I must have spread a little sunshine during these dreary winter months as I have been nominated for a SunShine Blogger award.    I would like to thank Historian(Ruby) for the nomination.   She was one of my earliest readers and her encouragement helped motivate me to continue.  Please check out her blog, click here, it is about history and so much more, full of delightful topics on many different subjects, plus her writing is lovely.  (I think she must have been a famous British novelist in a previous life!)        

       I have nominated a group of bloggers at the end of this article.   Please check out their websites too, as they are a talented and diverse lot.   One of the things I found most surprising about blogging is the wide variety of topics out there, and the fact that people from all over the world are sharing….so keep the love and world peace going. 

Here are the answers to my assigned questions.

1) If you could meet one person from history, who would that be, and why?

Jane Austen.   Although I would not consider myself a Janeite, I find her life fascinating, and just think how much my readership would increase if I could score a personal interview!  Portal to the past, please open now.  We all want to know who was the real life model for that Mr. Darcy guy.    The world doesn’t need any more chocolate recipes (or does it?), so this question inspired me to do a blog for Valentine’s Day, An Interview with Jane Austen, click here for link, which I had great fun writing.  

2) Are you a glass half full or a glass half empty person?          

Half empty, I’m definitely a pessimist.   I think it is genetic, inherited from my melancholy Irish ancestors, or perhaps the result of my career the past forty years.   I often think I could have been a whole different person if I had done something fun and creative for a living.  My old boss used to say the key to happiness is to have no expectations, then you won’t be disappointed.    Sounds depressing, even to me……

3) Where are you from and do you still live there?      

I’m from Canada and still live in the same area I grew up in.   Although I went to school and lived in a big city for four years when I was younger, I returned home for a job, and because there were too many people there.   If you grew up on a farm (that’s where my blog’s name the homeplace comes from), and are used to wide open spaces, a big city is a nice place to visit for shopping and museums, but……cue the music….   

4) Add a link to your favorite post to invite others to read it. Why is it your favorite post?        

I don’t really have a favorite post.   I really enjoyed doing the blog on my Uncle Charlie the WW1 vet, because I love history, but I’m not sure if it’s representative of my website, which is more of a lifestyle blog, with a weekly theme about whatever interests me supported by art, music and book links. Here’s the WW1 link – click here.   I enjoyed my Dickens blog too, (click here), because I’m such a book addict.  I guess you could say my website is still evolving…it started out being about making jam, gardening and decorating, and and now it’s about whatever grabs my attention……which could definitely be a chocolate recipe! 

5) Are you confident enough to share your blog with friends and family AND add it to your CV – or do you prefer to keep it private and anonymised?          

Definitely private and anonymous.   I am a reserved person by nature (it’s a Canadian trait), and it is hard to put yourself out there.  I have only been blogging since August and only took the blog public in October because I needed help in the WordPress forums.   I wanted to get some writing experience before I shared it with others and I wanted some honest feedback, (people you know will always say it’s great).    If I had known how many excellent blogs there are out there in the WordPress sea, I doubt I would even have had the courage to start.    I have only shared my blog with a few people and my mother of course because I use a lot of her artwork to illustrate my posts.   Part of my reason for blogging is that I am trying to get some PR for her folkart.  (All the paintings on the site are hers, but all the photos on the site are mine.  I didn’t realize until recently that there was a media library available, so much to learn.)   I started with a free plan but recently converted to a paid plan to get rid of the ads and make the site look better so I may share or promote it a bit more…..baby steps.                     

6) Another history question: If you could live in any other time in history which era would you choose?

Genealogy is a hobby of mine, so I would like to have lived in 1846 when my ancestors first immigrated from Ireland so I could see what it was like in the early days of the Canadian wilderness.  They escaped just before the worst of the potato famine, but I always wondered how they ended up in this neck of the woods. (see future St. Patrick’s Day blog).    A close second would be the roaring twenties but only if I could live at Downtown Abbey, (the upstairs part), because I love the fashions and elegance of that era, and it was such a time of change and new inventions.   I would take side trips to Paris to party with the Fitzgeralds and Hemingway & Co.    

Here are my Questions For You:

1.  What is your favorite book and why?    
2.  What fictional character would you most like to be?  
3.  Why do you blog and what got you started?  How long have you been  blogging, and how much time do you spend per week on it?  
4.  Do you have any hobbies?  Or if not, what is your idea of a perfect day? 
5.  Do you find it easy or hard to obtain new followers?  What was your most popular blog and provide a link to it if you wish?  What post did you  expect to get more views on but didn’t, and link if you wish.    
6.  What is your favorite song?  
7.  Is your WP plan free, personal or premium, and are you happy with it?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    (Choose whichever questions you wish.  I think Historian Ruby’s questions are much better, and certainly more thought-provoking so if you’d rather answer those, then my all mean break the rules!   Except for number 7, I’d like some feedback as I am struggling with my upgrade).                                                           

RULES:
• Thank blogger(s) who nominated you for the blog post and link back to their blog.
• Answer the questions the blogger asked you.
• Nominate other new blogs to receive the award and compose new questions for them to answer.
• List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.

Here are my nominees for the Sunshine Blogger Award:

https://adventuresofananglaise.com/                                                                                                    an English ex-pat’s blog on her adventures in Paris                                                                (for armchair travelers to the City of Lights)

       Nominees, please do not feel any pressure to answer if you are pressed for time or have been nominated before.    I was nominated for a Liebster award a few weeks after I took my blog public but I had to turn it down due to time constraints and at that time I didn’t even know there was a Reader section on WordPress.    If you wish to decline, no hard feelings, just keeping spreading the sunshine with your blogs!  

Song of the Day:   Here Comes the Sun – the Beatles – music link