Hometown Swap

I was so very lucky and excited to receive this wonderful package from Shelley, of the blog At Home in Rome out of the Hometown Swap on Create a Connection.
She sent me a bag of coffee,and a recipe for Coffee Granita (you make ice slush out of coffee, sounds yummy!),

some reaalllly strong (stronger than Altoids!) mints,

photo-cards that she made out of picture she's taken in and around Rome,

a printed tea towel with a map of Italy and all the locales of Italian Vini e Pasta (wine and pasta), all wrapped up in a Rome newspaper. Which I made a point out of reading out loud to my boys. "Mom, you don't really speak Italian, stop it!" I really liked the weather maps in the newspaper.

Ahhhh, it was just like being back in Rome. Watch out Shelley, next time I come, I'll meet you for some Granita! Thanks!!!

Half Year Mark

Can you believe it is the last day of June?!? The year is half over, yowza did that ever go fast!

So, I thought for my final day of hosting Saturday Try Day for Create A Connection that I'd suggest we all try to look at our yearly goals or resolutions.

I was going to fudge, but what the heck, I'll be honest here. I had five resolutions that I blogged about in January as part of doing Self Portrait Challenge every week. The goals weren't too specific, but they were doable and important to me. None of them you will note included any art/career goals, those I gave myself a break on since we are still doing this house remodel and my studio will be getting moved again (third time) next month. I knew that putting that pressure on myself would be counterproductive, so I basically took a goal sabbatical in that area of my life.

So here were the five resolutions that I made and how I'm doing on them so far this year.

1) Spend more time with my pets

I've definitely done this. Just ask them. We know each other even better now, just in six months. And we had three pets die in this time period, two chickens and a parakeet. Not bird flu, just their time to go. It was hard, but I didn't have a really deep connection with them, like I do with the cats and dog. This might sound weird, but I have a clearer communication going with them now that I am paying more attention to them. Sometimes I feel like I'm eavesdropping on their conversations with each other and that they are surprised that I know what they're saying.

2)Eat fresh fruits and vegetables every day

I have succeeded at this, especially lately. We are on week four of our Camp Joy CSA organic produce basket, and nothing has gotten tossed onto the compost heap. It is all going in the blender baby, for those super green smoothies I'm eating/drinking every day.

I'm so glad that I'm back in the habit of eating fresh fruits and vegies, it is a habit that I'm planning on keeping! Here's a pic of my pomegranate tree (well it is only a bush size so far), with a blossom and a fruit showing, yay!

3) Stop and smell the roses

Yes, I'm doing that, definitely. Literally and figuratively. Been very "in my head" this year so far, pensive at times, and just thoughtful and curious at other times. Taking time to stop and enjoy is another habit that is worth continuing to cultivate.

Here is my favorite rose in the garden, it has such a lovely scent, and the colours are subtly different on each bloom.

4)Walk more

Nope, not doing this. I'm definitely moving around more, but still not walking much more than before. I have my weeks where my energy level is high enough and pain levels are low enough that I do increase my walking, but they don't last and neither do I. If I push myself too much it rebounds and worsens, so I just don't do it. I think I may have to change this resolution to move more instead of walk more.

Someday I'll have to calculate the percentage grade on our street so that people will understand why I can't just go out my front door and walk around the block. Living on the side of the mountain makes that little neighborhood walk into a hike. Having to drive somewhere to take a walk seems kinda silly to me.

I am walking around in my yard a lot more, mostly accompanied by my camera. It fools me into thinking that I'm just taking pictures (call me easily fooled I guess!). Here is a view through our fig tree.

5)Be Here Now

This was mostly about savoring the time I have with my kids and I'm definitely making some good progress here. I'll be honest and say that this surprised me and turned out to be the hardest goal to fulfill in a real and concrete manner. But I've found that it is a a cumulative thing, this learning to fully be in the present. Part of it was getting out of my own way, what worked for me was to continue with daily meditation practice. Making that space in my head available to experience what I was doing, at the time. Instead of analyzing and evaluating the experience later on, on my internal movie screen.

I'm keeping these same resolutions for the next six months. Except for the Walk More is now Move More. Also, today I'm having a talk with myself about art/career goals, more on that later after the conference in my head adjourns...

How about you? Have you seen 43 Things?

