Sisters!

Dianna, from These Days of Mine recently awarded me the Sisterhood of the World Blogger Award!

I was honored to be recognized by Dianna, who is a long-time friend, and a superb blogger!  Her photos - particularly her sunrise/sunset ones - are always excellent and she was my inspiration for starting to blog in the first place.  I guess she is my mentor...don't let that scare you, Dianna!

Anyway, the "requirements" for the award are to share some interesting facts about yourself, and then to pass it along.  So, here are the facts - I will leave it up to the reader to decide if they are interesting!

1. I was a church musician - organist, pianist, choir director for more years than I care to remember!  Okay, I started playing for church when I was 12...and I retired from church music when I was 57.  I really can remember that far back!
2. I played keyboards with 2 gospel groups - and recorded 2 CDs.  The last group was a duo, and we traveled from Virginia to Ohio once to do a concert, and also played in Greensboro, NC.  We regularly traveled to Maryland to do a coffeehouse gig.  Unfortunately, there is not a lot of money in playing coffeehouses!
3. I have been featured in our local Virginian-Pilot newspaper twice - once for Father's Day in 1996 - with a photo of my dad and me, and once for Mother's Day 2 years ago - with a photo of me with the angel that hangs outside my front door.
4. Most everyone who is a regular reader will know this fact:  I raised 4 sons (one son died in 2000, just before his 29th birthday), and have 5 grandsons.  I couldn't get a girl, even if I tried to buy one (I even tried changing husbands since I heard that it is the man who determines the sex - that didn't work either!)!  But, I love the boys...all of them!
5. I am the Treasurer of my Photography club.  Last year I took 1st place in  the annual scavenger hunt photo contest.  This year, I took 2nd place in the monthly challenge "Urban Landscapes".  My photo was also selected for the city of Norfolk's Top 10 Photos contest (until they realized I had taken the Portsmouth side of the bridge instead of the Norfolk side...picky, picky!)
6. Dan and I met through Yahoo Personals in 2006 - and discovered we had not only lived within a mile of each other for many years, but that our kids had gone to school together, and the best friend of Dan's daughter had a crush on my #2 son when they were in 7th grade!
7. Finally, (did I hear a sigh of relief?), I am learning to draw and paint - oils and watercolors.  I am not sure any of my work will be worthy of hanging in a museum, but my #2 grandson asked me to paint a covered bridge for him after he saw the one I had done for myself - and he recognized it when I gave it to him!  And, my youngest was able to identify, without much thinking, the sketches I did this week of the egg and the apple on a white sheet of paper.  That works for me!

Whew!  That was a lot of thinking!  Now for the passing-it-on part!  Quite a few of the blogs I follow are award-free, which makes it even more difficult to pass these awards on.  However, I am nominating the following for several reasons.  Each of them contribute to my daily routine in such a positive way.  Some are craft-focused, some are photo-focused, and some are just a breath of fresh air!  In no particular order, they are:

Hootin' Anni

ELizardbreath Speaks

Grandma Barb's This and That

Faith, Hope and Cherry Tea

Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson

Thanks again, Dianna!  I know this has been a wordy blog, but I wanted to do the award justice!