I have been lucky enough to be nominated for several blogging awards. I look at them as a ‘get-to-know-you’ opportunity, as well as my chance to highlight those people here in the blogosphere that I have enjoyed so much.
Award Posts
You can read the full acknowledgement posts here:
And the award for the most belated acknowledgement goes to…
Fun Facts
In which D and I attempt to reveal information about ourselves that won’t scare readers away
5 Interesting facts:
A: I gave up Diet Coke for my 32nd birthday, and we think the stock went down because of it.
D: My name means “Black Eyes” even though they’re actually bright blue.
A: The finale of MI-5 made me cry. Fictional British spies made me sob for nearly 5 minutes. I fear for my sanity.
D: (Now she fears for her sanity?!): I was born in 670 AD in what is now the area around Inverness.
A: My son has classier tastes in literature than I do. He loves Shakespeare and has a pet name for Charles Dickens (it’s “Chickens” by the way, and it makes me giggle every single time).
D: I have several tattoos. My favorite is the stylized snake that wraps around my sword arm, but I’m also fond of the raven on the left side of my face. It was never completed because I disappeared into a sidhe mound in Ireland during my training there. When I returned, there was no one to complete it – all those who remembered me had died a generation earlier.
A: I didn’t realize that Han Solo and Indiana Jones were the same man until I was 5. And I was in love with them both.
D: I had only one love of my life, but I lost her when I left to fight a war.
A: Before this foray into the interwebs, I had a website (waaaay back when) called “Letters to Conan O’Brien.” Instead of a restraining order, NBC sent me a contract that made me promise I wouldn’t put up nude pictures, and linked it to the old old old Conan/NBC site in the fan pages section. The site died when I moved to Ireland, but I live in hope that it’s floating around somewehere in the electronic ether.
D: I fought beside fabled kings, warriors and tacticians, including Cu Chulainn, Fionn mac Cumhaill, Brian Boru, William Wallace, and Arthur.
Interesting Questions:
What’s your all-time favorite movie?
A: I have five – Gone with the Wind, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Wizard of Oz and Braveheart. . . there are more but those are the ones I’ll watch indefinitely.
D: I’ll go with The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Granted, it was also the last film I saw in person.
Who is your favorite author?
A: Depends on the genre, the day, my mood . . . today I’ll pick Frank Herbert, particularly the Pandora Sequence.
D: I always found the Venerable Bede to be amusing.
A: D, you do realize that Bede wasn’t trying to be funny, right?
D: Yes, A – and that’s why I laugh.
Who is your favorite character (can be from a book, movie, or tv)
A: Right now, Tuppence and Tommy Beresford (both the TV and book versions). They are so charming – I love them.
D: I’m tempted to say myself, but that may appear self-serving. I do rather enjoy William Wallace, however. Book, movie or real life, he had such a good way of rousing the troops. He was really quite useful…
A: D… enough.
White Chocolate or Dark Chocolate?
A: Dark! The darker the better!
D: I was always fond of the cocoa bean; I prefer it as prepared by the Aztec mystics, but dark chocolate is quite satisfactory.
If you could do one thing without any repercussions, what would it be?
A: I try to live life pretty close to my desires, but I can’t eat gluten, so. . . eating a Pizza Hut pizza, deep dish (I dream about this some nights – so sad) and second (one is just sohard!), taking the curb during a traffic jam and just leaving all the cars behind.
D: She’s crazy. I can’t compete with that.
Sweet Questions:
Cookies or Cake?
A: Cookies if they’re just gluten free, but cake if it’s the whole-paleo-hog and grain free (coconut flour cookies are just not the same).
D: I have none of these restrictions and would like both, but I’ll settle for cake.
Chocolate or Vanilla?
D&A: Chocolate! At least we can agree on something.
Favorite sweet treat?
A: Dark chocolate salted caramel truffles.
D: See strawberries, above. See A, I knew it.
A: Did your druid-spidey senses tell you that?
D: I know you’re mocking me, and ruining the English language, but I don’t care. Yes.
When do you crave sweets the most:
A: All the time. Usually at 4/5 when I get home from work and I’m faced with the onslaught of child, cats and things needing to be done.
D: Actually never. I’m more of a savory fellow. Plus, the early dark-ages weren’t exactly rife with sweet-treats.
Sweet nickname?
A: Sweetie or sweetheart. My mom also calls me Katemagerk (the spelling is phonetic; I’ve never seen it written out) but I think that’s more odd than sweet.
D: Can I go with sweetie? Please?
A: Really? You didn’t have a Pictish pet-name? Certainly your mother or Mairead had a name for you.
D: I don’t want to talk about that.
A: Can I call you sweetie-pie?
D: No.
A: Stud muffin?
D: A.
A: How about my little Jammie Dodger?
D: Now you’re just being ridiculous.
A: I know. But at least now you’re smiling!
Belated Answers to a Bevy of Questions:
From Mike from the Tag! You’re It Award: What is your favorite season of the year?
A: Early Summer and Fall – both are beautiful in their own way, the temperatures are usually great, and there’s a better chance it will be dry.
D: The Autumn: it was a time of the harvest, and festivals, and for us, magic.
From Patty for the Most Influential Blogger Award: Have you ever taken a long distance train trip?
A: Yes – I took a train from Wisconsin to Arizona. It was wonderful and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
D: Across Europe during the glory days of train travel. That is truly the way to travel. Plus, murder and mayhem are so much more fun on a train.
From John for the Always Here if You Need Me Award: List something that makes you happy.
A: Music
D: A sweet smile on a loved-ones face
From John for the Liebster Award:What is the most indulgent gift you ever received or given
A: A trip to Ireland when I was 16, which was then followed by me moving to Ireland when I was 18. My parents indulged my more political whims and my desire to have an adventure.
D: When we fought against the Northumbrians, to regain control of southern Pictland, my father and I were captured by a squad of native Selgovae mercenaries. My life was their indulgent gift to me.
A: Gee, D – way to be a downer.
D: Well, we didn’t do indulgent gifts. A bit of a sweet was an indulgence!
A: I suppose. Moving on, so…
From Olivia for the Liebster Award: Where do you see yourself in 10 years.
A: On an adventure. TC will be in college – heck, TC may be out of college by then, depending on what and where he studies.
D: Um, in print, I hope. And out of her head, laid to rest but enlivening the imaginations of all those who read about me!
From Briana, for the Liebster Award: How many books are in the room you’re in right now?
A: More than I can count – two bookshelves and every single flat surface has a book on it.
D: This is A’s imagination: there are library castles in here with more tomes than a man can count in his lifetime, even a man as infinitely creative as a time-travelling Druid.
From Marie, for the Shine On Award – technically we’re supposed to say seven things about us, but we’ll stick with just one.
A: TC and I are dual citizens to the US and Ireland.
D: My time travel beats your puny passport.
A: It’s not a competition, D.
D: It’s always a competition, A.
A: Okay, D. You win. Time travel trumps dual passports every single time.
Pretty Pictures
The D/A Dialogues 