Paula at Basset Knitter and Carole at strange little mama both very sweetly named me a Rockin’ Girl Blogger recently. It was a terribly sweet move on their part and I’d like to ask you to visit both of their sites because their blogs are filled with children and knitting and animals and scenery from places far from here (as well as illnesses and divorces and the realities of living that they both deal with gracefully and with humor).

I’d also like to continue the accolades by honoring a few other rockin’ girl bloggers from various walks of life:

• Dianna, a.k.a. RunningChick, was my office mate in Connecticut for many years and the first person I knew with a bona fide blog. I don’t run, especially long distances, and someone would have to be chasing me with intent for mortal harm to make me run even the short distances she puts in on a regular basis, but still I read every post she “pens.” Her style is entertaining and her energy and enthusiasm is inspiring. This passion has recently become a career path for her and she’s currently in school learning to do physical therapy. Plus, you’ve just got to admire a girl who can fall off her bike, land on her face, take an ambulance ride to the hospital, and be back on the saddle again in less than a week. Those Tour de France riders have nothing on her!

  Edited to add: Di lost one of her beloved dogs, Jake, this morning. Please send her some love if you can.

• Clare at Three Beautiful Things helps to make the blogosphere a nicer place. You routinely hear talking heads on tv making snide comments about bloggers, but it’s obvious they’ve never seen the impressive work that Clare has done. She comes up with three beautiful things every day to put up on her blog. She does it without fail, and when she’s away from the computer, she still notes them and posts them upon her return. It’s always so encouraging when I see her list every morning (the advantage of the England-D.C. time difference) and she’s one of the blogs I look forward to the most. She recently won a book deal focusing on a similar topic and I look forward to hearing how it progresses (and when it’ll be available).
• Camille at BookMoot is a children’s/young adult librarian, and I love learning about new books on her blog. (She’s the one who made it imperative that I read Rick Riordan’s work.) Her school district starts up tomorrow and she links to some on target suggestions for parents.
• Jen at Prepare to Meet Your Bakerina gives me yummy recipes, as well as a glimpse into her life in NYC. She shares her successes and her failures in life (and she seems to always have a lot going on), and I toast her for her bravery and honesty in doing so. (Now, if we could just convince her to put fingers to keyboard a bit more often…)
• Chris at Stumbling over Chaos writes about knitting and books and online contests and hers is the blog I leave until last every morning when I’m reading my RSS feed. I am afraid, however, that she will have to share her honors with the other participants of her blog, Mayhem and Chaos, who get the best lines.

These are not, by far, all of the rockin’ girl bloggers out there in my life; these are merely five, chosen somewhat at random to represent the blogs I read. I have some dear real-life friends with blogs I love who shouldn’t feel slighted for not being on the list. Other wonderful bloggers have already been similarly honored. One reader who used to have a rockin’ blog has made the personal decision that life ought to come before blogging (!!!) and shuttered the online house. Other readers without blogs also rock. And I know some pretty rockin’ guy bloggers and readers, too. So take this as merely a suggestion of some fun places to visit. I know I enjoy seeing who others link to and look forward to more similar entries in the future.