the versatile blogger award

A long time ago, in dog-years, I was a voracious reader. John Steinbeck, Hunter S. Thompson, Isaac Asimov, George Borrow, and Clive Cussler were favorite authors.  While I always could “capture the voice” in interesting situations, I usually might write a few thoughts of the encounter in letters.   I have one very close to me – and another, extended family member whom I credit with inspiring me to write, my wife Sheri;  and Cinthia Ritchie, who was writing thirty years ago when I was married to her sister.

I have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award from my friend RhapsodyBoheme. I have only been blogging for a few months and yet I have been encouraged by her kind words and interest, and several other experienced bloggers and authors who visit my scribblings.   I am these days a much less spontaneous outdoorsman than in decades past, but the adventurous spirit is kept stoked, in part from her writing and wonderful pictures.   Thank you for thinking of me and your nomination.

What is the Versatile Blogger Award?

I confess I had not heard of this award until now.  So, I am lifting the description from her page.  It is a way for bloggers to nominate other bloggers who they believe deserve recognition for their high-quality standard of writing, the uniqueness of content, passion, and love displayed throughout the site and to top it off, amazing photos! It is a way to introduce newcomers, welcoming and showing our support in their new endeavor of finding their voice and audience. We share the same passion on how we got started and in the end the reason remains similar, as we all have something to say and to contribute.

Rules of the Versatile Blogger Award:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and share their link.
2. Nominate up to 10 bloggers for the award and provide links to their blogs. Also, inform them about the nomination.
3. Reveal 7 facts about yourself that your readers may not know.

….

1.  In the service I was once accused by a senior officer of teaching my younger enlisted sailors “certain” key phrases for port visits in the Mediterranean, in Spanish, French, Russian and a few words in Greek or Turkish (the last two via bilingual dictionaries). I was guilty as charged. Over the years I learned to converse in the first three – but today, I only can converse in Spanish. Most faded with disuse.
2. I may be the only engineering technician, in an engineering company fifteen years now, with a baccalaureate degree in Political Science.
3. As a teenager, I lived in Cape Cod in a two hundred twenty-year old house. The artist and writer who lived there in the previous century has been a favorite muse for me all this time.
4. I love genealogy, and through family letters, personal exploration, and lately, the internet, I have found and contacted extended family living today across the world. And traced maternal Irish – Scottish ancestry back to the 1400s. Many military men and sailors. Some scoundrels.  A writer or two.
5. I like but do not love, most competitive sports. I appreciate competition and striving to overcome odds, and believe attitude and never-quit commitment can achieve goals, even if one loses.
6. I collect random things on trips to remember times by myself, with my family or with friends. Accordingly, I have stones, a whale crafted from an old oil cans, a Victorian-era chair, old books, postcard set from Paris, a pinecone from the Sierras, and several Navy ballcaps. (And that is a partial list !)
7. My spiritual belief has been a foundation for twenty years; my marriage, adopted family (they adopted ME), deep friendships, peace and positivity is lived through my faith. My life was a lot of turbulence before -and still has some now – but there is a safe harbor for me. ( I’m a sailor, so I use a lot of nautical imagery)

I would like to nominate the following newer bloggers whom I enjoy reading and exchanging banter on their posts.  It’s a great, creative world out here
Sheri

Biff Sock Pow

Ben

Enjoy and have fun with this…..