Some Answers for Cee

I had a look at Cee’s Share Your World questions for this week and when I saw the first question, I just knew I had to participate! Feels a bit like, oh I don’t know, Karma maybe? 😉

In what do you find the simplest of joys?
Great question Cee – and what I am striving to find as often as possible. I shared a couple simple joys in this post. Here are a few more:

Butterflies on my butterfly bush in the summer

My toes in the sand, any season of the year but winter

A tomato grown in my garden

Snow on a funny collie face

Jello or Pudding? And what is your favorite flavor?
I’d have to go with pudding, and the darkest chocolate flavor.

Is there a language you would like to learn?
I’ve had a long-standing love affair with the French language, as I chronicled once in this blog post. I took it all through school and for a year in college. I can still read some of it, but my skills are definitely slipping. I’d love to be able to understand it as I once did.

Do you prefer juice or fruit?
Fruit for sure and just about any kind! This is a difficult time of the year for finding decent fruit here in New England. A couple weeks ago I got some strawberries from Florida that were pretty good and that was a little thrill!

While searching for fruit photos to add to this post, I realized I’ve done a lot of posts about fruit. Add that to my simple joys, Cee, and thanks again for the questions!

Answering Some Questions from Cee

I know that Cee’s “Share Your World” questions come out on Mondays, so I am rather late in providing some answers, but I decided to share anyway!

1. While in school who was your favorite teacher – what grade and why?

This was an easy one for me. My favorite teacher was my social studies teacher in 11th and 12th grade, Miss Mary Lou Brewer.

(I took this photo from my high school yearbook)

I had her for Honors U.S. History and Senior Seminar in U.S. History. She was the person who inspired me to want to become a teacher. History was never a subject I was terribly interested in until I had her classes. She took history and made it come alive, made it so much more than boring names and dates. We learned about the people and their times by becoming characters from history and putting them on trial and recreating events like the Continental Congress. She also saw something in me, a shy, unsure 16-year-old and mentored me and helped me blossom into a much more confident, self-assured young adult. If I could find her today (she has retired from my high school) I would thank her again and again.

2. Would you accept $5,000 to shave your head or die it bright lime green and continue your normal activities while not explaining the reason for your haircut or color?

I’d have a really hard time doing this without being able to explain myself! I do work in a middle school, afterall, and enduring the stares of 11-14 year-olds, not to mention my colleagues, without an explanation would not go over very well. I’d probably get pulled into the principal’s office to be questioned about what the heck was going on, and was I feeling alright?

Meghan and her dance class, however, pulled off the look quite nicely some years ago, lol!

3. You are trapped in an elevator, who would you want to be trapped with?
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is my secret phobia! I avoid elevators as much as possible. I’d feel sorry for anyone trapped in an elevator with me!

(Dear family friend Brianna “trapped” in a tiny space from a camping trip several years ago)

4. When you are with your friends, do your interactions include much touching—for example, hugging, kissing, rough housing, rubbing backs? Would you like to have more of this? (Note: the answers may vary depending on where you live on this wonderful planet.)

In general, not too much. A hug hello and goodbye when there has been a gathering of our wonderful group of friends. Silly grab-ass-ery, especially among the guys, will happen at a party like this one:

(From our murder-mystery party last October)

Thank you Cee, for another very interesting batch of questions!

Cee’s Share Your World

For quite a while now I’ve been reading Carol’s answers to Cee’s Share Your World questions. I believe Week 19 is coming to an end, but if its okay with you all, I thought I’d share my answers this week, as I found the questions quite interesting.

On a vacation what you would require in any place that you would stay? Question came from Wanderings of an Elusive Mind
I’d like to say that a big, comfy bed would be a requirement, but in reality I often find myself putting up with less-than-perfect sleeping conditions in order to enjoy the place that I am. My case in point:

Tiny bedroom of the cottage we rent in Maine, with tiny bed

Tiny cabin on the cruise last year, with tiny bed

The annual camping trip, sleeping in a tent, on, you guessed it, a tiny (air) bed.
So, my real requirements of a place that I stay for a vacation? A wonderful place to visit and wonderful people to be with.

If you were or are a writer do you prefer writing short stories, poems or novels?
I’ve never really considered myself to be a writer, although when I was in high school and college, I could write a pretty damn good paper! I attribute this ability to my favorite teacher, my high school social studies teacher Ms. Brewer, who was the toughest but best teacher I ever had. She was my inspiration for wanting to be a teacher myself. I guess that blogging is sort of like writing short stories, isn’t it? They don’t have a plot or a conflict usually, but I do enjoy presenting my little stories to you.

What’s your favorite song of the moment?
I told you in my post about color that I really enjoy Pink as an artist. Her duet with Nate Ruess “Just Give me a Reason” is a current favorite.

If you were to buy a new house/apartment what is the top items on your wish list?
Cee says that we can dream and let loose on our answers to this one. If I could have anything that I wanted in a new house? Beachfront property would be my number one wish. It wouldn’t need to be huge and expansive; just large enough to be comfortable with a sandy beach that I could step out my back door on to. If I really kicked up the dream, it would have a master bedroom with an ocean view and a hot tub on the balcony!
What would your answers to Cee’s questions be? Tell me in the comments or make a post of your own!