Hammered! Whoooot Whoo!

If you could see me now, I'm giddy and smiling ear to ear. The Violet Fern of rural upstate New York "hammered" me with The Honest Scrap award...I hardly know what to say...OMG, this is too cool! I had seen this once before and felt, like I do most of the time...out of the loop. Not knowing the history of this award, I'll just say that it's passed on from blogger to blogger with a specific set a rules which I simply copied and pasted below. Apparently some folks aren't into this sort of thing, phooey. I'm one who likes to have control over my 'selective memory' and so I make an effort to forget the smarmy looks, snotty remarks and flat out "in your face" insults and embrace whole-heartily compliments and loving gestures. I've received one other award since I started blogging over a year ago and it was too early on for me to know what to do about it...I couldn't get back to the gal that left it, didn't know about the "Blog-roll" yet and probably hurt some feelings out there in the great-wide blogosphere. So, the first thing I did was rush back to that person to check their site and...blow me away...she had just been Hammered too, down under. So, Catmint, of Australia who blogs at Diary of a Suburban Garden, since you've already been Hammered...consider this another nail. I love your blog!


(Copy and Paste if you've been Hammered!)

Here are the rules:

1. Brag about the award.
2. Include the name of the blogger who gave you the award and link back to that blogger.
3. Choose a minimum of seven blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.
4. Show their names and links and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with this award.
5. List at least ten honest things about yourself.

The easy part of receiving this award is passing it on...there are so many wonderful bloggers out there that when I get going I can blog-hop for hours and not realize the time. The hard part is coming up with 10 honest things to say, mostly because I keep powerful secrets which makes folks who don't know me, believe that I'm an open book. Choosing what to reveal (and the fact that I'm a virtual computer moron) has kept me from posting this sooner.

Here goes...FOLKS, YOU'VE BEEN HAMMERED!

1. Wabi Sabi Home & Garden is my favorite new blog and Michelle is a new friend. She lives in my neighborhood, Crestview in North Central Austin and she has an edgy-quick wit. I love her photos and sense of wonder.
2. Gardening at Draco with Bob is inspiring because he's a fierce environmentalist with a wicked moustache!

3. East Side Patch blows me away! Man I wish I had them mad photo shop skills and his cultural iconic-connective tissue.

4. Meadow Sage is my genius friend Dana who up and left Austin and moved to 21 acres just outside of Stillwater, Oklahoma. She's been working on cataloging every plant on her property, and making tinctures and her own medicine from what's there...plus she has bees, and chickens, and her husband is an old college friend of mine who plays music (his old band "The Waller Creek Boys" played at my backyard wedding) and brews beer. I love them both, dearly.

5. Garden Porn my favorite blog name (2nd place goes to Gardening while Intoxicated) need I say more...check it out, you'll love it!

6. The Garden Posse is the site of Austin Guerrilla Gardeners, I love rule breakers!

7. Kiss of Sun is Bonnie's site, Bonnie...who lovingly answered all my nagging questions when I started blogging, who was the reason I started blogging and who devotes her time to Master Gardeners and her children and school gardens...is a civic wonder!

If I had more places to give away, I'd be adding the rest of the Austin Garden Bloggers group who I check on regularly and derive much inspiration from! But how often are you allowed to just give awards away to who you see fit? This is also a great Honor and great fun!

Now for the uninteresting part of this post...10 honest things about me...

1. I think the drinky-winky hour should begin at 11:00am.

2. I got caught at the airport sneaking seeds out of Africa and told the agent it was for an art project, and got away with it!

3. I dye my eyebrows, they're really white.

4. I have 3 tattoos, each with a flower..a Sunflower, California Poppy and Strawberry, one of them has rarely been seen.

5. I don't have a TV, not because I judge those who do, but because I know that my life would be wasted if I did; I'm too easily distracted by synchronized moving color and sound.

6. I enjoy sophomoric comedy because I'm emotionally stunted, Why? None of your business.

7. I love my dog Dorothy Belle to pieces and keep an eye on those who say nasty things about "little dogs." I make up silly names with rhyming songs about her insane nature and sing to her when no one is around, I'm sure she understands me. She's killed 11 of my chickens over the past 4 years (we now have the coop behind a fence) and I've tried to give her away, but can't...partly because no one will have her but mostly because she is honest and true to her nature and I respect that.

8. My daughter Autumn Sage is named after the flower that was blooming all over my mid-wife's property in Santa Barbara when she was born. The house she was born in is where I planted my first Salvia Greggi atop her first home, my placenta. I include this reliable plant in each design I create. When I moved to Texas I realized how common it was, but still love it dearly.

9. I can't wait to be a grandmother...and am honored to be a goddess-mother to two fabulous little girls: Noomi who lives in Sweden and is the youngest daughter to one of my oldest and dearest friends Evalena, and Sabra who lives in Moldova and is my only niece.

10. My favorite flower is an Orchid and I can't grow them for beans...and that's the Honest Scrap about me!

This has been an honor and a blast! Now I must go let those who have been Hammered know about the good news!

Happy Gardening!