Grannymar

Ireland has been struck by Fever once more. It happens around this time every year.

We all heard of the

• Celtic Tiger Flu - with a long slow recovery
• Swine Flu – with all the jokes
• Seasonal Winter Flu with coughs and sneezes &
• Now we have the Blog Bug…..

This hear Blog Bug sets the whole country into a frenzy of reading, cogitating, deliberating and selecting of their own special favourites. Why you may ask?

It is all because the Nominations are now open for the 2010 Irish Blog Awards.

This year there will be a total of 20 different categories to choose from plus the category ‘Best Blog Post’ for that special single post you found stayed with you long after reading it.

A blog can be nominated in any category by anyone, but the blog owner can only accept nominations in one category (with the exception of Best Blog Post) to move the blog forward into the judging rounds. To be nominated the blog has to have been actively blogging between May and December 2009. Winners of each category will be sent forward into the Grand Prix category where they will compete for the title of “Best Blog 2010″.

So put your thinking cap on, there are plenty of worthy blogs out there to choose from, but hurry up there are only about 12 days to send in nominations.

The event itself will be held on March 27th in Galway, and from previous experience a great party is in store for all who attend.

Now the show must go on… so I am off to finish my LBC post for 1500 hours GMT. See you then.

Gaelikaa has surprised and humbled me with a gift. It is the lovely Splash Award she in turn received it from Mimi. We are all Irish bloggers - Mimi lives and writes in Ireland. Gaelikaa is married, living and raising her family in India while I live ‘Up there’ in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Like Gaelikaa I read and follow a very broad selection of Blogs that stretch from Australia, India, Africa, Europe, to America and Canada. The writers are both male and female and vary in age from 15 to 84 years young!

It is suggested to nominate and link up to 9 Blogs to receive the award.  Blogs that amuse, allure, bewitch, impress and inspire one on a regular basis. You all do that in your own special way, which is why I return so often. It would be impossible for me to name nine bloggers without leaving some very talented people out and not wanting to cause hurt or offence I leave it open, to whosoever would like to accept it.

Thank you gaelikaa for counting me in, may we all enjoy many years of visiting and inspiring eah other.

Wise Web Woman should be packing her case in readiness for her forthcoming trip to Ireland.  She arrives in on 30th May and next day she will be up bright and early to take part in the Flora Ladies Mini Marathon in Dublin City.  Oh for the energy!   So, if you are going along to watch the Girls strut their stuff you need two placards, one with ‘Wise Web Woman on it and the other for Patricia Anglican!

Meanwhile procrastinating instead of packing, WWW is gazing at the award she received from Gossamer Woman.

Now I like the sound of that…. reaching out and building bridges!

In the true spirit of blogging she passed the baton on and shared some bloggy goodness to people who in her own words:-

I admire and who reach out across boundaries with their sparkling honesty and truth:

Her list of nominees are:

• Tessa at Nuts and Mutton.
  Twilight at Twilight Starsong.
  Verna at Out of the Cube.
  Nick at Nickhereandnow.
  Grannymar at Grannymar.
  and
  Conor at Conorjte.

I think she made a mistake…. ’cause my name appears on that list among some wonderful people whose blogs I enjoy.  Thank you Wise Web Woman for the honour.

Sitting with thinking cap in place I scroll through my list of virtual friends to choose a half dozen deserving of this accolade…. It is so difficult as so many of you reach out and build bridges…

My choice this time are:-

Damien Mulley the father figure of blogging in Ireland, who shares time, information and link luv on a daily basis.  He is the brains behind the Irish Blog Awards and the Irish Web Awards, events that don’t just happen over night, but take months of planning and preparation to bring so many together for a fun filled evening in recognition of their peers.

Darragh Doyle alright so I am biased!  Darragh had the ‘Obama’ spirit long before we heard of Obama.  I sometimes wonder if he was born saying “Yes we can!  Yes I will!”  There are no doors in Darragh’s lexicon, if he wants to meet someone he walks right up there and says hello.  He meets people.  He introduces people and most of all he enjoys sharing people with all of us through his blog.

