blog roll

When the kids were little, I went camping with another family somewhere on the other side of the mountains where it isn’t supposed to rain much, but it rained the whole time. As we stood around our campfire in the drizzle, a boy from a different campsite came and stood at our fire, not really saying anything. It was pretty awkward, like, um, does he know that we all know each other, and if he walks up and stands here, he should probably say something?

I felt sorry for him because any time we were around, he showed up and stood there, not talking much, and his name was bad, like Marvin or something. You just knew this kid was teased at school. That name wasn’t gonna help, and neither were his parents, who were the drunken yelling sort of people. I really didn’t mind feeding him and stuff, but he wasn’t the sort of kid who’s fun to have around, which clearly wasn’t his fault, but still.

At any rate, finding blogs to link to makes me feel a little like Marvin. There I am, following the blogs of people I don’t know, just sidling up to someone elses' campfire, standing there awkwardly, not saying anything. That’s one problem. And if I link to big famous blogs, it feels a little like crashing the Obama’s Thanksgiving, (not that I know what that feels like – that wasn’t me). So, allow me to mention, in the least creepy way possible, the blogs I’ve posted links to.

Cliff Mass, local weather genius. He's serious about the weather, and what I love is that he assumes you are, too. Even if you live far from this particular weather (which, by the way, has been amazingly warm), you might get a kick out of how passionate he is about forecasting, and data. (Oh, is that just me?) He’s one of those people who’s so into what he’s doing that it doesn’t occur to him that anyone might not be. Plus, he’s always right.

Cakespy is just a sweet (no pun intended, truly) blog about cakes and so on. Jess creates her own cupcake art, and she isn’t snobby about ingredients: she’ll make stuff out of crushed oreos just as often as gourmet chocolate, and I think the food world needs a little less pretension and a lot more joy, and she’s got that. They have cake gumshoes all around the country now, so if you need a recommendation for a pastry on the road, check it out.

Yoga Today, well, if I can’t take a class in real with my most excellent instructors, I go here. They have one great free class a week, which seems pretty generous.

And finally, Agony in Eight Fits is a nice blog with interesting, succinct posts about current events, books, and whatever else is on the authors’ mind. It’s not so provincial or rambling as this blog, which is a good thing, and it’s also in Maine, which, while not quite as far north as us, I feel a little kindredness because they know what it’s like to have long dark winters. (Not to be all one-upsman-ish about our suffering, but they will experience 20 more minutes of daylight tomorrow than we will.)

Okay, that’s all. Enjoy the other blogs. Recommend more, if you like.