A blog award

Well, well!  I am quite pleased to announce that I have been nominated for the Liebster blog award by both my cousin, Michal, and my cousin-in-law, Hayley!  So here goes...

Eleven random facts about me:

1.  I know Morse code. I taught myself years ago, when I started reading the Arthur Ransome books, and now I sometimes write journal entries with it. ._.. .. _._ .  _ .... .. ... !

2.  Music is nearly as necessary to my survival as books are.

3.  I am currently in South Carolina, visiting old friends, enjoying the warmth (getting sunburnt), seeing the ocean again, after about a decade ~ tasting the salt...  (The sea is one of my favorite things)

4.  Climbing trees is another of my favorite things... I've read books, written poetry, watched ducks and deer from them.

5.  Some of my favorite things to eat are hummus, guacamole, and chocolate (but not all together).

6.  I love to cook, and to feed people and watch them enjoy their food; (of the 'pelican breed' if you follow me)

7.  My brothers are pretty much my best friends.  I miss them right now!

8.  I once learned the 150 parts of a fully rigged sailing ship, and the list of 44 presidents of the United States.  I could quote to you from Shakespeare, Harry Potter, or the Declaration of Independence.

9.  I bring a book everywhere I go (surprise, surprise) and I'll probably have a pocketknife and a compass too.

10.  I love syllables, metre and rhyme.  I tap and twiddle my fingers in time.

11.  I get royalties from a Civil War song I wrote with my brothers when I was 16.  It played in Australia within two weeks of its release.


Eleven Random Questions Given from Michal, originally from Iris

If there was one place in the world you would travel, where would it be?  England.  (London, the Lake district, Cornwall, anywhere...)

Have you yet mastered the art of parallel parking? Well, as I've recently passed my driving test, I can do it.  But mastered? Perhaps not. ;)

What is your favorite word?  My favorite word?  I love words...  assiduous and scintillating are quite pleasant, and as Michal mentioned, delight. Such depth and light in that word.  And I love glorious because it helps to describe the indescribable; glory-ous ~ those coruscations of beauty, eternity, and light, reflected in the here and now.  Something that touches that longing....

What is your favorite season of the year and why? Autumn.  The delightful mixture of brilliant sky, and earthy colors--the smoky and the blazing; the melancholy and the joyful.  Swirling leaves, and backyard fires; sweaters and brisk air.

What are you looking forward to doing most this summer?  Getting a tan ;) Swimming, taking many walks, climbing trees, playing pick-up basketball in the park, soccer at church picnics...

What is your favorite quote or words of wisdom?  At the moment?   “An author should never conceive himself as bringing into existence beauty or wisdom which did not exist before, but simply and solely as trying to embody in terms of his own art some reflection of eternal Beauty and Wisdom.” by C.S. Lewis--he's my favorite.

Coffee or tea? Tea, tea, tea, what? I drink so much tea--black tea, with honey and milk.  Early in the morning and all throughout the day, but also at tea-time, with a spot of poetry or a scone.

What is the last movie you watched?  Pirates of the Caribbean, for the first time, with some friends.  Hilarious ;)

If there is one person in the world (living) whom you aspire to be like, who would it be? That is indeed a difficult question to answer, and I have to agree with Hayley on this one: there are aspects of many people that I would wish to emulate.  Mama's care for people, and her insightful, curious mind.  Katie's courage and beauty in bringing up her children.    Ben's bright humor, Will's clear-mindedness.  Auntie Karrie's comforting aura.  Grandma Rosie's. . . how shall I put it? She makes me not afraid to 'grow old' as the saying is; she has retained fun, and meaning in her life.  Lanier Ivester's gorgeous way with words.  And I'm sure I'm leaving people out.... many people have touched my life, some in small, but very important ways, and I hope they know it.

What/who/where is your inspiration for writing? Beauty.  The beauties of nature in particular and the quite indefinable delights of reading (stories, fairytales, poetry...)  One who has been so captured by the beauty of writing, that they must try themselves.  It doesn't matter if people read it--although writing isn't quite complete without the reader...it would pour out of me anyway.

What is your favorite thing to do with your family? Sing; laugh; play music; talk for hours about nothing in particular; cook.

A few blogs that I recommend:

Curious Acorn ~ artistic, real, encouraging....bees and painting and very happy pictures.

Rosie's Ramblings  is a lovely blog of daily happenings, quotes and pictures.

The Rose Garden is artistic and beautiful everywhere you look.  This is not pressure to post more often, but to say that whenever you do (or whenever I peruse your archives), I am encouraged.