Favourite Bloggers Reply

Do you have favourite blogs that, the moment you see they've been updated (if you keep them in a revolving list like I do, below), you go and read?

I sure do, and I'm going to share with you my favourites, plus their authors' answers to 5 simple questions I've asked.

The criteria for choosing my favourites:

1. They update frequently.
2. They don't have one particular theme; for instance, I have several favourite tarot blogs in a list down there, but they don't qualify for this exercise.
3. They aren't relatives. If I see an update from one of my sisters, I'm there, baby! There is no holding me back. Even if they were shitty writers (which they aren't), I'd still be reading a.s.a.p.
4. That these bloggers are excellent writers goes without saying, but even more important is that they share their firsthand experience. It could be now, it could be remembering past history, it could be dreaming about the future ... but it's personal, forthright, and full of heart.

The others will follow as time permits, and here's the first one:

***

Allow me to introduce you to Ms. Kathy at Kitchenblogic.

Kathy taking a stadium tour.

I've been reading Kathy's blog for so many years, through all its incarnations, that I'm not even sure anymore how long it's been. Twenty years? Now that's saying something, to stick with a blogger for that long, don't you think? I love personal, first-person writing, and I can get caught up in a blog for a month or a year or even a few years, but my interest can wane and often does. I don't know why; it just can. But reading Kathy is like reading the blog of a sister or a close friend, and my interest doesn't wane. Ever. That's because she's smart and funny and if she didn't live as far away as Minnesota, I would be dropping over for coffee every chance I got.

Kathy had a bout with breast cancer a few years ago, and hearing about it from her point of view was enlightening (on top of being a huge worry; it's difficult to watch someone you care about go through hell). She had the courage to share her experience and to write about her anger as well as her fear and loss. And she did it with humour. I admire her chutzpah.

Well, I could sing Kathy's praises for hours, but it seems to me that the practical thing to do is to let her speak for herself.

1. What flowers, if any, will you plant this spring?

That's not the best way to start a conversation with me, Dear Kate. I. Hate. Gardening. It's sweaty and it invites bugs to climb on me and bite me. Gardening makes me swear. I have this little garden at the front of my driveway where I used to plant a little garden of annuals. I would be planting and cursing, cursing and planting. My neighbor Vern (who died several years ago) used to like to sneak up behind me. "I wanted to see if I could learn any new swear words," he once said. That little garden now has perennial grasses.

My husband, Nugget, and I live on three quarters of an acre where 75% of it is wasted on us. We enjoy the fire pit and I enjoy the patio for reading. The only gardening I do is filling the pots with plants I buy from a close friend who owns a nursery. It's ironic that one of my close friends owns a garden center. 

2. Do you have a #1 must-see, can't-wait-till-later blog right now (not a relative or close friend, though it can be themed and does not have to be a personal blog; of course, my blog is disqualified so my feelings cannot be hurt -- hee!), and why does it keep you coming back for more? 

I don't read blogs like I used to (probably because people have moved away from blogging) but there are a few I'm still following (including yours, of course). My must-read blog is byebyepie.typepad.com, written by "June Gardens." June is a 50-year-old Peter Pan who fusses about her hair and every other little thing. She's got an amazing one-sided conversational writing method and an incredible lack of empathy. Some days I love her. Some days I want to punch her in the curly hair. 

3. What are your other common stopping places on the Internet? Please list up to five and give me their urls. I'm sure you've got at least that many. 

With apps on my iPad, I don't browse much on the internet. Right now, the only tabs open on my computer are Facebook, my blog (kitchenblogic.wordpress.com), my Google calendar and Gmail. The 5 apps I use the most are Facebook, Goodreads, Pinterest, YouTube and Zoom. (I use YouTube and Zoom to meet online almost every day with my friend Claudia, who lives in New York - I'm near Minneapolis. We do yoga together.)

4. When you go to a potluck meal, do you have a best dish that you usually take? If so, what is it and do you share your recipe? If so, please do.

I tend to vary dishes I bring to potlucks but I think the one that I've made the most is Ina Garten's Lasagna with Turkey Sausage. The recipe can be found on the cooking blog I used to keep with my family: 

https://cookingwithfamilyandlaughter.wordpress.com/2010/06/27/lasagna-with-turkey-sausage/

(Used to because I'm the only one submitting recipes now)

5. What's your idea of a fabulous holiday? Is it one you have already taken, or one you hope to take before you die?

I have two favorite vacations - the many times I've gone to New York City (number unknown!) and the time Nugget and I went to Oslo for his work and where I met my relatives (my grandfather emigrated from Norway in 1905 and we had a family reunion on the farm where he was born in 1883!) I would, however, like to take a dream vacation in an all-inclusive resort on some beach with turquoise waters before I'm too old to enjoy it!

***

Thanks very much, Kathy, for taking the time to reply to these questions. I see that you will be planting some flowers ...  and I'm still curious to know which ones!