Thursday Thirteen #333

Thirteen things I wish I had done differently growing up:

1. Watched my weight. Up until I married at the tender age of 20, I did not have a weight problem. It crept up on me after I took a bunch of hormones for infertility. Suddenly there was poundage.

2. Exercised. I have always been rather sedentary - give me a book over a jog any time. But I would have been much better off if I had fallen into a regular exercise routine when I was a teenager.

3. Learned to cook. I do okay - I can roast chicken, and follow most recipes, but I don't know how to make a soufflé or crème de anything. I would like to be able to fix real, wonderful, and healthy meals.

4. Learned how to eat healthily. This ties into to #1 and #3. I grew up in a household where as long as you weren't hungry, you were eating healthy. I thrived on bologna and catsup sandwiches for a time, along with gallons of southern sweet tea. To this day diet books stymy me. I can't for the life of me understand how one tiny little ounce of chocolate can turn into 13 pounds. Seemingly overnight. It's like the worst kind of magic, with Aunt Clara performing a nose twitch with a broken wand.

Me in 2012.

5. Gone to college right out of high school. I obtained my BA 12 years after I graduated from high school, and my masters only two years ago, just barely managing to finish before I turned 50. I wish I had gone on and received a Ph.d. and become a college professor sometimes. I think I probably would have been good at it.

6. Learned to be less introverted. I am very shy and quiet (though some might think otherwise) and I do make friends easily. I love a lot of people and feel warmly toward even more, but I am not a person people call with invites for luncheons or anything much else, for that matter. This is a skill I think I could have learned easier when I was younger. I might still learn more about it now, but I think it's too late for it to make a major impact.

Some of my blogging friends when we met in RL in 2009.

7. Learned more "crafty" things. I am not very good at such things as painting, sewing, or creating stuff from broken whatevers. I have done some cross-stitch in the past and it was passable but nothing to write home about. The best compliment my art professor in college could come up with generally was "that is a nice line there," when she looked at my work. One nice line out of bunches of squiggles.

8. Kept less stuff. I am not up to hoarder status, thank goodness, but I do tend to be a packrat, especially with things like books and papers. Now I need to get rid of it.

9. Kept a list of books I've read. I did not start doing this until about 2007, and I have read at least 50 books a year every year of my life. So my list should have 2000 or more books on it, instead of about 450. I can't remember every book I ever read, that's for sure.

10. Spent more time outside. I was an indoor girl, always had my nose in a book, and while I would occasionally take a walk through the fields and forests that surrounded the farm I grew up on, I did not partake of them as I should have. Nor do I do this today as frequently as I would like. Things need to become habits.

11. Spent time looking at the spiritual side of life. I was raised outside of an established religion and my spiritual examinations, which did not really occur until later in life, have been and continue to be all over the place. I wish I had started sooner. I don't have time to cover them all now, much less truly understand anything.

Trillium.

12. Learned the names of herbs, flowers, birds, and other wildlife. I have learned some of this over the years but I would love to be able to walk out in the field and say, "this is a dewdrop" or "this an anemone" or "this is bloodroot" or "this is a trillium" or "that bird is a spotted watusy doing the meringue" or whatever. Instead I have to take a field guide with me and look things up.

13. Continued to speak and study foreign languages. I had three years of Spanish and a year of Latin in high school, and while I remember a few Spanish phrases, I've forgotten most everything I learned. There is no way I could carry on a conversation in Spanish, and I regret that.



Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 333nd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

The Lost Generation

Sunday I read an article about how baby boomers who are my age really don't belong in that category.

I wholeheartedly agree. I have long called myself a member of a lost generation. We are too young to be baby boomers, and too old to be Generation X.

I did not come of age in the 1960s - I was born then. The hippie era was a blimp on my radar, something I saw from a distance but could not experience because I was too young. I admired go-go boots, tie-dyed t-shirts, and long hair on guys, but by the time I was old enough to make those decisions for myself, it was 1975. Tie-dye was out and preppy was in. Rock 'n roll was out, and disco was in. I grew up watching The Brady Bunch and Charlie's Angels, not Leave it to Beaver or Father Knows Best.

So I am quite happy to see someone confirming what I have known all along - I don't belong with the Baby Boomers. The US Census defines baby boomers as folks born from 1946 to 1964. I am 50 years old and someone who is 18 years older than I has little in common with me. We grew up in different eras.

