What traditional Christmas decoration is actually a parasitic plant?
I do believe that is mistletoe.
Name something about this holiday season (whatever version you may celebrate) that most people like, but you dislike?
Wrapping packages. I hate wrapping packages. I used to like it but over the years, I would just as soon just hand out the gifts and say “hope you like it.”
What’s your favorite – or least favorite – song is sung traditionally at this time of year?
“Angels We Have Heard on High.” I used to love singing it. All those glorious Ooooohs!
And the last one ———> In the song “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” what “incriminating” evidence was found on Grandma’s back?
Hoofprints on her forehead and Claus marks (what are they?) on her back.
What would you like to share with the world, if time or cost were no object?
Freedom. For everyone. And enough money to live comfortably.
And may we all feel better and more festive very soon!!
What’s the worst topping you could put on popcorn? (credit to Teresa for this one)
Anything other than salt and maybe butter. But I can’t eat it anymore. Too slivery for aging gums.
In what country did Silent Night originate?
I was sure it was Germany, but am now told Austria. Go figure, right?
WARNING! The following question is NOT meant to start a fuss. It’s merely a good discussion question in my opinion. Most everyone knows where I stand on this. If you feel like arguing about it, please give it a pass.) We’re all adults and sensible ones at that. We can be mature about such things, right?
How would you react if there was irrefutable proof that God doesn’t exist? How about if there was irrefutable proof that God does exist?
I wouldn’t believe it regardless. You can’t prove (or un-prove) faith. It’s an opinion, yay or nay. Unless God personally drops by and shows me his a photo ID, it’s faith.
What is the scariest non-banned item you could take on to a plane?
I haven’t the slightest idea. I’m not even sure what IS banned and I have no intention of traveling by plane.
Which version of the holiday celebration do you and your family enjoy? By this I mean do you follow Jewish traditions with Hanukkah; Christian celebrations with Christmas and (for those over the pond) Boxing Day; or some other festivities that I’ve overlooked? Please do share with everyone! I truly feel that this sort of question lets us know a little more about our fellow bloggers without getting too personal (i.e. revealing too much of private lives, which some folks prefer to keep private.)
We just have a little tree. We watch old holiday movies. Garry loves Christmas Eve church, but it always gets held right at dinner time, so we never get there. Which is a pity, because regardless of religion, I love Christmas Carols and know a ton of them. I learned them for Glee Club in elementary school. That was before we weren’t allowed to learn anything with religious content. I didn’t even know the songs were Christian. I just thought they were pretty.
Actually, thinking about it, I know more religious music than most people because, as a music major, I spent years learning Gregorian chant and other early Western music. I’m sure I had my mother very worried.
If you study music, an awful lot of it is religious. Western music started as chanting and “grew up” in churches. When you study music, it’s a long time before you emerge from religious music to “modern” music … and a lot of our modern music is based on old church music too.
I don’t think anyone should be forced to follow anyone else’s religion, but I also think trying to remove all traces of religion from the world is silly. You can’t do it. Religion and religious thought are woven into the way we think. It’s organic. Nor do I think there’s any reason why you can’t believe in god or gods — and yet be a scientist or mathematician. I have never understood why one thing negates the other.
Not all of the things we believe are Judaic or Christian, either. There’s a lot of much older stuff woven into modern thought. There are many reminders of more ancient religions which are part of “modern” thinking.
Sorry for going on so long. This was what I studied in school. It began with music but moved into religious philosophy. I wrote papers about it. I still dream about it.
The near decade I spent in Israel was no coincidence. Despite what I may have said, my travels had nothing to do with how many times I read “Exodus” (the novel by Leon Uris, not the second book of the Torah).
I needed to be there. Because I needed to understand. Things.
There comes a time when you no longer know what you are doing, only that you are always doing something. This has been one of those weeks. Between doctor appointments, pharmacy runs, shopping, and just keeping the house from becoming a massive dirt zone, there’s not a lot of time left over. Add it taking some pictures, processing the pictures, writing some stuff for the blog, there’s even less time.
