It is award season, and whilst I may not be wearing a fancy designer dress with sparkles and borrowed jewelry from Tiffany’s (or crippling Jimmy Choo Shoes!), I have dabbed a little Chanel No 5 behind my ears and at the wrists. After all is not everyday you get nominated for a Sunshine Blogger Award. In this instance courtesy of author and poet, Mary Smith of Mary Smith’s Place to whom I am most grateful….
Before I embarrass myself answering Mary’s questions on my personal life…. here are the rules.
Thank the blogger who nominated you in a blog post and make a link back to their blog.
Answer the 11 questions sent to you by the person who nominated you.
Nominate up to 11 new blogs to receive the award, and then write them 11 new questions – or cheat like I did and use the same questions 🙂
List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or your blog
Here are the questions I received and my answers:
What was the driving force behind the creation of your blog?
I had taken a writing hiatus for about four years when I was back living in the UK working and caring for my mother. When we returned to our own home again, I needed to get back into the habit of writing everyday, blogging six years ago was just taking off big time, and after a couple of false starts, I created Smorgasbord in October 2013.
Apart from wanting to get back into writing, there was also the question of boredom, as I tend to get into mischief if I am not kept busy!
What was your vision for your future in blogging/writing when you first started this blog? How has that vision evolved?
I wanted to build a platform to promote my own books, share my experience in nutrition and meet new people. That evolved into the Cafe and Bookstore offering free book promotion and Smorgasbord became a blog magazine in 2017 with columnists for music, travel, food, gardening, literature,health and recently numerology. It has become far more to me than I first envisaged when I posted once a week.
Now there are at least five posts a day on various subjects, many that I write but plenty of great guest writers too. I don’t know what I would do without it honestly. I have met so many astonishingly talented people who I consider to be friends, and it has expanded over into social media around the world. I love it that wherever I may be, I can chat to someone in Australia as they are going to bed, and someone in the USA as they get up on the morning. Brilliant – Pen pals on speed.
What age were you when you realized you loved writing?
That would be when I was about seven years old, and writing my own sick notes for school. I did tell you that if I get bored I get into mischief! We lived on a naval station in Malta, in a house at the top of a steep flight of steps. I would walk down those steps with my satchel to the manned main gate, where I was supposed to catch the school bus. Instead I would deposit my satchel behind the guard house, and wait for an old farmer who came daily to tend his field of prickly pears on the station. As he was drawing away from the guard house, I would hop on the back of his donkey pulled cart and hide under a sack. The school bus would come, stop and be waved on by the guard on the gate, who assumed I was not going to school that day.
I would spend the day helping the farmer who spoke no English (but we managed to communicate just fine). He shared his rustic lunch of bread, goat’s cheese and a peeled prickly pear with me (teaching me carefully how to remove the fruit from the lethal outer coat) and water from a wine flagon (I think it was water!) the donkey got some too. About 3pm, he would pack up to go home, and I would hop on the back on the cart under the sack, slipping off and sneaking behind the guard house to collect my satchel. When the school bus appeared over the hill, I would trudge up the steep set of steps home for tea.
The next day I would take a note into school with me, saying that Sally was sick yesterday and unable to attend school – with a scribbled MEColeman.. for my mother’s signature that I had studied carefully. I would carry out this deception every four or five weeks and I got away with it for a year until the old farmer stopped coming.
That’s when I realised the power of the written word!
How has your life changed as a result of the electronic age? Is it better/worse/the same?
For example……..otherwise we would be here all day!
It is so much better. I cannot imagine having to ring the cinema or buy the local paper to find out what is on at the movies.
I don’t have to waste time ringing around for an item I want, I just google it and the location and it tells me where it is in stock, and if I want they will deliver it to save me driving 20 miles to pick it up.
I don’t have to go to a travel agent to book my flight or holiday or go back to pick up my tickets. I can check in online instead of queuing at the airport, and I can book my seat instead of taking pot luck on the day.
When I am house hunting I don’t have to go to the area that I am planning on moving to, visit every estate agent and end up with a foot high tower of paper details. Now I can search in any country in the world, bookmark the details, contact the agent and arrange an appointment with a few keystrokes.
When I want to change my passport I can do that all online and receive my new documents in a week or two without worrying about sending my old passport and it getting lost before the new one arrives.
I can sell my digital books online, without having to print them, or to pay enormous amounts of postage to get them somewhere…. and readers can buy with a few keystrokes, at a great price and have them downloaded immediately.
And last and by no means least, when I leave a place, I only leave behind the physical building.. I take my friends with me whereas before, leaving a town or even a country meant losing them.
What was the very last website you visited today?
That is easy… Mary Smith’s Place so that I could copy the questions across to respond to the award. Recommend you pop over there too as lots to read and enjoy.
