I decided to follow up on both awards in the same post. I’ll cover the awards in the order in which I received them, since I figured that was the fairest way of doing it!

I imagine some of you may already have received these awards so you may not want to repeat the process, or perhaps you just don’t feel like following up on the award – that’s alright, there’s no obligation!

———————————————————————————————————-

I am very excited and humbled to have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award, by Sarah, at Stars and Rainbows. I love reading Sarah‘s blog and look forward to every post she publishes. Lovely photos, inspiring words and touching posts make her blog a true pleasure to read! Thank you, Sarah!

Each award comes with a set of rules, so here they are for the Versatile Blogger Award:

RULES

1. Add the Versatile Award photo on a blog post

2. Thank the award-giver and link back to them in your post.

3. Share 7 things about myself.

4. Pass the award along to 15 favorite bloggers.

5. Contact the chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.

Seven things about myself:

1. I love all four seasons and find that each one has something so beautiful to offer.

2. I didn’t have a driver’s license until I was a few months shy of 26, because I just didn’t need it before moving back to the U.S.

3. The 2 dogs I’ve ever had were huskies. I adored them both – the second one is still with my parents, and I miss him terribly!

4. I still have all 4 of my wisdom teeth (for now). Plus 2 extra, apparently. Yes, it would appear that I am very wise.

5. I play the flute. I’ve have played since middle school and I really love it.

6. Although I’m not usually a major video game player, I absolutely love Assassin’s Creed (much to my teenage brother’s delight!).

7. I love Harry Potter. My whole family loves Harry Potter – parents, sister, brother… Read all the books, saw all the movies. Will never tire of rereading and rewatching them!

Well, enough about me, let’s talk about some great bloggers!

15 Fantastic Bloggers:

1. The Hazel Tree: A beautiful way to learn about the British isles through magnificent photography, fascinating history lessons, wildlife ventures and more.

2. 50 Year Project: My challenge to visit 192 countries, read 1,001 books, and watch the top 100 movies (Gorgeous photos, wonderful travel posts, and great book/movie reviews)

3. Life in the Bogs: Visit Robin’s blog to follow along on her daily walks and other adventures. You won’t regret it, believe me.

4. Most Likely to Marry: Learning to fight better, accept more, appreciate daily and stay in love with my husband.

5. Melissa not dusting: Melissa Koski. wild in Michigan. naturalist

6. Stories from a Small Village: Life in rural New Hampshire

7. Quietsolopursuit’s Blog: My adventures in the woods, streams, rivers, fields, and lakes of Michigan

8. Some Summer Sunday: If you need to laugh, this is the place to go.

9. Pearls and Prose: Photography. With some life thrown in.

10. Scottseyephotos: Sharing moments in time… (You want to see his pictures, trust me.)

11. Compelling Photography: Landscapes, seascapes and other photos

12. Uprooted Magnolia: photo journal on life, love, and the spirit of Wyoming.

13. Katie’s Camera Blog: My journey into creative photography and following what my eye sees.

14. garylengyel: Simply gorgeous nature and wildlife photography.

15. A Moment of my Time: My adventures into photography, food and nature.

———————————————————————————————————-

I am very lucky and honored to have been nominated for the Liebster Blog Award. This is very exciting as the blogger who nominated me, Jacqueline at 6 Months to Live, is a fantastic writer with an awesome blog – make sure to stop by! Thank you, Jacqueline!

And now, onto the award rules!

Liebster Blog Award. The award is given to a blog with less than 200 followers that deserves a little more recognition. There are a few simple rules that go along with the award:

1. Give a shout out to the blogger who nominated you by linking back to their blog.

2. Nominate 5 other blogs with less than 200 followers.

3. Spread the good blog karma.

4. Lastly, don’t forget to add the Liebster blog award image to your post.

5 blogs which are absolutely fantastic and definitely deserve more recognition (in no particular order, because they are all wonderful and unique!).

1. A Single Letter: A single letter was born up the page by the pen, almighty tool of wisdom, and rested blankly. (A very interesting blog with excellently written and thought-provoking posts on many current issues)

2. Emjayandthem’s Blog: One woman’s observations on her way through life. (Wonderful writing that is sure to warm your heart and bring a smile to your face)

3. Littleskew: things I see (amazing artwork)

4. Joleen’s Photos Blog: Lovely wildlife and nature photography, especially tree and plant dwelling creatures (birds, squirrels, butterflies and more!)

5. Do What You Love: Welcome to my perspective on life! This blog is my canvas to share my experiences and feelings while I Do What I Love! (Fantastic photos accompanied by lovely words.)

————————-

Stop by these blogs whenever you have a chance, as there are beautiful photos, thought-provoking and heart-warming posts, wonderful artwork and more!

Does anything look cleaner or more pure than freshly fallen snow?

