A Honor from Re-Reading Jane Eyre

One of my favorite bloggers and new author, Luccia Gray, has nominated me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. I am honored, and urge you to visit her blog, Rereading Jane Eyre. She not only is a great writer, but she is also an accomplished photographer who treats us on a regular basis to scenes where she lives in southern Spain. The award says in small print: Keeping the Blogosphere a Beautiful Place, and she curtained does. Thank you, Luccia!

Since Luccia listed the rules for this award, I won’t reinvent the wheel but use what she wrote:

1. Thank and link the amazing person(s) who nominated you. (DONE)
2. List the rules and display the award. (DONE)
3. Share seven facts about yourself. (BELOW)
4. Nominate 15 other amazing blogs (DONE) and comment on their posts to let them know they have been nominated. (DONE)
5. Optional: Proudly display the award logo on your blog and follow the blogger who nominated you. (DONE)

Some facts about me, your humble blogger:

I was a university professor before I retired and belatedly started a writing career. My time was divided between bench and educational research and teaching human anatomy to medical students, who are a blessing and a challenge. I loved teaching and miss it every day.

I worked on insect endocrinology for my research and some of the insects I raised were used in the movie The Silence of the Lambs. The insects were supposed to be Death’s Head moths, but these are not native to the US and can’t be imported for obvious reasons. So I provided larvae, pupae, and adults of Manduca sexta, the tobacco hornworm; the insect wrangler for the film glued fake, clear fingernails with a death’s head painted on them onto the thorax of the adults and they looked close enough. These insects got great treatment. I created a trunk with a light in it, so they could stay on the same light:dark cycle, and compartments for each stage of development. An actor from the film was sent down from Pittsburgh to Chapel Hill and flew back first class with the trunk in a seat beside him. One of the actors played a policemen in the film, one of those who come into the room where a human skin has been hung on the wall. He said they never saw the set until the day they filmed and they did it in one take, to get the best reaction. I never saw the film when it first came out because it was too frightening. I saw it later at the Student Union, where the guffaws and jibes and gasps of the students made it less scarey!

The beach is my favorite place to be. I grew up in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in a house that overlooked the Atlantic, and savor any day when I can be on or in the ocean. I also like lobsters, artichokes, pizza, and lemon meringue pie.

Cooking is a hobby, along with knitting and embroidery. I love cooking big holiday meals, but my specialty is baking, in particular all sorts of pies and scones. North Carolina has wonderful peaches in the summer, so peach pies come out of my oven regularly. My husband likes strawberry rhubarb.

I joined the Triangle Writers group when I first started writing and have been with one subgroup (there are over 400 members currently) called the Early Birds since 2009. Four of us have been around since then, but even with the in and out members, they’ve taught me how to write, given me wonderful ideas for my books, and provided me with another family whose work I enjoy. We talk about writing, publishing and marketing, but also share the joys, triumphs and sorrows of our daily lives.

Traveling is another thing I like. I spent a wonderful year in Prague when I was in my twenties, before the Velvet Revolution. Living under a Communist rule was an eye opener, and I never stop thanking my lucky stars that I was born in a democracy. I’ve been back since then, of course, and was amazed at what freedom did for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, both good and bad.

I love meeting other bloggers: amazing writers, travelers, philosophers, teachers all. The stories you weave, the adventures you have, the advice you provide, the photographs you show, all give a richness to my now more solitary life.

It is my privilege to nominate a number of you whom I follow for this award. If you’ve already received it, consider yourself twice blessed!

1. Moondustwriter’s Blog
2. Trials of a wanna-be-published writer
3. sandra danby
4. Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge
5. Becky Due
6. jennylloydwriter
7. Jay Squires’ Septuagenarian Journey
8. Posting Tuesdays.
9. Odyssey of a Novice Writer
10. A Writer’s Life For Me.
11. Stepheny Forgue Houghtlin
12. Inkwell & Paper
13. R Scott Amsbaugh
14. Nancy H. Doyle
15. A Woman’s Wisdom