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A Window On My World

This is not a daily blog.
Posts will be published on occasion and irregularly as I am able.
Some of these posts are from my web site The Garden At Crocker Croft.
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Saturday, July 19, 2008

For ME?!


The Patient Gardener at the patient gardener's weblog sent word that she had awarded my blog the Arte y Pico award. What a nice surprise! Thank you, Patient Gardener. I had no idea my modest offering could be of any value to others. But, the feedback has been wonderful. Thank you for the encouragement.

I understand that along with the honor go some responsibilities such as abiding by these five rules:

1. Choose 5 blogs you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and contribution to the blogging community, regardless of the language.

2. Each award should have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner should show the award and put the name and link to the blog that presented him/her with the award.

4. The award winner and the one who has given the award should show the Arte y Pico blog so everyone will know the origin of this award. Translated, it means "the peak of art."

5. Show these rules.

I had to think about this for a few days, because there were so many I wanted to name. It was most difficult to choose so few, and even so, I have cheated and named 6 instead of 5. I could not cull them down to any fewer.

I tried to choose only those who had not received the award before, as far as I could tell, in hopes of spotlighting blogs and their creators who had not enjoyed the recognition they deserve.

Some of you may not want to play, and that is OK with me. Still, I wanted each of you to know that the results of your efforts are appreciated.

Thinking of Beauty, these are my final selections:

First of all there is Kerri at Colors of the Garden whose inner beauty, plus sweet spirit, shine through her lovely, and friendly, blog: Colors of the Garden.

Karin in Sweden and her blog, Ute och inne. Even though I cannot read the Swedish language, it doesn't make any difference. I can recognize enough words to understand enough and the photographs are gorgeous! My visits are always enjoyable. Sometimes she writes in English, which must require additional effort and dedication. A beautiful blog. Ute och inne.

Esther... Esther In the Garden for her talent, delightful originality, entertainment, and all the beautiful smiles and chuckles she sows among her readers. But, she has to share with Lucy (whose eye-of-an-artist's is apparent in her outstanding photography), because Lucy has been such a good friend and helper. esther in the garden

Philip Bewley... Philips Garden Blog
I miss my classes in History of Architecture, History of Interiors, Art History, European History, etc. I feel at home in Philip's beautiful blog. Subjects of his posts display the range of his eclectic interests from river restoration to fine art; plants that are special to antique-style tools and flower pots; gardens all over the world from deserts to roof-tops; maybe not poets' ivory towers, but there are famous writers' huts; from cottage gardens in California to an Edwardian garden on the windswept grounds of the castle on Holy Island, England. And of course, the overall quality includes his photography: excellent. Philips Garden Blog

Phillip Brown has amassed photographs of his own and others in his two blogs, Golden Age Gardens, and Houseplants.

A family member once said of me: Barbee' "is a romantic in the old sense of the word." Interesting to be seen through the eyes of others. So, that is what is wrong with me, is it? I knew no one else around me shared whatever it is I am. Finally, I have found someone who, perhaps is not a romantic... or maybe is, but someone who has pulled much of it together into a blog or two where I may visit and steep in visuals dripping with romance.

I would never have found all these heart-meltingly beautiful photos if Phillip had not searched and gathered them all together for me. Where does he find them all! Ah, the Victorian and Edwardian gardens and gardeners, Gertrude Jekyll, William Robinson and many more... He brings them all into his Golden Age Gardens as one would bring plants into a walled garden.

Houseplants: Should be named Houseplants and more. I learn things there, such as: Dicksonia antartica plants were brought back as ballast on packet boats in the 1880's. He describes this blog as: Houseplants, conservatories, glass houses. I add that it is also:
Houseplants to container gardens; Alpine troughs to Carnivorous plants. Photography of his and others.

His work is not without humor. One Ann Geddes style photo of large flower pots each filled with a baby, he has labeled: "Need plenty of light and good drainage!"

His blogs are no longer showing up in the Picks lists of Blotanical, because they need to be updated with Feedburner, but, they are definitely worth seeking out... especially if you are a romantic. Houseplants
Golden Age Gardens I could (and do) get lost in this one for hours!

And finally, a couple in the subtropical mountain rainforest around Nimbin, Northern NSW Australia, and his blog Wholistic. I add him to my list for the beauty and elegance of their lifestyle. I am reminded of Swiss Family Robinson, and Tarzan and Jane. Reminded, also, of Jon Franklin who wrote in Writing for Story, "Simplicity, carried to an extreme, becomes elegance." I scrolled all the way down to the bottom of his archives list and started with his first post: "A nice opening thought" Sunday, February 18th, 2007. If it had been a book, I would not have been able to put it down. Wholistic

12 comments:

Kerri said...