This is the first time in a very long time that I’m living in a place where snow is usual for the winter. The last time I lived in a city with a snowy winter I was a little girl, living in Wisconsin. When you’re a kid, you never think of the ‘nuisance’ parts of cold, snowy winters – clearing the cars and driveways, or the ice on the streets – you only think of the magical aspect of it. It’s all about the beautiful snowflakes falling from the sky, the sparkling white snow to play in, the snowmen and snow caves, eating the snow, sledding, snow angels and snowball fights…and delicious hot chocolate after all that exhilarating fun.

That’s how I remember my winters as a little girl. My sister and I would get so excited when the snowflakes began to fall. We couldn’t wait to get all bundled up and run outside, mouths open to catch the falling snow. We loved to catch the snowflakes on our gloves and admire their beautiful and unique shapes – after all, no two snowflakes are alike! We would drop in the snow and make snow angels; we would have snowball fights with mom and dad. One time, our neighbors helped us build a snow cave with a tunnel – that was awesome, trust me. One of my all time favorite things was to eat the snow. I could just sit down and happily eat it, for quite some time. Sure, it’s just water in one of its many forms, but it’s snow. Enough said. Something else I loved in the winter: seeing our husky appear out of nowhere in the white expanse. When my dad would call him, a head would suddenly pop out of the snow in some part of the yard. He would dig himself a hole to curl up in, then it would snow over him and he’d be completely covered. He loved the snow, but did refuse to pull our sled. Adamantly refused. If we ever put the sled rope around his neck, he would sit down and refuse to budge. We never minded – his reaction made us laugh. And he loved playing with us in the snow, as long as we weren’t trying to make him pull our sled! Besides, we would sled down the 2-3 steps of our back porch, and even if it wasn’t much of a slope, it was enough for us. Our back yard was a vision in white: a huge expanse of glittering, dazzling snow, like sparkling diamonds, and we loved it.

Snow also makes me think of our time in Montreal at Christmas, and all the time spent playing outside with our cousins. Back then you were sure to always have a very white Christmas, which meant we would be out in the snow as much as possible. We would build fortresses, we would throw snowballs, and we would sit and happily eat the snow when recovering our energy after a more strenuous activity. We would spend hours at a time outside, often only coming in when our moms came looking for us, convinced the snow had managed to get inside our gloves, socks, jackets (everywhere basically), and that we were most likely soaked through with freezing toes and fingers. They were generally correct, even if we would never admit it. Then we’d all trample home, usually leaving a trail of snow behind us, and continue our chatting and games over a wonderful cup of hot chocolate. The next day we would be ready for our fun again, basking in the glow of the sun and the brightness of the snow, glittering like precious gems. It was blissful and I will forever keep wonderful memories of those days.

Even as I’ve gotten older I’ve never lost the excitement and wonder I felt when I would see the snowflakes start falling. I’ll still play in the snow – just a couple of years ago, when we had an unexpected snowstorm in France, my brother, husband and I went outside with our current husky, and we had a blast. Our husky was so excited to be out in all that snow, he was running everywhere, so happy to be part of our games. We threw snowballs, we ate some snow, we made snow angels, and the guys were even brave enough (or crazy?) to let themselves fall face-first in the snow. I couldn’t bring myself to do it, but it was hilarious to watch! Snow has provided me with hours and hours of pure, blissful and heart-warming fun and I look forward to the many hours still waiting to be filled with wintry joy.

Snow will always bring a smile to my face and I can’t wait to play in it again – with my husband, my siblings, my cousins, and eventually, with my kids. That glittering gem of nature will always be this girl’s favorite type of diamond.

When I went for a short walk before sitting down to write this, I walked past the little forest behind our building. All those dry leaves covering the ground remind me of a book I loved when I was a kid. It was set in Wales and intertwined the lives of modern day boy and a bard of ancient myths. When the author described scenes in the forest, that is how I imagined it. Dry leaves scattered everywhere, broken branches on the forest floor, and meandering creeks leaving serpentine trails. How wondrous a combination a good book and the imagination can be.

Our forest is partly in shambles due to earlier weather transgressions, with large branches and entire trees lying across the ground. I don’t mind; I quite like it actually. It gives the forest more character. Seeing those fallen trees, the trunks making fabulous bridges, I wish I was a child again. I would be climbing all over them if I was still a little girl. I was forever scrambling over rocks, dangling from trees, and constantly getting cuts, scrapes and bruises. It was wonderful. We would make up stories and tales; we would fight to protect the fortress or run away to escape the evil wizard (or king, or whatever they were!). We would build homes, walls, our fortress. We collected sticks, rocks, moss, flowers…Whatever we needed to construct and embellish the fort. It was better than wonderful. Do kids still do that nowadays? I haven’t seen any playing in the forest…

I could go do that now and pretend to be a kid again, but pretending just isn’t the same as the real thing. The mind doesn’t work the same as an adult. Imagination isn’t as real or as sharp; we’re too self-conscious and anchored in reality. The carefree attitude we had is gone; we’re too cautious and careful. But we don’t have to be like that, just because we’ve ‘grown-up’. We shouldn’t lose our sense of wonder, our imagination and our capacity to play, just because we’re adults.