Lily’s Blog makes a refreshing read on a wide variety of topics and it is difficult to believe it only arrived on the scene in the last twelve months.  Lily, a busy wife & mother to the Collison Clan was the last member of the family to join the blogging world.  The boys keep her on her toes baking, blogging, twittering and following their escapades across the globe.

From the Magpie’s nest proves that nagging works. :roll:  Magpie11 has been a regular visitor here for a long time now, and from his observations and comments I felt he had what it took to feed a blog of his own.  Thankfully for once I was listened to and proved correct.  I particularly enjoy his cookery hints they are always tasty and tempting.

Stretching my long arms wide I will pick one blog from and easterly direction and one from the west to comple my half dozen.

Ramana’s Musings reach us all the way from Pune in India.  Ramana is an avid reader of everything from heavy tomes to the frivilous fripperance of Grannymar.  His blogroll stretches across the globe and he acknowledges every comment that he receives.  He has brought many visitors here to join in the fun and I have discovered many new blogs.

Leveraged Intelligence with Conrad (who hails from Kansas and now lives in California) at the helm is a fun place to play.  He introduces the subject and we are all invited to join the conversation, at times the visitors take over and Conrad can hardly get a look in.

Now it is your turn… go reach out and build six bridges!

There were a few people about.

I attended the inaugural Slugger Awards “Promoting a conversational politics in Northern Ireland.” The awards were presented in the atrium of W5 in the Odyssey in Belfast.

Slugger O’Toole has been following Northern Ireland politics since June 2002. It is the oldest political blog in and about Northern Ireland and is read by Journalists, Political Professionals and bloggers with 23,000 unique visitors every month. Founded by Mick Fealty, it now has a team of regular bloggers contributing to the site. Slugger O’Toole is a place where the Blogosphere and Main Stream Media merge.

Mick Fealty giving us a little history of the blog and how the Awards came about.

The ten Awards were:

· Up-and-coming Politician of the Year - Daithi McKay (Sinn Fein) -

· Local Newspaper of the Year - Impartial Reporter

· Local Council of the year - Belfast City Council

· Local Councillor of the Year - Deirdre Nelson (DUP)

· Jobsworth of the Year - Assembly Commission (and it was collected in good humour by the newly appointed director general Trevor Reaney - pictured to the right with his award)

· Journalism Award - David Gordon (Belfast Telegraph)

· Stormont Committee Chair of the Year - Danny Kennedy (UUP)

· Political Blogger of the Year - Nevin Taggart behind the North Antrim Local Interest List (NALIL)

· Eternal Representative (MPs, MEPs and others) - Peter Robinson (DUP MP)

· MLA of the Year - Naomi Long (Alliance)

I was invited by to join the table of Channel 4 TV who were one of the Sponsors of the evening and Stuart Cosgrove and Ewan McIntosh presented two of the prizes. Paul Smith of WIMPS who provided the video clips to precede each Award, and also made one of the preesentations was seated beside me and he was a pleasure to talk to. There was a laptop on the table and later I discovered that it belonged to this guy and perhaps I was sitting in his seat -

He looked quite comfortable down there as he live blogged his own event!

Thank you Mick for the seat and it was a great evening and very professionally organised.

I also spoke to Davy Simms who supplied a Podcast of the event and to Alan In Belfast . Finally a big thank you to Mairin Murray who looked after me so royally. It was great to catch up with you again Mairin.

Robin gave me this idea; well I stole it from one of his Tweets! He is flying the Flag for Ireland this week as a Seedcamp Finalist with new business venture Decisions For Heroes .

11850 announces they have a new SMS service that is free while they launch it. You can text them any question and they’ll answer it (no-doubt using Google) with an SMS. (In UK use 63336)

It wasn’t until I heard that the people answering us were a team waiting for our questions in Manilla was I seriously intrigued. Had I got my business message right? Could a person in the Philippines not only find but also summarise my new business into 160 characters for me?