Bruschetta, Ah Bruschetta

We're on a bit of a bruschetta kick around here these days. Especially since we went to La Bruschetta for graduation dinner. They have a whole menu of just bruschetta, *squee*

I took these pictures to show off some of our recent creations, and by coincidence, Charlotte hosting Get To Know You over at Create a Connection asked us to share pics and recipes today.

So here we go, the Stiller version of making bruschetta.

To start off all of our bruschetta recipes so far to date:
1)We buy a nice fresh baguette, maybe sourdough, maybe not, slice kinda diagonally into pieces, 2) brush top of each slice lightly with olive oil, and then toast in a 400F oven for a little bit.

First up was Marc's Olive Love.

1 can of kalamata olives (pitted of course), 1/2 white onion, a tablespoon of olive oil and a handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped up in a food processor.
I know it looks a bit dog-food-esque, but believe me, if you like olives, this was Olive Heavenly in your mouth.
Spread mixture on the prepared toasted bread slices, back into the oven for a little bit, maybe 6 minutes

This is Zach's TriColore
Slice ripe Roma tomatoes, top with a slice of fresh mozzarella (the kind sold in water!), and fresh basil leaves.
Bake atop the prepared bread slices for about 5 minutes.

Eat it all up in about two minutes flat. Fight over who gets the last piece.
Now loll around the living room moaning like a stuffed Roman after a big feast.

Colour Swapped!

I received this enormously long mysterious box on Saturday from my Create a Connection ,Colour Swap partner, Rosalyn-Sue... she runs Operation Stars & Stripes, a great organization dedicated to supporting US troops. Check them out and see if you can participate.
And just looky what she sent!! A huge roll of purply papers, all different and unique and oh so very usable. One is tie dyed, one is even embroidered, how cool is that?!
And the package there on the right with the bow is a set of purple fibers wrapped around clothespins, what darling packaging, brilliant!
I love the cute little card too, very fiber-riffic Rosalyn-Sue, thanks so much for being such a great swap partner.
Now to go figure out what to use this purple yumminess for, stay tuned....

Trying Something New

I'm hostessing Saturday's Try Day on Create a Connection all month long. This weekend I suggested everyone try something new to eat.

This picture kind of sums that up, don't you think? Here is my younger son Alexander, enjoying some squid at the graduation dinner we went out to for my older son Zachary's junior high graduation. He loves squid and is always trying to get me to eat the legs. I like the rounds of squid or the calamari patties you can buy, but the legs always ick me out too much to eat. But I gathered all my courage and tried one. And it didn't wriggle in my mouth like I thought it would, and the suckers didn't grab onto the inside of my cheek, and it didn't try to ooze off my tongue. And it tasted more squid-like than the other pieces of squid I usually try. And that is good! So I tried something new. Hooray!

I also was reading in the Green for Life book about the green tops of root vegetables having even more nutrients than the roots (like carrots), so out of the organic CSA basket from Camp Joy, I pulled out a lovely bunch of carrots, wrestled off the tops, rinsed them off and tossed them into my green smoothie for the day. Yum! Even more fresh, green flavor for me to enjoy. Sorry bout that to our pet bunny, you'll have to make do with just carrots now.

It Is A Bloggy Bloggy World

Some more fun questions from the Getting To Know You hostess, Charlotte over at Create a Connection.

When did you begin your first blog and what inspired you to do so?

This is my first blog that I really kept up with. I won't count my one post try at livejournal ages ago. Anyways, I started this newfangled blogging thing on October 25, 2004.

I temember that I was spending a whole lot of time glued to my computer that week, stressing about the election. (sigh).

I was inspired to do so by reading Dijanne Cevaal, a friend I knew from on an online quilt/fiber arts list community. I was having trouble with updating my website regularly, and I thought this might "fill in" and also be able to show process photos and dialog too.

Do you have more than one blog? Why? How are they different?

I have one that I was keeping up last year as part of doing the Daily Devotions challenge, making art everyday. I did make art everyday (or awfully close to it), but I didn't keep up the blog completely. High Fiber Content Daily Devotions. I also am a contributor to a few blogs, like Create a Connection, Wardrobe Refashion (as part of signing up for the challenge!), Self Portrait Challenge, and the moribund Simple Still Life.