What was the first website you visited when you woke up four days ago?
That is also easy… always Smorgasbord, to respond to the overnight comments and to boost the midnight post… then I go browsing…that takes me through to elevenses…
If you could change one thing about your past, what would it be?
I should never have eaten that first bar of chocolate as it set in motion a rollercoaster love affair that has become an eternal triangle.. between me, the chocolate and the weighing scales!
Everything else, good and bad was part of life’s enrichment and provided some valuable lessons.
How would your life be different today if that one thing from your past were to change?
If you have children, tell me…how did your parenting change from the time you had your first child until the time you had your last?
We don’t have children. Probably just as well with our nomadic lifestyle in the last 39 years; anyway I still have not decided what I am going to when I grow up myself yet.
Tell me about the funniest experience you’ve had in the past month.
When I first came back to Ireland three years ago, I went to a hairdresser in the next town over for two appointments. I liked the stylist and went back the third time only to discover that she had left. I was not very happy with the result on that visit and since then I have been to other hairdressers now and then for a cut. A couple of weeks ago I decided to try a different hairdresser in my own town, and whilst the stylist was washing my hair, she said she recognised me.. I assured her that I didn’t think we had met.. But she insisted and then asked me if I had been to the former hairdressers. I admitted that I had…. and she said she was the girl who had been my stylist for those first two visits, but she went by her own name now, not the one they had given her! We did laugh, delighted that she is now very close and she is back doing my hair again.
What do you have planned for the upcoming holiday season?
We don’t tend to take summer holidays as we lived in the sun for so many years. We like to take long weekends out of season and explore different areas. I do go over and house and dog sit for my sister and that means visiting my home town and friends which is a break and fun too.
If I nominate you and you have an award free blog, please view the nomination as a compliment: you are under no obligation to respond. (Thanks Mary for that statement)
Here are my 11 questions for you.
What is the most daring thing you have done?
Name one item still on your bucket list.
If you had a time machine, would you choose to live in the past or the future?
What is your favorite movie of all time?
What is one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?
What is one of your guilty pleasures?
Do you have any pets?
Tell us about one thing that really gets your goat.
Who would you invite to a celebrity dinner. List 5, dead or alive?
What is your most annoying bad habit?
Name your current favorite song playing on your playlist right now.
Thank you for dropping in today and I hope if you have time you will pop into the blog posts I have selected for my nominees as they are well worth reading and following.. Sally.
Thanks again Mary Smith for the nomination…
Brilliant, Sally. I love that story about you skipping off school and writing your own sick note complete with forged signature. The power of the written word, indeed!
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Thanks Mary… I still believe in it.. thanks again for the nomination.. hugsxx
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You’re welcome.
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Thank you for the nomination, Sally and what a naughty little girl you were…haha..something like that would have never crossed my mind…snigger…Nice to get to know you a little better 🙂 x Hugs xx
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Thank you Carol….I haven’t changed much! hugs xx
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Congratulations on being nominated, Sally, and thank you so much for including me in the list of blogs YOU nominated in return. I do have an award free blog, but I’m SO proud that it’s one you enjoy enough to have nominated me for this totally cool award! Thank you, my friend! I very much appreciate seeing my name alongside such other great bloggers! As I always tell you, you ROCK! 🙂 ❤
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Thanks Marcia.. and delighted to nominate you… l♥♥
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Reblogged this on Campbells World.
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Congratulations. Lovely interview and as we all know, fabulous blog.
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Thanks Catalina… much appreciated.. hugsxx♥
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Loved this post! So glad to hear you were a bad kid, Sally. I need the company.
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Thanks Cynthia… I don’t feel so bad now!! hugsxx
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You know the old(er) song “It’s nice to get to know you…”? I hummed that as I read your fun and fascinating responses. 🥰
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Thank you Pamela.. I don’t think I have any secrets left.. that I can repeat anyway!.xxx
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Haha. We’ll see. 🙂
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Reblogged this on The Write Stuff and commented:
Sally Cronin has been nominated for the Sunshine Blogger award. Check out her replies to the eleven questions she was asked, and while you are there, you will surely want to check out some of the bloggers Sally nominated in return. (I was proud to be included in that list, though I have an award free blog). Be sure to pass this one along if you can! And my heartfelt thanks, Sally, for the nomination! So glad you enjoy stopping by to visit on TWS. 🙂
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Thanks very much Marcia.. always a delight to have you over here in any capacity…hugsxx♥
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A lovely post, Sally, I enjoyed your stories. I would have been to scared to skip school, my dad was very strict.
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So was mine Robbie… still somethings were too good to pass up!!! I got caught at other times and I didn’t feel so lucky then! hugsxx
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You absolutely deserve this award, Sally. When you said about Smorgasbord starting in 2013, I thought well heck I cannot even imagine the blogging world without it!! Hugs.
