Thanks to Mary Ann at Urban Garden Journal, this blog has been tagged. Actually, it’s the second time I’ve been tagged. (Thanks, In the Garden!) But I was swamped at the time and didn’t get a chance to respond. Also, I was even newer to blogging than I am now, and wasn’t familiar with the game of blog tag. In my occasionally over-cynical mind I mistook it to be some sort of suspect blogger’s pyramid scheme. But in the meantime I’ve realized it’s actually a fun game and a terrific way to get to know more about your fellow bloggers.

The rules as passed down to me from the two taggers are simple, though the two sets of rules vary a bit. If I’ve tagged you, you can pick whichever version you like, or make up something along these lines:

1. Once you have been tagged, in your blog you must list six (or ten) weird things, random facts, or habits about yourself.
2. In that same post, tag five (or six) other bloggers, by linking to their blogs and writing a little about why you’re tagging that blog.
3. Once you’ve done the above, you should leave a note on the blog of the person who tagged you. (That would be me.)
4. The person that is tagged can’t tag back the person who just tagged them.

So…some randomness about me:

1. “Mulch” is one of my favorite words–not to garden with it, necessarily, just the sound of of the word.
2. My shoe size is 11.
3. When other children were wanting to be firemen or police officers I was thinking that I wanted to be a college professor. I didn’t grow out of it until I was three years into a graduate program in music.
4. Though I enjoy novels, I read mostly non-fiction books.
5. The Four Corners region of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah is probably my favorite place on earth.
6. I love good chocolate.
7. In my teen years I appeared as an extra in Paul Bartel’s film, Death Race 2000.
8. I appreciate order, but I seem to attract chaos at least as much.
9. I have a big yellow ocean kayak in the side yard that I haven’t taken out on the water in at least four years.
10. I don’t consider myself particularly interested in popular culture–I wouldn’t know a Britney Spears if one jumped up from the sidewalk and bit me on the butt–but I do enjoy Bravo TV’s Project Runway and Top Chef reality shows, as well as the Daily Show.

And now for the bloggers I’m tagging:

Garden History Girl: Excellent insights into gardens today, informed by gardens past, as well as notes on cultural influences that can influence garden-making.

The Midnight Garden: A blogger on Cape Cod enjoying his garden and its seasons–as well as his morning cups of coffee.

Garden Wise Guy: Always informative, usually funny, sometimes even a little snide–and coming from me that’s a compliment! You might not want your garden to appear on his blog…sometimes like a 10 worst-dressed list…

Landscape + Urbanism: A great roundup of things in the outdoor urbanism realm. Lots of fun ideas to steal and down-size for your own garden.

Pacha Mona: What’s it like to live and garden and cook with interesting ingredients in Costa Rica? This blog captures the textures and flavors of a place that’s on my “visit someday” list.

Garden Porn: With a name like that what’s not to like? A fun read and some great spaces to boot.

There are more–lots more–that I enjoy and would have loved to have tagged. But I need to keep some in store for the next time I’m tagged. And if I haven’t tagged you but you’d like to play, please do! I’ll add you to my list here.