How would you characterize your blog?CreativePoliticalInformationalCommunity-orientedOr something else?

I would say it is ME oriented. And I am creative and political and hopefully informative and somewhat community-oriented. So, um, yes?!

To paraphrase Oprah, what is "one thing you know for sure" about blogging?

You never ever know who is reading your blog. People from around the world, or down the street. So make sure that you remember that when you post.

Is it important to you to get feedback in terms of comments or pings? Why or why not?

Some posts I don't expect feedback, or even want it. But when I post a picture of new art that I've made or a poem that I've worked hard on, it is really nice to hear some comments.

What 3 blogs would you recommend to our readers and why?

Lately I'm having fun reading :

Neil Gaiman lately, he is such a great author and general creative person, plus he is a real person, who is funny and has bees!

Passive-Agressive Notes - I forget how I found this one, but it reminds me of how very glad I no longer work out in the corporate world, or live in a dorm, or have roomates!

GiveAway of the Day - I know I don't need more software (just ask my groaning computer), but this is freeeeeee. And possibly useful! At some point.

It was 20 years ago today

Oh man oh man what a great bunch of questions from Charlotte for this week's Getting to Know You over on Create a Connection!

Title of this post courtesy of the 40th (eep!) anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album (not cd!) by the Beatles. When I heard it, I thought that it was eponomously titled, didn't realize it was by those Beatles.

Where were you in 1987? School, working? Single,married, attached? What were you doing creatively?

I was working, my very first job out of college, at Lockheed Missiles and Space Company at the Palo Alto Research Labs, in Palo Alto, California. Learning the ins and outs of accounting in a giant company with government contracts. I had moved away from Berkeley and Oakland as it was just too hard to commute. I worked with a lot of interesting programs, the investigation of the o-ring failure that caused the first Space Shuttle disaster was really cool, and quite fast paced (all relative!), and then there was the underground nuclear testing:

I was attached already, to my future husband, Marc. He also worked at LMSC, as one of those irresistible scientists. We were doing a lot of hiking and camping and just generally having fun.

Creatively, I wasn't doing much art specifically. I was doing some kinds of crafty kind of stuff, I'll admit to going through a silk flower phase along with everyone else within a 20 mile radius of Michael's. I also was learning how to cook, that could be considered creative...

I did a little tiny bit of sewing, I recall making curtains, truck curtains, pillow covers, the world's ugliest sweatshirt for Marc, and matching weightlifting baggy pants for us. We did actually weightlift together! Yes people I used to have well-defined biceps. Not a picture of me, but at one point my arms did look this good. They are still strong, just a little jigglier...

Where were you in 1997? What would you like to share about the nineties?
Wow, a lot happened in only ten years. We had been married for 7 years, being together for 11 years. Both kids had been born, Zach would have 4 and Alex 2. The nineties were fun and frustrating years of transitioning from being a worker bee filled with angst and drive, pouring all my energy into work for companies that could have cared less to pouring that same energy into raising good people and learning to be myself, a mother without a job besides that. I utilized the internet a lot for interaction with other women who were doing the same thing, which helped a lot. I also discovered and had removed my first lump and started getting quite ill with what I later learned was Dercum's Disease, which I still, unfortunately have.

I began sewing lots of stuff, mostly toys, puppets, stuff for our home, but then I began quilting too then, first just making baby quilts for my boys, and then working up to bed quilts for us, and leaping full force into art quilting. Finding my way on my own, and with the assistance of QuiltArt online.

Where did you plan to be or think you'd be in 2007? Have you realized your goals?

I thought I'd be owning my own business, wasn't sure what it would be, but I knew I wasn't going back to the corporate world. I'm just not suited for it. Or it isn't ready for me, perhaps?! So, kinda sorta, yes. I have a business, but have not gone full tilt at it quite yet. That is coming, I can feel it building up like a volcano that will be exploding soon. Still not sure if it is going to involve just making art, or writing, or teaching, or all three. All shall be revealed....

I also thought I'd be enjoying seeing what my kids would be like 10 years older. Boy is that ever true. I'm so proud of both of them, they bring me uncountable joy every day. I also figured I'd still loving my husband, and yes indeed I do. And not the same as 10 years ago, but even more, in different ways, I didn't know that love that has stayed around this long was so rich and satisfying. I did not think I would be so far down the road with the progression of my disease, I am working every day to deal with it though, thus my new motto: Do It Anyways.

