Monday, April 16

Thank You.

I'm not really sure how to adequately express my appreciation... but I want to give a heartfelt thanks to all of you kind people who honored me with a Mouse & Trowel Award nomination. When I went through the official Nominees post, I had to reread my name a couple of times before my jaw finally closed and it sunk in. Then I kind of had a Sally-Field-at-the-Oscars moment: "You like me! Right now, you like me!"

Hot on the heels of my amazement was the feeling of being deeply touched that the nomination came in the "Garden Blogger You Would Most Like to Have as a Neighbor" category. That category is most closely allied with the reason I really love garden blogging: Community.

Here, I receive assistance, empathy, and sometimes a much-needed kick in the butt as I stumble my way through my garden. I enjoyed your delight as you experienced spring in the Black Swamp with me. Elsewhere, I got to appreciate the blooms on Annie's native coral honeysuckle while waiting for my own to be shipped and planted. I sometimes ache for your losses--animal, vegetable and mineral--and you make me smile when you share your beautifully crazy garden dreams, like overgrown forests of delphiniums. Occasionally, I run across a blog post that even makes me chuckle so hard I almost cry.

After an evening of catching up with my favorite gardening blogs, I determine that I am going to revel in subtle woodland beauty a la Don in Iowa. Like Lisa at Millertime, I plan to never be without a project or twelve. Pam at Digging makes me want to plant more agaves and succulents, and pay more attention to texture in the garden. Craig at Ellis Hollow inspires me to incorporate more height and ornamental seedheads--not to mention botanical knowledge--in my yard.

In fact, I have gained so much knowledge and enjoyment from my fellow garden bloggers that I could never list it all. Obviously, we're all already neighbors of the virtual variety... peeking over the proverbial fence and sharing our trials and tribulations.

I feel as lucky to have all of you as I am to have been nominated for a "Mousie." And I appreciate the nomination both for the spirit in which it was given and for for the fact that it reminds me what a great online community of people I blog amongst. Thank you for both.

15 comments:

Susan said...

I like the idea of calling them the Mousies. For some reason that's a word that makes me smile.

I've enjoyed getting to know your garden — and by extension, you — a bit by reading your blog for the past few months and I'd say you definitely deserve the nomination. Congratulations.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your Mousie nomination, Kim. I'd love to have you as my neighbor. Good luck!

Christopher C. NC said...

This would have to be the hardest category to make a choice. The good news is the garden blogging community keeps growing. We get new wonderful neighbors often and we don't really have to make a choice.

We can be anyones neighbor when we stop in for a visit.

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

Hi Kim,

Congrats on your nomination, well done you. Who wouldn't want to live next to you?

And you are right of course, this sense of community we garden bloggers have, that's what it is all about.

Colleen Vanderlinden said...

Congratulations, Kim!!! I can't imagine our community without you :-) You were actually the first one to "welcome" me into the garden blogging community because you were the first person to comment on my blog----did you realize that?

Congrats again, and good luck!

Annie in Austin said...

Good morning, Kim,
You'd be such fun in a real-life neighborhood!
I want to thank you for linking to the coffee-spit-producing story by meresy_g, which I'd missed. I don't know whether to be glad or sad that my subdivision won't allow chickens.

Annie

meresy_g said...

Thanks for linking to my chicken saga. And congrats on your nomination. You have a great blog and I always learn something or am inspired to try something new. I love that you focus on design which is something that is usually an afterthought for me. Hope you win that mousie!

Silvia Hoefnagels . Salix Tree said...

Congrats on your nomination. How am I to choose between you 4, who would I want as a neighbor?? All of you!

kate said...

I think it's great that you were nominated for a gardening award. Your blog is a delight and so are you. You'd be a great neighbour - your dog and mine would probably get along well too!!

lisa said...

You ABSOLUTELY deserve that nomination!! I already voted...were it up to me, you'd win! Thanks for linking me to this post...I agree that we are all virtual "neighbors" already. In fact, if I could keep up with all the blogs I enjoy on a regular basis, I'd never get any gardening done! But to narrow down a favorites list-you'd always be on it!

Anonymous said...

oh, that's so lovely...to be acknowledged by your peers for the lovely gift that you are! Here's to a wonderful season.

Anonymous said...

well deserved.

keep doing what you do.

Unknown said...

Thank you all for the lovely words... I'm still blushing and smiling! I hope that my post conveyed that I could say the same compliments back to all of you. I definitely could.

And, I admit, every time I walk past my winter compost pile (which needs to go into the bins as soon as I empty out the finished compost from there) and other messy areas of my yard, I think: "If only those people who nominated me could see this! They would think twice about wanting to have me as a neighbor then!" lol.

A few individual replies as well:

Susan, Colleen could tell you who came up with that term--it was another garden blogger, but for the life of me I can't remember who. It definitely is cute, though!

Christopher C., very well put. "We can be anyones neighbor when we stop in for a visit." :)

Annie, you're welcome! lol. I admit, I'm still chuckling about that story. *grin*

Colleen, really? That makes me very happy... I try to always leave comments when I find new garden blogs. Mostly because I know how much it meant to me when people started interacting with me on my blog!

Oops. Have to get back to work. A few more individual replies in a bit...

Layanee said...

Kim:

Enjoy your blog and your garden! Good luck on the finale!

Gotta Garden said...

Congratulations, Kim! It seems a very appropriate nomination to me as you are among the most friendly of garden bloggers...always a fun comment or a kind word.

Btw, I think you could have/should have made the cut for best writing, too...although I do adore Annie's writing as well.

Good luck!

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