Amazed I Am!

I took these photos April 1, 2009. As they'd not yet seen the light of day, here they are. :-)

Amazed, I am!
Amazed, I be!
No one's as much amazed as me!

Kate, at High Altitude Gardening, has just paid me a very special compliment by way of the following award. I am (practically) speechless! ha. I am to pass along this award to 15 garden bloggers that I've just discovered.

Kate's blog is also one You should visit! :-) I enjoy visiting her, as she lives in Utah (quite an environmental contrast) and enjoys a number of diverse interests.


I'm going to presume this disallows me to award those garden bloggers I've followed over the past 1 1/2 years, but I am going to include a few that I've followed for a period of time, at least.
Scroll down to the bottom of this post to visit the gardeners I've chosen for this award.


We've just finished our Thanksgiving celebrations, but I've not finished with giving thanks. During most of the year, I try to remain mindful of my many blessings:
1) the blessing of being able to raise two children, and now the blessing of grandchildren;
2) the blessings of a home that offers warmth in the Winter, coolness in the Summer (love those trees!), and safety from the elements;
3) the blessings of having enough food to eat (that coupled with the knowledge that there are many that don't, leads to blessing #4);
4) the blessings of having some excess that I can share... perhaps it's in the form of money, food, service, time, or emotional or physical support...
5) the blessings of useful abilities;
6) the blessings of a wonderful family;
7) the blessings of friends;
8) the blessings of being able to expound here, as I would in a journal;
9) the blessings of the natural world, the plant and animal life;
10) the blessings of ... Oh, boy! There's so much more ...

The following lists the 15 Gardeners you might like to visit (please pardon me if you've already received this award, or usually choose not to accept awards... I want to give you the "shout out" and link, at least!)


1) Our Backyard Life - Chad and Brandy are always very good to post a Photo Friday, which is often whimsical and always interesting!
2) A Gardener in Progress - Catherine has such beautiful photos and interesting posts about life in the Pacific Northwest.
3) BG_Garden - Bren provides many interesting posts. Most recently, she's providing posts on a great theme: Holiday Green Tour '09. You'll enjoy these posts, too.
4) Randy and Meg's Garden Paradise - Randy and Meg have received this award nomination from someone else, but perhaps you might not have seen the recognition? Now you have! Go visit them - especially if you enjoy learning about and seeing wonderful close-up photographs of a variety of animals! My interests include dragonflies, butterflies, flowers... take a look at their label collection! :-)
5) Olson's TRADGARD/Garden in Sweden - Karin lives in Sweden. Would you like to view a variety of gardens and flowers in other countries? She gives us glimpses of gardens in her travels, as well as her own garden interests.
6) Garden Bytes from the Big Apple - Ellen and Ellen present gardening as you would find it in New York City. They have much to offer, as they are authors as well as gardeners in this interesting setting.
7) A Corner Garden - Sue is a gardener in Nebraska. NE shares Iowa's western border. Sue and I share Zone 5b gardening conditions. She endured some city enforced garden reconstruction this summer, but everything came out so well!
8) Garden Endeavors - Patsi is a fun gardener to visit. I've followed her for awhile, but I wanted to make sure you visit her, too!
9) Kasey's Korner - If you enjoy beautiful photographs, I would recommend visiting Kathleen. She's a generous gardener, interested in photographing the many birds that visit as well as her flowers.
10) Best in Bloom Today - For beautiful photos that look like a colorful collage (but aren't), visit Lynn in New Jersey!
11) Troutbirder - For interesting stories, comments, photographs, history and tours, visit Troutbirder. He and his wife live in Minnesota and you might just enjoy a visit here from time-to-time!
12) VW Garden - for a lovely treat, visit VW who gardens in Washington State. Lovely photos and thoughtful posts.
13) Prairie Rose's Garden - Rose describes herself as a beginning gardener. I believe you would enjoy visiting her. She's posting through the alphabet... something she's inspired me to think about doing.
14) Garden Faerie's Musings - Many of you might already know Monica. She lives and gardens in Michigan and has a wonderfully fun personality! If you haven't yet visited, hurry over.
15) Nutty Gnome - If you haven't visited this blog, you're in for a treat. Do you want to know what it takes to make a garden pond, a garden tea house, etc., etc.? Visit Nutty Gnome and her husband (Himself) as they garden in their UK garden!
16) Northern Shade - I've followed Northern Shade for awhile... I consider her my garden soul-mate as we have so much in common (shady gardens). However, she's way up north in Alberta, Canada...

Whew! I know I added an extra... and I could have continued. However, I want each of you that I've nominated for this award to accept the award... you may save and place it (if you like) on your blog. If you're inspired, you may do this same exercise: pass this award to 15 new blogging acquaintances you've made, admire, and would like to share with the rest of us! (You might want to let each of them know they've received this award!) If not, just accept the award. You deserve it! :-)


Perhaps you'll meet some new friends this way.
Have a great weekend!!