Category: Share Your World

I usually do Cee’s Share Your World challenge on Saturdays, but I’m changing the schedule up this week so that SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2015 WEEK #52 will appear before the end of 2015.

Tell how you are feeling today in the form of a weather report. (For example, partly cloudy, sunny with a chance for showers, etc.)

Right now I’m hurrying to finish my blog challenge by the end of the year. I’m feeling partly sunny with a chance of bluster, turbulence, and updraft followed by the return of sunny skies.

What is most memorable about your high school years?

My high school years were pretty awful, but that had more to do with home than with school. In fact, school was the area where I was successful. At the awards assembly at the end of my senior year, where awards were given for all major subjects, no one else received more than one award, while I got five.

Still, I couldn’t wait for high school to end so that I could go off to college and start my real life.

Have you ever owned a rock, pet rock, or gem that is not jewelry?

Yes, I have several amethyst geodes, one a refrigerator magnet and a couple of sets of bookends.

I also brought home from my Thanksgiving week on the coast a flat, round, well-tumbled beach rock that I plan to use in some upcoming blog images.

Complete this sentence: I like watching…

… the waves roll in to the shore. It comforts me to know that no matter what else happens in the world, the waves will continue to come in.

… the clouds swirl around the top of mysterious and majestic Mount Rainier.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful that I’ve made it through another year. One drawback of living in a retirement community is that many of our fellow residents are quite old. In the last six months four people I knew pretty well have died.

I’m also glad that I had the opportunity to know all four of those people. They were all outstanding human beings who influenced me to try to become a better person.

In the upcoming week I’m looking forward to finishing up my 2015 blog challenge and to setting up my 2016 writing and reading goals.

Have a good week, everyone. And Happy New Year!

Here’s my latest offering in the SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2015 WEEK #48 challenge.

Are you a hugger or a non-hugger?

I never used to be a hugger—until I met Frayne. We were fellow readers who jumped right in when our local Borders store started a book group. (I’ve met most of my closest friends through book groups.) We quickly became friends.

I had already known Frayne for about three months when I learned, through remarks she made to a fellow reader who was a retired nurse, that Frayne had ovarian cancer. Knowing that put a different slant on our friendship. When Frayne would arrive at book group, she’d wrap me in a big hug and say, “How are you?” My initial reaction had been my usual one of standing awkwardly until the hug was over.

But once I realized her situation I told myself, “You’d better learn how to hug back and you’d better learn it quickly.” By teaching me to hug, Frayne made me a more loving person. Now I hug—not all the time, but when it’s appropriate.

And that’s got to be the best legacy anyone could leave.

What is your favorite toppings on pizza?

We usually order bacon, mushrooms, and black olives. But every once in a while a good veggie pizza hits the spot as well.

We eat much less pizza now that we’ve gone on a low-carb diet, so each one is a great treat.

If you were the original designer of one existing corporate logo, which one would you select?

I guess I’ve failed as an American consumer, because nothing comes immediately to mind here. I’m more likely to pay attention to the written words on a produce than to a design element used to promote it.

Upon reflection, I think of clean, simple ones like Nike’s swoosh and Apple’s apple with a bite taken out of it. And our local (Tacoma, WA, USA) newspaper uses a simple graphic based on our most prominent local feature, Mount Rainier.

Complete this sentence: Where I can seek my solace is…

On a beach, where I can watch the waves roll in. It comforts me to know that, no matter what happens anywhere in the world, the waves will continue to roll in.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful for waking up every morning last week.

I’m hoping to do the same every morning of the upcoming week. In addition, next weekend we will celebrate our daughter’s birthday. We’ve always waited until after her birthday to begin Christmas preparations, so that marks the beginning of the holiday season for us.

I hope you all have a great week.

Here’s this week’s SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2015 WEEK #47.

In your native language which letter or character describes you best? Why?

M, for Mary.

It’s not that I’m just so vain. I was named after my maternal grandmother, whom I dearly loved. She was the most important early influence in my life because she loved me unconditionally and appreciated me as a child. My own mother expected me to think and act like an adult as soon as I was able to walk and talk. I often disappointed her, especially as a young child who was curious about the world and consequently asked a lot of questions and went off exploring on her own frequently. But Grandma enjoyed answering my childish questions. She taught me to make biscuits and to do other basic tasks like scrambling eggs, chores that my mother didn’t have the patience or the inclination to teach me.

What is your greatest extravagance?

