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{Disclaimer: I had to use Live Writer to general this blog due to the amount of graphics/pictures I incorporated. Which means it’s pretty blah, the font not too exciting an the layout not quite what I wanted, especially for a blog that points folks toward a very creative blog!}
As I said in my first bestowing of the award, there are SO many deserving bloggers out there (I have a list of who I’d like to give the award to.)
This time, I’m going to try and cut paste a bit differently, so that the recipient, Wendy of Picnic with Ants blog, origin of the award, and the only criteria for acceptance are easier to read (not in several different fonts in several different colo(u)rs.) So here goes – I hope to get this finished before the internet goes on strike on 18/01/2012, so I can get Wendy’s hon(u)or out there.
Kate Kresse, of Belive Away, originated the Candle Lighter Award to: . . . “light a candle in the darkness that envelopes us all at times. I want to lighten loads and light the way. I gravitate towards positive people and positive blogs. I want to start a blog award that reflects my love for the positive in the blogosphere.”
Kate asks little of the winner – to link back to her comments when the blog been posted, and to, of course, if you choose, to pass the award along to anyone you feel deserves it. You can award it as many times as you like, all that Kate asks is that you link your post back to her site.
Now, on to the person and blog I’m nominating for the award, someone who shines a light in her particular chronic illness community, the chronic illness community in general, and in my life particularly: Wendy of Picnic with Ants. Wendy has to deal daily with headaches, vertigo, disequilibrium and the other effects of Meniere’s disease. She blogs honestly and openly about her illness; how it has affected her life; shattered some dreams; and changed her future. The things she has to face like further hearing loss, endless operations, tinnitus, and the list goes on. She also advocates for those folks dealing with chronic illnesses such as Meniere’s and other chronic illnesses as evidenced by her recent posting: Help End Federal Neglect of Headache Disorders.
And, if her current blog wasn’t enough, Wendy, as an artist, has created another blog: Create to Heal. As she writes of this project:
Why Create To Heal?: Art can be therapeutic. “I am not an Art Therapist, I am simply someone who uses art to help deal with the day to day trials of living with a chronic illness. My goal is to create something every day! Draw, Paint, Make a Collage, Take a Picture, Create a Recipe…anything. I may not be able to post every day. However, I will try to post every thing I’ve created. (so some days you may get one day’s worth of creation, other days you may get many.) When one lives with a chronic illness some days it can be hard to accomplish anything. Having this goal to create something every day, gives me something to strive for. It also gives me an outlet to share how living with a chronic illness affects me. I’d love to hear your story. To see your creations. You will see that things do not have to be perfect. Just doing something will help.”
Here are just some examples of what she is able to create despite the pain and disequilibrium she lives with daily:
The Last Dance.
Leaves blowing in the wind
copywrite, of course, on all images belong to Wendy (just so you know)
As part of her artistic side, she participated in 
Art Every Day Month during during November 2011.
Wendy is a multifaceted individual, blogger, writer, creative person. And, without going into personal details, Wendy has been my candle in the darkness as I’ve tried to navigate my mental illness issues and problems finding treatment. She has helped light the paths at the tao of the crossroads; she truly has been my candle lighter.
I think her drawing, Hope, best symbolizes all that Wendy stands for, and I am very pleased to nominate her as my second candle lighter award winner.
http://dogear6.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/adding-a-widget-to-your-sidebar/ will help you, Wendy, attach the candle lighter award to your side bar (thanks again to Kate both for initiating this award, and for the badge instructions, which I also want to thank dogear6 and Becca Givens for helping me place my badge on my side bar. Thanks for someone who is less than techsavy.)
* (One word of caution, only, Wendy writes about ALL aspects of her dealing with the disease and her relationship with her wonderful husband, Stuart. There may be some posts that are too personal for some folks to read comfortably, depending on who they are and how they react to the good, the bad, and the ugly (and the amazing) of being a couple dealing with chronic illness.)
And, I already have my 3rd nominee in mind – if all goes well, I could be posting about that tomorrow. (Or Thursday – time will tell.)
Thanks for listening.
Her completion of the NHBPM Challenge (
