There are sqillions of blogs out there and I canot read them all. Well, I cannot read them all and still have time to earn a living anyway. I recently decided to go back to bloglines as a means of altering me to new posts becuase I kept forgetting which blogs I liked! So, as I was inputting my list I pondered the question: how do I choose my favourites?
I drew up this non exclusive list of factors which apply to blogs I like:
1. Good writing
2. Blogs where the personalities of the owners stand out and I like the people.
3. Pictures of quilts that are to my taste.
4. Practical information given (e.g tutorials or links to good sites) or details about life in a place which to me is foreign and exotic.
5. Posts on grandchildren and dogs kept to a minimum. Good writing about either allows more leeway because the writing is then the attraction to the subject matter (Yes, Jennifer you and the puppy come in that category!) but I switch off with endless posts on how cute a strange baby is!
6. Interactive features like tagging games or post which ask for specific opinions
So, if you have blogger friends - or if you yourself are lurking around my blog and I don't list your blog on my sidebar but you think I'd like the blog leave me a comment with the link as I am always open to working less and reading more!
A good example of a great recent find (which made it onto my feeds list on ground one before I'd got past the byline and the most recent post) is Kills Houseplants ( just the name....!!) Two non-quilting sites you may not have found which fascinate me for writing quality and insights into different lives are Orthomom and Renegade Rebetizin
And then we come to interactivity ... I was tagged both as me (by Sara ) and as my Quiltland Queen alter ego ( really BIG ego in that case!) ( By Quilter in Paradise) to list 7 weird/ random things about myself. Here are my real life ones.
1. My little toes curl inwards.
2. I mix up left and right. This makes me a nightmare passenger to take driving directions from. Except if the driver is my Dad because he does the same thing, but we instinctively know when the other has got it wrong and go the direction they meant to say without any oral comunication. In heavy traffic, on a deadline, this can drive other passengers frantic.
3. My Mum taught me to read when I was only eighteen months old. Apparently, when I was two, I was really, really excited when in the car one day because I thought that the lorry ahead advertising Lyons cakes had large and dangerous cats inside. My spelling is still dodgy.
4. I cannot swallow the skin around orange segments.
5. I arrive everywhere either early or bang on time. Even at my wedding I got to the church before the guests, had to have the driver do a circuit of the village and park up at the top for ten minutes and then walked down the aisle exactly as the clock bells pealed 12 noon.
6. I don't know how to rewire a plug. I keep meaning to learn, but....!
7. I once smuggled illegal goods across an international border. ( My husband bought turkish coffee in Northern Cyprus when we are staying at Southern Cyprus, at a time when you were not supposed to shop in the North and import the goods to the South. He thought the price quoted was for one bag but it was for ten. Refusing to leave any of the stinky stuff behind, he persuaded me to stuff it up my jumper! The smell lingered for weeks!)
Now, I tag Jennifer (in confidence that she will continue to obey the puppy rule!), Diane ( for being a nice stand out personality!), Brenda ( even though I get the impression tags are not her favourite thing becuase hands down her blog wins for information and after all no-one acually has to respond to a tag!), Tundra Threads for exotic location information, Flibbertygibbet for good writing ( she is a professional at it you know!), Quilterin for the dual language trick and Nikki for the pictures and still getting art done in the midst of so much domestic responsibilty.
I also have to list the tag rules so here they are:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you2. Post THE RULES on your blog ( this be them! )3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog4. Tag 7 people and link to them5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.
6 comments:
Hi Helen, I love your Quiltland-blog and like your other blog as well ;-). Come and have a look at mine! ('Q' that is, the other one is in Dutch and full of pics of cute children ;-))
Cheers, Linda
Thanks Helen! I enjoyed your qualifications about what makes a good blog (and agree!) and liked the new places you sent me. I'm not sure how much to address it here (maybe it's a post-in-the-making for me), but I can see first-hand how women (particularly) get derailed in thinking about/writing about their own lives or in pursuing their own interests when they have children, or puppies, that both distract them AND make easy fodder.... It's a struggle, and one I'm keenly aware of and facing. But I'm helped along mightily by your friendship and encouragement. And no, I didn't chuck any good boxes, I just need to find one that fits....
I can't distinguish left and right either. I once heard a very plausible explanation on Radio 4 (so it must be true!) that if you are ambidextrous then this is very common (presumably as the brain is not strongly wired for either left or right).
I write and draw right-handed but I can do practically everything else left handed including painting and quite delicate manipulatiion.
Does this theory work for you?!!
I am not certain why I like certain blogs more than others...but do love that they can make me laugh on a bad day.When back in the pre-internet days...you had to call a friend and hope she was having a better day than you!Cheers to your comments.
In reference not being able to tell left form writing when giving instructions, try this...
If passenger is sitting on the left hand side of the car and the driver sits on the right, then the passenger navigates by saying "my side" if you want them to turn left and "your side" when you want them to turn right.
Trust me, this works. I learnt it from a driver friend who can't tell her left from her right. It is also easy to use if you are in a country where the driver is seated on the left hand side.
Teach me not to read it first...
In reference to not being able to tell left from right when giving instructions, try this...
If passenger is sitting on the left hand side of the car and the driver sits on the right, then the passenger navigates by saying "my side" if you want them to turn left and "your side" when you want them to turn right.
Trust me, this works. I learnt it from a driver friend who can't tell her left from her right. It is also easy works if you are in a country where the driver is seated on the left hand side.
Post a Comment