I got out my phone and texted 11850:

What is “Decisions For Heroes”.

It is a collaborative rescue team management tool to record and analyze rescue operations.

Now you can’t blame me for trying…. a girl needs to keep on top of things

So I sent a text:

Who is Grannymar?

Back flew the answer:

AQA: Grannymar is an internet blogger from Ireland, who was the winner of the ‘Best Personal Blog’ award at the Irish Blog Awards in 2008.

As the year draws slowly to its close, we all regardless of age seem to look back over the events of the past year, remembering lost loved ones, re-live our celebrations, rejoicing over achievements, tiptoe past disasters and move on to plan for the year ahead.

At first glance sewing seemed to overtake if not punctuate my year at every available space. In fact it was actually a year of great variety. In March I attended the Irish Blog Awards in Dublin, where I had the opportunity to meet with other Bloggers with amazing talent. A week later I turned sixty and officially become a senior citizen.

Over the months many hours were spent talking to Elly simultaneously on the phone and internet working through suggestions, ideas and plans for the wedding.

Moving forward to May I was approached on Skype and asked to help a young man in Italy to improve his English. I almost said no, but now we talk regularly and I think at this stage he can be counted as a friend.

The Wedding in June brought family and friends from across the globe to help celebrate and witness Elly & George’s Special day.

The weather was kind and Elly looked happy and glowing in her outfit. She said that it was very comfortable to wear and gave her the freedom she wanted.

The train of her outfit was detachable and was removed for dancing.

The end of June was rather scary with an emergency trip to hospital but thankfully I have recovered, and learned yet again to listen to my body! By the end of September I had sufficient energy to attend Podcamp in Kilkenny. It gave me the opportunity to learn and share, while renewing old friendships and making new ones.

November saw the passing of Cherry the mother of my new Son-in-Law George. I know that with Elly by his side, and the love of his father and siblings to share the great loss, George will feel the smile of sunshine on his face once more and hear and enjoy the birds singing.

Back in July I quietly marked the 30^th anniversary of the day I married. Sadly, and not by choice, I have been alone for a third of that time. When Jack was alive our world was wonderful and I am thankful for warm loving memories.

The mention of marriage reminds me of a radio interview I smiled at over the holiday, an 80-year-old lady was the focus, because she had just remarried — for the fourth time.

The male interviewer asked her questions about her life, about what it felt like to be marrying again at 80, and then about her new husband’s occupation.

He’s a funeral director,’ she answered.

Interesting, the young man thought. He then asked her if she wouldn’t mind telling him a little about her first three husbands and what they did for a living.

She paused for a few moments, needing time to reflect on all those years.

After a short time, a smile came to her face and she answered proudly, explaining that she’d first married a banker when she was in her early 20’s, then a circus ringmaster when in her 40’s, later on a preacher when in her 60’s, and now in her 80’s, a funeral director.

The interviewer looked at her, quite astonished, and asked why she had married four men with such diverse careers.

She smiled and explained, ‘I married one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go.’

Now I don’t mean well done like a steak, but then at his age he might be a little like that these days.

I have just heard or should that be read about his double whammy! Winner of the Best Blogger at the Spider Awards last night and also news of a Book Deal.

The effort of posting every day, always sounding fresh and interesting is no mean feat.

I take my hat off to you Grandad and wish you every success with the book. I only hope that the blog keeps going for all of your followers worldwide. We are now all so hooked in, that withdrawal symptoms are unthinkable.

Rest well after the night on the town and enjoy the glow of the occasion.

I look forward to reading the book in the months ahead and expect to be invited to the Book Launch!

Heartfelt Congratulations my good friend.

Now I know I have just managed to get my one and only off my hands. Elly might be a married lady now, but she is and always will be, no matter where her travels take her, metaphorically attached to her dear old mother. With her I have the added bonus of my new son George.