What is one thing about your present life you love and one you'd like to change?
One thing I love about my present life is the gift of unstructured time.

One thing I'd like to change about my present life is being too unstructured and not getting enough done!

How do you see your life in 2017? Do you have any goals or dreams for your future?

Gosh, in 10 years, I'll be 53.

I'm envisioning that I'll be more established with my business, and my goal is to be successful at what I'm doing with my art.

I am envisioning my kids having graduated college and out of the nest on their own. My dream for them is to be happy and healthy.

I am envisioning Marc's company having"gone public" and we'll be bazillionaires gallivanting about the world on a whim. How''s that for dreaming big?

Speak River

For Photo Thursday on Create a Connection, we're supposed to show summer water. Here is a photo from last summer, the small river that my husband played in while a child in Amherst,NY.

Also, for Poetry Thursday, the completely and totally optional prompt is: River, so here is a poem I wrote about rivers.

Speak River
By Julie Zaccone Stiller

To speak river,
one must
be able to:
burble unselfconsciously,
keep up with the flow of conversation effortlessly,
part ways around obstructions unceasingly,
move one's point forward tirelessly,
and merge with the other participants finally,
finally in the sea.

To listen river,
one must
be able to:
open up and listen with more than one's ears.

Infamous Proust

For Getting to Know You on Create a Connection,
paintergirl, has us answering:

The Infamous Proust Questionnaire

* Your most marked characteristic?
Optimism

* The quality you most like in a man?
Empathy

* The quality you most like in a woman?
Intelligence

* What do you most value in your friends?
Caring

* What is your principle defect?
Being forgetful :(

* What is your favorite occupation?
Making stuff

* What is your dream of happiness?
No pain anymore, freedom to travel in a grand style (ie a staff!) and good wine and chocolate.

* What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes?
To have my family perish all at once.

* What would you like to be?
A successful, prolific artist

* In what country would you like to live?
The United States

* What is your favorite color?
Really true purple

* What is your favorite flower?
Rose

* What is your favorite bird?
Polish Chicken

* Who are your favorite prose writers?
Barbara Kingsolver, Isabel Allende, Elizabeth Cunningham, Margaret Atwood, Kurt Vonnegut, Sherri Tepper, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King

* Who are your favorite poets?
ee cummings, Marge Piercy, Walt Whitman, William Carlos William

* Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Frodo

* Who are your favorite heroines of fiction?
Buffy

* Who are your favorite composers?
Mozart, Aaron Copland, Handel

* Who are your favorite painters?
Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dali, Georgia O'Keeffe, Gustav Klimt

* Who are your heroes in real life?
That are people I know of: Jane Goodall, Kurt Vonnegut
That I know personally: My parents, some of my teachers, several teachers my kids have had over the years.

* Who are your favorite heroines of history?
Rachel Carson, Marie Curie, Molly Pitcher

* What are your favorite names?
Ruth, Rose, Lucy and Oliver, Gray, Vittorio

* What is it you most dislike?
Being misunderstood

* What historical figures do you most despise?
Hitler

* What event in military history do you most admire?
D-Day

* What reform do you most admire?
The establishment of the United Nations, not what it has become, but what it was intended to accomplish.

* What natural gift would you most like to possess?
Ability to Fly would be pretty damn cool.

* How would you like to die?
Packed for a trip I'm about to take, in my favorite chair, just like my grandma did. And not for a loooong time thankyouverymuch

* What is your present state of mind?
Tired of answering all these questions, but glad that I did!

* To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
Eating too much good chocolate

* What is your motto?
Currently it is: Do It Anyways

Photo Thursday

For Photo Thursday on Create a Connection, I'm sharing a photo of what I find that I absolutely love, that isn't necessarily loveable around my house. I couldn't narrow it down to one, so here is a two-fer.

I absolutely love my mp3 player. It has freed me up, so I can roam around inside and outside listening to NPR on the FM radio or random shuffled music from our newly digitized music collection. We now have 54 GB of music on our system, and I haven't even gotten to the record albums yet. That will be happening soon, as we are getting a USB turntable! I love music and I am having a ball rediscovering all the tunes we have but never get around to listening to. The randomness of shuffle delights me, yesterday I had Miles Davis, then Iggy Pop, then Sinead O'Connor, then David Benoit, then Talking Heads, then The Shins. How fun! I always wished for my own radio station, and now I have it, all to myself! K-Julie is on the air! At least if you are hooked up to my earphones that is.

