Questions and some Answers

I saw these questions on Judy’s blog and thought it might be fun to try it. You can find them on Question Time over Coffee

Have you ever slept on / in a hammock? No. I’ve BEEN in one but didn’t like it much.

Do you find it easy to maintain friendship with other people? Yes and no. I have some life-long friends, but very few. More casual friendships based mainly on proximity usually fade pretty quickly. I don’t consider myself good at “friends” because a lot of things I like to do such as writing and painting aren’t done socially. Even walking in nature with my dogs isn’t very social. I’ve found very few people in my whole life who think THAT’S fun. I also think that as we get older friendship is a different thing. We’re not “out there” as much or in the same way. We don’t need to form alliances or transactional relationships because we’re not working. What’s called being ‘set in our ways’ seems to me to be that we are more self-aware and knowledgeable about the amount of ambulatory time we have remaining, and we might be less likely to be profligate with it. I come from a long-lived family, and I’ve seen it. BUT I would really like to find another woman around my age and ability who wants to go X-country skiing but so far no luck.

Are you a person of ethics?  I believe in being kind. If so, how does that impact your daily life? I think ethics are part and parcel of who we are, so ethics wouldn’t so much impact our daily life as determine it.

Are you decisive or indecisive as a person? It depends. 😀

What is your process of writing a new post for your blog? I get up in the morning, make my coffee, feed my dogs, drink my coffee as I write my blog. I write to a prompt every morning and have for 9 years now. It’s fun, it’s built a community and helped me as a writer.

If you were asked to create a Top Fifteen Book List holding books that you felt everyone should read at least once in their life and would never regret reading what titles would you include? I honestly don’t know what everyone should read. My neighbor loves mysteries and comes over to tell me what she’s reading. I would never read them, but she loves them. My 15 favorite books? I can write to that, but I don’t know. I’ve read so many books I can’t even remember… Stones of Silence by George Schaller Candide by Voltaire Italian Journey by Goethe Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey Emerson’s essays Sections of Thoreau’s Walden No Horizon is So Far and Skiing Into the Bright Open Liv Arneson Red Chamber Dream by Cao Tsui Chin Eiger Dreams by Jon Krakauer Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki So many books and parts of books — I can’t list them all or narrow them down to 15. I like my own novels 😍

How important is it for you to know a person’s real name?  [Be this online, off line, social media or blogging]  I don’t really care

When at school what were your top five subjects that you were passionate about? Art, English (literature), Physics — truth be told, I didn’t like school very much Why was this – what did you love about them? I love art. It was the only subject I was passionate about. I was good at English. Physics told me something about the external world. Are those five subjects still present in your life today in any form? I’m a writer and a painter. And physics is an inescapable aspect of life.

Are you a photogenic person? Depends who’s taking the picture. My friend Lois takes good pictures of me even though every time I look like one of my maternal aunts. What’s up with that? Are you eager to appear in family or friend snaps? I don’t care. I’ve learned it can mean a lot to the person taking the photo. Are there many photographs of you from and over the various stages and ages of your life? No.

With regard to the paranormal do you choose to not believe because there is nothing to believe or because you feel it is safer to not believe? “There are more things in Heaven and Hell than are dreamt of in all your philosophies.” Are you a non-believer or a believer? Yes.

How are you with meeting strangers/new people who might or could become new friends?  I’m an open, friendly, curious person. I give people second chances and the benefit of the doubt. Is there a process you adopt to identify if they are the right fit for you? Generally if we hang out more than twice I think there’s a shot at friendship. If we have common interests then there is definitely a shot. If they can engage in conversation that’s NOT about other people, that’s a good sign. If they have a sense of humor and understand how to converse for amusement, then I’m in. I avoid people who like to show off or are unnecessarily polemical or competitive. I’m a good listener so a lot of people will use me for that. That’s their thing, but it is usually not a two way street.

Featured photo: Selfie after I came back from X-country skiing for a couple of hours. I don’t look happy in the photo, but I was VERY happy — and tired. I was trying to get a photo of my eyes to go with the China book in which there’s a chapter about how my green eyes surprised the people in Guangzhou, where I lived. It’s not a flattering photo, but somehow I like it.