Smorgasbord Saturday Meet and Greet – Bloggers Watering Hole.

Welcome to the Saturday morning post where bloggers who have recently followed the blog can introduce themselves.  Each week I will share a small selection of bloggers at random.

Basically this is a watering hole for bloggers across all the areas of interest. Watering holes are very useful for meeting like-minded people and also a way to grow a supportive and sharing community.

If you are NEW to smorgasbord it would be great if you could introduce yourself in the comments.. a brief intro and then a link to the post that you feel best represents your blogging style.

If you are a REGULAR visitor to the blog then please do leave a link to your latest post too, so that we can visit and share.

The idea is to encourage more readers to your posts and an opportunity for us to get to know you better.

The community that kindly supports me is always welcoming, and you will find a great deal of support and encouragement especially for new bloggers.

I look forward to finding out more about you.  Sally

Meet Julie from Travel Around the Globe.

Living with the travel bug for as far as I can remember, I have been fully living my dream since January 2017. With this blog, I want to share with you my adventures, highlight my favorite trips and make you discover less touristee places.

I want to be of help for people who want to experience a different way of travelling by showing all the places which have so much to offer but are less known.

I will also share with you the highlights of my trip, touristee or not and hope I can help and make you dream a bit…

Recent posts include:
Meeting with wild elephants in Kaudulla National Park
Golden Caves Temple in Dambulla
Exploring Jaffna a decade after the war

Here is a snippet from Julie’s latest post – (and I found fascinating. I was a very small child in Sri Lanka and whilst I have some memories of that time, they are 60 years old. Sally)

Nuwara Eliya – Sri Lanka’s Little England  Posted by Julie Around The Globe on January 5, 2018

Nuwara Eliya region is famous for its cooler climate, its abundant tea plantations and its unique architecture. The city is worth spending a couple of days, relaxing, breathing the fresh air, drinking tea and, of course, doing some trekking to discover the amazing landscape the area has to offer.

Here is what to do in and around Nuwara Eliya:

Nuwara Eliya town

Called Little England, Nuwara Eliya was founded by Samuel Baker in the 19th century. Its name come from Sinhalese, it means city on the plain and city of light. Located in central Sri Lanka, at an altitude of 1 900 meters, the town will surprise you with its colonial architecture, so far from what Sri Lankan cities usually look like. The city center will remind you of where you are though… But as soon as you leave the town center, near Lake Gregory, surrounded by hills, you’ll see all the European-like houses. It’s like being transported in the Alps.

To read more of the post and explore her archives please head over and enjoy: https://juliearoundtheglobe.wordpress.com/2018/01/05/nuwara-eliya-sri-lanka/

Meet Lori of Lori’s Story

I was born near Buffalo, New York into an incredible family. My mom is very wise and makes the best meatballs in the universe. My dad is word-smart and musical. He was the only kid in his class who knew how to spell “mosquito,” and he’s played trumpet on street corners and for British royalty. I probably inherited my dad’s love of words and music. At the age of three, I learned how to read, but my favorite activity was singing Nat King Cole songs to strangers in the supermarket. I once wrote a song about my parents, mentioning my mom’s meatballs in the chorus. I’ve lived in Buffalo, Vancouver, and Tucson … and over the years I’ve been married (twice), divorced (once), raised a family, recorded music, and had a career as a school psychologist. I just retired so that I could devote more time to the things I love.

Here is an extract from a recent post.

Was I Loco to Relocate?

The year that I decided to relocate (2003) was, for me, the Year of the Butterfly Effect. Looking back on that year, it was as if a tiny butterfly had landed squarely in the middle of my life (in the middle of a parking lot, actually) and triggered a life-altering sequence of events. I didn’t notice the butterfly at the time. Butterflies are like that. You don’t always see them, except out of the corner of your eye.

My butterfly was actually a tiny change in water temperature.

It was a frigid February morning in upstate New York, one of many I’d had to endure that winter. I was standing perfectly still on a sheet of thin ice in a parking lot, about to open my car door. The next thing I knew, I was lying flat on my back. My head had bounced a little as I landed. The ice under my boots must have started to melt just as I moved to open my car door. As I struggled to my feet, I heard myself declare, “That’s it, I’m moving.”

Head over and read more of the post: https://loristory.wordpress.com/2017/12/05/was-i-loco-to-relocate/

Meet Paula Bardell-Hedley of Book Jotter.

My name is Paula Bardell-Hedley and I was born and bred on the coast of North Wales. I am a nature lover, theatre goer and an avid reader of books.

I was founding Director of my own company, which my partner and I ran successfully for 26 years, however, my true love has always been reading and writing. Indeed, after first leaving school, I worked for a year at my local library on one of Mrs Thatcher’s now infamous YOP schemes!

I had great fun as the English Culture Guide for About.com (now Dotdash) from 1997-2001, quickly building up a lively and loyal band of readers from all corners of the globe. When the Company axed its entire Cultures’ network in September 2001, I became the English Culture, Poetry and finally Freelance Writing Correspondent/Editor for All Info-About – an online community created by ex About.com Guides – until its sad demise in early 2008.

I have also dabbled as a columnist, critic, editor and content provider. My work has appeared in a variety of magazines, newspapers and digital publications ranging from Country-Side and Entomologist’s Gazette to Record Collector and Women’s Independent Press.

Here is an extract from Paula’s most recent post.

Book Review: Walking Wounded By Sheila Llewellyn

“Daniel stared at the white-ish brain matter clinging to the haft and clogging up the eye of the needle. Can it really be as easy as that – to scrape out someone’s depression, their melancholy, their anxiety? To scrape out someone’s emotions?”

So assured is Sheila Llewellyn’s writing, one would never guess Walking Wounded was her first novel. Her portrayal of the emotional devastation caused by armed conflict, and the often unintentional misery brought about by misguided attempts to repair the damage is staggeringly accomplished.

Set in Birmingham’s once highly influential Northfield Military Psychiatric Hospital, it is tempting to conclude we are entering Pat Barker terrain – a writer well known for focusing on themes of memory, trauma, survival and recovery. Like Barker, the author has an uncanny ability to evoke the appalling mental anguish induced by war, she is seemingly able to fathom the suppressed male subconscious, and many of her characters are based on historic figures – but there the similarities end.

Read the rest of the review: https://bookjotter.wordpress.com/2018/01/04/book-review-walking-wounded/

I hope you have enjoyed meeting these bloggers and look forward to seeing your link to your most recent post in the comments.. whether you are a new visitor or a regular reader you are very welcome. Thanks Sally