I still get giddy and excited when I see snowflakes falling from the sky. I love a good snowball fight, making snow angels, letting myself fall in the snow, or just eating freshly fallen snow. One of my favorite things to do at the beach is build a sandcastle – a long standing family tradition. It doesn’t matter how old we get, my brother and I will always have splashing fights in the pool. I love those moments.

Maybe I should go climb those trees. Even if I just sit there on the trunk and imagine the stories I could play out, that’s already something. I should grab my husband and have him climb with me and sit beside me. Maybe those will be our weekend plans – to just be kids again.

The sunlight streams through the clouds in glowing golden rays. The camera would not capture the beauty; it would be unable to do it justice. The clouds are in varying tones of light gray and white, with holes of blue pecking through. Some of them glow with a golden hue, where the last evening rays pierce through or simply glow behind the clouds. It is like a moving painting. The clouds slowly, but surely drift, change shape, the sun continues to descend. The bare trees are outlined perfectly against the clouds. Nature certainly knows how to paint a pretty picture. I am thrilled to be lucky enough to see it and admire it. It is such a fleeting moment. But I have captured it. Not with my camera, perhaps not even with my words…I saw it; that was enough.

Moments later the sky has begun to clear. There is more blue and although the sun seems to have set, the cotton candy clouds glow with a pinkish, golden color. A group of ducks flies past, in perfect V formation. It is as if nature plans it all, with impeccable timing.

The sky is even clearer now and most of the clouds have lost their golden glow. Another fleeting moment gone by. I can’t wait for the next one…

I have it within minutes of writing that last line. I thought nature had finished giving me a spectacle for today, but how can something eternal ever finish? Moments after the clouds seemed to lose their final golden hue, they suddenly came alive with a fiery pink glow. The camera most definitely did not capture the richness of the color or the breathtaking beauty of the sky.

The sun has fully set now and the sky seems mostly clear. Still some clouds drift across the blue expanse and the branches dance against the darkening sky.

The moving painting continues. Forever changing, forever beautiful.

I’ve been trying to capture these guys on camera for a while now and I finally got my chance a few days ago. Everytime I had my camera with me, they were nowhere to be found, and everytime I saw them, my camera was nowhere near me. But they couldn’t elude me forever, and here are some of the shots I took – hope you enjoy!

Even better: having my husband work on the puzzle with me. It really is a very fun and satisfying feeling to complete sections together and we’re chatting away the entire time.

The sunshine pouring in through the windows. It’s amazing the good a few rays of sun can do.

Baking a cake while listening to music and dancing around the kitchen.

Eating a piece of said cake when my husband gets home from work, along with a hot tea and wonderful conversation.

A long Skype call with my family. Actually, almost any call from family. Skype just makes it even more fun.

Hysterical laughter with my sister and brother. Hysterical laughter with my husband. The best? Hysterical laughter with all three of them.

A game of scrabble with my mom, grandma and sister, while my brother looks on, inventing words and giving their ‘definitions’ with scary credibility. Laughter is unavoidable.

The mingled satisfaction and melancholy at reading the last word of a great book.

The joy of picking up a new book, or of re-reading a long lost favorite.

The creases in the binding of an oft re-read and much loved novel.

Watching a good movie while snuggled up under a blanket on the couch.

Christmas.

The sound of running water in nature – a stream, a brook, a river…

The sound of waves on the sand.

A crisp, clear blue sky on a cold winter’s day.

Writing all of these in my notebook with a pencil I’ve worn down from all my scribblings.

I could add many, many more and maybe I will some other day, but for today I leave you with these. Don’t overlook the simple pleasures; often the simplest of things turn out to be the greatest and most worthwhile.

Remember to embrace the little things in life – they’re the ones that make up the big picture.

The squirrels continue their acrobatics above, jumping from branch to branch.

Apart from the rustle of the leaves where they scrounge for fallen nuts, it is silent.

The silence of a fresh start, the silence of a new year.

A beautiful silence.

The stillness is interrupted by the lively chatter of the brook.

The water rushing between the frozen banks is music to my ears.

I love the sound of running water in the wild.

The sound of a stream, a river, a brook, gives me a deep sense of peace and tranquillity.

The water dashing over rocks, tripping over fallen branches, running towards an unseen finish line.

Is it sprinting towards a lake, an ocean, a pond, a waterfall…?

Does it matter?

No matter the destination, it is always moving forward, never backward.

So like the water I love so much, which brings serenity to my soul,

I too will look ahead; I too will move forward.

I will dash and I will trip,

And although the finish line is unseen (and hopefully still very far away),

I will continue to go towards it, enjoying every step along the way.

It is a new year.

It is a new adventure.

I wonder where the current will lead me…

Photo taken in January 2011 (Copyright - Raya Fayad)

Happy New Year – may 2012 be filled with love, laughter, happiness, hope, and calm waters.