Honest (and slightly verbose) Scrap

You know, I thought the little ‘Honest Scrap’ images people  have in their sidebars were something to do with supporting recycling…don’t ask me why!

Well, Clare over at Curbstone Valley Farm was kind enough to bestow this award/meme on me recently, so I had to find out what an ‘Honest Scrap’ was.

It seems that if you are awarded this meme you have to list 10 things people may not know about you from your blog and then highlight 7 blogs that you enjoy and would like to pass the award on to.  Then I discovered that Bernie from Queensland over at Bush Bernie’s Garden Blog had kindly given me a mention too – so here goes…

1.  I trained as a Secondary School English Teacher. Surprisingly I qualified. What makes this really interesting is that my spelling is atrocious, my handwriting nearly illegible and my grasp on grammar marginal. Plus I say things like ‘slightly verbose’.  I hope this doesn’t reflect too badly on the Victorian education system. I’m sure they are more stringent these days.

I did teach, but not as an English teacher. I worked as a TAFE Community Services teacher instead.

2.  My favourite author is Sir Terry Pratchett. He is often billed as a ‘comic fantasy’ writer and unfortunately that puts a lot of people off. He uses this genre to look sometimes tenderly and sometimes sorrowfully (but always humorously) at the human race. Even if you don’t like fantasy, think about giving ‘Feet of Clay’ or ‘Small Gods’ a go. You might like them!

3.  I have a small collection of books on manners.

I didn’t buy any of them. For some mysterious reason friends keep giving them to me…I do love them though (the books…and the friends). I especially love the book that advises a young lady to always keep a pair of clean white gloves in her handbag…just in case she should be unexpectedly presented to royalty. I’m still waiting.

4. I’ve had two near death experiences. One of which when I was only just 18. I grew up in suburbia a bit of a distance from the beach and had never heard of a tidal rip.

Image by Paul Prescott sourced from Dreamstime Stock Photography

A race with a friend into the water at Gunnamatta surf beach almost ended in disaster for both of us. I was hauled out of the water by a surfer. There is nothing to recommend ingesting a lot of sea water and being thrown over a surfboard is not at all romantic.

5. I am an introvert. It’s not that I don’t like people, I just need time on my own or with my little family to re-charge. If I have a busy social day I close my door at the end of the day and let out a huge sigh.  I sometimes wonder how many gardeners would consider themselves more introverted than extraverted as we all seem to find joy in those quite moments in the garden.

6. I am verbose in the written form (but you knew that already), sparse in the verbal (that you didn’t).

7. I’m ‘mildly creative’ I like painting, making beaded jewellery and cards. I’m not particularly good at any of them, but I find them relaxing. Well, sort of.  I get caught up in the colour and texture of things and sometimes have trouble re-forming the parts into the big picture…sort of like gardening for me really.

8. When I was a child I lived for a year on the outskirts of London. I think because I lived there for part of my development I carry a longing to return to England. It’s like part of me is still over there somewhere. Having said that, there was nothing quite like coming home to Australia either. I think I spent the first two weeks just marvelling at how blue the sky was. What I didn’t enjoy was the teasing from my friends about the English accent I had picked up!

9. My daughter and I share an obsession with owls.  I guess they aren’t cute and cuddly critters, so they might seem a strange choice. But we came across a Mother and baby Southern Boobook blinking out from us in a tree one day. We were looking for owls in a vague sort of way, but didn’t expect to find them!

We have been intrigued ever since and I seem to have an ever-expanding collection of little owls popping up all over the house. Owl collections seem to occur when you leave one owl ornament sitting on a dresser and everyone you know tries to outdo each other with the most unusual/ugliest owl they can find. I love them all!

Genuine 70's macrame owl!

10. I have an incredibly bad memory. I can sit through two-thirds of a movie before I realise I’ve seen it before, and be half way through a book before I realise I’ve read it before. For a long time my daughter took great delight in calling me ‘Dory’. Still. It does make for a life of fresh and new discoveries. Don’t be surprised if I have the same gardening dilemmas year in, year out!

Wonderful Blogs…

Now for the fun bit, where I get to pass on the albatross…I mean award! I enjoy lots of different blogs for very different reasons and wasn’t sure where to start with this. On top of that, many of my favourite blogs have already had this award…so I took some inspiration from Bernie at Bush Bernie’s Garden Blog and went with a theme.

My theme is ”new’ or ‘renewed’ – the blogs I have chosen all have a element of newness to them. They may be bloggers who are getting their hands into their own piece of dirt for the first time, bloggers quite new to gardening, or experienced gardeners discovering a new way to garden.

So on goes the ‘Honest Scrap’ award to the following people (no stress if you don’t accept memes/have done it already etc, just take it as a compliment 😉 )

Jess at Children of the Corm. Jess is establishing a new garden and I enjoy having the chance to watch it evolve. But most of all Jess cracks me up, I love her sense of humour.

Flo at Intemperate Edibles blog. Flo is also establishing a new garden in some fairly difficult conditions  in New South Wales. Flo is also becoming well practiced in the art of Bokashi!

Ami at Southeast Florida Garden Evolvement. Ami describes herself as someone who has recently developed a passion for gardening and I can relate to that. She also has some lovely roses!

Shyrlene at The Bunnies’ Buffet. Shyrlene is another gardener establishing a new garden.  I like Shyrlene’s gentle humor and the pictures of her garden taking shape as each week passes.

Mr IG at The Idiot Gardener. Most of you probably know MrIG. I think he spends most of his time trying to scare his seeds into growing. They’ll give in and get on with it one day I’m sure.

Chandramouli at In Art Lies My Heart. Chandramouli is gardening is a small Space and experimenting with new and interesting plants is what he is all about.

na at Ombra mai fu. I’ve included na’s blog as a fairly ‘new to me’ and new to Blotanical Blog. I’m enchanted by na’s photos of cherry blossoms and can’t wait till it is rose season in Japan!

I hope you have a moment to pop in for a look at all these wonderful blogs if you haven’t already!