Coming Soon to a Blog Near You: The Big E

This big lopsided E just landed in my lap. I was sitting here at the gallery minding my own business (literally) when The Excellent Blogger Award came flying in, borne by a dust devil. Seems that Daryl, of the deliciously snarky (well sometimes snarky, sometimes not) out & about in new york city had passed it my way. My blog will bear it proudly and I have been instructed to pass it on to ten others. My first thought: ONLY TEN??? My second thought: Even 10 makes for a lot of hyperlinking for this time-challenged 50-something bumpkin.

Every single blog on my blogroll is excellent. Furthermore, there are scads of excellent blogs that haven't made it to my burgeoning blogroll. Yet. SO I am going to tilt the rules a bit. I will start picking a blog or two in no particular order and according to no particular schedule and I will award those blogs THE BIG E. Several weeks ago I'd hit on the idea of featuring another blogger from time to time. I get tired of myself sometimes.

So here's my opportunity. This lopsided E has landed in my lap and I will be passing it to others. I will try not to fumble it. I promise. And those to whom it is passed must feel free to continue to pass it.

Today the tilted E is solemly passed to three teachers whose classrooms I would love to be in:

murat11
One of the San Antonio contingent, those quiz-crazed bloggers that would tag God Himself were they not such good Episcopalians. Anyhow, Paschal is a born-again therapist who now wields his remarkable talents in the classroom. From time to time, his blog features rollicking collaborative poems co-authored by "the urchins," his middle-and-high-school students. Or co-authored with The Turtle Queen, the lovely Tina, Love of His Life. Or riffed from various greats. Or simply authored by his own tilted self. A surrealist at heart, he sometimes treats us to his fiction as well as his reflections on supermarkets, proms, and lip balm. The labels of his posts, strung together, read like his version of Finnegans Wake.

Chrysalis Dreams
The very first blog, other than a family member's, I put on my blogroll. That means something. I would dearly love to be in Lee's classroom, although she recently decided that teaching is not for her and she is in the process of reinvention. A multi-talented, intelligent woman who writes with rare honesty about the challenges of nurturing her chrysalis dreams, her abiding faith in God (she's a Cursillista), and her feline family of two. Lee's blog is also a visual delight, with a spacious three-column layout and a simply gorgeous header. Always the encourager, Lee has invariably taken the time to frame thoughtful, generous comments on my own blog. Thanks, Lee!

Life in the Land of the Rising Sun
Ever yearned to see a picture of one of those Japanese toilets that's basically a hole in the floor? What about a vivid description of the dizzying variety of Japanese noodle, complete with gorgeous illustrations? Ever wish that someone might make you feel better about your own in-law situation? Welcome to The Moody Minstrel's blog. An American, Moody says he went to Japan in 1990 for a two-year stint but got a life instead. A talented composer/musician who links to selections of his own music, Moody too is a teacher. The first post I ever read over at Life in the Land of the Rising Sun revealed the kanji, or combination of characters which two students had selected to be Moody's name. They settled on three characters--this blog is replete with oh-so-graceful characters, by the way--which would translate as a wave of maximum feeling. How's that for a moniker? Well, if the kanji fits, answer to it.