Versatile Blogger Award!

What an honor to receive the Versatile Blogger Award!
Thanks to Jen at the fabulous Inu-Baka blog and to Jodi at JodiStone for the recognition. 
It has been so wonderful to discover this friendly, welcoming community of animal bloggers. 


To fulfill my side of the bargain, the rules are that I have to:

• list seven things about myself 
• pass the award on to 15 newly discovered blogs 
• let those bloggers know the joyful news

So here goes--seven juicy facts and a bunch of even juicier blogs:

1. My mom taught me to love animals, indulging my wish when I was a kid for two budgies, a hamster, tropical fish, and a guinea pig--in addition to the family dog
2. I started reading books by the Vietnamese Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh when I was in college, and have never stopped. I consider him to have been one of my most positive and powerful influences.
3. I was "Miss Vegan of New Mexico" in 2001
4. I play the Zimbabwean mbira and have played in the bands Bliss Gypsys, which toured the Pacific Northwest the summers of 1999 and 2000; Fools in Paradise in Portland in 2003, and now Buddhambira;
5. I commute by bike about 40 miles a week
6. I've been vegetarian-mostly-vegan for over 20 years--20 years of Thai coconut-peanut tofu, Zucchini casserole with nutritional yeast "cheese" sauce, and Thanksgivings of barbecued tempeh with some of the people who first brought tempeh to the United States (at the Farm in Tennessee in the early 1970s)
7. I grew up in New York City, went to college at Stanford in California, lived in a cave and then worked for the Park Service near Moab, Utah, studied massage therapy in Albuquerque, NM and practiced massage in Taos and Santa Fe, NM, lived in Portland, went to graduate school in Conservation Biology at Columbia University while living with my parents in New York, and then moved to Takoma Park, MD to be near my sister while she adopted my niece Ursula! I never thought I'd stay on the East Coast again but I met the inimitable Florian, my Swiss ballet dancer and sweetie and a dog lover with an incredible sense of humor and a kindred spirit, and have found happiness here that I never encountered in all the bohemian happy hippie-lands I lived in before.

While I haven't had time to give this task the effort it deserves, here are the not-quite-15 blogs I have had the pleasure to peruse so far...and I hope you won't find this award burdensome:)

1. Love and a Six Foot Leash. My neighbor Alex writes beautifully about her fabulous foster and resident dogs. Thanks for helping me navigate the blogiverse, Alex!
2. Rescued Insanity. Kristine keeps a wonderfully thoughtful blog including training tips, recipes, and more about her life with the wondrous agility star Shiva.
3. Sustainable Population. This blog is an essential reminder of this most central of sustainability issues.
4. i-Love-A-Bull. This blog celebrates the pit bull, that most unjustly maligned of breeds, and fights stereotypes with information and activism.
5. Endangered Spaces blog. A vital call to action on environmental matters that need our attention.
6. The Poodle and Dog Blog. A thoughtful, aware, and very versatile blog on all things dog. 
7. Open Hearts Dog Fostering Blog. Kim blogs on the delights and challenges of having many foster dogs come and go through her doors.
8. Biodiversity in Focus. Stunning photos paying tribute to the wonders of the insect world. 
9. Oh, Corbin. Corbin the pit bull has overcome that little thing about not having opposable thumbs and blogs about all the fabulous foster dogs taken in by his mom. 
10. Five Sibes. A blog on five fabulous and furry Siberian Huskies.
11. Success Just Clicks. A progressive, thoughtful positive dog training blog with lots of the nuanced explorations of positive dog training topics that I love!