Friday Five: Blogroll Spotlight

Over at RevGalBlogPals, Mary Beth remarks:

"On my blog sidebar is a list titled, "Blogs I Read Every Day." After my mother became a blogger, she asked me how I could possibly read that many blogs daily!? I had to confess it then: Okay, I don't read them all every day! I have over 100 on there! But I have favorites, and you do too.Some of you probably use feed readers to let you know when your favorite bloggers have posted...not me, not yet. I just have folks who are part of my day-to-day.So for today's Friday Five, give us five blogs you visit regularly, and tell us briefly WHY you like them. These can be RevGal and Pal bloggers and others ... or news sites, knitting sites, etc. Who are you showing the love to on a pretty constant basis?Hopefully we will all get to know some new bloggy friends this way!"

Well, oddly enough, I already did a very similar post earlier this week when I got around to responding to the Fabulous Blogger award I got from Kaye, a fellow mystery-reader who blogs at Meanderings and Muses. However, there are also some other blogs I follow, so here goes:

1. Rick Horowitz and I both went to A Host at Last U, and both worked on the student newspaper. Rick pitched for the baseball team and was the Sports Editor, among other things; and a couple of years after graduation gave me a fleeting moment of fame when he mentioned my name in a column he wrote for the New York Times which was widely syndicated. He actually makes a living writing, and his trenchant remarks on politics and other current events are well worth reading. He also appears sometimes on Wisconsin Public TV, for you lucky Cheeseheads out there.

2. Julie Bowe is Onkel Hankie Pants's cousin, and has also been making a living writing for quite a while. She's published two good children's books and I think the third is not far off. I like to keep up with what she's doing -- a post a while back about making aebleskiver with her son was especially great. Hmm, both my first two choices live in Wisconsin!

3. Crimson Rambler is a RevGalBlogPal and gives us the Canadian Anglican viewpoint. I think maybe we are kindred spirits and I just love the way she puts things. I'd read her every day if she posted every day, but I know she is very busy.

4. Celeste is a friend of my elder daughter's with whom I've spent only a few hours of facetime a couple of years ago. She's currently the stay-at-home mom to "the cutest baby ever" (according to my younger daughter who got to visit with the family recently) and as always, an artist who amazes me with her unending creativity. She also sells some of her art on Etsy, which is a site well worth looking at.

5. Poe's Deadly Daughters is just one of several group blogs I read, all connected with mystery/detective fiction in some way. I chose them because I won two books in one of their recent giveaways (never let it be said I can't be bribed!) They're all good writers and they also occasionally have guest bloggers or interviews with other mystery writers. They're quite entertaining even when they aren't writing mysteries.

Thanks, Mary Beth, for this Friday Five. Many of the blogs I read and love came to my attention through other people's blogrolls!