Monday, and a prize

Posted by Tania Kindersley.

I always imagine, in the twisting corridors of my own mind, that each Monday I shall be galvanised and box-fresh. The moment the clock hits midnight on Sunday, I think the accumulated detritus of the last week should fall way by magic, and I shall be able to rise, like a shining phoenix, to greet the new dawn. Actually, what usually happens is that I get monkey mind on a Sunday night, fail to sleep, and go into Monday with a haunting sense of lost chance. A vicious caffeine buzz is the only thing that keeps me going. I do bad work. I think to myself: ah, Tuesday will be better.

I think almost certainly Tuesday will be better.

In the meantime, the enchanting LibertyLondonGirl has given me a Beautiful Blogger award.

I am quite overcome. LLG is a bit of a legend in these parts. Despite the fact that she was an established, ocean-going, five-star concern when I very first dipped my tentative foot into the waters of the blogosphere, she took the time to welcome me, give me excellent advice, and offer generous encouragement. It was an act of kindness and grace which I do not forget. 

I am intensely flattered.

Into every ointment, however, a tiny fly must fall. The rule is: you pass on the award to ten or fifteen people. Part of me loves doing this, but part of me hates it. There are so many blogs that fascinate and enchant me, how can I choose between them? In some cases, the choice is easy. I think that Major Paul Smyth at the fabulous Helmand Blog might be a bit surprised, in the heat and dust of Afghanistan, if he suddenly got a Beautiful Blogger award from a women of whom he has never heard, even though I read his blog with admiration each day. Obviously, it would be absurd to send an award to Andrew Sullivan over at The Daily Dish, although my day would not be complete without him. But for the rest, I feel that singling out ten is an invidious task. You know I love you all. Every blog on my blogroll is read with appreciation and delight. I also follow many more on Google Reader. I am always quite amazed by how much talent is out there.

Still, I must bite the bullet. As LLG says, ten or fifteen is too many. She chose six, and I shall follow her lead. Here are this week's six recipients:

Miss Whistle and Mrs Trefusis Takes a Taxi were early discoveries in my blogging life. I am rather shocked to find I had not sent them awards before this. I think it is because I mention them quite often in my posts, and so must have assumed that I had made it Official before now. They could not have been kinder when I was starting out, knowing nothing. Both they and their blogs are the epitome of beauty.

The Spice Spoon and Capers in the Kitchen are very different and equally wonderful food bloggers. They are also lovely readers, and leave interesting and generous comments.

Recipe Rifle is a new discovery, and makes me envious, because she is so damn funny.

Motherhood: The Final Frontier is a surprising and touching and funny writer. Not surprisingly, she got an award not very long ago, so this might feel like a redundancy. I give it anyway, because she is so good.

And now, my seven things. I think they are supposed to be quirky or obscure. I shall try not to tell you things you know already, which is practically everything.

1. I do not like the colour yellow. I cannot love daffodils, for this reason.

2. I have a slightly out of control cockle habit.

3. I can recite every line of dialogue from The Big Chill. I am slightly ashamed of this fact.

4. Sometimes I talk to my dogs in French, even though I do not speak French very well, and I am pretty certain they do not understand it, despite the auld alliance.

5. I really wish I could play the guitar. I did try to learn once, but it made my fingers hurt.

6. I love the words: spurious, egregious, rebarbative, pomp, chastened, melancholy, baffling, and horrid. I also like to use nice in its fine sense, as in: a nice distinction.

7. I wish I could understand what happened before the Big Bang. I have a suspicion I am not alone in this.

 

Pictures of the day are all in black and white, for no particular reason at all:

Happy Monday.