I absolutely love my digital camera. I can't believe how much I use it, compared to the older versions. I download photos and movies almost every single day now. Part of that is spurred on by blogging, and wanting to show you the newest, most current pictures of what is happening or what I'm seeing. I always have wanted to share my view of the world, and this camera helps me accomplish that. I'm such a visual person and I love trying to capture what my vision is with this device.

Hooray for technology!

Yay for Good Mail!

Participating in swaps is so fun, this one is a swap from the wonderful community at Create A Connection. Sundries Sublime sent me this journal, thanks Sundries! (g)

I received the coolest journal in the mail this week, hooray! Here is a picture of how it came wrapped. I actually admired it for a day, just because it looked so beautiful.

And here is how it looked after I opened it:

Don't you just love that sentiment? Here it is in case you can't read it:
"If you asked me what I came into this world to do. I will tell you: I Came to Live Out Loud." - Emile Zola.
What an absolutely perfect one for me. Thanks for the reinforcement, I needed that!
Boy is it ever nice to get good stuff in the mail, what a treat.

Create A Connection

Here are my answers for this week's Getting to Know You on Create A Connection:

1. If you could have any magical power for only one hour, what would it be and why?

I'd definitely choose Healing. So I could take away my own pain and disability, and then do the same for everyone else I could reach in one hour.

2. You've won a pair of round-trip airline tickets to anywhere in the world. Where would you go, with whom, and why?

I'd go with my dear husband to New Zealand. Just because we're LOTR freaks and are lusting after the landscape/location tours you can go on.

3. You are stranded in a library or bookstore for 24 hours. In what section do you spend the most time? Why?

If I was in a library, First of all, I would be in a really really big one (Like the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley), not my teeny though nice local one! I would spend the most time in the rare books section. Just because I love looking at old stuff, and they always limit how much and what you can look at.

If I was stranded in a bookstore, I'd probably hang out in the magazine section. Think of how many pricey magazines you could look/read through in 24 hours!

4. If you were to be on a reality TV show, which one would it be? Why would you be a good fit for that particular show?

First of all, I truly loathe all reality TV shows. They are all too mean-spirited for my tastes.

But probably I'd choose Dancing With the Stars, the judges aren't so terribly awful. Hey, free dance lessons. Fun, spangly costumes. Dancing with a star...Oh, I guess I wouldn't really fit in on that one, since I am neither a professional dancer nor a star. Oh well.

How about Biggest Loser? I certainly have enough poundage hanging around to get rid of. I'm sure I would lose some weight, maybe learn something about nutrition or exercise. And of course I would oblige with lots of drama and crying, I'm really good at that.

5. What did you most recently dream or daydream about?

I most recently dreamed about flying over the ocean to Hawaii. I wasn't in a plane, I was just flying, without any tiring arm flapping, just zooming along, effortlessly as Superman.

I did have fun answering, go see Tammy's here: at Mimmsical Creations

Let's Give Her a Hand

Catching up on a week away (camping at the beach! sand, sun, rain, wind, wheeee).

Here is my hand with shadows for Self Portrait Challenge and Create a Connection, and a poem for Poetry Thursday. All at once, an illusion of being "caught up" (whatever *that* means!).


A Show of Hands
by Julie Zaccone Stiller

Hands and shadows
work and absence

Moving through tasks
arrange and control

Prove the worth
win with a gesture

Lose all thought
of rest and ease

Movie Meme

For Getting to Know You on Create a Connection, it is time to talk movies. Which I'm always prepared to do, movies or books, I'm ready!

Name your all-time favorite movie! (Or if you're like me, narrow it down to your top five!)

Arrhhggghhhh that is haaaaarrrrdddd, but ok here is 5:

1. Brazil

2. Lord of the Rings (all three, I think they are one movie)

3. Moulin Rouge

4. The Shining

5. Mildred Pierce

What genre of movie do you like best?

Science Fiction/Fantasy I suppose, if I have to pick just one.

What movie made you cry the most?

Bridges of Madison County. Mostly because my husband cried so much.

