Blog Awards and Fireworks

Blog Awards Received

I want to acknowledge two blog awards received from two excellent bloggers. First, I was pleased to receive the Liebster Blog Award from the talented writer Jeri Walker-Bickett:

Jeri is the author of a collection of realistic fiction short stories called Such is Life. She also recently wrote a guest post for Websites for Small Biz on author blogs.

A week later I was pleased to receive The Very Inspiring Blogger Award from Diana Marinova:

I am going to cheat a little and pass on the rules as they are posted on the Liebster Award (instead of doing both) to a few favorite bloggers.

About the Liebster Blog Award

Blogging can be a very solitary life, and sometimes encouragement is needed. The Liebster Blog Award is just that, a token of encouragement from a fellow blogger. A world without rules can lead to chaos, and the blogging world is no exception. In accepting this award, a blogger will follow the following rules. It is a way to “Pay It Forward” to other bloggers.

Answers to Jeri’s questions:

1. Who is your favorite author? My favorite author choice varies, but I will go with Aharon Appelfeld.
2. What is the strangest book you’ve ever read and liked? Maus by Art Spiegelman
3. Favorite social media site? You can circle me (Leora Wenger) on Google+.
4. Topic of your most popular blog post ever? How to Pay a Shiva Call – A Guide for Non-Jews
5. Which blog do you read most often? I am afraid to answer this question for fear of offending anyone, but the three blogs that show up in my Frequent folder are: RamblingWoods, Jewaicious and Hannah’s Nook.
6. What would your last meal be? A depressing question: the last meal I was able to serve my father was chicken soup. So I’ll ask for chicken soup.
7. What is your biggest pet peeve? vague questions like this one
8. Where did your best vacation you ever take place? In 2008 we (my husband, my three children and I) visited Kfar Blum in northern Israel.
9. Who do you consider the greatest TV character? Archie Bunker
10. What makes you unique? My varied interests: art, piyutim, building WordPress sites and Jewish ways of dealing with death, to name a few.
11. What one thing would you most like to change about yourself? self-doubt

If you have been nominated below for The Liebster Award and you choose to accept it, write a blog post about the Liebster award in which you:

1. Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link on your blog.
2. Display the award on your blog by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a widget.
3. Answer the 11 questions about yourself, provided to you by the person who nominated you.
4. Give 11 random facts about yourself. (Note: I skipped this; long enough already!)
5. Nominate 5 to 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award; who have less than 1000 followers.
6. Create a new list of questions for the nominated bloggers to answer.
7. List these rules in your post. (You can copy and paste them from here.)
8. Once you have written your post and published it, you then have to inform the bloggers whom you’ve nominated for the Liebster award. Remember to give a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!)

Reciprocation by the nominees is entirely optional.

11 questions for those who accept Liebster Blog Award from me

1. Who is your favorite author?
2. What is your favorite blog topic?
3. Favorite social media site?
4. Topic of your most popular blog post ever?
5. Where did your best vacation take place?
6. What is your strongest childhood memory?
7. What is your favorite online recipe?
8. Which topics do you talk about in person but avoid discussing online?
9. What is your favorite film/movie?
10. What is your favorite fairy tale?
11. Name a historical leader that influenced you.

And here are my nominations for the Liebster Blog Award:

(Some of those listed below have commented on my blog for years – a huge thank you for that).

1. Hannah’s Nook
2. Mrs. S.
3. Pragmatic Attic
4. Me-ander
5. Jewaicious
6. Carver
7. Rambling Woods
8. Stuck Under a Baby
9. Struggling with God
10. Take Charge Now
11. Diana Marinova