I will begin this blog post with one of the most anticipated public events that took place today. Here are some pictures from the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Waterford. The day was quite gray, but all these beautiful people made it shine.
Another important event is my third blogoversary :). Thank you my dear blogger friends for inspiration, motivation and encouragement during these three years, and for everything I have learned from you.
I use this occasion to share my portraits created by my blogger friends. I know it sounds like I have a diva complex or something, but I do love the portraits, and I also want you to visit and follow these bloggers.
This one is from my beautiful friend Rose. I love to see myself on this paper airplane that also looks like a rocket. Future, here I come! 🙂 Thank you Rose!
This one is from Michael. Thank you for for loving the foxes! 🙂
I had dreamed about blogging, but didn’t have courage to go live. I used to have a silent photography page in 2004, but soon joined Panoramio and it took all my spare time. Three years ago this February I finally went live with ten blog posts related to baby and children photography that I deleted soon afterwards, because of the spam attack issue. Advice for the new bloggers #1: Akismet only stops spam, but cannot stop the spammers from linking to your blog. Check your Spam messages to identify what post or image the spammer has linked to – it is in the column “In response to”. If it is an image, delete it, upload the same image and post it again (URL will be different and the spammer will lose the link). If it is a post that is really heavy spammed ( especially from the certain websites), you can either delete it, or redo it in the same way as the photograph. If your blog is constantly targeted, close comments on your posts that are more than 3-6 month old. If you do all of this, your spam folder will be much lighter, and you will get rid of the most malignant spammers.
Another thing I had to figure out, was my Gravatar page. Advice #2 – if you want your followers to pay their due visits to your blog, give them a chance, make sure that your Profile image is linked to your current blog page, and your Gravatar page is also linked to your current blog. I have a handful of followers who visit my page but I have never visited them in return because I am not able to. So sorry, but there is nothing I can do.
Now you probably started to wonder, why I am giving advice that nobody asked me for. It is because I have got an award with two questions attached to it:
1 Share an experience that got you started blogging
2 Share a word of advice for fellow bloggers
This is The Blogger Recognition Award from Dwight Roth of Roth Poetry blog.
I am really grateful for this recognition, and happy that there are people who like my blog. To tell the truth, it is all recognition I need.
You can check out Dwight’s books on Amazon.
I have got another award from Nilla of Image Earth Travel . Thank you so much Nilla for Sunshine Blogger Award you find me worthy of 🙂 Nilla has been traveling the world for many years, and she doesn’t treat awards lightly 🙂 Here is a page of her photography awards. You can click on each link and see her award winning images.
Here are the questions I am supposed to answer:
- Why did you start a blog ? – I wanted to share my memories of beautiful things and places. I did it on Panoramio but got really annoyed by those who used my photographs without permission. My latest find – a website named POINTERST is using my Panoramio photographs under Marsel Van Oosten’s name. What can I say? I am honored 😉
- What amazing countries have you seen? – Not many countries, but each was amazing.
- Why do you travel? – I travel to meet people I love and to see places I have read about.
- Who has been your biggest inspiration in your life and why? – My biggest inspiration has always been my Dad, and of course many famous people made a huge impact on my life, like Ray Bradbury, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Henri Cartier-Bresson.
- What’s the wildest thing you have ever experienced? – I think the worst was in the 1970s when my best friend and I agreed to take a ride in a small airplane with a guy who had been showing off to impress us. He flew the airplane in a very dangerous manner, to say the least. We were so mad at him, that we left the airplane in silence and never spoke to him again.
- What would be your dream job? – I have quite a few such jobs in mind, but none of them would pay my bills 😉
- Your favorite read? – any well written book.
- The scariest moment in your life? – The scariest moment is when your loved one’s life is in danger. This story might be the one.
- Your deepest regret? – I have a few, but it has no point to focus on the past when there is a better future ahead 🙂
- The most memorable experience in your life? – I presume, it is about a good experience. Here is one of the latest. We were traveling by train, and there was an accident. My daughter was the only medical professional at the scene, and she made me proud beyond measure by her actions and ability to control the situation. She was a star. I hope she won’t read this 🙂
There are three more awards – I didn’t do the awards for about a year or so.
Gillian from Talking Thailand blog nominated me for The Creative Blogger Award. Thank you so much, Gillian! My award is your friendship 🙂 Please check out Gillian’s book. She lives in Thailand and has every bit of information you might need for your travels.
Mythology expert Aquileana nominated me for Treasure Trove Award. Aquileana is blogging many years, possibly ten 🙂 She is a very supportive person. Thank you dear Aquileana, there are many treasures found on your blog.
The most recent nomination is from one of my favorite authors, Millie Thom. Millie had a number of awards to choose from, and I like her idea to give a choice to the nominees. I chose The Black Cat Blue Sea Award, because I love cats 🙂 Thank you so much, Millie!
Check out Millie’s books on Amazon.
These are the rules:
- Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
- List the rules and display the award.
- Nominate 10-15 bloggers (or as many as you can) for the award.
I will use Millie’s strategy. There is a list of my nominees. You can choose the award you like, because I don’t know which awards you already have 🙂 You can also choose more than one. Please answer questions about yourself as I did ( these are Nilla’s questions), and if you are Award Free blog, fair enough 🙂 Thank you and happy blogging!
http://www.almostunsalvageable.com/
https://mithaimumblezz.wordpress.com/
https://secretartexpedition.wordpress.com/
https://poetrummager.wordpress.com/
https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/
https://puttingmyfeetinthedirt.com/
https://knittingwithheart.wordpress.com/
https://shehannemoore.wordpress.com/
https://aquileana.wordpress.com/
https://graffitiluxandmurals.com/
https://caroleecroft.wordpress.com/blog/
https://moodphototeija.wordpress.com/
https://lensandpensbysally.wordpress.com/
https://milliethom.wordpress.com/
https://arcillayfuego.wordpress.com/
There are many more great bloggers I would love to add to the list, but I know for sure that their blogs are award-free.
Now I officially announce Making Memories an award free blog. I will figure out some other way to promote my favorite bloggers, but I really, really have no time for doing awards anymore. I hope you will understand. Thank you again for all the nominations, and for our friendship!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Making memories 