“Why would you need another daughter?” I hear Elly thinking and mumbling.

I don’t need one. I would like to adopt one.

The young lady I have chosen is known to me for some months now, but we have not had the opportunity of meeting in person. She is very kind and generous to this here old soul. Compliments trip off her tongue, pen keyboard on a regular basis. Do you think she hasn’t enough to do with her time? She certainly has time to entertain, inform and at times jog and shake us out of our comfortable little worlds.

In August she sent me this little treat:

A Schmooze Award

“So who is this little treasure?” I hear you ask.

It is none other than K8 the Gr8, a faithful follower and she has again honoured me with this little number:

“This award casts a spotlight on bloggers who are just beginning to draw lots of attention — the equivalent of a song with a bullet on Billboard’s Top 100 chart. Lots of good posts. Lots of good buzz. These bloggers are going places in a hurry.”

Now instead of memeing the award I will offer the following thought from Marcel Proust:

‘Let us be grateful to people who make us happy;
they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.’

Thank you K8.

Tuesday I was in shock, and you can blame that K8 once again! I worry about her because she gets more like her father every day. He fires hands things out ad lib and now she is at it.

“So what is she handing around now? A tray of drinkies, or a platter of Smoked Salmon”, I hear you ask?

Not at all, it is another Award. This time it is a Schmooze Award.

So why me? Well to put it in her words:

“Because you’re such a motherly spirit around here.. your posts are warm and familiar, and you always find time to comment, which ain’t easy!”

It’s the ‘motherly spirit’ that scares me. I have heard of High Spirits and Holy Spirits but motherly spirits are a new one. I wonder are they part of the tekki language with a total different meaning to our usual one. I must remember to ask my grand nieces.

So how would you like one of these on your Blog?  (Honours for cash easily arranged!)

Now I have to put my thinking cap on….

Right now, are you paying attention? Here we go…

Conortje: He amuses me daily and he is just the age to be my Toyboy!

Ellybabes: Since she pushed me into this entire blogging lark, I have to get my own back. Anyway if I didn’t include her she might have me in the Nursing Home before the weekend!

Gingerpixel: A lady of great talent and the ability to make me broody!

Nelly Moser: In the wilds of Co. Antrim she waxes lyrical about life, living and anything that catches her mood.

♫ I am off to Dublin in the green, ♫ in the green ♫ well it is not quite in the green “I shall wear purple with a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me. This last quotation comes from a very old poem called “Warning” by Jenny Joseph it is about growing old disgracefully. Some day I will add it to the Blog and see if you agree with the sentiments.

Most of you think I am travelling to Dublin for the Irish Blog Awards; yes I will go along as an acknowledgement of Elly’s efforts in coaching me in modern technology and as a physical show of support to all involved in organising and bringing the Awards night to fruition.

My main reason for this trip is to fulfil a long time commitment to attend a Photographic Exhibition in Baldoyle Library, Dublin 13 from Monday 5^th to Tuesday 20^th March 2007. I have known ‘Richard M’, the photographer; since he was born and have watched his talent grow. He reminded me the other night that his first commission was to take the photos at my wedding! I am pleased to say that he has now agreed to do the same for Elly in a few months time.

‘Richard M’ is very skilled at his craft and over the years his work has ranged from photographing children visiting Santa, Graduating students, Official Conference photographs, Weddings right through to an Irish President inside Áras an Uachtaráin.

‘Richard M’ has a great love for nature and this passion is captured through his lens. He will wait several hours while the world sleeps to capture the sun as it appears on the horizon. This exhibition is mainly ‘Seascapes’ capturing moments at different times of the day in or around the Howth Peninsula taken over the past 30 years.

The word ‘Howth’ gives me a warm glow because it brings back memories of days spent either up at the head or down round the pier. I know that through ‘Richard M’s’ lens I will see it with new eyes.

Now I must sort out my packing for this trip. Where are my clean clothes…..