I grew up reacting to the world someone who was 18 when I was born was making. I could only sit back and watch because I was but a child, and unable to do anything else.

My first national memory is watching a man walk on the moon when I was six years old. I don't remember when JFK was killed because I was only 5 months old. My first real political memory is of the Patty Hearst kidnapping, not the Vietnam War, even though that was going on while I was alive. But my awareness was that of a young girl growing up in a rural area, where we only received one TV station.

Patty Hearst was kidnapped in 1974, when I was 11 years old. The things a true Baby Boomer would have been horrified by - Kent State, the shooting of Bobby Kennedy - went over my head. I was vaguely aware but my goodness, Kent State happened in 1970. I was seven years old. I was playing with Barbie and in the second grade!

So to lump me, and all of us who were born from about 1960 - 1968, in the same era, just seems wrong. I imagine there are some older Generation Xers who feel like they are in the wrong generation, too. And they belong with me, in this lost generation.

A book that will be released in the next year calls us "Generation Jones," named after the term "jonesying" which apparently my lost generation coined. It is not a term I use or care for but Generation Jones works for me. We might just as well have been Generation Smith.

For we are a small legion that cannot move forward because of those before us. We were not able to get the good jobs, make the decent money, and be upwardly mobile. We did okay, but we did not do as well as our older true Baby Boomer counterparts. By the time I turned 18, Ronald Reagan was elected president. There was a recession. When we built our house in 1987, the interest rate on it was 13 percent. At the time the talking heads said, "Oh, it will never go lower again."

Shows what they know.

But I am not a Baby Boomer. The US Census can stick me in there if they want, but I have not been, nor ever will be, satisfied with that moniker. I am not sure I will like Generation Jones, but I will say, as I have for many years, that those who are around my age are really a lost generation.

Pyrex Makes Good

Back in the middle of the month, I wrote about my Pyrex dish exploding.

The post, along with photos of the thing in a 1,000 pieces, can be seen here.

Apparently, exploding Pyrex is not a new phenomenon. Snopes.com has a post about here. Here's an article about Pyrex and Anchor Hocking dishes that notes that the January 2011 issue of Consumer Reports all but said "don't buy these dishes."

This Consumer Affairs site has over 1,000 reports of exploding Pyrex.

Pyrex is now sold by World Kitchen, and after my Pyrex dish blew up, I called the company the next day. I was nice and said I was only calling because I was concerned and thought they should know the dishes blow up; I did not ask for a replacement nor was I calling to ask for one.

The man who answered the phone did not seem phased by my description of exploding dishware. Instead he chastised me a bit because surely I had used the dish improperly, and then he said he would send me another to replace the one that broke. I got the impression that my phone call was not out of the ordinary for their customer service.

The new dish arrived last week. My old dish was made of purple glass; this one is clear.

It also came with a list of instructions and precautions.

I grew up with Pyrex, as I am sure many others did. I don't recall my mother having to post a list of things I should and shouldn't do with the glass, but apparently now that is the case. It seemed to me to be virtually indestructible in those long-gone days.

Here are the warnings for the dish I received:

• Avoid sudden temperature changes to your glassware. Do not add liquid to hot glassware, place hot glassware on a wet or cool surface, or handle hot glassware with a wet towel. Do not place hot glassware directly on a countertop or any metal surface or in the sink. Allow hot glassware to cool on a cooling rack, dry potholder, or dry cloth. Allow hot glassware to cool before washing, refrigerating or freezing.

• Oven must be preheated before inserting glassware. Do not insert glassware into oven for cooking or reheating until the oven has been preheated to the desired temperature.

• Do not use on or under a flame or other direct heat source, including on a stovetop, under a broiler, on a grill or in a toaster oven.

I appreciate the fact that the company replaced the dish; that was nice of them, especially since I didn't ask. However, I am not sure I want to use it. It seems to me like a kitchen is a place where people do things like set hot glassware down on counters or whatever, and I am getting older and more forgetful. I need things that are not quite so delicate.

So I picked up a couple of metal Wilson pans last week and plan on eventually replacing most of my glass cookware with something else in time.

But I did want to report that the company made good on the exploding dish.

Books: Skipping Christmas

Skipping Christmas
By John Grisham
292 pages
Copyright 2002
Audiobook

I don't know why I chose to listen to a book about Christmas with the holiday just behind me, but when I saw the title in the library I recalled that I had enjoyed another of Grisham's non-courtroom novels, so I picked it up.