Getting my nails done every 2–3 weeks. Purple fingernails are my personal trademark, and I always get the same shade.

I say that my manicures are my main extravagance because I consider books a necessity of life, not an extravagance. However, for the past couple of years I’ve been trying to use the library more in an effort to convince myself that I don’t have to purchase my own copy of EVERY book I want to read, either now or in the future.

Do you prefer exercising your mind or your body? How frequently do you do either?

No real question here: My mind. I exercise my mind a lot, by reading and writing every day.

I do know that if I don’t also exercise my body, my declining years are not going to go as well as I’d like. The closer I get to 70, the more I realize that I need to exercise regularly to maintain strength, stability, and flexibility. Like just about everyone else in the world, I plan to get back into a regular physical exercise routing on January 2.

The beauty of audiobooks is that I can exercise my mind as I’m exercising my body. Knowing that physical exercise time does not have to lessen my reading time is what allows me to think I’ll be able to establish a regular workout routine.

List at least 5 things that make you laugh.

1. A really clever pun
2. A baby’s laugh
3. Watching a young child discover something exciting about the world
4. A fond memory of something said or done by one of my friends who’s no longer alive
5. OK, I’m like everybody else: all those crazy cat, dog, and baby videos people post and repost on Facebook

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week at Kalaloch Lodge on the coast of Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula. I love watching the waves roll in. That was a huge chunk of R & R for me, and I now look forward to getting back to work with renewed vigor in the upcoming week.

Have a great week, everybody!

Time again for SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2015 WEEK #46.

What type of popular candy you do not like to get?

Cotton candy. It’s good for a bite or two, but after that the sweetness becomes too much. I always resent that you have to buy the whole big thing to get just those two bites, so I haven’t bought any for a very long time.

Now dark chocolate, on the other hand, I never pass up the opportunity for.

What do you feel is the most enjoyable way to spend $500?

I am very fortunate. Especially at this time of year, I’d like to donate my $500 to the local food bank to provide Thanksgiving baskets to those in need.

Where do you eat breakfast?

I usually don’t eat breakfast until lunch time. Most often I eat at the computer while checking email and Facebook, and reading news.

Would you rather ride one of the worlds longest zip lines or bungee jump one of the highest in the world? This will come with a 5-day all expense vacation.

Neither of the above. Instead, I’d like a ride in a hot-air balloon. I’ve been hinting about this for years, but so far no one has picked up on that hint. Either that, or they’ve ignored it. But I keep hoping.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Yesterday I had the three-week follow-up visit after cataract surgery on my second eye, and my eyes are all healed up. I now have a prescription for new reading glasses, which require a much less severe correction than my pre-surgery reading glasses. We are now having some sunny weather after a rainy week, and I’m grateful for being able to see colors more vibrantly now.

I hope everyone has a good week. Happy Thanksgiving to those here in the U.S.!

It’s time to sum up another week with SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2015 WEEK #45.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “fun”?

Lots of things, but probably at the top of my list would be a visit to a zoo, especially if I can see some animals that I’ve never seen before. We recently took a two-week cruise to Alaska, and one of the best days was our visit to the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage. Another good day was our wildlife water tour in Sitka. That’s not a zoo, but it did involve seeing a lot of animals, a couple of which I’d never seen in person before.

Here are a few more activities that are always fun:

• time spent with my husband and daughter
• a visit with friends, particularly over good food and a glass of good wine
• attending a baseball game, especially if my team wins
• walking on a beach, seeing and hearing the waves roll in

What is your favorite time of day?

It is NOT early morning. I’m a night owl.

I think my favorite time of day is between late morning and late afternoon, as that’s the time when I seem to be the most alert and able to work well.

Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want have a evening with?

If this question means anyone who ever lived, I’d choose my father, about whom I know very little. I’d like to be able to ask him some questions and just create some personal sense of him to augment my sparse memories.

If the question refers only to people still alive, I think I’d like to be able to hang out with Barack Obama for a while. I’m willing to wait until after his Presidency is over, so he could feel free to be just a normal guy.

Complete this sentence: Something that anyone can do that will guarantee my smile is…

Say “hello” and stop to talk instead of just passing me by. It’s those fleeting moments of seemingly ordinary life that make living special.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last week our neighbor and friend Dick died. We attended his memorial service yesterday. I’m grateful that I got to know him for the two and a half years I’ve lived in Tacoma. He was a special person, always eager to talk. He had a radiant smile that he bestowed on everybody. And even if his politics didn’t agree with yours (as his and mine definitely did not), he was still your friend.

