love to know the back-story!

6. I’m not afraid of death.  Absolutely not at all.  Dying could be unpleasant, of course, depending on the circumstances, but I’m with Peter Pan on this one: ‘To die would be an awfully big adventure.’  Not that I’m suicidal, I hasten to add.  I find life a huge adventure too, and am very much enjoying it.  When the time comes, though, bring it on.
7. Just one bucket list item to finish, then.  I want to write another book, or maybe more – something that will help people feel good and important and generally as wonderful as they really are.  So a book to banish fear, basically, because that’s all that holds people back.

Right, and now for my nominees…

Yes, ridiculously difficult to select just five, and I do want these people to understand that if they don’t want to accept or do anything with the award, that’s just fine by me.  However they are people whose writing inspires and/or fascinates and brings me great pleasure, so I hope other readers will follow the links and discover the magic:

First a couple of ‘Version 2.0’ writers (You’d have to have read my book to understand that!).  Love reading their blogs and their comments on mine.  Don’t always understand everything as my mind isn’t wired that way, but enjoying learning and finding out more…

Atxero on Wording Through

Synamex on Startower

Next some wonderful, generous people who give freely of their time to channel incredibly wise Guides and answer readers’ questions.  I’ve learned so much from both sites…

Cheryl on Ask Higgins

Cynthia and Bob on Ask The Council 

and finally, a new discovery whose wizardry as a writer just blows me away…

‘Rosie’ on La Tour Abolie

Oh I never have been one to follow the rules…!  There’s a sixth blog I simply have to nominate.  Sorry if this brings WordPress crashing down around us, but I illegally nominate this wise and heart-based blog from an amazing and perceptive lady who has taught me so much:

Mariner2Mother on Life is a Journey… Not a Guided Tour

I’ll creep away quietly now… 🙂

 

 

So who is or was Leibster?

Well how very kind.  Roma tells me she’s nominated my blog for a Leibster Award.  No idea who Leibster is or was, but I’m truly honoured.

Roma and I met on WordPress because we’re both enchanted with the idea of owning an old cottage.  She’s a lot further along on that than I am – she already owns hers and is renovating it wonderfully, while I’m still waiting for the cogs to turn and the deal to be finalised. (“By Easter,” the solicitor now says.  Hope he means the one this year…)

Having just read Roma’s ‘About’ page, I find there is another synchronicity.  She is one of those amazing people who care professionally for dementia patients.  For that she has my deepest respect and thanks.  My Mum passed over a year ago this week and her carers were the most wonderful people, helping her to retain her dignity right to the end and easing her final days.

So apparently it now falls to me to answer 11 questions set by Roma.  I’ll do my best.

1. Where would I rather live, town or country?

I grew up in the country – deep in the country.  In a good summer it was blissful.  In dull, wet, murky springs, summers and autumns it was muddy, damp and brown.  In fact brown is my most enduring memory of those years.  As I don’t drive and rural public transport in England is patchy to say the least, I’d have to say town, but a small town, within walking distance of countryside and especially hills.  In fact, just the sort of place I live in now.

2. Do I prefer Christmas or Easter?

Um, I can’t say I particularly like either.  Apologies for the Bah Humbug response, but I do my best to celebrate every day rather than saving it up for a couple of special occasions a year.

3. Where was my last day trip to?

Last weekend I went to the city of Bath to meet my youngest son and his partner for a day ambling around the lovely old Georgian buildings, rummaging through a flea market and being bought a delicious Mother’s Day lunch at a pub called The Salamander.  A delightful day.

4. Tea or coffee?

That’s easy.  Never liked coffee, although I love the smell.  I drink green or Earl Grey and vanilla tea, weak and black for preference.

5. My favourite fruit?

A ripe Cox’s Orange Pippin is hard to beat, but then there are raspberries… and apricots… and…

6. My favourite musician?

Truly impossible to say.  Anyone who rifled through the Top Rated playlist on my iPod would probably recommend me for psychiatric assessment.  I remember the look of terrified shock on the face of a young lad who passed close enough to me while getting off a bus to hear  Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell leaking from my headphones.  Obviously not what he expected this white haired lady to be listening to!  My tastes range from Amy Winehouse to Aerosmith;  The Doors to Damh the Bard and all sorts of others on the way.

7. Am I a cat or dog person?

No.  I prefer animals living in nature to the domesticated variety.

8. Am I glued to my mobile phone?

Absolutely not.  I use it for texting 3 or 4 times a week and hate being called on it.

9. What’s next on my to do list?

Buy the cottage, get the listed building consent application lodged and approved, have the building work done and – finally – move in.

10. How did I come up with the name of my blog?

It’s called janonlife because my name’s Jan and I tend to ramble on about Life in a quirky, metaphysical kind of way.  Also (quick plug) it ties in with my book LIFE: A PLAYER’S GUIDE which is also all about life, the universe and everything.

11. What do I aim to learn next?

What L I M E stands for.  See my next post for details 🙂

Thanks for the questions, Roma, and for prompting me to share some of my own favourite blogs:

My next task, you see, is to nominate 5 new Leibster Award recipients and set them my own eleven questions.  I think, as they are a very wise and eclectic mix, I will instead ask each of them to share with readers 11 of the most interesting or inspiring discoveries they have made on their journeys through Life.  If this award allows any readers to stumble upon their wonderful blogs, then it has done its work very well.

My nominations are:

thenewsageblog, a source of gentle yet deep inspiration

saara, an incredible and insightful poet

Awareness It Self, beautiful daily reflections

Goddess in the belly, a lady who exudes wisdom and care

and last but by no means least, the awesome and intuitive Craig Kimbrough.

Should any or all of them choose to accept the nomination, I look forward to reading their revelations.