Hello Barbee! Sorry I haven't been finding time to visit many of my blog friends lately...and just when I'm longing to see what everyone has blooming in their gardens. I'm working my way around, but very slowly.
Thank you so much for this award and the very sweet words. I'm honored to be one of your recipients, and feel quite chuffed that you think my blog is worthy. It' so nice to be appreciated :) Your blog is one of my absolute favorites, and you are absolutely deserving of this award. I'll have a look at the others you've nominated too. They all sound very interesting.
I'm afraid you're right about me not having time to play though. I'm not finding much time to post lately, and I have so much I want to post about! Isn't it the way things go?
So if you don't mind, I'll just say thank you very much and leave it at that.
I hope it's not too hot to garden in your neck of the woods. It was actually too hot here today, and very humid. I had to force myself to go out and do a bit of work.

Barbee' said...

Kerri, no problem at all. Everyone is super busy. The heat and humidity have driven me inside and that is the only reason I have had time to do this post. I did enjoy it though. And, you are most welcome.

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Oh Barbee! Won't Esther be pleased when she hears about this!

I'm not sure how often she can blog from Mars but I'll try to get in touch and let her know.

Either she'll respond, or I will on her behalf.

Meanwhile, I hope you will accept the 'Esther Montgomery Memorial 'Prize' for a Particularly Memorable Picture' from LOOSE AND LEAFY

It's a small nosegay of blue flowers.

Lucy
LOOSE AND LEAFY

Karin said...

Hi Barbee, and congratulations to your award. You deserve it. Thank you so much for your kind words! You make me really happy and I'm so pleased that I've discovered your blog. It takes some extra time to translate into English but I really prefer to do that. If my English was better I would have been an option just to write in English... :)

Well, now I'm going away for a couple of days but then I might nominate a few more. I've just posted about yellow and purple flowers. Do you like them? Take care! Karin

Helen/patientgardener said...

Hi Barbee - wow you put far more effort into your response that I did!

Barbee' said...

Lucy (England): We seem to be trading compliments. I love the delicate nosegay flowers, and will tell Chief Photographer that I accepted an award in his honor. Thank you.

Karin (Sweden): Thank you, Karin, so do you. I think you are very smart and dedicated to attempt to write in English, and you do quite well, I think. I visited your yellow and purple flowers and they are delightful, two of my favorite colors.

patientgardener (England): I thought your post was just fine. I enjoyed reading it. Sometimes (most of the time?), I ramble on too much.

Philip Bewley said...

Congratulations on your award, Barbee. It is well deserved. I love your blog.
Thank you so much for your comments. I sincerely appreciate them. My family did,too. You made many people happy this morning!
:)
Yay!
:)
Very best regards,
Philip

Barbee' said...

philip bewley (California, U.S.A.): Cheers to you, Philip, both "thank you" and "you are welcome"!

Alan said...

Barbee, can't send you any nice flowers. My established lavender has gone by, and my new planting hasn't bloomed yet. Have a few purple cone flowers, and some brilliant iron weed (maybe I should send you some of that. The goats love it, and the brilliant purple is nice in the vase) We have been harvesting garlic this week. The flowers are past, but we have some frozen and some drying for later. Enjoying your garden and dreaming of the time when beauty overtakes projects and cheese.

Barbee' said...

Alan (Ohio, U.S.A.): What a lovely thing to say. I thought of you and your family when we shopped at Farmers' Market yesterday. Several vendors had flowers, and of course the herbs, vegetables and fruits were so aromatic and beautiful! One person was selling "farm ice cream", I asked if it was goat's milk ice cream, she said, "No". They line up along one side of Vine St., downtown, for about 2 1/2 to 3 blocks. We shopped there the previous Saturday, too. I wish they had an indoor place for their market. It is bad when they work so hard to gather and prepare their harvest, arise before dawn, travel in, set up, and then if the weather turns bad shoppers do not come. If they had an indoor area the market could run the year round, too.

Meadowview Thymes said...

Congratulations!!! You are very deserving of this award--I am so excited for you!

Barbee' said...

Meadowview Thymes (Texas, U.S.A.) Thank you. What a sweet thing to say. I appreciate it.