Quick Questions

Because I so enjoy my friend Lynne's blog and she asked for answers to this list of questions, I'm complying with a smile.  I'm definitely classifying this as a "personal" post, so feel free to skip if my tastes or experiences in various areas make no different to you.  I  even like her enough that I'm answering both sets of questions :)

Question set one:

1. What book from your childhood do you remember the most, and why?

The Count of Monte Cristo

My dad read this to me when I was about ten and I just loved how everything clicked into place.  It was absolutely a gleeful delight to me!  Reading it as an adult, it's still masterful, but the primacy of revenge makes it less appealing to me.  As a kid, it was all about joy that everything worked so perfectly in the intricacies of the story.

2. What type of music do you enjoy the most? Please include examples!

Old musicals: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Slipper and the Rose, Oklahoma, Hello Dolly, My Fair Lady, Singing in the Rain, Sound of Music

Disney: Brazzle Dazzle Day, It's a Jolly Holiday with Mary

Sappy love songs: As Time Goes By, Always, It Had to Be You, I Swear, Through the Years, Always and Forever, Unforgettable, The Vows Go Unbroken, You and I

Some jazzy stuff like "In the Mood" and Natalie Cole and lots of oldies

Almost ALL secular holiday music.. all year round

Classical is usually spotty-

Rachmaninoff... nearly sobbing at the symphony

Ravel: Bolero

Chopin: nocturnes

Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue

Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty

The overture to Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves when the french horns come in.... mmmm, mmmm that's powerful stuff!

3. What subject do you find most challenging (to teach or to learn)?
Teach: singing.  It's a skill that I never practiced the academic way and I have no clue how to teach someone anything but the lyrics.  I don't mind breaking into song with the most tone deaf of friends though!

Learn: precise stuff.  Computer programing would drive me batty (even the idea of hours spent finding a misplaced comma makes me cringe).  Painting tiny figures where every dot counts or decorating a cake with a geometric pattern by hand.  I find those kinds of strictly precise requirements brutal to even attempt and no fun!

4. What is your favorite hot drink? Bonus points for including the recipe!
Decaf Americano with heavy cream and two teaspoons of a cocoa macca blend (you can get the powder at Whole Foods).  

5. About what new book, movie, or TV series do you want to let others know?
Hmmm, Star Trek: Next Generation and Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes are the two TV series I've most enjoyed with my husband.  We don't get TV so these were purchased and certainly aren't new.  My back log for books is so huge, that I don't usually get to them new.

Question set two:
1. What is the most exciting thing you’ve ever done?

Take off for Israel when I was 17 and travel the country on weekends alone.  Perhaps a little foolish at times, but it was thrilling! (Picking up Atlas Shrugged in Jerusalem, during that year, and finishing it in Poland was pretty earth shattering too.)

2. What is the most meaningful thing you’ve ever done?

Parenting.  Parenting as a career focused on excellence gives me a deep joy as I see my son grow into a different human being because of my actions.  Seeing his peers, especially in the special needs classrooms, and how the parenting effects them, I know how different a person he would be with poor or even eclectic parenting.

3. What is the general activity you enjoy doing most often?

Parenting. 

I do love baking (even though I'm gluten intolerant) and singing (hours at a time) too.

4. What do you like most and least about blogging, if applicable?

Most: The community.  I have found so many dear friends with fascinating insights :)  I also like that I can clarify my thoughts.

Least: The rare feeling that it's a chore.  I just don't blog then though, so there's not much negative.

5. How do you feel about Colin Firth?

I've never seen or heard of him except mentioned on my buddy's blog.  Maybe when I get through my backlog of Hepburn, Grant, and other movies, I could be initiated?  Recommendations?

OK, out to enjoy a day full of sunshine!  I may see more of these in San Francisco, but they're a glorious treat in Seattle during the fall.  The air is so clear too... it's going to be grand :)

We're in a no-regular-smiles phase... just goofy ones for anyone who  is given permission to take his picture.