Versatile Blogger Award.

Look up, open your eyes and pay attention please - I have an announcement. Natalia has kindly included me in the Versatile Blogger Award. Thanks, Natalia.

I'm supposed to share 7 things about myself and pass this award to 15 blogs I've recently discovered, and let the bloggers know they have been nominated. Oh, and add the logo, which is this....

Rather than writing 7 things about myself, I thought I'd put in photos of things that matter to me in some way.

My home and family (though none of them is called Thomas and Edward and we don't live in a train shed but it's symbolic, you understand, because I don't post identifiable images of people I know. )

Alice in Wonderland (I did write a biography of Lewis Carroll after all) and Mickey Mouse, symbol of Disney. I really want to get back to Florida sometime to check out what's changed in WDW. I'm not sure I want to get an I-Visa though, which is now required by the US Government for media visitors. So any Disney visit might have to be a private one. If I win the lottery.

Riding the bike.

And interesting architecture of all periods. This is a staircase in the V&A, one of my favourite museums

Spring is a beautiful season and I like growing different types of daffodils.

I like cats but can't have them because of allergies

I like weird and/or creepy things too. These are snakeskin shoes, spotted in Venice.

As for the blog list, I don't know how recent is "recent." Days, weeks, months? And how good is good? I only follow blogs I like and so they're ALL good, in my opinion.

So if I haven't put your blog here, it doesn't mean I don't like it, Some of my favourite blogs, inevitably, are ones I've been following for a while and I'm sad not to include them

Here goes, in no particular order:

The Chubby Chatterbox A talented illustrator and very funny writer. I LOVE his posts. I'm glad I found this one!

Rurousha South African - Japanese. Great combination and always very intelligent and informative posts. I love other Japanese-themed blogs too but they've been in my list for too long to include in this award.

Running to the Light Dominic Doherty's mix of lyrics and pix somehow gives me the feeling he is on the right track in life, and it cheers me up to read his blog. He just about scrapes in here because I've been reading him for a while.

A Mixed Bag Valerie is one of those amazingly talented people who can do crafts brilliantly and write engagingly. She's a good advert for the Women's Institute, and I wonder if she also makes good jam! :)

Adullamite I always look forward to Adullamite's postings. He casts a cynical eye on life from Essex and makes me laugh and think. And sometimes he makes me think of Tony Hancock.

Georgia Girl with an English Heart Kay, like me, is a Lewis Carroll fan, and she's also an Anglophile living in Georgia, USA. I love to read her "take" on England from the outside.

WanderingWondering. Valentina's travel blog from Spain is honest and interesting, I like how she focuses usually on just one aspect of her travels.

Recollections of a Vagabonde Another travel blog, which has had some very interesting posts about WHY you travel to different destinations.

Mimi in Dublin I loved her recent contest for identifying a really, really weird cookie cutter.

Suldog is another I've just started following. I cracked up when I read his post about the colour of applesauce. If someone can make applesauce fun, they're well worth following IMHO :)

Waystationone Brian is a good poet and good photographer and has a sense of humour. I joined his blog because I couldn't resist his post about socks, funny, true and warm, with a little twist.

Gapyearsthebook Actually I don't follow this blog because I'm too stupid to figure out how. But, like many other blogs I don't follow, I do check it out. Jo went backpacking in her fifties, no holds barred. Brave lady. I read her book and couldn't put it down.

Gimcrack Hospital ANOTHER one I check but don't follow. (I really must get the hang of this technology. If I don't see a followers button, I'm flummoxed.) A very interesting and slightly off the wall blog taking in depth look at weird stuff. Is it all completely true? I don't know :)

Don't Unplug your Hub This is one I have followed, but it doesn't show up in my feed. Another tech problem to sort out someday. He's a briliant artist living in an old showman's wagon with animals.

Emm in London (She's been in Norwich recently, actually). She tells me things about London sometimes that I don't know, and I think I know a lot about London!

I think that's 15, although counting has never been my strong suit :)

Now I suppose I should tell everyone I linked to that they are a recipient of this award. I don't have time right now but if they read my blog they are bound to find out. I need hardly say, that if they don't want to take it up, that's fine by me - it's just a bit of fun!