I Want To Thank You....And Buddha Shivers

   First the Buddha boy: Since temperatures have dropped he has been shivering and favouring his leg quite a bit. Now he isn't one of those nervous types who shiver if someone looks at him cross-eyed so I may have been a bit concerned and I might have mentioned, once or twice or really quite a lot, that I thought he could use a bit of something to help keep him warm. He doesn't have a fever....not acting sick in any way...just shivering. So, tonight, Jess made a brief shopping trip and came back with a......Onesie! She also took a couple of pictures of he and I cuddling, him all Onesie-fied, he stopped shivering whilst he was wearing it but we need to do something about when he needs to take a trip outside. Hmmm, down vest and boots? Nope, he's not spoiled at all. 

   Yes, he was sound asleep in the second photo, methinks I am Buddha's personal body pillow. There are far worse things to be!

   Now for the thank you: A HUGE thank you to Cynthia at Antiquity Travelers for giving me a very special award last Wednesday.

   To quote Cynthia: "The award was created by Spanish writer Alberto Zambade in 2008. It appears to be a journalistic award for bloggers. Zambade wanted to recognise those bloggers who write about everyday life, culture, and art, and do so on a personal level and with integrity. Now, mind you, this isn't exactly how the translation goes, that is my translation. If you want a flavour of the translations they go like this: 'the award aims to recognise the values of each blogger, for his commitment to the transmission of cultural, ethical, literary and personal. Expressing ultimately their creativity through their remaining living thought innate in his words.'
   The one translation that I particularly enjoyed was that this award was created 'In an effort to promote brotherhood among bloggers, show affection and gratitude for adding value to the blogosphere.' " 

   Wow, just.....wow. First, congratulations Cynthia for having received this award yourself; you certainly deserve it!

   Now for the fun part; I get to share this award! With so many wonderful blogs and bloggers to share with I've had to whittle down my list a bit...I love all the blogs I follow but in order to keep this post a reasonable length I can only spotlight a few. Each of these touches me deeply for one reason or another, are open and honest, and quite frequently funny, without being so at another's expence. I highly recommend you visit them if you haven't already!

First up is Button's Thoughts. Always thoughtful and including a wonderfully appropriate quote; Button is a good soul living her life quietly and with a good heart on her Canadian farm. Sharing beautiful photographs and soul-searching, as well as sometimes humourous tales of 'country things', each of her posts makes me reflect for at least a moment and usually more.

Kellie at Delightfully Ludicrous is one very smart and funny cookie. Not like a cookie with mould is 'funny' but more like a cookie with your college roomie after a finals week with no sleep but you probably passed all your tests falling over with hysterics funny. She spots, and skewers, all those funky little things we generally ignore, and invites you to join in the general hilarity; what could be better?

Wishbone Soup Cures Everything, could there be a better blog title? For tidbits of real life, the occasional stunning photograph, and always poetic writing that sings, go here.

Another beautiful blog is done by Kate at Visual St. Paul. Depending far more on photography than on words, still Kate manages to tell a deeper and truer tale than many far wordier blogs can manage. Whilst the post I linked to is not her most recent it is certainly my favourite. How can one not look at this beautiful Cuban woman's face and not see how much of her spirit Kate has captured? That is, to me, the essence of storytelling...

There are so many of you I would love to include but, alas, my fingers are about to drop off!

Good thing(s) for the day: Buddha in his Onesie! Meeting the neighbours from across the way in the store and having the young daughter serenade us (again) with " I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky!" It is, I believe, her favourite song; we often hear her singing it when it's warm enough for her to play outside; so sweet!