Miss Beehaven with Hobbit Queen

Sandra Bell Kirchman, of “FantasyFic: A Celebration of Writing Fiction, Especially Fantasy Fiction,” honored me in March with the “Sunshine Award.”  I love the thought that Sandra feels I bring her joy. She brings me such strength with her dedicated comments on my blog and gives me the “sunshine” of hope to continue on this writing journey.  I am touched and grateful.

I’m about a month late in completing the award’s requirements, even though my heart has remained touched by Sandra’s thoughtfulness. I hope to do my best in fulfilling the requirements, which include posting the Sunshine Award badge (i.e., You’ll find it here with this post), passing the award along to ten other bloggers deserving of the award (i.e., Those are listed below in no particular order in bullet format.) I hope you will take time to visit each honored Sunshine Blogger’s site and learn from them, as I have. Last, but surely the hardest to complete, IMHO, the sharing of ten things about myself.*

Sunshine Blog Award

I now present to you the Ten bloggers (in no particular order) I award each of you, the Sunshine Award:

• My Latin Notebook: Or What I Learned on the Way to the Forum – Blogger LJ Gormley: Where does one begin to explain this magnificent blog? The title alone is engrossing. One of my all time favorite movies, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, is reflected in this blog. The mixture of humor, light-hearted witticisms, and clear insights is a joy to read.

• The Garden Diaries: The Ups and Downs of the Gardening World – Blogger Claire Jones: Anyone who loves gardening will love reading this blog. Claire has such great ideas and her landscaping prowess is fantastic! Claire says of herself, ” I am a ‘down to earth’ gardener with perpetually dirty fingernails. I own a whole wardrobe of well-worn and comfortable gardening duds and I am a sucker for gardening gadgets galore!” We are kindred spirits for sure!

• Adventures in Beeland’s Blog: My Beekeeping Bumbles – Blogger Emily Heath: Pure “Bee” joy! On the About Page, Emily placed a picture of someone jumping for joy. The picture perfectly depicts the entire feel of her blog.  Her insights, suggestions, and reflections are wonderful to read and provide loads of information. Even though she is in the UK and I in the States, I find we are learning a lot together, which is wonderful!

• Wolf Tree Wild: Where Ecology and Economy Co-Exist – Blogger Ruby and her many “fur” family friends: The title of this blog says a lot about Ruby. This quote from her About Page, does too: “I believe, the trick to making something beautiful is to care about it. Now I know that sounds cliché, but I find its true.” This is so typical of what you find when you read her blog, a lot of care!

• My Blog: Poetry, Short Stories, & Comments – Blogger  ????  The poetry is marvelous! The reflections and comments just as engaging. My hope is that one day, this blogger will provide more information on his or her About Page. I’d love to know more about him or her. May be this award will help to nudge that along.

• Tales of an Urban Bee Farmer: Many a Mickle Makes a Muckle  – Blogger Steve – If I’m not mistaken, this is Steve’s second blog. He also managed one titled: Up! Elgin Community Garden’s Blog — these two blogs offer a world of great information. I so love the pictures, too! The advice for beekeeping and how it works in the urban area of life is well worth a read.

• Kathryn Almay: Writing, Editing, Technical Communications – Blogger Kathryn Almay – This blog is so full of excellent writing ideas, thoughts, anecdotes, and short insights into the writing life. It gives me a shot in the arm each time I read. The quality of Kathryn’s blog is found in her description of her ‘non-writing’ life: “In my non-writing life I am, among other things, a Big Sister, a volunteer nature educator, a change ringer, and a full-time dog owner. I also enjoy cooking, reading, hiking, and traveling.” And, I must mention, her writing services (as seen in her portfolio) are stellar!

• Memory Bears by Bonnie: A Ministry of Love – Blogger Bonnie, a Certified Hospice and Palliative Care Nursing Assistant, says of her blog: “Memory Bears are there for those that are hurting due to the loss of a loved one. More than one request for Memory Bears has come from a family who was told about them, but had never been to this website. As you learn about the bears, you might think of someone who could benefit from this ministry.” What else can one say? Visit her site, follow her blog, you’ll be blessed.

• Krista and Jess – Blogger  Krista, Jess, Levi, and Family – Just plain delightful and so prolific! They have such awesome posts! I get a kick out of watching this family through their blog! They say on their About Page: “We started this blog in the summer of 2008 mostly for family and friends after we surprised them by running off to Canada to elope.” <– this kinda says it all!

• Twists of a Tale – Blogger Rosa Lee Jude – My writing buddy, who is still searching for the “right” blog focus. I am hoping that this spray of “Sunshine” will inspire her to get her little writing muse in gear for crafting her blog! You so deserve to showcase your writing for others to enjoy on a weekly, if not daily basis!

And now to answering the 10 questions about me:

1. Favorite Color:   Blue
2. Favorite Animal:  Dogs — especially our Grand Dog and our sweet friends, Princess Mia, Burl, and Sophie
3. Favorite Number: 7. It’s always been a favorite number. I think it is because of how it sounds.
4. Favorite Drink:  Green Tea, Water, Milk, and Coffee — not exactly one choice, but I do love all four.
5. Facebook or Twitter:  Facebook. I am not on Twitter.
6. Your Passion:  Besides the obvious answers of Hobbit King, Princess Daughter, and GrandDog, you may have noticed that I am just a little obsessed with honey bees. I also happen to love writing, reading, and the magic of mathematics. I am a little eclectic in that I also love gardening – vegetable & flowers as  well as I dabble in arts-n-crafts of various sorts, especially stained glass, making cordials, and canning of various foods.
7. Giving or Receiving Presents:  Giving. There is something special about observing a family member or friend enjoy a gift that I knew when I found it would be the “right” gift for that special moment.
8. Favorite Day:  Friday! The beginning of the weekend, which our family enjoys in many different ways, but always in some way (even when we are apart) we celebrate.
9. Favorite Flower: Of course, I have two – Casa Blanca Oriental Lilly and Peonies – tree Peonies to be exact. In addition to being beautiful flowers, they are fun to watch grow…but, yeah you guessed it, I also have others I love! Roses, glads of all types, all kinds of herbs, and lilacs — oh my — let’s make it simple…I love all flowers!
10. Favorite Food: This one is the hardest to select just a few. I think I’ll have to say bread, but then I could also say seafood, and I must say, I love Italian food of all types, especially authentic pasta dishes with a strong taste of olive oil and garlic, yet, I do believe I’d have to select unique dishes and blends of flavors. Yea, you got it…all food!

Well, that’s it for now.  Thanks for reading along.
Honey Cheers,
Hobbit Queen

Related articles

• The Kreative and Sunshine Awards (Writer and Dreamer at Work)

• On the Sunshine Award (A Million Words)

• You are my Sunshine – Part Two (Learn to Blog with Mandy Allen)

*(If it is passed on to you, the same “rules” apply.  But I hope you will see this not as a burden, but something fun, and the honor that I would like for it to be.  But please feel absolutely no pressure to accept the award!  I will understand completely!)