IN WHICH I’M FRIVOLOUS AND SOMEWHAT SECRETIVE…

They call it the Silly Season. Not without reason! There are, as usual, all sorts of memes and lists and taggy things whizzing through the bloosphere. Most are harmless, if childish, fun. Some are downright stupid. And most are declined by me.

I find them badly-worded, rather like the questionnaires that are foisted on you in the High Street when your shopping basket handles are threatening mutiny and some twit wants to know : do you think Leon di Caprio was a good choice to play Napoleon? Or Errol Flyn?

Currently, there are, apparently, people who are interested in what other people have done.

Well, OK, it’s a slow day at the coalface, so here we go. Just “yes” or “no.” No further explanation or qualification!

I nicked this from Vivien; you can read her responses here.

One hundred things I may (or may not) have done
1. Started your own blog – yes
2. Slept under the stars – yes
3. Played in a band –  yes
4. Visited Hawaii –   no
5. Watched a meteor shower    yes
6. Given more than you can afford to charity –  yes

7. Been to Disneyland –      no
8. Climbed a mountain –     yes

9. Held a praying mantis –        yes
10. Sung a solo                          yes
11. Bungee jumped                     no
12. Visited Paris –                yes
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea          yes
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch        yes

15. Adopted a child –                   no
16. Had food poisoning –           yes
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty –     no
18. Grown your own vegetables –         yes
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France           yes
20. Slept on an overnight train –       yes
21. Had a pillow fight –            yes
22. Hitch hiked –               yes
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill –    yes
24. Built a snow fort –     no
25. Held a lamb –         yes
26. Gone skinny dipping        yes
27. Run a Marathon          no
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice –    no
29. Seen a total eclipse            yes
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
yes
31. Hit a home run –                                                                        no
32. Been on a cruise –                                                                      no
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person –                                              no
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors –                        yes
35. Seen an Amish community –                                                no
36. Taught yourself a new language yes
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied –     yes
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person –                            yes
39. Gone rock climbing –      no
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David –                                                                yes
41. Sung karoke                                                                                 NO
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt –                                          no
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant –                       no
44. Visited Africa –                                                                             no
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight –                                        yes
46. Been transported in an ambulance-
no
47. Had your portrait painted – yes
48. Gone deep sea fishing –                                                              no
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person –                                       no
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris –                     no
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling –                                         yes
52. Kissed in the rain –                                                                             yes
53. Played in the mud –                                                                           yes
54. Gone to a drive-in theater –                                                                  yes
55. Been in a movie –                                                                                        yes
56. Visited the Great Wall of China                                                no
57. Started a business –                                                                                   YES
58. Taken a martial arts class –                                                        no
59. Visited Russia –                                                                               no
60. Served at a soup kitchen –                                                          no
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies –                                                              no
62. Gone whale watching –                                                                  no
63. Got flowers for no reason –                                                            yes
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma –                                                 yes
65. Gone sky diving –                                                                             no
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp –                                      no
67. Bounced a check –                                                                           no
68. Flown in a helicopter –                                                                   no
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy –                                                yes
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial –                                                  no
71. Eaten Caviar –                                                                                           yes
72. Pieced a quilt-                                                                                         yes

73. Stood in Times Square –                                                               no
74. Toured the Everglades –                                                               no
75. Been fired from a job –                                                                   no
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London –                      no
77. Broken a bone –                                                                                           yes
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle –                                                         yes
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person –                                          no
80. Published a book –                                                                               yes
81. Visited the Vatican –                                                                       no
82. Bought a brand new car –                                                              no
83. Walked in Jerusalem –                                                                     no
84. Had your picture in the newspaper –                                     yes
85. Read the entire Bible –                                                                    no
86. Visited the White House –                                                             no
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating –                                        yes
88. Had chickenpox –                                                                                   yes
89. Saved someone’s life –                                                                                 yes
90. Sat on a jury! –                                                                                 no
91. Met someone famous –                                                                       yes
92. Joined a book club –                                                                            yes
93. Lost a loved one –                                                                                 Yes

94. Had a baby –
no
95. Seen the Alamo in person –                                                        no
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake –                                                    no
97. Been involved in a lawsuit –                                          – no
98. Owned a cell phone –                                                                           yes

99. Been stung by a bee –                                                                                 yes
100. Read an entire book in one day – yes

As I said, some badly-worded; well, just look at #1! If you are really curious, you can ask. I may (or may not!) elaborate.

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A friend in Auckland was sporting one of these stickers on her car and I HAD to have one, too! Not available in stores, Inger has just bought one at a Solstice Fayre for me and it arrived yesterday. I shall stick it, very prominently,  on my car window. (And hope to god the nut following is not very short-sighted!)

2008_1226xmas0014

And, no, I don’t have movie-star-dark windows; I photographed it on the piano!

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Jellyfish or not, that ocean looks inviting…see you next year, Eringla.

