Link Love

A roundup of some blogs I like, or have recently discovered.

I'm always linking to my sister's blog, A Roker Artist, but I never explain what it is. Steph was a prolific and gifted artist when she was younger, but marriage, children, work and housekeeping pushed painting and drawing to the sidelines for many years (why do we women allow that to happen? You can bet Michelangelo never felt he mustn't paint until he had caught up with the vacuuming and laundry). She wants to bring them to the fore again because they are a vital and precious part of who she is, but it's hard to create art in a vacuum so she blogs about her sketches, her works-in-progress and her completed works, as well as her life in general as it impacts on her creativity.

I'm hoping to convince our other sister, Lindsey, to start a blog too. Perhaps she could blog about her music and promote her wonderful new album.

Steph's best friend, Hazel, has recently started her own blog, Living and Mothering in the Chilly Northeast. Hazel blogs about natural parenting and childbirth. She's a qualified NCT breastfeeding counsellor and all round earth mother. I've never met her but I feel I know her because Steph tells me so much about her. Apparently we're kindred spirits, she and I, and it's nice to be able to get to know her through her blog.

Another new blogger about natural living is Mandi at Lettuce Live Naturally. Mandi is still finding her blogging voice, but so far she has published a mixture of long factual articles about irradiated food, dodgy historical medical treatments, and vaccinations, along with some lighter videos such as the one at the top of this post. I'll be keeping my eye on Mandi's blog.

There are a lot of gardening blogs in my blogroll. Petunia's Garden is one of my favourites, and I have recently been enjoying her beautiful photographs of her winter garden. I also enjoy reading Happy Hobby Habit. Not so much photography, this one, but her rant about Christmas shopping made me smile.

Chile Chews is a regular commenter here on Bean Sprouts, and blogs about sustainable living in the desert. One of the things I like about her blog is that her environment is so different from mine here in Cheshire, where it has rained more-or-less continuously throughout 2007. I enjoy reading The Frugal World of Doc, by an Australian handyman, for the same reason.

On the subject of frugal blogs, one of my favourites is Lazy Man and Money (subtitled Making My Money Work So I Don't Have To). It's more about personal finance than tips to save money by making orange nets into pot scrubbers, and as it's American some of the saving and tax advice is not relevant to UK readers. But I enjoy his philosophical articles, such as his cynicism about advertising.

Azura Skye has also been writing about advertising recently. She's following a raw food diet lately and blogging about that. I can't say it appeals to me in the slightest, but it's interesting to follow other people's experiments.

I hope you find time to check out some of these interesting blogs, and maybe leave them a comment to encourage them to keep on blogging. The whole blogging phenomenon is an interesting one - anyone can set up their soap-box and tell the world what's on their mind. Some of these people will attract a large readership. Some will attract a small but dedicated readership. And some will hardly be heard at all. And as blogs link to one another, and quote from one another, ideas spread out like ripples on a pond. I find it exciting, and I'm glad to be a part of it. Please tell me about other great blogs you think I should know about.