Have you ever applauded during a movie in the theatre? Which one? If not, what would make you do that?

Sure, all the time. Whenever the hero/heroine makes it, does it, especially in sports kinds of movies. Or at the end of a particularly good movie. I know it is pointless, but it is a communal spirited kind of reaction that you get caught up in. One of the reasons to actually get out of the house and GO to a movie! Hmmmm, maybe this has something to do with my teenager not wanting to sit with me at a movie anymore...

Do you own any soundtracks from movies? Which is your favorite and why did the music inspire you?

I own a lot of soundtracks, being raised on Ennio Morricone (the composer for the Clint Eastwood cowboy movies) and all. I have the following soundtracks:

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

All three Lord of the Rings trilogy movies

Married to the Mob (great 80's tunes!)

West Side Story

City of Angels

Moulin Rouge (both, #1 and #2)

I think my favorite is Moulin Rouge, because the music tells the story so very well. The unique combinations of pop love songs into something listenable is so inspiring. This soundtrack got me through a very hard year.

Is there a particular actor or actress who inspires you? Why do you like him or her?

Kate Winslet, Kelly McGillis, Kathy Bates. Beautiful women all, and really excellent actors. Besides their names all beginning with K, I am inspired because they are all "overweight" by Hollywood standards, but they still continue to get roles and kick ass. Skinny asses in particular!

Is there a particular actor or actress who you just dislike and will not see their movies? Why?
Adam Sandler. I just can't stand his voice, and all his early roles of playing such dumb characters. big turnoff. Plus I didn't like him on SNL.

Have you ever dreamed of being an actor? Which role would be your dream role?

No, I don't think I have ever dreamed of being an actor. If I had a dream role it would be Anita in West Side Story.

If there was ever a movie made of your life, who should star as you?

Rachel Ward, Joan Cusack, or Kathy Bates

Snap Decisions

More getting to know you for Create a Connection, this month hosted by Swampgrrl.

Answer the following questions by intuition ... whatever comes to you immediately.
If you spend more than 2 seconds on the answer, leave it blank and move to the next question.
Ready?
1. You run into a friend who has just chopped off all her long hair (or suddenly has an Afro). What do you say?

Oh my goodness, you've changed your hairstyle!

2. You walk by a well dressed man with manicured hands who smells like a gin martini. He asks you for money. What do you do?

Say "hell no!" and keep walking, probably a bit faster.

3. Your brother or sister or best friend falls madly in love with someone you think is a jerk. What do you do?

Keep my big mouth shut. And be there to support them when they figure it out for themselves.

4. You get a terrible present from your husband, wife, girlfriend or boyfriend. Do you let it show?

I would try reeeeaaaalllly hard not to let it show. But I've been told I do not and never shall possess a "pokerface". Ah the curse of being full of expression!

5. Who's your favorite Beatle?

John Lennon. Because he wore glasses. And wrote my favorite Beatles' songs.

6. You walk by a disheveled man wearing soiled & tattered clothes. He politely asks you for money. What do you do?

Smile, make eye contact and say "sorry, no cash" and move on.

6. Skinny Elvis or Fat Elvis?

Skinny Elvis, hubba hubba. Especially in Jailhouse Rock!

Good job! Thanks!
Next, go find an outrageous picture of your Elvis on the net and post it at the bottom of your answers. Be sure to give credit to the photographer.
(Give yourself bonus points for velvet). This picture is from the front of a calendar, which says from the "Weirtheimer Collection", doesn't specify the photographer unfortunately. It isn't at all outrageous, but it is beautiful.

For a little bit more out on the outrageous side, how about the former prime minister of Japan visiting Graceland last year (with Shrub in the background). Found the image at Extreme Mortman, photo cred to: Getty images.

Sense Feast

Here we are at the very last week of DebR doing the Getting to Know You feature at Create a Connection.

This one was harder than it looked at first! Thanks for a great month of questions Deb!

A Feast for the Senses
1. What are some of your favorite smells? What's a smell that many other people seem to like, but you don't?

Favorite smells include most flowers, rain, the ocean, my favorite people (clean or not), beeswax, pipe smoke (but not cigarettes, sometimes cigars), many foods.

Smells that you might like, but I definitely don't: potpourri, over-scented candles, detergent.

