Bloggy love.

I received an award this morning from one of my regular readers, Christie.  I was tickled.  *hee*

There is a catch, though…I am now to let others know that they’ve influenced/entertained/inspired/taught/amused me by passing the award on to other bloggers. 

I’m pretty new to the blogging scene, at least in an organized, thoughtful way.  There have been many, many blogs that I’ve really enjoyed following this year, be it for the content, writing style, photography, voice…or a little of everything.  They are the ones that inspired me to give this blogging thing a try, and/or continue to inspire me to spread my wings and reach new blogging heights.

It was very difficult for me to pick these…I have a loooong list of reads and they wouldn’t be ON my lists* if I didn’t love them; I would like to give them all awards.  I decided to narrow it down to those which meet at least one of the  following criteria: a) has been  influential in my own blogging and/or b)  is one of the newest additions to my blogroll that I’m looking forward to exploring further.  In addition, candidates’ blogs must contain some some natural history/science /geeky content (it’s a THEME!!!).  But still, a little o’ this and a little o’ that.  

So, without further ado (and in alphabetical order) my nominees are *drumroll please*:

Beetles in the Bush – I felt like I’d hit the jackpot when I found Ted and his blog. It opened a door to a world of really spectacular bug/invertebrate/nature-blogging for me. His knowledge of and passion for his six-legged subjects oozes out of every carefully crafted word and gorgeous photograph. I enjoy, and learn from, each and every post.

Biodiversity In Focus – Morgan Jackson is, like me, a Canadian graduate student. He is also a bug geek. And he takes very lovely pictures. That’s 3 x WIN in my books. I’m looking forward to watching his blog develop.

Bug Girl’s Blog – of course I love Bug Girl’s Blog. How can you not? Brainy, irreverent, relevant, aware. A great mix of politics, funnies, and science. Oh, and BUGS.

Crunchy Turtle – Rachel is one of my best on-line friends and her blog is the one I’ve followed the longest.  She is honest, funny and interesting.  Her appreciation of the natural world is one of our shared interests/experiences, although there are many others.  She is one of the big reasons I decided to try blogging, and I am thankful. XO Rachel! 

FemaleScienceProfessor – provides her readers with an honest and thoughtful glimpse at academic life, touching on a dizzying array of important subjects of interest to profs and students alike. Where DOES she find the time?

I Love Insects – a new find for me, and full of buggy geekly goodies…I’m looking forward to her next post.

MObugs – well-written and well-researched snapshots of arthropod diversity, accompanied with lovely photos. It’s like speed-dating for bugs; I meet someone new and interesting every time I read.

Myrmecos Blog – if I should happen to die and have the option to be reincarnated as a macro photographer, I’d ask to be Alex Wild. His photographs are beyond top-notch, and the science/natural history accompanying them takes them to the next level (if that’s even possible).

Ruffly Speaking – this is not a nature/science/academic blog…but it’s definitely a geek blog.  A DOG geek blog.  It’s a SMART dog blog, and the only one I read regularly.  Even if didn’t have gorgeous photographs of ridiculously beautiful dogs (not to mention 9 puppies right now-omg the cute) Joanna’s writing is intelligent, funny and relevant.  Posts on breeding, training, diet, behaviour, etc. etc. (the canine behaviour posts are my favourite, wonderfully insightful!)   A great read for dog-lovers.

xenogere – there is something about Jason’s writing that is very special…I can’t put my finger on it…it seems unfiltered, and as though it comes from a very personal space.   It’s extremely engaging, whatever it is.  Combine that with beautiful photographs, sweeping narratives and interesting natural history, and I’m hooked.

Thank you to all those mentioned (and all the others on my blogroll, really*) for your beautiful work.  Here’s your award:

(Just save and post on your blog, if blog bling is your thing).

Now, if you’d like to pass it on to 10 other bloggers and let them know how much YOU appreciate them, write a similar post, including links to the 10 nominees, then leave a comment on their blog telling them about the award.

Happy reading!

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* just ’cause you’re not on my blogroll here, doesn’t mean you’re not on my reader…my roll is more a collection of my natural history/nature/science-type faves.   My reader-list bloggers…I love you too (you know who you are!)