Very Inspiring Blogger Award

Thankyou very much Stuart M. Perkins (https://storyshucker.wordpress.com) for nominating me for a WordPress “Very Inspiring Blogger award”. I look forward to, and enjoy reading all of your posts, and I encourage anyone who reads this to read your blogs as well (see Stuart’s link above).

I have only been blogging for 4 months so I am still new at this game. I agonized over pressing the “publish” button for days before sending out my first post because I honestly didn’t think anyone would want to read it. Thankyou everyone for your kind words of encouragement and comments. I am very much enjoying blogging and will keep writing as long as somebody reads it!

To participate in the award process I need to follow the award rules, which are to:

Thank and link to the person who nominated you.
List the rules and display the award.
Share seven facts about yourself.
Nominate 15 other blogs you enjoy, then comment on their posts to let them know that you have nominated them.

Here are 7 facts about me:

When I reach 90 I want to be able to sit on a verandah somewhere and look back on life and be able to truthfully say to myself that I wouldn’t have done things any differently, and that I had given life my best shot. On big decisions I always think about that verandah.
I’m really hoping I reach 90.
I love life. I hope that this outlook is reflected in my stories. If I can make 1 other person laugh or feel a bit better then I have succeeded. I’m trying to see things a bit differently, and enjoy laughing at my own expense. I just wish I didn’t have so much material!
I live in Melbourne Australia, I’m 52, very happily married to Susie (nearly 25 years) with two grown up children (Emily 20, James 17), and a new 14 week old black labrador “Rosie”, whom we have all fallen in love with. Our kids are both passionate creatives – Emily (fashion) and James (film), and this pleases Susie and I immensely. I’m a passionate but long-suffering Richmond Tigers Australian Rules Football supporter. The 2015 season starts soon and I have a good feeling in my water about this year. That feeling usually passes by round four.
Growing up, my two creative passions were writing and painting (oils). I wanted to be a journalist in my teens, but instead of attending journalism cadetship interviews when I finished school, I jumped into a VW combi van with a bunch of friends and surfboards and spent 6 months surfing around the coastline of Australia. I don’t regret that decision at all because I reflect happily on some aspect of those 6 months every day, but I do apologize to mum and dad for disappearing one morning without notice. Sometimes you have to just get out there and do it. I eventually studied Marketing and after working in several large hardware and electrical goods companies, co-founded an importing/national wholesaling business 17 years ago (Nidus Holdings Pty Ltd), specializing in building related products, mainly door hardware. I now find door levers attractive, and I probably should be seeing a specialist about my condition.
My daughter Emily talked me into starting a blog 4 months ago. At the time I didn’t really know what they were. Thankyou Em. Who says parents don’t listen to their kids?
I am lucky to have a great bunch of friends and extended family, many of whom may read this. I hope that verandah is very crowded when we get there.

Set out below are 15 nominations for the award.