No, I will not swim if there are stinger warnings /beach closures posted. Sure, life’s a lottery and there may be stingers even if the beach is not closed. But when the life guards have done a sweep and found the little wretches …it aint worth the pain!

But before I go, you’re going to be my Guinea Pigs. I’ve been monkeying with my scanner (read: learning how better to use the damn’ thing!) and thought I’d show you one of the Possum Brigade that regularly turned up on the front verandah for handouts. Wildlife Rangers try to discourage people from feeding the natives (it makes them dependant, then, when the handouts stop, the natives find it difficult to adjust.) But, as I’ve said before, possums tend to make their own rules and we never over-fed them. small-cat_0001

ANOTHER LIST! (And an update on the previous post!)

For this one, I blam thank ILTV The deal is: I have been assigned a letter from our (ie, English) alphabet and must list 10 things I love which begin with this letter. And, should anyone else have a day to play around in cyberspace, leave a comment and I’ll give you a letter. Or just pick your own letter.

My letter is L.

lilac from mooseyscountrygarden web photo

Not a hope of a snowball in hell in growing  it here! But I can grow Lagerstroemia, which looks like it.

lupins from annestore web photo

Another non-tropical love I lust after.

lavender from freephoto It’s possible here, but best in a pot!


llamas what’s not to like! I wanted to be a llama farmer. Ended up with Angora goats. Almost as cute.

loons Yes, of course this is a web picture; there are no loons here! http://www.briloon.org has a lovely slideshow

lager, especially on a hot day!   My English blood does not not run to English ale!                                                   

Liszt

this is from Wiki. I’m somewhat surprised that Hollywood hasn’t re-vamped the old “Song Without End” cos there is a truckload of box office moolah in Liszt’s life!

lace lingerie;  again from Wiki because some of the images that turned up in my search more properly belong in P for Porn!

Liguria OK, the village is Tellaro-with-a-T, but it’s in Liguria! And a part of my soul is there, too. 2005_0712arthome0010

Yes, tis moi, in Liguria days.

“Liff “ words.   And at least one of you out there will not be muttering “Dalderby.”

Well, that was light-hearted. A bit of a laugh?                 Ludicrous?

2008_1215fridgemagnets0012

I found the magnets!

I’m off to wander on           Google Earth

A CLEAN SLATE

No List of New Year Resolutions for me.

I am not a lover of lists. In fact, I find myself becoming more and more “list-less” as time goes by. On the rare occasion I jot down a few things on a scrap of paper, I invariably forget to take the wretched “list” with me when I go shopping.My mother can probably take credit for this. She worked on the theory that my brain (all brains) had millions of unused cells that were just floating around in the cerebral soup, waiting to be given specific tasks. If they were not used, they would die and “you’ll have a head full of dead cells with no room for new ones!” So, no written lists for Dinah when sent on errands. Our butcher was very impressed!

But I know people who are inveterate list-makers. They have Lists of Things To Do. Some spend so much time making lists of things to do they never get around to doing any of them!

A neighbour of mine once categorised her lists, for Pete’s sake! I’m not kidding…she had one of those enormous A1 sheets of paper tacked on her kitchen wall. From Sunday to Saturday, each day a different colour, chores were listed, some with sub-headings (again, colour-coded) and some highlighted, some with sticky labels, like drop-down menus. As tasks were completed, they were ticked off. Anything not done (Heaven forfend!) had a highlighted arrow to a new place on the chart. She once asked me to feed her animals while she was away for a weekend and she left five A4 pages of instructions, with diagrams for the re-setting of an electric timer in the event of a power cut! (And the pink and lime highlighters were left out for me to mark certain completed chores!)

~O~O~O~O~

 

The housework chez Dinahmow was cut to a minimum while we enjoyed a lazy break from routine. Beyond the essential stuff, I did very little. And I must now pay the price, with interest. Compound interest, by the look of things!

DUST

Speak to me not of dust!

Talk, if you must

Of debauchery! Boozing!

Of unbridled lust

But not dust.

 

 

That demon, choking mist.

Message board for feet and fingers,

Sign-posting their way.

Defiant of all removal efforts

Of the housewife’s art

From ragged underpants

To thousand-dollar Dyson.

Still it rolls, cloaking, choking

On from whence it comes.

 

 

 

And where is whence?

The building site beyond my boundary fence!

 

 

 

 

While I do not make airy-fairy lists of things I know I have little chance of doing, I do resolve to start or complete some projects.

I shall continue blogging.

I shall try to make my blog interesting.

I WILL master this new-fangled, frustrating technology.$@*&#!! *

I will continue to draw every day.

I will lose the weight gained last month and maintain a healthy(ish) body.

I will dress sensibly and stay sober if I ever go to another party on Blogworld Road. Shocked

http://cherrypie007.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

 

And now ( already two days behind!) I wish everyone Good Things in 2007.

* Repeat.

 

 

 

 

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