Blog Names and Swag

(The host of this week's Fun Monday Mariposa gives us a two part challenge. One, she wants to know the story behind our blog name. Two, she wants to know about our favorite or most common dish. That's a good thing to ask for now that there are over 50 Fun Monday participants!)

Special Note: recently I've been so happy to receive some awards for my toddler blog. Since tonight we have the Academy Awards show, I thought it would be a good time to thank the award givers and pass them along to other bloggers. Scroll down to the post end for the awards ceremony.

I recently wrote about starting my blog so I won't go into great detail here. Just to re-cap. Last May I casually mentioned to a friend that I may be interested in starting a blog as a way to keep in touch with friends since retiring. I also wanted to build, or get into, a community of writers and readers interested in discussing a wide range of topics including travel, relationships, current events, pop culture, art, music, literature and dogs. The next day she sent me the Blogger web-site.

I signed on Blogger that same evening just to do a bit of research and before I knew it I was signed, sealed, and delivered! Step 1 was to create an account--done. Step 2 was Name Your Blog. Oh shoot,too late to turn back now! I'm thinking like crazy about what my blog should be named. . .well, I live on Summit Court, how about Summit Musings? Done again! Now I'm not crazy about my blog name. It's a bit pretentious and mis-leading. Suppose someone checks me out hoping to read about mountaineering? And, I almost never "muse." My thoughts are a lot more pedestrian--who will win American Idol this year? is Obama going to beat the pants suit off Hillary (I hope not), can I fool Willie into thinking we've already walked today?

So, I'm kind of committed to Summit Musings for now. It's better for me to concentrate on writing better and more frequent posts and learning to navigate around and improve the appearance of my blog page. In the future, when I'm confident that my loyal readers will not lose me, I may change. For now, I hope you'll continue to check me out at Summit Musings.

Now for the requested recipe. I found this one several months ago and make it at least once a week:

Orecchiette Pasta with Broccoli
1. Saute 1 Tbsp. minced garlic, 1/2 tsp. pepper flakes in 2 Tbsp. olive oil.

2. Cook 2 cups orecchiette pasta(or any sturdy kind)to your liking.

3. Microwave 16 oz. package broccoli florets (use baby kind) 5 minutes.

4 Drain pasta and combine in skillet with broccoli, garlic and pepper flakes.

5. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Enjoy!


************AWARDS CEREMONY***********

I received this seal of approval from
Laurie .



I'm passing it on to Karen Clarke for her good writing and wicked sense of humor.




And then I received this heartwarming award from Kaycie


It goes on to AOJ and Lurchers for her honest writing and love of four-legged buddies.






And finally for this evening, I received this E for Excellent Blogging Award from AOJ , Rotten Correspondent ,
Kaycie , and Lane








I'll send it on to these bloggers for a variety of reasons:

Caffeinated Librarian for being my first example of great blogging. I learned so much from CL about the blogosphere and youthful pop culture.

Marytree for being such a creative mom for her children--great example of learning through creative play.

Gay, Married, with Cat for his insightful, balanced observations on politics and religion.

Doug & Laurie for teaching me to look at everyday life with a photographer's eye and sharing the occasional photos of my favorite canine eye candy, Boscoe and Riley.

Patience for great writing about living with dogs and helping other dogs who need rescue.

Sauntering Soul for insightful writing about her personal journey, plus great looking blog.

Arkansas Songbird for her thoughtful posts on the influence of music in her life and pleasure of teaching students to love music as well.

Nekked Lizards make me laugh with all their family antics.

Jettie for her enthusiastic and welcoming glimpses into the life of a young farm family.

Since this post is getting almost as long as the Academy Awards show, I'll just encourage you to pass these awards along to other bloggers whose work you admire or want to encourage. And thanks to you all for sending them my way!

Now be sure to check out other Fun Monday participants' stories about how their blog names came about and add their favorite winter recipes to your file.