Warmth and Wonder in the Blogosphere.

I hope you are comfortable with your beverage of choice beside you.  This post is going to be on the long side.  There will be a kazillion links which of course you can ignore.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I cannot tell you how much your comments on my last post and your supportive emails have meant- except to say that they have frequently moved me to tears very different from the ones of rage, pain and self pity I have been indulging in.  I am humbled by your support, and the fact that some of you have kept coming back to see how I was.  Did I say thank you yet?

When I started playing in the blogosphere in February of last year, I had don't think I had any idea what blogging meant, and what it would bring into my life.  I have been entertained and educated.  I have wept with you and laughed with you.  I have been shown creations of amazing beauty and creativity.  Some of you share one or more of my obsessions.

I have met two bloggers in the flesh - and loved them both.  One lives in my city and the other one did, and returns for child minding duties.  I have made friends with bloggers around the world.  Deep and meaningful friendships with people I may never meet, but cherish just the same. 

And, as if those blogging benefits were not enough, I have received cards from around the world, I have won prizes, I have been given so many things by so many people and I have bought items of beauty made by very talented artists.

From Gemma, who also often sends me emails of support I received this card.

This card came from Becky - an author who has been very, very busy getting her book ready for publication.

And this is one of several cards I have received from Kim - a woman who, when faced with an appalling family tragedy, is finding ways to ensure that others are not forced to grieve as she does.  You rock Kim.

I mentioned that I have won things...

I received this wonderful cookbook from Delores, a gesture made even more wonderful since although her diet is restricted she is not a vegetarian - much less a vegan.  This was a prize I won for essentially cheating.  She wanted us to guess what she and her husband would eat, beginning with the letter X.  I had no idea and said it would be eXtreme and eXtraordinary. 

This gem was also a little deserved prize for reading and commenting at a blog whose posts I always greet with glee.

And on Monday the post person delighted me yet again.  I have always admired the works of this ceramic artist and have offered to buy several pieces.  Instead - for the cost of a donation to the Starlight Foundation this beautiful, beautiful bowl arrived at my door.  A very small price to pay.  Done and done.

Another artist who showers me with gifts can be found here.  The cards below are hand made, as is the book which makes me smile each time (often) that I pick it up.

Copperwitch, knowing of my love of penguins sent me this wonderful brooch.  It arrived at a low point in my life in the middle of the skinny portion's surgery earlier this year.  She tells me that the blogging penguin is the one facing in the opposite direction - which makes sense to me.

Ginnie and Marcie gave me the gift of trust and, showing much more confidence in me than I have, invited me to blog with them every three weeks.  Some very, very talented women blog at Vision and Verb.  

There are also objects which caught my magpie's eye so that I immediately fell in love/lust and had to have them.  These are some of the things I have bought from very, very talented people.

Sadly, Two Tigers has suspended her participation in the blogosphere for a little while.  I hope that she returns - but even more I hope that she is enjoying life.  I have now bought prints of several of her photographs - and love them all.

All Consuming faces significant health issues of her own.  Despite this she is a talented jewellery maker and, among other things, posts photographs of her most recent work on her blog.  She listened to my less than subtle hints and started making earrings (one of my obsessions).  I have now bought two pairs - and have been given another two.

A couple of months ago yet another talented artist posted a painting which she called Mouselini.  It reminded me strongly of a cat who loved and was loved by the skinny portion.  So naturally I bought it as a gift for him.  He saw the striking resemblance (WhiteCat was a bit of a thug and not a pretty cat) and also fell in love with the painting.

And finally a painting I fell in love with when it was put up as a work in progress .  I loved it then, and I love it now that it is hanging in our lounge room.  I smile as I go past, and I have prevented Jazz from rubbing his snotty nose on its corners.

Yes, I am still in pain.  Yes, bits of me don't work as they should (or at all really) and my mind has gone out to lunch without inviting me.  I still weep, but it is past time that I made my wobbly way forward again.

And you, the miracles of the blogosphere, have a great deal to do with this decision.  You uplift my spirits, you touch my heart, you enrich our home.

Thank you.