2. What are some of your favorite tastes? What's a taste many other people seem to like, but you don't?

Favorite tastes are dark chocolate, real cream, mint anything, intense, spicy stuff.

A taste many others seem to like, but I don't: pie or cheesecake.

3. What are some of your favorite textures? What's a texture that many other people seem to like, but you don't?

Favorite textures would include furry, soft, plush, velvety, tickly, sandpapery, complex.

Textures I don't like that you probably do: tapioca, or its close drinkable relative, bubble tea. Bleah!

4. What are some of your favorite sounds? What's a sound that many other people seem to like, but you don't?

Some of my very Favorite sounds are: music, bells, singing, cat purring, dog purring (yes, really!), seagulls (and most birds), friendly voices.

Sounds I don't like that you may: Cellphones, I don't like hearing yours ring, or hear you talking to whoever and interrupting whatever else is going on around you. I also have a problem with super loud music in cars next to me, if I can hear it in my car with my windows rolled up and my music going, I bet you won't be able to hear the ambulance coming up behind us!. A lot of badly made machinery bugs me now, if there is an askew fan, or a laboring motor it gets on my nerves.

5. What are some of your favorite sights? What's a sight that many other people seem to like but you don't?

Favorite sights are the great outdoors, my people, new things, the moon, colorful, complex surfaces. (can you spot the moon in this picture?)

A sight I don't like that you just might, the fashions being worn by women trying to keep up with their teenagers.

Bonus: If you could greatly enhance just one sense - say for instance see as many colors as a bird, or smell as many distinct scents as a dog - which sense would it be and why

I would want to be able to enhance my sight, to be able to see really super closeup, zoom in like a scanning electron microscope, and then zoom back out to normal sight.

Come for a Visit

This is a really fun one from DebR this week for Create a Connection, Getting to Know you.

"Here's the scenario this week. Imagine you've made a connection with another blogger who lives in a completely different part of the world than you do. This blogger is about to take a trip and the connection you've made is so strong that she is going to make your house one stop on her trip. (Yay!) Unfortunately she can only stay at your place for 24 hours (boo!), but she'd like to see some nearby sights while visiting with you.
Keeping in mind that time is quite limited, so you have to stick pretty close to home (although not necessarily right IN your town - just anyplace you could go as a day trip), try looking around you with the eyes of someone who has never seen your area and tell us some things you'd share with..."

A Visitor to Your Hometown

1. Your visitor wants to see something historical. Where would you take her and why?

Historical, hmmmm. Well we could go see the San Lorenzo Valley history museum, which has some amazing stuff documenting the redwood logging industry. Including a local newspaper which ran out of paper one week and went to press on tree leaves. But my favorite historical place to go is the first and oldest state park in California (established in 1902), just up the road in my town, Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Bring your hiking shoes.

2. She wants to see something hysterical...well, mildly amusing anyway. She'd even go for cute, quirky, odd, or unique. Where would you take her and why?

Definitely the BigFootMuseum in Felton. Or maybe the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz. Or the steam train, Roaring Camp in Felton, you can ride all the way down to the beach.

3. She wants to take some beautiful and/or interesting photos to fill her albums when she gets home. Where would you take her?

Well, that would be forest and ocean for around here. First the redwood groves in either Big Basin or Henry Cowell are a must. Especially in the morning, so quiet and foggy with the light shining through the incredible trees. Then down to the ocean, how about Natural Bridges State Beach? Well only one bridge now, as one collapsed. Great tidepooling at the right time of day, and also some cool rocks just offshore that lots of critters hang out on, like elephant seals. If she comes at the right time of year (October - February), we can go see the Monarch butterfly groves in the eucalyptus just up from the beach. Don't forget your tripod.

4. She'd like to buy a souvenir that will remind her of your area every time she sees it. What would you suggest and where would you go to get it?

I would suggest a redwood burl salt and pepper shaker set or a gooey sticky gummy candy Banana Slug . Or maybe a tie-dyed Santa Cruz shirt from the wharf.

5. Wow, it's been a long day and you're both ready for a snack, or maybe even a meal. Where would you take her to really get the flavor of your area?

Geez, there isn't anything more fun or yummier than Ciao Bella in Ben Lomond. Or if you don't want Italian, how about eating some fresh fish on the wharf in Santa Cruz. Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl perhaps?