Feeling creative

Early yesterday morning, after a very bad night, I pootled sleepily across to read Debra’s latest post on her lovely blog  breathelighter, as I drank my morning tea. I always enjoy Debra’s take on life in the very different setting of Southern California, and was happily reading about her granddaughter’s sayings, when I almost dropped my mug as I found that she had nominated me for a blogging award I hadn’t heard of – the Kreativ Blogger.

Feeling very pleased and much more wide-awake after reading this, but also nosy curious, I turned to Google to find out where this award had originated. I soon discovered that the design has mutated in its travels through cyberspace from the original

the creation of which is documented on a visually stunning Norwegian blog (which really makes me wish I could read Norwegian) to the one most commonly circulating at the moment. 

I also discovered that the updated version of this award asks that we pass it on to seven other bloggers, after posting seven interesting facts about ourselves.  Hulda, however, was more modest in her original concept and only chose four. She also laid down no conditions for her recipients, simply explaining why she felt the blogs she had chosen qualified for the description ‘creative’.

This is where I start to get creative and post the one interesting thing about myself I think is relevant, which is that I feel a little uncomfortable about the way Hulda’s unconditional mark of recognition now comes with conditions. To me an award should be something given because of who the recipient is and what they have already achieved, with no strings attached.

So I’ve decided to revert to Hulda’s original intention and add her lovely design to my sidebar, as it seems a pity for it to fade into obscurity. In the same spirit of freedom I’m not going to place any conditions on my own recipients, leaving them to choose which version of the award they want to download, if any, and whether and how to pass it on in their turn.

Creativity matters deeply to me and I love the idea of acknowledging it in other bloggers. I am touched that Debra sees it in my blog and in my turn I find it in abundance in the blogs I so enjoy reading. My choices are very varied, because creativity comes in so many guises, and are:

Baking in Franglais – a blog I practically have to give up for Lent. Jean is as passionate and creative about her craft of baking as she is about blogging and her baking blog is a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach. Her enthusiasm for good food is contagious and I can’t wait for Easter to try some of her wonderful recipes.

Moving on  Annie was an obvious choice, as she is always being creative with words, photos, yarn and chocolate, not necessarily all at the same time. J Annie and I go back a long way in my blogging life, as we found each other’s blogs only a few weeks after I pressed the publish button on my first post. It’s always fun when blogging friends share a hobby and knitting matters a lot to both of us, though living in the heat of southern Spain does make it more difficult for Annie to show off her creations.

Janice in Caunes   Janice is a newer blogging friend, who, like me, enjoys life in more than one country. She is busy learning the craft of blogging and is rapidly discovering how fascinating and addictive it is. I have enjoyed watching her posts become more and more creative over the few months since I found her blog and shall equally enjoy watching her be creative with her beloved house in France, when she migrates south for the summer.

 

Last, but by no means least, Ayak’s Turkish Delight.  I was recommended by a commenter on my very first post to visit Ayak’s blog and I’ve haunted it happily ever since. I go there to savour Ayak’s inimitable view of life in a very different country and the creative ways she copes with its vagaries and difficulties. I also go there never sure how it will look today, as she always enjoys being creative with template and photos. J

So there you have it: a few examples of creativity plucked from the maelstrom of creativity that is the blogosphere. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.