Are you a Summer person? A Winter person? Or one of the other seasons suits you best?
I’m definitely Autumnal. If we had springtime, I’d probably like that too. I prefer cool, not hot, weather and I could at this point in my life skip deep winter and be very happy about it.
What is your favorite summertime clothing?
Loose, cool dresses from India with sandals.
Do you find yourself eating out more during the summer? Or making ‘cold food’ like salads and stuff you can heat in the microwave?
We don’t eat out more. There are no decent restaurants around here and anyway, we don’t have the money. We do eat a lot of salads and cold foods. Lots of fruit. Cherries, watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe.
Do you like watermelon? What’s your favorite summertime treat?
No remains — except the pits
I like watermelon. I like most fruit. We don’t grow very good peaches or plums around here, but we do grow wonderful corn. Not a lot, so you have to grab it when it becomes available.
Are you thankful it’s finally (sorta) dry and warm?
We needed some dry weather to get some of the work done on the house. We needed three dry days to get the first coat of color on the deck and we need another three for the next coat. We also need some dry weather to get the deck propped by up.
Wet, but clean deck!Deck with a new color on it.
It’s hard to get much done on the house when it is pouring all the time, especially with a lot of lightning and high winds.
If you were suddenly injured or died, are your bedside table drawers ready for someone else to go through them? If you care to share, what’s the most unusual item someone might find, that might be potentially embarrassing?
Empty pill containers, old connectors for devices I never used and probably don’t own anymore, a variety of odds and ends … who knows? Maybe old pieces of jewelry?
If I’m dead, I can’t think of anything less important than the contents of my night table drawer.
What keeps you going?
My survival instincts. Garry. The dogs. Pure nosiness and a driving desire to see what is going to happen next.
Share a photo or a sentence about ‘your favorite thing(s). Credit to Judy Dystkra-Brown in response to this:
At the end of the song “Everybody Hurts” by R.E.M., where did they all go?
I don’t know the song. Sorry!
What are you grateful for right now?
The usual stuff. It’s what we are all grateful for: being alive, having a life worth living, our dogs, cats, friends and an occasional day full of sunshine!
I realize I am not sharing my world. I’m just answering cute questions. Just as well. I spend so much time sharing it in my own posts, I’m not sure I could handle any more serious sharing!
What do fish do all day? What thoughts do you think they have? (Credit to the awesome Teresa and her Fibbin’ Fridays for this one)
My best guess would be (are you ready?) … swim. Oh, and also they eat and make baby fish during the appropriate season.
Some of them spend lots of time learning because they travel in schools.
What celebrity would you have as a SPOUSE, if you HAD to choose?
I can’t think of any. I’m pretty good with the one I’ve got. Besides, anyone who looks interesting is too young.
What’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever broken?
I blew up a transmission in my first husband’s car. I was learning to drive and it was a manual, three on the stick in an old Chevy Impala, circa 1961.
This is the car. Same style, same colors.
Eventually, he decided maybe I needed driving lessons. That worked out way better.
When was the last time you slept more than 9 hours in a stretch? Why?
Before I got pregnant and definitely before Owen was born and why? Who knows? I was young. Young people sleep well.
Now, I’m up every few hours to go to the bathroom, trying to find a comfortable position for my back, or just because I need a couple of minutes to worry about something.
An Attitude of Gratitude! Share something you were really grateful for this year (so far):
We are still both alive and aren’t yet living in our car.
Be it ever so humble
Last night I tried (mentally) to add up how much money we’ve put into repairing this house and realized we could have easily bought another house by now.
Is it better to suspect something (bad or hurtful) and not know or to have your worst fears confirmed by sure knowledge?
I’m happy in my ignorance on a personal level. I don’t want to know who is gossiping or talking behind my back. If I know more, I might have to do something about it and I prefer not to do anything about it. Gossips and backbiters always get taken down eventually. It always catches up with them.
I also think that people who confess their sins and destroy a relationship are selfish. Whose ends are they serving? Sometimes, please — shut up.
My son turned 50!
Politically and for most other things, I want accurate information.
What makes you laugh aloud? Crack up? Laugh until your sides split? When was the last time you had a great big belly laugh?
Things that are funny. “A Mighty Wind,” anything made by the Monty Python group. Marx brothers. And my friends.
Do you suppose Noah had woodpeckers in the ark? If he did, where did he keep them? Apologies to the Darwinians in the crowd…this is merely for fun, okay?
Presumably, there were two of everything and woodpeckers are part of everything.
Here’s the cake to prove it! What a great cake!
Why is “Charlie” short for “Charles when they are the same number of letters?
It’s a nickname. Now short would be calling Garry “Gar” or me “Mar.” Or Jeff for Jeffrey, Gene for Eugene. I like nicknames better.
What happened in your world this past week that made you feel thankful, joyful or grateful?
Congratulations Kaitlin.
My granddaughter is finally starting college. Joy to the world!
Congratulations Owen!
And my son turned 50 (ouch on MY side … it’s hard to pretend to be young when your kid turns 50!).