This is a short book - five hours tops - and I knew from the beginning how it would end.

The Kranks say goodbye to their daughter, who leaves the US a month before Christmas to join the Peace Corps in Peru. Luther Krank, who is an accountant, goes home and adds up all they spend on the upcoming holiday. Holy cow, it's $6,100! All of that money for gift wraps, turkey, presents, parties, dresses, and other stuff, down the drain.

He convinces his wife Nora, sad about her daughter's leaving, that they should just skip Christmas this year. Instead they should take a cruise and pamper themselves a bit.

The story is more about the crass commercialism of the holiday than anything else, as well as a biting commentary on the pressure our family and friends place upon us to conform to the norms. Luther and Nora are now outcasts in a sea of friendly faces. No one can believe they will skip Christmas. The neighbors take great pleasure in trying to one-up themselves decorating simply because the Kranks are not. It becomes so bad that the Kranks have to sneak in and out of their own home. I felt sorry for them but not once did I think this overblown. It all felt very real - too real.

If this sounds familiar, it's because there was a movie, Christmas with the Kranks, made out of this story. I thought so but I'm not much of a movie watcher so I wasn't sure until I just looked it up. The movie stars Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis. I will have to try to watch it sometime.

Maybe I'm a Nerd

From Sunday Stealing

Fifteen Meme

1. What was your first job like?

A. I grew up on a farm; I have always worked. I raised baby calves, fed the chickens, watched my brother, carried in firewood, washed the dishes, swept the floor, and occasionally fixed dinner all before I was 12 years old. I did some babysitting, worked as a receptionist for my father, and then worked as a parts manager for a machine shop before becoming a legal secretary. Then I worked as a newspaper reporter, a freelance writer, a paralegal, and professional student (which isn't a paying job but I did receive a couple of small grants). And housewife. Can't forget that. 
2. It’s a typical Sunday, how are you spending it?

A. Read the paper, read email, check out a computer game, read a book. Since this Sunday is the Daytona 500, I imagine that will be on the TV, though I may or may not be watching it.

3. What was the happiest day of your life?

A. I should say my wedding day, which was a very happy day, but to be truthful the day I received my master's degree, which was May 20, 2012, was a pretty darned happy day for me. I worked hard to get that diploma, especially this late in life. And I did it all myself.

4. What was the best decision you ever made?

A. To marry my husband.

5. Tell your go-to “pretend” game as a child (who was your alter-ego?)

A. I don't really understand this question. I had imaginary friends, is that what you're asking?

6. What email service do you use?

A. I use four of them.

7. What fandoms would you consider yourself a part of?

A. I used to be a part of the greatest fandom ever, that of Xena: Warrior Princess. Check out whoosh.org for insight into how vast and wonderful this fandom was. It came as the Internet began to blossom, and was among the first nerdy fandoms to reach long arms into mainstream media. I was very active in the fandom; I wrote things for Whoosh, some under my real name, many under a pseudonym. How many things? Pretty much something for every single episode (5 years worth). And while there will never be another fandom like Xena, I also consider myself a Trekkie, and I like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And maybe I'm a Big Bang Theory nerd.

8. Do you use anything on your lips? (eg. Chapstick, gloss, balm, lipstick)

A. I use Burt's Bees Honey Lip Balm.

9. How many devices do you own which can access the internet?

A. Eight? We'll go with eight.

10. Last strong smell you can remember smelling?

A. Vanilla.

11. If you had to move your birthday to another date, which one would you choose and why?

A. I like my birthday, why would I want to move it? It's in June, it's not close to any holidays, and I share the day with an uncle who is a year younger than I (figure that one out, kids).

12. Inspiration behind your blog title?

A. I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains, in the country, and I believe that life is magic. Got it? Blue Country Magic.

13. If you could spend a rainy day with anyone in the world, who would you choose and why?

A. My husband, because I love him. But if we want to be more broadminded, then I would go with Ursula Le Guinn, because she's a wonderful writer and I admire her work. Maybe she could teach me something.

14. Is there a foreign culture that you love?

A. Can't say that there is, though I do have a fondness for my Scots and Irish heritage.

15. Do you have a favorite soft drink?

A. I drink water and decaf tea. That's it, unless I am ill, in which case I add a little Gatorade. However, I used to be a big Coke drinker, and though it has been months, occasionally I like an A&W Root Beer.

