An Award

Well Mrs Ayak awarded me yet another award. She is considering me one of her circle of friends. Thank You Ayak, it's an honour. I shan't be sticking it on my side bar, but it is appreciated nontheless. For those who don't know Mrs Ayak, she writes a blog "Turkish Delight" (http://ayak-turkishdelight.blogspot.com/) (Sorry, don't know how to do that neat link thing...) about her life as an English woman in Turkey.

What I like about her blog is that the village she lives in seems a carbon copy of our village: up in the hills, but not far from the sea, exposed to the elements, things such as electricity, water supply, telephone connections don't always function as they should, but all in all there's a close community spirit there and people make you feel at home.

The award is supposed to be passed onto 5 others and I am to tell you about 5 things I like doing. First of all other bloggers I have started to consider as friends more recently are as follows:

1. Angela @ Letters from Usedom (http://lettersfromusedom.blogspot.com/). Angela writes from her cosy sounding home on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom in Germany. Her love for humanity is infectious and she often has virtual cake eating sessions around her fire, with nice cups of hot chocolate. I recommend her place for a pleasant evening in.
2. Jan @ Espace on Blogger (http://jansespaceonblogger.blogspot.com/). Jan and her husband Steve are building up a finca on the wind swept high plains of Catalunya. It sounds harsh up there and they have my sympathy.
3. Anna @ Liguria Bella Liguria (http://beautiful-liguria.blogspot.com/). Anna is an Italian girl, who writes about her home region Liguria in English. She lives in Genoa and takes you on all sorts of excursions along the Italian Riviera.
4. Chaiselongue @ Olives & Artichokes – a Mediterranean Garden (http://olives-and-artichokes.blogspot.com/). She and her husband escaped Wales to live in the Languedoc region of southern France, where they cultivate a small plot of land, experimenting with olives and other more or less exotic crops. Besides they take you on little trips to their local market or vineyard with some beautiful pics. You can stop by for some scrumtious meals too.
5. Jen @ Sweet Water (http://murphyjenn78.blogspot.com/). And talking about scrumptious meals, you get some real feasts at Jen#s, especcially if you are into exotic meats. I don't comment on her site as often as I should. Jen suffers from bipolar disorder and depression and I often feel helpless. I don't want to pass comments which may make things worse for her, so I rather say nothing. I do listen though... I do often think of her though and hence I hope this award will cheer her up somewhat.

Right and on the 5 things I like doing. I'm a man of simple pleasures

1. Gardening. Well obviously derrr. Otherwise I wouldn't be doing this. I just like being in the outdoors and keep witnessing the miracle of seeds becoming fully grown plants which sustain us.
2. Cooking and baking. I am the cook around our house and I like coming up with new combinations from limited resources. I can almost do the Charlie Chaplin and turn an old boot into a meal!
3. Listening to music from all over the world. Music tells so much about a culture it comes from. I listen to anything from Irish diddledee to India Sitar, from Blues to Classic, some rock, Nordic folk, Italian folk, Mongolian throat singing, Indonesian Gamelan you name it. My only criterion is, it has to come from the inside, not some made up commercial rubbish made to please the masses
4. walking / hiking. For those who don't know, my name rhymes with psycho. So I suppose you could say I was predestined to enjoy "heiking" We've lived here for over 5 years now and we are still finding new paths through the woods. This of course combines well with another passion of mine: wild food gathering.
5. reading. Finally I do like reading a good book.
   

That's it for today folks!