One post for the awards

August 19, 2015 ~ Meg ~ 3 Comments

Finally getting to these! Sorry nominators! I decided to combine my thanks to all of you into one big post: Thank you to anwyn84 and Bethany Harvey for the Liebster nomination, Anand (Vibrant) for the Premio Dardos and the Sunshine Blogger Awards. I have a feeling I’m forgetting someone… If that is true, I am so sorry! I’m finding it hard to keep up with my work in progress, not to mention my assignments for 101 (plus I do have a day job)! I’ve decided to try and answer a combination of some of the questions that were asked among all of them. I apologize for not playing by the rules!

Here are 5 of Anand’s questions:

If you could transport yourself into one of your favorite books, where would you go and why? This might change depending on what day you asked me but, today what popped into my mind was: Once and Future King because I love the King Arthur legend.
If I could meet one person (real, imaginary, alive or dead) who would it be and what would you do with them? Another tough question. So many possible answers. I’d like to meet Mark Twain and take a trip down the Mississippi on a paddle wheel boat.
What is your best memory? My Dad teaching me to swim when I was about 7 years old.
Who is your source of inspiration? The author P.D. James because she didn’t start writing until she was in her 30s and didn’t publish her first novel until she was 42.
What are your top 5 favorite books of this year? Some old, some new: Girl On a Train, The Clockwork Universe, My Antonia, Maybe In Another Life, and Where’d You Go Bernadette?

Here are 5 of anwyn84’s questions:

If you could travel anywhere tomorrow, where would it be? Scotland
What is the simplest thing that makes you smile? My crazy dog
What’s the best meal you can prepare? I make a pretty awesome lasagna!
How many times have you fallen in love? Once, but I seem to fall farther every day!
What’s your favorite beverage? It’s a tie: coffee and Irish whisky

Now instead of nomination, per se, I’m going to link you to my home page where you can find 30 of the blogs I love on my sidebar! I love these blogs! If you find yourself there, feel free to accept my nomination for all three of these awards!

Again, thank you for the nominations! Love you guys!

Creepy: photo challenge

August 19, 2015September 22, 2015 ~ Meg ~ 22 Comments

Daily Post Photo Challenge Creepy

This is a pile of bones from the catacombs in Paris. When the cemeteries of Paris became overcrowded in the late 1700s, 6 million individuals were disinterred and moved to the limestone tunnels which at the time, were outside the city limits. The bones are stacked neatly and are grouped together based on the cemetery they originally inhabited.

Day 12: Increasing Commenting Confidence

August 18, 2015August 18, 2015 ~ Meg ~ 1 Comment

I decided to comment here in response to this post from 2013: Musings: Do You! rather than on their blog. Two years gone by and all… Anyway the quote was another by Emerson: “Imitation is suicide. Insist on yourself. Never imitate.”

Most of us have heard that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? But what’s usually going on when people say that to you? Isn’t it usually in response to someone having imitated us and it made us mad? It can be as simple as someone getting the same haircut, or as complicated as someone competing with us for the same job.

What prompts imitation? Is it a lack of self confidence? A desire to be accepted by the crowd? Honest self examination is necessary. Now this is not to say that we cannot be inspired by others, after all this post has been inspired by the Emerson quote. Yet, there is a big difference between inspiration and imitation. Inspiration is a spark that ignites individual creativity whereas imitation suppresses that creativity. We become copyists. I believe I’ll file this quote away and return to it when I need to remind myself to be myself and not somebody else.

Big thank you to Tim Gatewood for suggesting this quote!