My Preferred Go-To Name

Saturday 9: Susan

Unfamiliar with this week's song? Hear it here. (It's an oldie but a goodie.)

1) In this song, our hero tells Susan that "no other girl could ever take the place of you." Crazy Sam feels that no other earmuffs could ever take the place of the ones she left in restaurant coat room last month. Tell us about something you recently broke, lost or misplaced.



Pyrex exploded,
 glass went everywhere.

A. Blogger has been broken for about two months now. First it stopped working completely after Microsoft updated me to IE 11 and in the last 10 days I started getting another, different error message after another MS update. It is very frustrating. And my internet provider is "upgrading" and stuff just stops working. None of that is within my control, though. My biggest breakage occurred a few weeks ago when my Pyrex dish exploded - literally - in my kitchen. 

2) When this song was first released back in 1968, the name Susan was very popular. According the Social Security Administration, it was one of the top 10 baby girl names of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Today it's not even in the top 100. Do you know anyone named Susan (or Suzanne)?

A. I do. And Susan Pumpernickel is my preferred go-to name when someone asks me my favorite name or the name I would like to have. You've probably seen it in a Saturday 9 before.

3) The Buckinghams were Chicago's attempt to get in on The British Invasion begun by the Beatles. (Hence the silly suits.) But they took their name from Chicago's famous Buckingham Fountain. If Crazy Sam visited your neighborhood, what local site would you recommend she check out?

The Mill Mountain Star. Roanoke is known as the Star City of the South (also the Magic City) because we have this huge funky neon sign on top of Mill Mountain. You can see a picture of the star here, and at this link you can see the star cam, which shows you a view of the entire city as seen from Mill Mountain (which really is a mountain). There is also a zoo on top of the mountain, Mill Mountain Zoo. I have not been on top of Mill Mountain to see the star probably since I was dating; I need to rectify that this year.

4) Chicago is known for deep dish pizza. Describe your dream pizza. (Calories, carbs and gluten need not be a factor because it's dream pizza!)

A. Hmm. Nice thick crust, chewy cheese, with tomato sauce that has just the right amount of spices for me, loaded with fresh veggies - tomato, green pepper, mushrooms, onions, maybe a little broccoli, zucchini, and yellow squash. A nice veggie pizza. As a side note, I have not had pizza since my birthday last June and would really like one but it will probably be June before my doctor says I can eat one again.

5) The Buckinghams got their big break by winning a local "battle of the bands." Do you often go to concerts or bars to listen to live music?

Me rockin' it out in 1979.

A. The short answer is no. I haven't been to a bar since I married 30 years ago. The last concert I went to was a Christmas concert about two years ago. However, when I was in high school I played in a rock and roll band and we played in a battle of the bands and won. I played rhythm guitar and sang. Damn, that was a long time ago.

6) The best-selling book in 1968 (the year "Susan" was released) was Airport by Arthur Hailey. It was set during a snowstorm at Lincoln International, a fictional airport based on Chicago's O'Hare. What's the most recent airport you flew to? Why were you there?

A. Ha ha. I last flew in 1993. I flew from Roanoke to Baltimore to Orlando, and we went to Disney World to celebrate my 30th birthday and my graduation from Hollins College (B.A. in English). I haven't been on a plane since and given the things they do to you in the name of "safety" I probably won't ever get back on one.

7) Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs, Sox ... Chicago is a big sports town. What's your favorite pro team?

A. I don't have one. I don't watch pro sports. My favorite college team is University of Virginia, if that counts.

8) Thinking of sports, did you watch the Olympics? If yes, which events?

A. Yes, I watched the ice skating in all of its forms, the bob sledding, and that half-pipe stuff. Also some of the skiing. I actually had the TV on most nights for it but I was reading and more honed in on the book than the sports.

9) Do you consider yourself an idealist or a pragmatist?

A. That's quite a question to end with. I think I'm a pragmatic idealist. I'm such a perfectionist that I suppose I would have to fall in as an idealist somewhere. But I do try to understand the realities of life.

Suddenly, There's Velma

I live in a rural community, and the nearest house, while visible, is not close. It's probably three football fields away - so, what, 300 yards? 900 feet?

In any event, having neighbors generally is not an issue. I can parade around in my birthday suit throughout the house with the curtains open if I want and not worry, unless the UPS truck is outside. (Not that I do, but I could.)

