A Not-So-Stylish Blogger

Okay, so this award has been going around for awhile, and often those who receive it have gotten it before. And, having previously given it to the blogs they frequent, and they have to come up with someone new. Plus, we bloggers tend to "run" in the same electronic circles, so it's difficult to find someone "new" to whom they can award it.

That's the only rationale that I can come up with for the fact that two different folks have recently bestowed this coveted award upon yours truly.
(It ain't because I'm particularly stylish! see #1 below)

Here are the rules:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award

2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

So thank you, to Kate, from A Year With Horses, who has a tremendously thoughtful blog about the care and training of our equine friends. Kate seems to be at a very similar point in her equine journey to where I find myself: reevaluating our goals and just enjoying our relationship with our horses. Her latest adventures are focused to a great extent on her sweet young gelding, Pie.
Also, thanks are due to Meagan, of Wet Reins fame, who is bringing along a lovely young off-the-track Thoroughbred named Jasper in the sport of eventing. (She's doing what I wanted to be doing 40 years ago.)
Grey Horse Matters and Funder, over at It Seemed Liked A Good Idea At The Time both gave the award as a blanket presentation to those blogs they follow, so I guess that counts too.
Seven Things
(You Might Not Really Want To Know About EvenSong)

1. As stated earlier, I'm not really all that stylish: I haven't shaved (legs or pits) in over a year. It takes either very hot weather (skirt or shorts, both of which are pretty rare, due to the ivory snow hue of my legs) or a highly formal occasion that pretty much demands pantyhose (last big round of job hunting in the late '90s--or that time I was invited to a dinner meeting with the local Episcopal Bishop). Give me jeans and a tank top or sweatshirt any day I'm not working (school is a little bit more formal: khakis and no-iron cotton tops). Probably the fanciest I ever dress these days is for horse shows.
   
2. I'm an out-of-practice musician. You may have noticed that all my baby horses have musical names (Canticle, Madrigal, Adagio, Brioso, Jubilate, for instance). Also, come to think of it, my blog title and farm name. Before we moved here to E-burg, I was "praise team leader" in our little Methodist church, as well as many other retreat and church camp venues. I play rudimentary 12-string guitar and sing with great enthusiasm, mostly on key. It was through this ministry that I met my husband and several of my best friends.
3. I'm a pretty good writer, but lousy at keeping in touch with my good friends and my family. I think it's because I can't be satisfied with jotting a quick note; when I do write correspondence it tends to be long, drawn-out missives that take a while to compose--often beyond the period they would be relevant to.
   
4. Among other things, I can change the u-joints on a 4wd vehicle. This is one of many skills I learned from my first husband, who was very good at many things, but whose arthritis eventually prevented him from actually doing those things--so he taught me how. Self-sufficiency was one thing the jerk gave me (besides my two beautiful children).
   
5. I was married to the above mentioned jerk for 15 mostly miserable years: he was a sociopath and pathological liar. It was an experience that contributed to who I am today, but I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I finally had the strength to leave, for the safety of my children.
6. I earned my living as a cook for many years, having worked my way through college (the first time) as a dining hall flunky. I've been a restaurant prep-cook, nursing home "dietary manager," and a school lunchroom cook (don't blame me for the food!). Although I don't get very extravagant in the kitchen these days, my husband, whose mother didn't hardly cook at all, worships just about anything I make.
   
7. I consider myself a "Jill-of-all-trades, but a master of none." I don't have the self-discipline or patience to get really good at anything, so I go through life being "pretty good" at a lot of things-- horse training and breeding, music, cooking, designing and building things like barns and houses, counseling kids. I try to think of myself as a "Renaissance woman."

As for Blogs to whom I would like to pass along this award:
This is a hard one, because, as I said, many of my favorites have already been nominated. Most of these come straight from my blog roll, at the side of your screen. But I thought I'd give you a brief idea of what they're about.

Those of a horsie nature include:

• Life at the 7MSN Ranch--Carson and her sweet donkeys, along with Hank, Wynonna, and the clucking ladies of Lonesome Dove, amide the beautiful skies of New Mexico.
• Pirates have taken over at Haiku Farm, where Aarene and Fiddle long trot their way through the mountains of the Pacific northwest.
  
• Transplanted endurance veterans Lytha and Baasha compare notes on life as a horse crazy American in Germany.
• I know Roxie has already been nominated, but maybe doing it again will encourage her to post more of her "large and in charge" stories. Her personal accounts were an inspiration for both Maddie and Jackson to do guest blog posts.
• Retirement is SOOO good at Paradigm Farms in Tennessee, I hope to come back in another life as a horse, just so I can go live with Melissa and Jason.
  
• Karen at JK's Rough String Ranch--a real cowgirl ranching in the high country of central Oregon.
• More adorable New Mexican donkeys are to be found at Morning Bray Ranch.
• I'm pretty sure Janet at the Mugwump Chronicles has already been nominated, but if you want some great horse training, and great horse training stories, check it out.
• Don't know what Joe, at Thoroughbred Friends, would think about this award, but his is a good read about the day-to-day struggles of a rescue ranch.
  

On a less equine theme, these other blogs also highlight animals and their people:

• The adorable Black Jack takes Carol and Bill on all sorts of bird watching (and photographing!) adventures at Bikes, Birds, and Beasts.
• The hilarious antics of the WooTwoo, keep the Food Lady jumping. Sophisticated Tweed tries to strike a balance, Dexter incites Piper's Mad Teeth, and beautiful Border Collies abound, all on WooTube (formerly Three Woofs and a Woo).
  
• Jean shares her caring Life with the Critters in retirement on an island in British Columbia.
• Outstanding stories from the wilderness of Alaska from the Vet on the Edge.

And for sheer hilarity:

• I certainly don't need the calories, but the pastries spotlighted at Cake Wrecks will have you rolling in the powdered sugar!

[Photos are from a kindergarten art project at my school. And some people think we don't need art in the schools!]