Thank You for the Nomination

A very humble thank you to Heather Kuhn Roelker at Leaves for Trees and  Iowa Girl at Iowa girl Memories.  Both kindly nominated   me for the Liebster award.   For me this was nice because I have let my blog reading grind to a halt, and I haven't added any new blogs to my RSS feed in ages.  Both of their blogs were new to me, and I have enjoyed reading them immensely.  Like me, Iowa girl is a knitter and through her other Liebster awards, I was introduced to some wonderful blogs including a gansey knitter from Edinburgh, Scotland.  While reading Heather's blog, I discovered that she is a new quilter and I have quilted for years . . . following in the footsteps of my seamstress extraordinaire great grandmother whose quilt is part of my banner at the top of my blog.  I was even a vendor at quilt shows for over ten year, and have often found my quilting passion overlapping my family history passion.  Examples are here and here.

What is the Liebster Award?  I could try to be creative, but Heather said it best so I will just quote her.

"Liebster is a German word that means friend, dearest, adored, beloved, chosen one. The Liebster Award is given to bloggers who have less than 200 followers. The whole point is to encourage bloggers to keep chugging along and to help spread the word about interesting blogs to a new audience.

The rules for the award vary. Some bloggers ask for a list of questions or random facts to be answered and some just post their nominees."

• Thank the one who nominated you by linking back.
• List 11 random facts about yourself/your blog.
• Nominate five blogs with less than 200 followers.
• Let the nominees know by leaving a comment at their sites.
• Add the award image to your site (optional).

As I have stated, my blog reading has stagnated so rather than nominate blogs and require them to link back I will just recommend a few of my favorites and hope you will check them out . . .  no obligation on their part.

Shakin' the Family Tree - A quote from her blog opening  gives you a flavor for the no nonsense atitude of Dee Burris.

as Julia Sugarbaker said in Designing Women:

"...we're proud of our crazy people. We don't hide them up in the attic. We bring 'em right down to the living room and show 'em off. ...no one in the South ever asks if you have crazy people in your family. They just ask what side they're on." Like Julia, mine are on both sides.

A Sense of Family - If you have Ohio ancestors, then Shelley Bishop's blog is a must read.  It is a treasure trove of research information.

Finding Eliza -  Always a fascinating read but her current post about awards is spot on my feelings.  While you are there, take time to search for and read her post/poem, "I Come From . . ." - or the title is something close to that.

Family Archaeologist - While there are no recent posts, take time to go back and read the story of how Linda Gartz grandparents immigrated to the United States.  It is a compelling story.

'On a Flesh and Bone Foundation': An Irish History -  If you have Irish ancestors, then you will enjoy the photos and stories from Jennifer.

When life allows it, I spend a few hours minutes reading family history blogs.  We have a creative, knowledgeable, sharing community. It doesn't matter if they have 10 followers or 10,000.  And while comments on our blog posts are encouraging, and greatly appreciated, most of us blog for self fulfillment above all else.

Thank you for reading my blog.  Thank you for commenting on my blog.  Thank you for being a family historian and saving the story of your family for future generations.