So imagine my surprise last night when Velma suddenly showed up. My husband and I were on the couch; the man of the house was watching something uninteresting and I had my Kindle playing Words with Friends.

My connection went "poof" which lately has not been an unusual occurrence with my provider. I went to my settings to check the connection.

And there was Velma.

Velma was the name of another home network that my Kindle was picking up.

I sucked in air, because I'd never seen this before. It felt like a violation, really, to have this person's network trespassing on my air space.

I almost freaked out, but I had set up a secure home network with a password. I clicked on Velma, and Velma didn't require a password.

I hit cancel immediately and did not secure the connection, but I wondered where this came from, and why it wasn't secure.

Because we are so rural, I expect whoever set up Velma felt safe just leaving it alone. When I first set our home network up, years ago now, I almost didn't bother with the password. Few people had home networks then - heck, not even coffee shops had them. The instruction book said the router only radiated out about 50 feet or so, and no one was that close. But I dutifully went ahead and created a password and set the firewall. I didn't think it mattered, really, since I'm on a farm, surrounded by acres of pasture and forest.

But last night, there was Velma, and I thought, if I can see Velma, she might be able to see me. I was so unnerved that I went back and double-checked my settings to be sure all was safe.

It was weird, finding Velma. It made me feel like I should close the curtains, and keep on my clothes. City folks are probably laughing at me, as I imagine they have network after network listed on their devices. But it felt like such a violation, to have Velma where she wasn't before. To think I might be seen, and I will never know.

How about you? Is your home network safe and secure?

Thursday Thirteen

I admit it, I stole the idea for this post from this post here. I read it first thing this morning, saw the number 13, and wiped my brow in relief because otherwise I wouldn't have a TT.

In any event, here are 13 reasons why I might be failing at something. I think this goes for pretty much anything but in my case it is writing a book. That's been a lifelong goal that I have set so far out in the heavens that I have made it unreachable.

1. I think I have no time. This is not true - if you really want to do something, you make the time. Whatever you make a priority you find time for. In my case, apparently writing is not my priority since I am not doing it. Some of my writing is a priority - the stuff I get paid for. It's the stuff that I don't get paid for that is problematic. Apparently laundry and keeping the kitchen clean are priorities, but writing a book is not.

2. It's scary. Change is always scary, doing something hard is scary, and worrying about what others think of you is scary. But you know what? You have to feel the fear and do it anyway. I know this intellectually. Emotionally I still am hiding behind my mother's skirts.

3. I over-think it. I get accused of this all time. I think about something so much that I poke holes in and rework it in my brain and nothing becomes concrete. If I'd stop thinking and start doing, I think I would be much better off. (Is that over thinking to think that?)

4. I don't set goals. Well, I have these amorphous goals, like "write a book" but that's just a dream, not a goal. A goal would be to write 250 words a day. I see the forest and forget the trees. (But if we chop all the trees down what happens to the rain forest, huh? What about the tree frogs?)

5. I have people in my life who don't support me. Support comes in many different forms and lack of support includes not believing in me, thinking I will never amount to anything, or thinking that I am not good enough or do not deserve success. I do have people in my life who think like that and will tell me how badly I am doing and what I do deserve (which apparently isn't much). Others may not come right out and say mean words, but they don't support me. Supporting me would mean encouragement, expressing interest, or something along those lines. Perhaps it is my fault because I don't ask for support. Maybe I have support and don't recognize it, or maybe the support I do have is so small that it is drowned out by the other noise. I really should just listen to myself. You can do it, Anita.

6. I think small. I do not crave millions of dollars or even to write a best seller. I have never wanted that. When I first realized that I wanted to be a writer, my goal was to be a hack writing Nancy Drew books under the Carolyn Keene pseudonym, really. That changed over time, of course, but not by much. I would be quite content writing books like that, I think.

7. I don't really want what I think the thing I obtain will bring. Success brings change, you know. That's scary. (See #2).

8. Something's missing inside me. This is probably not true, but this is a notion that I have sometimes. In my case, I think I'm not emotionally connected to other people well enough, and that will show in a longer piece of work. Newspaper writing doesn't require me to be personally invested. I think I'm too intellectual and too disconnected with the feeling part of me. I don't believe in myself, is what it boils down to.

9. I think what I have is all I deserve. I think that's self-explanatory, and it relates back to #5.

10. I feel I am not in control, that my life is being played out by others. See also #5.

11. I waste time. I am terrible at being productive unless I have deadlines or other people depending on me for something. Then I'm a whiz kid. But if I'm the person depending on me? Nope. Doesn't happen. I always need someone else looking over my shoulder.
 
