Thank you!

A big and heartfelt thank you to

Hanni at SweetBeanGardening

Beth at PlantPostings

and Elly at Elly's Tuin

for thinking my blog is good enough to receive the

I appreciate it very much. You made my day!

Now I am a little hazy about the rules but I think I am supposed to:

I. link back to the gracious and wonderful people who have given me the award (see above).

II. tell you 7 things about myself.

Do you really want to know that much about me??

1. I used to be gainfully employed in my younger days but now I am a stay-at-home mother of two rambunctious boys. I feel much happier this way.

2. I just celebrated my 10th wedding anniversary. I met my American husband in Russia 13 years ago, and moved here when it came time for him to leave. He used to compare my move to the abduction of Persephone by Hades, until we discovered the gardening paradise that is California.

3. I have been interested in roses since my childhood in Russia when I used to collect postcards with rose pictures. Since then I have progressed to about 120 live roses, countless perennial companions, fruit trees, ornamental shrubs, and so on. High-maintenance but beautiful!

4. I have become interested in photography recently and have been groping my way around f-stops, shutter speeds, ISO values, and so on. Scary, but I am determined.

5. My life outside of the roses is spent at an ice rink: I am a freestyle figure skater, still actively training. Going fast across the ice and then jumping high is the closest I have ever come to flying. I won't stop until I fall apart.

6. I love to travel, even though recently I have been traveling mostly vicariously. Before kids, mortgage and car payments, my husband and I explored much of the world, especially Europe and the Mediterranean.

7. There aren't any recipes on my blog, but I love to cook. I like simple meals involving a good roast and a glass of an old-world red wine, especially a Chateauneuf, a Pauillac or a Rioja.

III. award from 5 to 15 other new bloggers. This is a bit tricky because I like a lot of blogs (but not all of them are new) and I really really don't want to leave anybody out. I will just mention some of the wonderful people I have recently met and hope they won't mind being listed here. If you have a chance, please visit their blogs, they deserve it!

Shannon's The Garden State

Jess's Children of the Corn

HolleyGarden's Roses and Other Gardening Joys

Gabriel's Jardins Cosmopolites

Christina's Organic Garden Dreams

Sherry's If Only Sweat Were Irrigation

Thank you so much again!