Golden Letter: A

April has become my month for Awards, the most recent I have received is this one:

The name of the Award says it all. The Very Inspiring Blogger Award. KnowledgeKnut, a blogger who has been through much recently, took time to honor other bloggers – that in itself is an inspiration. More inspiring, she has nominated me as one of those she honored.

I check KnowledgeKnut’s site every day. She has an array of talents, one of which is to write poems tied to paintings. I cannot write a poem and, God help me, if you asked for a haiku. My talents do not lie that way. If you are looking for some inspiration, something to lift the soul, KK’s poems will give the nourishment you are longing for. This poem is one of my favorites. While there, check out her Freebie’s tab on the left, super in these rough economic times, as well as her monthly shopping deals in markets across the land under the category Handy Hints & Tips. This is what I love about blogging. I would never make the time to do this, but KK does and I get to profit from her sharing. That’s inspiring. Her Sunday Soups are gorgeous and easy. Grin.

I tried something this morning. I followed the links back from KK’s nomination of me to the blogger who nominated KK, to the blogger who nominated that blogger, back to February, 2013. It is a bit like Ancestry.com and leads to some very interesting discoveries. Each approached the Award differently. There are rules, of course. Interestingly, they’ve shifted a bit over the months in the number of blogs you list as inspiring to pass the Award forward. Initially, it required 15 (!) and as you can see below, that is no longer the case:

The rules for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award are:

• Display the award certificate on your website.
• Announce your win with a post and link to whoever presented your award.
• Present the award to other deserving bloggers (pick a number that is comfortable for you).
• Drop them a comment to tip them off after you’ve linked them in the post.
• Post 7 interesting things about yourself.

The curious thing about blogging is you never know what will be a hit. I sure don’t. Quite often, it will be a post that I almost didn’t write or thought I’d be the only one interested in it. The ones I am most fond of hardly ever garner the attention I think they deserve (there’s a surprise, eh?).

Here on WordPress.com, we have something called “Stats.” While interesting and, at times, puzzling in the calculation thereof, it is both a delight and a crazy-maker. It tells you which of your articles got the most views, the tags people are attracted to, what countries your readers are coming from. Watching it over an 18 hour day illustrates the time differential across the globe. Each country checks in at different hours, and that is not counting the night owls or the early risers, the outliers. The tab I am most fond of is the Notifications tab on the Stats page. My Notifications tab went glitchy over the weekend. Every time I clicked it, the little gizmo would spin trying to connect and continuing spinning until it was exhausted and quit. I had no idea how much I depended on it until it failed. The support staff of Word Press came through for me.

Notifications tell you of likes, follows, comments made to your site, and responses to your comments on others’ sites. It keeps the communication lines open. Hmm, maybe something for Homeland Security… Now to the point. The Notifications tab has a drop down menu when you click “View All.” All of a sudden, off to the left are categories, one of which is “Unread.” I clicked it and was bemused to see how many there were – this from an ardent watcher. I had one of the most unexpected pleasures by clicking on each one of those long forgotten messages to me. Some went to other sites where the host blogger had responded; some had questions I hadn’t seen; some were about my entries. I discovered my own site, looking back through time. As of this writing, I’ve celebrated my four month anniversary, I have written 88 posts, 2,086 views, and I’ve now got 87 followers from all over the world. Those views can be seen here:

April 24 2013 Stats

I find that inspiring. In salute to my followers, I am going to present ones I have met because you found me. As part of your response, I would like to suggest you provide a link to one of your favorite posts you have written. Here’s one I liked of mine that got very little attention due possibly to the title and the Boston Bombings – it was written to show how even in the grimmest times, we can find it possible to laugh at ourselves.

Some Fascinating Inspiring Bloggers:

(As always, you are free to participate or simply accept)

Kate Shrewsday
Joe Warnimont
blueeyedsandy
Wiley’s Wisdom
yunichar
Jaycee68
allaboutmanners
Rarasaur
Eric Alagan (who does write haiku!)
Cheryl Moore
The Happy Hugger
Damyanti
Meg
julie chicklitsaurus
My Atheist Blog
Raimyd
Tammyehoney
Vanessa Katsoolis
Lateral Love Australia
Steven Cottingham
The Middle of Nowhere
Sunny Sleevez
MYNDFUQ
Sabatino

Seven Facts About Me

1. I often sneeze 12 times in a row;
2. I always say “God Bless You” upon a sneeze, whether mine or someone elses;
3. I return all seats to an upright position.
4. If I find a penny which is tails up, I turn it over for heads and leave it for the next guy;
5. I am the fourth child of a fourth child of a fourth child;
6. My secret ambition is to have a stamp named after me – for as yet undetermined deeds; and,
7. I believe living is hazardous to your health;