At my age? Not really. I probably did, but honestly, I seem to have forgotten what they were. I think maybe they were chocolate covered raspberry jellies. Not much of a guilty pleasure, now that I think about it.
Photo: Garry Armstrong – Downtown Uxbridge
What is the worst pick-up line you ever heard?
On a personal level, I don’t think anyone tried a pick-up line on me. I wasn’t the type. I was too snarky and bookish. Not the pick-up line type.
Photo: Garry Armstrong – Downtown Uxbridge, late winter
But my personal favorite is “Do you come here often?” Garry says that to me every time we bump into each other in the kitchen.
What slang or trend makes you feel old?
Hearing the Beatles as elevator music.
Photo: Garry Armstrong – Wall by the old cemetery
What do you consider the most overrated song?
I don’t listen to music much anymore. I have no idea what people are listening to. If you asked me what the most overrated book was, I might give it my best guess, but a song? It’s a total blank.
Photo: Garry Armstrong – By the Mumford River
Instead of a tender mercies question, here’s a philosophical one. You find a book and begin to read only to discover it is your life. You read to the point at which you currently are, do you flip the page — knowing you will be unable to change events to come?
No. And, I wouldn’t read that far, either. I prefer to live my life, not read about it. Oh, wait. That’s what blogging is for. But at least it’s about what has already happened or is already planned.
If you didn’t have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time?
Pretty much what I already do. If I didn’t have to sleep AND I had more money, it would be a different question with more entertaining answers.
What job would you be terrible at?
I was the worst secretary of all time. I was really bad. I resented taking orders, resented being treated like a “second-rate” worker — and I quit after less than two weeks. I’m sure they were deeply grateful. Lord knows I was.
When was the last time you climbed a tree?
I wasn’t much of a tree climber even when I was a kid. The only time I remember, I stepped in a hornet’s nest which reduced my tree climbing enthusiasm by %150.
Do you count your steps?
No.
Bonus question (just because it’s really silly) What’s the dumbest way you’ve injured yourself?
Mostly by chopping off the tip of a finger while cutting up vegetables. I’ve done it SO MANY TIMES that I’m sure my house is full of traces of my blood. For a while, no one would let me hold a sharp object.
“PUT DOWN THAT KNIFE AND BACK AWAY FROM THE COUNTER!”
I have also slammed my finger in my desk drawer, car door, front door, and one really BIG fire door at school. There are lots more. I just can’t remember them all.
Once again, it’s back to my reader to see where my posts have gone. I knew my email had dropped suddenly. I was so relieved at not having a thousand emails a day to cope with, I failed to realize that half the people I follow are missing, too.
Good old WordPress. They never stop sharing their technical problems with their customers!
QUESTIONS:
What’s the closest thing you’ve experienced to real magic?
I can’t say it was the birth of my son because that was a 23 hour, absolutely EXHAUSTING labor that I thought would never end. If I’d had a proper obstetrician, it might have worked out better. As it was, I was so tired by the time he was born, I think I didn’t wake up for three days. They don’t call it “labor” for nothing.
For real magic? It was being close to death one day, having a vision during the night when the great voice from nowhere told me I was not going to die, then waking up the following morning well enough to go home.
Also, this Cardinal is pretty magical too!
Despite the years passing, it remains magic because it WAS magical. My minister, who really felt I should seriously consider religion as a viable option because he asked me: “What do you want? God to drop by with his social security card and a passport?”
I thought about it and said: “Yes, probably.” I’m that skeptical. But it was magic. Skeptical I may be, but I’ve been pulled back from nearly dead twice … possibly three times. I’m not as sure about the third time … that may just have been really excellent medicine at work.
Who is the messiest person you know? And why?
My daughter-in-law. You had to live with her to really feel it.
If you could know the absolute and total truth to one question, what question would you ask?
God? If you want to prove your might to me, please smite you-know-who in the big white house. Do that, and I WILL believe!
What benefits does art provide society? Does art hurt society in any way?
I think a house without art isn’t home. Art takes you out of yourself and makes the ordinary beautiful. I love art. Paintings and pottery, dioramas and rugs, tapestries and tatting. I love writing and photography and music. I love everything except screechy operatic sopranos (sorry — not a fan of opera).
Qing dynasty rice bowl, typically used by field workers. The blue chicken is a cultural thing. The bowl is almost 200 years old — and it isn’t even close to my oldest pieces of pottery.
You know in China, they had art even for rice peasants? Because they believed everyone needed art. I own some of it and these are among my favorite pieces. Rice bowls decorated with colorful chickens and big clunky horses from the Tang period ridden by servants. For servants to put in a place of honor.
What’s something positive you’d like to share? Can be a smile, a joke, or music..anything that gave you a lift this week!
I’m really, really glad we bought that thing to keep ice off the windshield. I only wish I’d bought a garage too.
To participate in the Ragtag Daily Prompt, create a Pingback to your post, or copy and paste the link to your post into the comments. And while you’re there, why not check out some of the other posts too!
