Reprise

In reading various blogs I saw that I was nominated for another Liebster award back in March.  The one who nominated me was Sharon Himsl of Shells, Tails & Sails .  I love her blog - and her A to Z series was truly enjoyable, as are her other contributions.  I don't know why or how I missed it - I could find no reference to it around the time it was done - but I certainly meant no snub after such a compliment.

 

The questions were enjoyable, and the eleven facts about me were fun to gather, so  I'm posting them here.  If you don't care for this sort of thing, pass on by!

 

 

Eleven questions from me:

1. What is your favorite form of recreation?

Sitting by water and swishing my feet.  Preferably off the end of a dock.  Although...  going places and looking out the window

 2. What kinds of books do you read?

I once made a list of the books I love.  It was fairly eclectic.  I could say what I don't like, but that would offend people who do like what I don't care for.  so...  I like books you can take in sips and savor.  I like books where you can sense the author's heart, lose yourself in the territory of the book.  I like poetry (anthologies are good), adventure stories (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, or Watership Down) books where you find yourself moving through the dust of centuries, whether they are historical or now (Lord of the Rings).  They can be set in the past, the future or the present.  (And now, as a homiletics professor once said, 'If you haven't struck oil in ten minutes, stop boring!)

 3. Why did you start blogging?

I thought it might be fun to try.  I wasn't looking to grab a following, just to put my thoughts down, rather like journaling.

 3. Do you read books on an e-reader or prefer printed books?

I prefer printed books.  I keep losing my e-reader.  It spent the better part of two months in my suitcase.  They are useful, I know - one woman said it helped her cope when her husband had surgery and she had to spend time in the hospital by his side.  ...but I just lifted a brand new book, riffled the pages and caught a whiff of them.  ...ah...

 4. Name two actors or authors you admire.

Robert Downey, Jr.  He had immense talent, went into a downward spiral - and pulled himself up by his bootstraps.  Elizabeth Goudge is one of my favorite authors.  One of my all-time absolutely indispensable utterly beloved and favorite books was written by her.  The Dean's Watch.  Not her best seller.  She had a depth and lyricism to her writing that, to me, was wonderful.

 5. What makes you laugh?

Incongruity, I think.  Slapstick gets me giggling, and if someone is laughing at himself and enjoying, I can't help joining in.

 6. Which do you prefer and why: dogs or cats?

Ah...  yes?  I have both.  Mine are very similar - loving, funny, very worried if I am sad...

 7. When or where do you feel most creative?

Always when I am somewhere that has absolutely no time or space for writing.  Having made the wisecrack, I'll say that I feel most creative around mountains or oceans or sitting alone in a crowd with a notebook.

 8. What is your favorite fast food or snack?

Oreo cookies and milk...or...spanakopita.

 9. Do you have a special place you go to relax?

I did.  I moved.  I think I need to find another.

 10. Do you have a favorite comic strip?

I really liked Funky Winkerbean in the beginning.  Ditto Calvin & Hobbes.  I also liked PreTeena.

11. If you could travel back in time, where would you like to go?

I would love to see China during the Tang dynasty.  Or Hawaii, before it was 'discovered'.

 

Eleven facts about myself

 

1. I like to sit with my feet pointed to the ground and my toes curled under them (think ballerina en pointe).   It drove my grandfather mad - "You'll break your feet!"
2. I always wanted a horse.
3. I love standing in the wind and watching as it tosses the treetops.
4. In the summer, I love to lie on my back on my parents' dock and gaze up at the stars.  (One time I looked up through infinite space, reflecting on all those millions of stars above me...then I remembered that there is no 'up' or 'down' in space, and I could as well be looking DOWN through infinity.  It made me dizzy and I had to go in.)
5. I love damselflies.  They like to land on my toes when I'm floating on the lake in an inner tube.  I once had a blue one and a green one perched on my toes.
6. I have hazel eyes.
7. I write chapters in my head as I'm running errands.  Once, walking down Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, I suddenly realized that it was a good thing people could not read my mind, since I was at that moment devising a messy end for a villain.
8. I love seeing older couples walking hand in hand.  Enduring love is wonderful,
9. I would eat wild strawberries every day if I could.
10. I am often surprised when I look back at something that happened and realize how truly fortunate and blessed I have been.  This does not mean that I don't want to be a best-seller or independently wealthy.
11. My favorite flower is a rose.  (Lilacs don't count because they are trees.)