I’m also grateful for the rain we’ve had this past week. That’s an unusual thing for someone to say, especially someone who lives in the Pacific Northwest, but we’ve had such a water shortage here that we needed the rain badly. In fact, we need rain so badly that I’m even looking forward to more in the upcoming week.

Since the title of this weekly challenge is “share your world,” I’m going to take this opportunity to say that we are all one world, especially when something as horrific as yesterday’s terrorist attacks in France occurs. My heart goes out to the people of France, especially those on whom the attacks had a personal impact.

 

Here’s the Halloween edition of SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2015 WEEK #43.

If you were on a debate team, what general subject would you relish debating?

I actually was on the debating team for a short time in high school, but I think I only participated in one competition. The public speaking part just wasn’t for me.

I thought the debate team would be perfect for me because I loved doing research and was good at it. Preparing for debates was a giant research project. We had to make index cards that we’d carry in a box so we could pull out a relevant card and cite the argument and the source for whatever point we had to make. That was the part I loved.

But I nearly died of fright during my first and only competition. I then decided that I’d stick to writing research papers instead of speaking them. Research and writing I was good at. Public speaking, not so much.

What’s your strongest sense?

Vision. The way I always learned things was by making a mental picture of them. I still, to this day, know how to spell words by closing my eyes and looking at the word printed on a white page. When studying more complex subjects, I’d make lists that I would then commit to visual memory.

I’ve also always had a good eye for colors. I’m able to discern between close shades of the same general color and can call up colors in memory, which always made it easy to shop for clothes that coordinated with something I already owned.

Having just had cataract surgery on both eyes, I’m glad to have my good eyes back. I didn’t realize how much the cataracts had clouded my vision, especially for colors, until after I had surgery on one eye and could compare vision in that eye with vision in the other. Now that both eyes are repaired, the world is a once again a gloriously colorful place.

What would you name the autobiography of your life?

Wow. Answering this question is harder than it sounds. Here are some possibilities:

• My Life as a Series of Research Projects
• Lessons My Stepfather Taught Me
• Finding My Voice, Finding My Self
• No Regrets

But I think I’ll have to write my life story first to discover what the title should be.

List your favorite flavors or types of tea.

• Earl Grey
• Barry’s Irish Tea
• Constant Comment

My husband and my daughter are really into learning about, sampling, and categorizing different types of tea. I’m much easier to please. I just want a cup of something warm that tastes good to me. Once I find a rut that I like, I’m content to remain stuck in it.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful that I finally had cataract surgery in my second eye and can now see colors vividly again. I also no longer need corrective lenses for distance vision and need only minor corrections for reading.

It’s Saturday again, my usual day for undertaking Cee’s Share Your World challenge. Find this week’s challenge here: SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2015 WEEK #41.

What genre of music do you like?

Nowadays, I’m pretty much classical music all the way: Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt, and those guys. The only other music I occasionally listen to is classic rock from the late 1950’s and the 1960s: Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, the Doors, Dylan, Stones—and the Beatles, of course.

What is the worst thing you ate this last week?

I didn’t eat anything outstandingly bad. Maybe this is another aspect of getting older: You don’t have to do (or eat, or sit through, or associate with) anything or anyone you don’t like.

I think we may have just hit upon the reason why, every week, I answer the bonus question with “I’m grateful for everything from last week.”

Would you like to be famous? In what way?

I would like my NAME to be famous as the author of informative, definitive works of nonfiction (e.g., Devil in the White City, The Soul of an Octopus, Quiet).

But I don’t want to be famous myself, mostly because I’m terribly unphotogenic and would therefore not want to have my picture all over the tabloids and entertainment shows and web sites.

So if I do ever become a famous author, I’ll have to become a recluse like J.D. Salinger or Elena Ferrante.

Complete this sentence: This sandwich could really use some …

This sandwich could really use some mayonnaise. I have always loved mayonnaise on all sandwiches, no matter what else was between the slices of bread. And cheese. Just about any sandwich can be improved by a slice of cheddar, Havarti, or American cheese.

However, this whole discussion is merely hypothetical, since we are now following a low-carb diet and therefore almost never eat sandwiches any more. (That doesn’t mean that I don’t occasionally desire a sandwich on good bread, featuring cheese and mayonnaise.)

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful for everything from last week. I look forward to more of the same in the upcoming week.

I hope everyone has a good week.