Then there’s a leave a little time for just relaxing, reading a book. I was up until 2 last night clearing out email. It comes by the hundreds per day and there’s no way I can manage it. So far, nothing has gotten it under control.
If you, as a five-year-old, woke up in your current body, what would happen, what would you say?
Holy shit! Where did I get all these scars? What HAPPENED?
What is a relationship deal breaker for you? Whether you are talking about a romantic one, a friendship or a related to sort of relationship?
Unreliability, rumor-mongering, and trust-breaking.
Unreliability takes a long time. It can take years for me to realize that this person is never going to be where he or she says she or he will be, or do what was promised. It’s a slow deal breaker, where I gradually give up calling, stop setting dates. Recognize it will never change. These relationships stay pleasant but become less and less important.
Rumor-mongering — especially in combination with eavesdropping — is a killer. Once is enough. People who talk behind my back are not my friends. Actually, they aren’t anybody’s friend.
Trust breaking is a business thing. Like dealing with a company for a long time, then realizing they are gradually losing the qualities that made you work with them in the first place. Deliveries are late or don’t arrive. Contracts are, if not ignored, then dealt with sloppily. It is another version of unreliability but in the business arena. Ultimately, it means you won’t use their services. It may take a while before you replace them, but it will happen. You can’t continually disappoint customers without payback. Heads up businesses. It can happen to you, too.
The old 14Z in its youth …
My current best example is Dell. I bought their computers for years because you knew you’d get a good product. Originally, you also got good service. First, the service departed without leaving a note behind. Next, the quality of the product weakened … but not the prices or service contracts. Now, they are a shadow of Microsoft and I expect they will vanish in a few years. What a pity!
Is there something out there, a thought, an idea, a current event, or a fear that you find deeply unsettling?
Yeah, like realizing our home planet is being destroyed by idiots.
And for something more whimsical, if you were arrested with no explanation, what would your friends and family assume you had done?
Caught raiding a pharmacy for asthma medication. No jury would convict me.
What were you grateful for this week? Something that brought some joy into your world?
Yesterday this was a mere bud!
Birds, bird feeders, cameras, and flowering Christmas Cactus.
Today is Halloween! Got your costume ready? Stocked up on candy? Good. I’m looking forward to a bag full of candy. Yum.
Name something you wouldn’t want to run into in a dark forest or in an abandoned building.
I wouldn’t BE in a dark forest OR an abandoned building. Especially not in combination.
Share the creepiest thing that’s ever happened while you were alone.
I found a spider in my bed. I screamed, then I dislodged it. I have no rational fear of spiders. I’m just scared to death of them. Mindless paranoia.
What would you like your last words to be?
See you soon!
Do you believe in any ‘mythical’ monsters like chupacabras or shadow people?
No.
How long do you think you would last in a horror movie?
I wouldn’t even be in the audience, much less the movie.
Are you afraid of or find clowns creepy?
I find clowns weird, but not necessarily creepy. But I also don’t find them particularly funny — even when I was a kid.
In the zombie apocalypse, what would be your weapon of choice?
First, I plan to be living in one of the world’s best anti-Zombie apocalypse location on earth.
Other than that, I figure a paint gun with iron filings in the paint. You know, all creatures from the Never world are terrified of iron.
Have you ever had your tarot cards read?
I used to read them. I creeped myself out.
Anyone know the reason behind putting candles in jack-o-lanterns?
I assumed to make them light up in the dark. No?
Do you think putting special emphasis on certain holidays – like Halloween is ‘spooky’ for example — is a good idea or just more mindless entertainment for the masses?
I like Halloween when I was a kid, but it wasn’t nearly the big deal it has become. The problem in this country is that every holiday eventually becomes another way for malls to draw crowds. People actually sent Halloween cards. Halloween cards? Really?
Share a positive thought or message or something that’s inspired you this week.
The Red Sox did it! Their best team ever took the World Series, their fourth win in 14-years. Yay Sox!
From Melanie, these are the second set of her questions. I feel like I should copy Fandango’s answers because basically, they are my answers. However, I’ll try to say something original.
