The blog year in review, Part II

I decided to make a "favorite blog posts" list for 2005. Not my posts, but others I've read. My husband told me that I shouldn't. The alienate-everybody-who's-not-on-it potential is enormous. There are so many blogs I love that are not represented here. Blogs that make me smile or laugh or cry on a daily basis. But these are the posts that I remembered off the top of my head. The ones that I've gone back to read more than once.

Nuthatch at Bootstrap Analysis writes very knowledgeably about nature and ecology issues and most of all, birds. But the one that really made me grin was about musical ear-worms.

Danny Miller of Jew Eat Yet? has a passion for classic movies, and an impressive collection of personal letters from 1970s celebrities. But in this hilarious post, it's Jennifer Aniston who's trying to control his brain.

Dave Bonta writes one of my favorite blogs, Via Negativa. For me he's got the perfect mixture of poetry and nature and levity and "hmm let me think about that for a while" and "hold on where's my dictionary". Here is Dave channeling the original Nittany Lion. (Language alert here... that's one angry lion.)

Lorianne of Hoarded Ordinaries (love that title) keeps a wonderful illustrated blog of her life in New Hampshire. She wrote very movingly about hunger early in the year.

If you have yet to read Somewhere on the Masthead, you're in for a treat. Magazine Man is the father of Art Lad, who's been mentioned here before. MM can be somewhat of a klutz... (who else has so many head injuries?) but gives such good story.

Jenni of Chanticleer is a poet of many facets, whose lighthearted side often shows through on her blog. She normally removes her work from her blog after a short time, but agreed to put this post back up so I could show you her poem that I love, titled Thirst.

One thing I love about reading A WhipPoorWill is that I so often feel as though I'm right there with Trix. On a hike together I have a feeling that we'd take 3 hours to cover the first 100 feet or so (and be perfectly satisfied). Here she is with her father.

Chris Clarke writes so beautifully. I suspect that most people read his blog Creek Running North for the political information, but I confess that I visit for the nature, the wildlife, and the critters. Tissue warning.

It's fascinating to read about Clare's corner of the world over at The House & Other Arctic Musings... so different from here. His description of Halloween in the far north was especially captivating. (And where else are you going to see a costume involving "a narwhal tusk, a muskox horn, a tea pot, a dress, two different shoes, a caribou parka, and another 'person' attached to the a**"?)

Anne, aka Yellowstone Wolf, over at Inscribed on the Forest Floor, takes the most breathtaking nature photos you'd ever hope to see. So why do I keep going back to this one of her journals? Because they're just so wonderfully made - because I love her handwriting - because I want to read them too!

And finally, from Maktaaq, probably my favorite blog post ever written: Of monkeys, lightbulbs, and factory life.