I am pleased to finally have time today to finally do my duty and express how glad I was to be nominated by abtwixt for the Versatile Blogger Award Honourable Mention! Her posts are always friendly and thoughtful, and I highly recommend you take a wander over to her blog to enjoy her candid insights!
Now apparently, in addition to thanking the nominator, I’m meant to share 7 things about myself before sharing my own picks for honourable mention, so without further ado…
1. I love Wooly Mammoths. They are my favourite prehistoric animal, and before I settled on history, I had dreams of becoming a palaeontologist.
2. I hold a 1st Dan rank in Kendo, a Japanese sword art.
3. I paint.
4. I’m terrible with dates. It seems like a silly problem for a history student, but for some reason numbers don’t really stick in my head.
5. I secretly wish I was an engineer…. I can’t help it! Every time I watch a science programme on TV about submarines or helicopters or the Large Hadron Collider, I wish I could be building such big things.
6. My current dream vacation would be to Central Asia. This won’t come as a surprise if you’ve read some of my posts, but I’ve been fascinated by the Silk Road cultures and their history and would jump at the chance to visit some of the world’s great sites.
7. My favourite author is Robin Hobb, whose fantasy novels are the best!
And now to my favourite blogs among those I’ve encountered in my first two months at WordPress:
A Date with Delhi whose posts on Delhi’s history and culture are a great way to explore the mediaeval past of India!
Rob Packer’s Blog is a one-stop shop for traveller’s tales, thoughts on literature, and visits to museums’ hidden treasures the world over, whose posts on Central Asia I find especially interesting.
Via Lucis Photography has some absolutely sublime photos of the religious architecture of France, particularly the wonderful Romanesque churches.
Antiquity and Adventures manages to scramble over and photograph such a great number of beautiful vistas and ruins in Wales seemingly without effort, which just goes to show that there’s always another corner of Britain to explore!
THATLou Now I’ve never been to the Louvre, but with THATLou’s posts I feel like I know all the museum’s secrets.
Artsy Forager always posts such insightful and inspiring artwork, all contemporary, which brings some much needed creativity and contemplation into my daily life.
Art Expectations documents one artist’s journey through Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, and her posts are always so fun and unexpected that I’m always looking forward to the next one, not to mention Pip’s next adventure.
The Cosy Travels of the Viking and his Kitten If you want to hear more about Europe’s off the beaten track destinations, then this blog is for you! Its authors travel all across Europe, documenting the humble and the grand, and always stumbling across the unexpected.
mediaevalmusings 
Robin Hobb has a place on my book shelves too…
I recommend Diana Gabaldon’s series too. In Gabaldon’s words her books are about…..
‘History, warfare, medicine, sex, violence, spirituality, honor, betrayal, vengeance, hope and despair, relationships.
The building and destruction of families and societies, time travel, moral ambiguity, swords, herbs, horses.
Gambling (with cards, dice, and lives), voyages of daring, journeys of both body and soul…’
It is the most incredible series I have ever read (currently in America coming up to the war of independance) and taught me much of my knowledge about the Jacobite rising of ’45!
I think that the best historical fiction is a far better way to learn history than your average textbook! I know that my mother has nearly all of Diana Gabaldon’s books in our house, so perhaps that will be my next reading project after the school year is over!
Thanks so much Marissa. Feeling delighted to be nominated by someone who is a pro on the middle ages !
Of course! I’m not sure if the nominations lead to much, but it’s a nice opportunity to promote some of the blogs, including yours, that I’ve enjoyed discovering recently.
Well, thank you! I enjoyed reading your “7 things” about yourself. How fun! I’ll check out some of these blogs that you are recommending also. Great job!
You’re very welcome!
Marissa,
How very honoured I am that you’ve nominated THATLou, thank you very much. I, too, adore the photos of Via Lucis. And as for your secret desire to be an engineer, I find this hilarious as I think most engineers wish to be something else.
Daisy,
You’re very welcome! Fortunately for me, the likelihood that I’m going to become an engineer is impossibly small, so I can continue to watch my shows about submarines and oil rigs in blissful ignorance!
Indeed, I’ld’ve liked to be an architect, but if I knew the geometry and physics involved it’d probably ring out the pleasure I get from just plain ogling a good Roman Baroque Church or dignified Renaissance chateau, etc. Cheers to blissful ignorance!
Congratulations and thanks for nominating us!
You’re welcome! I’ve really enjoyed seeing all the pictures of your travels.
Marissa! Sorry, it’s not on your about page, but here. I just wanted to thank you for your award. Time’s been crammed on my end, so only now have I gotten to thank you properly, but please have a check when time allows to THATLou’s “awards!” post. Hope you have a lovely rest of the summer!
Kind regards,
Daisy
Daisy,
Please don’t worry! I was happy to nominate you, since I enjoy your posts about the Louvre so much, and I know how easy it is to put these things off. 🙂
Best,
Marissa