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And thank YOU for the nomination xxoo
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Congratulations, Sally. You are the sunshine for sure.
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It’s always lovely to learn a thing or two new about you, Sally. Today – hair stylists! Ha ha. It’s totally awesome that you found your previous stylist – it’s wonderful to have someone who understands what you want and can do it! 🙂
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Quite Diana..especially when you get to a certain age and there is a tendency to want to cut and blow dry to a formula! ♥
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🙂
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I love your answers, Sally! How cool you found your original hairdresser.
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I know… some things are meant to be….xxx
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I adore that story about you and the old farmer. You probably learned more from those precious prickly pear experiences than you would have in school anyway. From one rebel writer to another, keep spreading the sunshine! 🙂
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Thank you Jo… so true he taught me respect for food, how to look after a donkey and how to be still and quiet… great lessons for a 7 year old… hugs
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A delightful Q&A, Sally! 🙂 Oh, how I loved reading about your note writing adventures… Got away with that trick a few times myself, little Miss Mischief. As for chocolate, Symphony Bars were my downfall. These days, I save the chocolate treats for holidays. 🙂 Have a great week, my friend. xo
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Thanks Bette, glad to find a co-conspirator.. and I try to keep my chocolate to holidays too.. hope it is an early Easter this year… hugsx♥
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Oh, for the love of those bunnies (chocolate of course)… Hugs!
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Congratulations Sally!
Loved your answers, and thank you fir the nomination!
I have responded in my own way 😘
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Thank you Ritu… ♥
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💜
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Congratulations, Sally! Finding a good hairdresser is difficult so it’s a good job you found yours again! I haven’t managed here yet! 🙂
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Thanks Olga… yes, it was meant to be.. and trying to go every 10 days to keep in looking good… and to make sure she doesn’t do another runner… xxx
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Congratulations, Sally and loved reading your answers! You were a most inventive and precocious young girl … taking the initiative of writing sick notes for a fun day out! 😀
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My first short story Annika….thanks and glad you enjoyed…hugsxx
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Each of your answers is like reading a short story in itself. So interesting.
Thank you for nominating us. We will take a stab at those questions, even though we’re feeling a bit intimidated by your responses! 😉
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Don’t be… I am sure they will be amazing… look forward to it.. and glad you enjoyed.. hugsx
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Sal, your answers are like entertaining short stories. I loved them all, especially that at 7 you were writing sick notes for yourself – talk about chutzpah! You were worse than me LOL ❤ xxxx Congrats on the award too. I was also thrilled to be nominated by Mary. I'll get to that in a week or so. ❤
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Thanks Debby.. I was more or less a wild child in some respects…but in those days you could explore and not come to much harm. Look forward to your reveals….. ♥♥
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Lol Sal. ❤ xxxx
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I loved reading all of your answers, Sally. I didn’t think of skipping school because I walked 1/4 mile to go to school and it was fun strolling, looking at things as I walked. Streets were safe back in the days when I went to grade school. I don’t have any hairdressers that I trust. I might like one or two among all the ones I’ve had. There were so many times I got mad because they cut more hair than I wanted them to cut. I felt like they must cut enough to worth the money I paid. They might think if they just trimmed (as I wanted), they didn’t do their job!!
Thank you for the fabulous blog and magazine you’ve created. You’re THE place to go around town (world) these days. ❤
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Thank you Miriam and I agree about hairdressers. I have found that once you get into your 60s they like to channel you into a particular style and colour. If your hair is not right, nothing is right… so important.. hugsxx
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I didn’t want to say it, but you did. One hairdresser actually said I should have short hair (because of my age?)! 🙂 xox
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Lovely post, Sally – I so relate to the chocolate and the hairdresser!! It has taken me years to find my perfect hairdresser and it turned out she was a friend(a mum from primary school) living round the corner. \recognise some frineds in the list so look forward to their answers to your questions! Claire x
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Great Claire and glad you found your forever hairdresser.. they are like gold… x
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Loved your stories especially the one about skipping school. How enterprising you were then and still are now. Well done on your award. 🙂
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You rascal! Love that helping the farmer rather than go to school. My hubby used to miss school by hiding under a bridge and sleeping! More of a lazy approach but that’s boys for you! Sounds like you too would get on like a house on fire.
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Probably Marje.. It was nearly 60 years ago but it is clear as day. I can still remember the soft mouth on the donkey as he delicately took a piece of bread from me..But don’t ask me any of the teachers or lessons…. hugs
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I love it. Such a wonderful recollection that shows your character and imaginative nature. ❤
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♥
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Enjoyed reading this. I could forge my mother’s handwriting with no problem at all.
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Glad to meet another forger Stevie.. the roots of creative writing…hugsx
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