Honestly, how honest are we with ourselves? Oh well, because I hold Wendy, over at greenishthumb in high regard, here goes my best shot at revealing truths about myself.
- I’m a reader, so I don’t mind so much when it comes time to put the garden to bed.
- The books on my nightstand right now are: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (this one we are reading aloud), The Glass Room by Simon Mawer (my book club’s selection for this month, just started so too soon to tell, but highly recommended), and The Closers by Michael Connelly ( a Harry, short for Heironomous, Bosh crime novel and illustrative of my weakness for suspense wrapped in violence with a strong, enigmatic main character like Bosh, Jack Reacher, Virgil Flowers, and the female assassin in my daughter’s latest).
- Favorite garden-related books are: anything by Mirabel Osler and Crazy About Gardening by Des Kennedy.
- Aesthetics are usually more important to me than practical considerations, resulting in oddities like a beautifully arranged tabletop still life covered in dust. Fortunately, Richard picks up the slack there with a weekly dust-up.
- I’m streaky when it comes to exercise. I love to swim and dance, but since we moved out here have found no place to do either. We live half way up a hill that makes for good exercise and contact with neighbors, but my enthusiasm for it comes and goes. My plan is to start the year carrying my camera with me on walks to record the coming and going of wildflowers, newts, bugs and such…which could lead to some posts here.
- I came late to gardening. Full time freelancing in design and raising two kids on my own kept me busy for a lot of years. Then I started writing a newsletter for Max & Hildy’s Garden Store. The owner kept sending plants home with me so I could write about them. I found delight in the way certain Latin names roll trippingly over one’s tongue…even when butchering the pronunciation. One thing led to another…you know how it goes.
- Opening my garden for the first time in ’08 was an eye-opener. I realized how much I see my own garden as I imagine it to be. There are many interesting plants here, but spread out over a large property it will take a long time for things to reach critical mass. HPSO members are inherently kind, so while humbling, the experience was, overall, a pleasant one.
- I fantasize about having a large frame on a wall (where a painting would normally be) where a loop of magical moments in film would show up at the flip of a switch. Most of these moments that come to mind involve dance: the grown up Billy Elliot leaping onto the stage at the end of the movie of the same name; a montage of Fred Astaire; the bit where an ordinary chair becomes Barishnikov’s dance partner in White Nights. The credits to The Three Musketeers, where D’Artagnan duels with his father in stop-action slow motion would be there too.
- I have a “book in a box”, thirteen chapters on gardening thoughts and experiences that just rolled out. It has even been professionally edited, but the final push required to send it out into the world for acceptance or rejection seems beyond me. Blogging suits me better.
- I just looked up “fetish”: 2. anything to which foolishly excessive respect or devotion is given. I have several of those, which I can rationalize as overcompensation. Last night we had dinner with friends and Ingrid and I got to talking about our shoe fetish. I went into rationalization mode, telling how my mom made all of my clothes, so that the only item I could shop for and purchase from a store was shoes. Not only that, but I have really ugly feet, so dressing them up in classy footwear made me feel better. Well, it turns out that shoe fetishes among women are nearly universal, so definition 1. an object worshipped by primitive peoples who believe it to have magical powers or to be inhabited by a spirit. is probably more on target. My other fetishes are hair and outerwear, and I won’t bore you with my rationalizations for those. What are yours?
So there are my true confessions. Now I am supposed to tag some bloggers I admire so they can play the game and we can all get to know each other better. I kind of dragged my feet getting around to this, so many of my faves have already had their say. On the bright side, that makes it easier to narrow it down to seven, and these are all blogs you will enjoy, if you have managed to stay with me so far.
http://dangergarden.blogspot.com/
http://fairegarden.wordpress.com/
http://greenwalks.wordpress.com/
http://plantedathome.com/blog/
The spring walks will be great! Especially if the intention is to take photos and not exercise!
I feel sort of the same way about the end of the gardening season. It’s always nice to recharge – and to spend some spare time reading. My book group read Blink. The Closers sounds really interesting.
I like your wall frame idea! Wouldn’t that be great?!
I’m flattered and honored to be an “honest scrap” recipient, Ricki. Thank you!
So I just divulge 10 things about me and send the award on to 7 bloggers?
I’m impressed about your book at the ready. Please take the next step! I would buy it, and I’ll bet lots of us here would, too.
I agree with Jane…please take the next step! Share your book with the world.
And thank you for the call-out, I too am honored. 🙂
Wendy: What did you think of Blink? I enjoyed it, but in the end I thought it was a long way around of saying something better expressed in Zen and the Art of Archery: get really good at something, then trust your instincts.
I think Bill Gates has something like the wall frame, but I bet his choices of film clips would be way different.
Jane & Loree: I am really looking forward to your Honest Scrap posts.
Thanks for the kind words about the book. I may put parts of it up here, then we’ll see how you feel about it.
Hi Ricki~~ It’s good to get to know you! I have “Blink” but haven’t read it yet. I saw the author on a morning show when the book was released. My intentions are good. Your book in a box: have you considered Timber Press? They’re headquartered in Portland and specialize in gardening books, as I’m sure you’re aware. I know, it takes guts. I have a book [non gardening] on a disk. Last spring I queried several agents. I got one nibble but no bites. I haven’t given up. You’re quite brave to open your garden. I live on a hill too In fact one hill in particular is dubbed “cardiac hill” for obvious reasons. I use an elliptical however i can’t get good nature photos on it. Good idea to take it with you! … Wasn’t the weather fabulous today?
Hi Ricki – Hey, thanks so much for the shout-out and nomination! I will mull it over and of course link back to you if I decide to participate. A little shy about this stuff sometimes, but of course always fascinated to know more about everyone else, including you! I am a big reader too but a lot of what you listed is unfamiliar – winter is long, so more books for the list! I am not much of a dancer but I love watching it, gets me every time. I hope you find somewhere to do that again, and also to swim – both are so spirit- as well as body-enhancing!
Grace: Timber Press is a good suggestion. Thanks. Why am I not surprised to learn that you, too, have a book ready to go.
Karen: I share your shyness, but it turned out to be kind of a fun exercise. No pressure to do it if it doesn’t feel right to you.
Hi Ricki, I finally got the scrappy post up:
Scrappy Blogaversary
Thanks so much for tagging me. 🙂
Frances