Darlene Foster's Blog

I was pleased to receive the Sunshine Blogger Award from Mary Smith of Mary Smith’s Place. Mary lives in Scotland and is a published author of No More Mulberries, a novel set in Afghanistan and a collection of short stories, Donkey Boy & Other Stories. Her non-fiction work includes a memoir of her time working in Afghanistan, Drunk Chickens and Burnt Macaroni and a couple of local history books: Dumfries Through Time and Castle Douglas Through Time. I wrote a review of her wonderful book, No More Mulberries here

The Sunshine Blogger Award is a peer appreciation award given to bloggers who are creative, positive, and inspiring, while spreading sunshine to the blogging community.

Thank you, Mary!

The Rules:

Thank the blogger who nominated you in a blog post and 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 give 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?

When I published my first book, Amanda in Arabia – The Perfume Flask in 2010, my publisher suggested I get active on social media to help promote my book. She thought a blog would be a good idea. I had been thinking about starting one, so that was the push I needed. Nine years later I am still blogging and loving it!

What was your vision for your future in blogging/writing when you first started this blog? How has that vision evolved?

My vision for the blog was to create a place where I could write about dreams. Not just mine but other people’s as well. I like to feature people who have followed their dreams, writers, artists etc. Since I love to travel, and it is a dream come true for me, I enjoy sharing stories and pictures of my travels. I also feature posts about things I love like my family, my dog, food, books and my life in Spain. I think my vision of creating a place to share dreams has evolved into just that!

What age were you when you realized you loved writing?

I always loved to tell stories and write them down but when I was twelve I had a story published in a local newspaper. That was when I thought it would be fun to write stories for publication. It was very much later when I finally realized that dream.

How has your life changed as a result of the electronic age? Is it better/worse/the same?

It is much better. I never learned to type so using a typewriter to write stories took me forever. I really didn’t seriously consider writing for publication until we got a computer. Without technology, I would not have been able to move across the ocean to Spain. Because of social media, I can communicate with my family and friends as if we lived next door. I also love being able to connect with people from all over the world, many of whom have become wonderful friends.

What was the very last website you visited today?

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/

If you could change one thing about your past, what would it be?

To attend university.

How would your life be different today if that one thing from your past were to change?

It would have given me more confidence and I would have met some amazing people.

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?

There are eight years between my two children so of course, I was more mature when I had my daughter. But I think my parenting was still the same. I loved my kids to bits but tried not to smother them. I gave them the independence they needed to be able to make it in the real world. I was also very busy so they had to do a lot of things for themselves, which didn’t hurt them.

Tell me about the funniest experience you’ve had in the past month.

I made a beef stew for hubby one evening. There was a little left so I put it in Dot’s dish on top of her kibbles. Next thing I knew she was busy sorting out her food. She made a pile of peas and a pile of carrots beside her bowl before she scarfed down the meat, gravy, and kibbles. Then she ate the peas, and then the carrots leaving the place spotless. It was so funny. I have seen kids separate their food but never a dog! She certainly keeps us entertained.

What do you have planned for the upcoming holiday season?

I plan to attend an Easter parade and festival here in Spain. Easter is a huge holiday here called Semana Santa (Holy Week) and is spread out over the full week. I wrote a post about it. https://darlenefoster.wordpress.com/2016/03/31/semana-santa-easter-in-spain/

I will also have an Easter egg hunt in my yard for our six-year-old neighbour. I just have to be sure Dot doesn’t get at them first.

If I nominate you and you have an award free blog, or if you have already been nominated for this award, please view the nomination as a compliment: you are under no obligation to respond.

My questions are the same as those posed to me.

My nominees of bloggers who spread sunshine and inspiration are 

Beth Ann Chiles at It´s Just Life https://itsjustlife.me/

Sue Slaught at Travel Tales of LIfe  https://traveltalesoflife.com/

Pam Wight at Rough Wighting https://roughwighting.net/

Molly Stevens at Shallow Reflections https://www.shallowreflections.com/

Jacquie Biggar at https://jacqbiggar.com/

Jennie Fitzkee at A Teacher´s Reflection https://jenniefitzkee.com/

Stevie Turner at https://steviet3.wordpress.com/

Annika Perry at https://annikaperry.com/ 

Fatima Saysell at https://sayselltravels.com/

Joy Lennick at https://joylennick.wordpress.com/

Of course, anyone else who would like to join in is welcome.