12. I spend too much time on the computer doing things that I shouldn't. This includes social media and for me, video games. It probably even includes blogging although I really like blogging and it is writing, at least. However, all of these things suck life and time away. You feel like you've done something (see #11) but not really. I mean, so what if I reach level 133 in Candy Crush. What have I really accomplished? It's like being the best at Guitar Hero. That's great but you still can't play the guitar and create your own music. It's a worthless skill. (I can play the guitar for real, though. I've written several songs though of course no one has ever heard them outside of family.)

13. I think the world owes me. Well, not really. This is the only one in the aforementioned post I swiped this from that did not resonate with me. I don't think anyone owes me anything and hopefully don't act like I do. I've worked hard to get where I am today. I just need to work harder, and stop making excuses (oh, I'm sick, I am tired, I am not well, blah blah blah, which though true does not excuse not trying), and get to work.



Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 332nd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Sleeping Beauty

 

Friday I spied this doe asleep under a cedar in the field in front of the house. She had found a bare patch and curled up.

She was there for hours.



*I took these shots with a Nikon through a window with a screen. I wasn't about to flounder through 3-foot snow drifts to try to get a shot outside. So I messed with the pictures a little bit in Picasso to clear them up.*

Drifting Snow

After the big snow stopped falling on Thursday, leaving us with 20 inches of fluffy white stuff, the winds kicked up.

I tried to take a picture of the snow dancing like a crazy nymph at a bacchanalia, but could not.

This is a drift in the front yard.

My little gnome was completely buried, but after the winds came, his head popped out.

Another drift in the yard.

The wind whirls in a circle in this area by the front door, creating a kind of whirlpool effect in the snow.

Note that the wind went all the way to the ground to pick up snow.

These drifts in the driveway were about three-feet high.

My husband brought the tractor with the blade back to clear the road again.

Deer Wading Through Snow

The snow was belly-deep on the deer last week. In this series of shots, taken near dark when as the sun finally peeped out, show a doe attempting to cross the field in front of the house.

In the end, she took a final leap to reach less deep snow beneath the cedars and pines.

It Ended Badly

From Sunday Stealing

Book Survey!

1. Favorite children's book.

A. Miss Osborne the Mop, by Wilson Gauge.

2. The last book you've read.

A. Abhorsen, by Garth Nix

3. Books on your "to read" list.

A. The Hummingbird's Daughter, by Louis Alberto Urrea
   The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd
   Drowning Ruth, by Christina Schwartz
   A Virtuous Woman, by Kaye Gibbons
   Someone, by Alice McDermott
   Tinkers, by Paul Harding
   The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt
   Mrs. Darcy and the Blue Eyed Strangers, by Lee Smith
 
4. Top 5 authors.

A. Lee Smith
   Richard Paul Evans
   David Baldacci
   Anita Shreve
   Geraldine Brooks
   (These aren't necessarily my top 5, I don't really have a "top" list, but they are authors I read and enjoy.)

5. Favorite genres.

A. Fantasy, mystery, southern literature, historical fiction

6. A book that has made you extremely mad.

A. Off Season, by Anne Rivers Siddon. I actually threw the book across the room when I finished it. It ended badly. 

7. A book that you've cried over.

A. The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, by Heidi W. Durrow

8. A book that made you laugh out loud.

A. Pretty much any Stephanie Plum book by Janet Evanovich.

9. Fiction or nonfiction?

A. I read both.

10. First book you've read by your favorite author.

A. I don't have a favorite author.

11. Best book-to-movie adaption.

A. Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy.

12. Do you read comics/manga?

A. I read comics up until I was 18 or so. When they moved from the chain stores like 7-11 to comic book stores I had a hard time finding them. In the late 1990s I went through a spate where I read Xena and Buffy the Vampire comics but the trek to the comic book store proved too much for me to keep it up. (I live in the country and the city is a long way off.)