I am probably a better speaker, but I listen. And I hear not only what someone says to me, but what they didn’t say.
Photo: Garry Armstrong – Chatting about flowers
You might say I hear between the lines.
If you were asked to design a warning label that would be tattooed on your skin, what would it say?
I have a tattoo. It’s a Phoenix. I got it after I survived my third near-death experience.
I didn’t know I had a couple more to come. I actually (haha) thought I was done.
What are you passionate about?
I’m passionate about writing. Blogging is what I’m doing this time, but I have always written, professionally and just because. Even when I was earning my living as a technical writer, I also wrote funny stuff and free-lance news pieces … and some really good letters.
You could say I’m also passionate about taking pictures, but that has more of a hobby/enthusiast status.
Really, though I am most passionate about learning. I’m a born-again researcher. I will track an idea as far as I can until I’m satisfied that I’ve learned either 1) everything I want to know about it, or 2) I’ve learned everything there is to know about it. For now.
Whatever “it” might be. I do not understand people who lack the curiosity to discover what is going on in the world.
I suppose one of the things that upset me about younger gens is their lack of interest in concepts and ideas. Philosophy. Their minds do not seem to wander into strange and wondrous places. I hope there are some — hopefully many — who do wander because they will save us all
If you could change one thing about your world, what would it be?
No Trump presidency.
What gave you a reason to smile this past week?
I think the Red Sox have the Eastern Division in the bag. It doesn’t mean we will win the post-season games. Post-season is another season, but at least it means we’ll get to the post-season.
Is summer almost over? How did this happen? I’m not ready. Hold back the snow … I’M NOT READY!
Do you prefer eating foods with nuts or no nuts?
Do I like to put nuts in my food?
Not unless the recipe calls for nuts and to be fair, other than pine nuts, I can’t think of a recipe that requires nuts. This is not to say I don’t like nuts. I particularly love cashews (though someone assured me cashews are really a fruit, but they sure do crunch like a nut).
This kind of peanut?
And then there are pistachios. There was a time, when I lived in New York with my first husband, when we found a place in lower Manhattan where they sold five pounds of in-the-shell pistachios (with green tint or not) for $10. We would take them home and eat all five pounds of them in a day or two.
My fingernails would be sore from prying open pistachios. The were empty shells everywhere, too. Behind every sofa cushion on in every corner, nut shells.
Can you overdose on pistachios? I’m pretty sure you can’t because if you could, I’d have already done it.
Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?
Until people started asking this question online, I never thought about it. If they were open, that was okay. Closed? That was okay too. I don’t have a thing about it. I don’t care.
Open closet
I never thought demons were hiding in my closet. Unless you count my father, of course.
Are you usually late, early, or right on time?
I was always early and Garry was always late. These days, we are almost always slightly early, depending on traffic.
What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week?
We got a new-er car. I’m still tickled pink about it. Or, in this case, tickled Orange Crush.
Yuck, ick, feh. I don’t like olives, green, black or any other color. I also loathe anchovies. Slimy salty nasty stuff. Yuck, ick, feh.
What’s your favorite room in your home?
The living room with the bedroom coming in a solid second. But I really like most of the rooms. It’s just that we don’t use all of them anymore.
This house is bigger than we need.
What fictional family would you be a member of?
Fiction family? How about the Plantagenets? Can I be Eleanor of Aquitaine puleeze? Raise an army, live a really long time when everyone else is dying before me? So that all the people who hated me are long since deceased before me?
Orchard house where the Alcott (March) girls grew up. It’s in Concord, Massachusetts
Other than that, I could be one of the March sisters. Guess which one?
What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week?
We bought a newer car. More to come on this, but it was fun. Also, there was something unpleasant happening in the rear end of the older car. Possibly the differential or maybe more bearings. Whatever it was, expensive.
But now, NO problems. We have a three-year newer car for the same price and it only has 28,000 miles on it and … it’s so very ORANGE.
The Orange Renegade! You can see the red Patriot through the window.
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