13. Hardcovers or Paperbacks?

A. Paperbacks, generally. Mostly because they're cheaper but they're also easier to hold.

14. Do you buy books as soon as they come out or wait a while?

A. I usually wait. The Harry Potter books were an exception to that.

15. Do you buy books spontaneously without any prior knowledge of what happens in it?

A. Yes. One of my favorite activities is to browse the book store reading book blurbs until something strikes my fancy.

16. Have you ever bought a book based on the cover alone?

A. Probably.

17. Where do you usually buy your books?

A. Rams Head book store was my favorite independent book store, but it closed. I used to by them at Books-A-Million but it also closed. Now I buy them at Barnes & Noble, but I also purchase them from Amazon and have them shipped to me. I also use the library a lot.

18. Book that had a strong impact on you.

A. Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell

19. Historical or science fiction?

A. Both.

20. Dystopian or Utopian?

A. Dystopian.

21. Worst book-to-move adaption?

A. I don't know, I tend not to watch that many movies.

22. Book that should have a movie adaption?

A. Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. Sam Raimi attempted a series with it but didn't do a very good job. I think it would make a good movie, though.

23. The first book you've fallen in love with.

A. I am old, I can't really remember. I think it might have been Bambi, A Life in the Woods, by Felix Saltan. I was seven when I read it and I remember crying when Bambi's mother was shot. I also read Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte, about the same time. Yes, I was a little young for both books.

24. Humor or angst?

A. Depends on my mood.

25. How many books do you own?

A. I have no idea. A thousand, maybe. If you count the ones I have given away to the library over the years, probably 3,000 or more.

26. Do you go the library?

A. Yes.

27. How many books do you read a year?

A. Between 50 and 60, which doesn't seem like a lot but I also read a lot of magazines and short stories.

28. Favorite "required reading" book?

A. Oh I don't know. Let's go with something by Shakespeare.

29. Favorite quote?

A. I don't really have one.

30. A book you absolutely hate.

A. Well, I would never read anything by Ann Coulter, but since I haven't and won't, I don't know that I would hate it. I would not expect to like it, though. I can't say that there is a book that I absolutely hate.

A Single Artificial Rose

 Saturday 9: As Time Goes By

You can hear the song on youtube at this link: As Time Goes By


1) This is the theme song of Casablanca, generally acknowledged as one the screen's great love stories. In honor of Valentine's Day weekend, what's your favorite movie romance?

A. I am a sucker for Baby and Johnny in Dirty Dancing, but I also think that the kiss between Aragorn and Arwen in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King rates right up there. It grabs at my heart when Aragorn sees her after thinking she'd died or gone into the west with the other elves, and they'd been apart for so long.
2) Even though he was only 5'8 and had a receding hairline, Humphrey Bogart was a popular leading man. What movie or TV actor or actress makes your heart skip a beat?

A. I have a thing for Orlando Bloom in his character as Legolas in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and in The Hobbit. (I think there is a theme going here). But I confess I find him less attractive in other roles. Maybe I just like elves.


3) Sweethearts are those little heart-shaped candies that are printed with messages like, "Be Mine" and "Kiss Me." Do you like how they taste?

A. Yes. I shouldn't but I have a thing about textures and sugary things like that satisfy that particular craving.

4) Valentine's Day is a big day for florists. When is the last time a floral arrangement adorned your table or desk?

A. My husband gave me a single artificial rose (I'm allergic to the real thing) for Valentine's Day. He left it on the table with a box of chocolates. But the last time I had a floral delivery would have been over the summer, when I had surgery.

5) Do you think an e-card means as much as a conventional card in an envelope?

A. I think anything that says, "I'm thinking of you," is acceptable. However, I do like cards. Here's a reuse hint: cut them into strips and use them as book marks (if you still read print books).
6) Despite what you see on Valentines, the human heart isn't bright red. It's really a brownish shade of red, like a brick. Now it's your turn. Share some trivia that's been rattling around in your head. (It doesn't have to be about Valentines or the human heart. It can be any random fact at all.)

A. Eskimos have more than 50 words for snow. The King James Version of the Bible leaves out any mention of Adam's first wife, Lilith. You can check that out here, if you like. And while we're on biblical disparities, who did Cain marry? If it was his sister, well, eww. If God made other people, why aren't they mentioned? And if God didn't make them, how did they get here? Just wondering.

7) When is the last time you thought your heart would break?

A. Probably in 2011 but I won't go into the circumstances.

8) What is the most recent thing to lift your heart?

A. My husband giving me a nice card and the aforementioned chocolates and single rose. He was so sweet to think of that even in the midst of a major snowstorm and all of the zillion responsibilities he has.

9) Who is the most "hard hearted" person you know?

A. I really don't know. That's a hard question.