Category: Share Your World

Sharing My World This Week

A class you wish you would have taken?

I wish I’d continued to study languages in high school. I took French and German for the first two years but then I changed schools and French was taught in an entirely different way so I went from an “A” student to a “D” and took most of the year to get up to a “C”. This school did not teach German at all. They taught Latin which I avoided in my previous school as I thought it a waste of time to learn a language I could not use if I travelled. I did enjoy German and I wish I had learned it properly. That was 45 years ago so most of what I once knew I have forgotten.

Are you scared of heights?

I used to think so but actually what I am afraid of is falling. I have no problem taking a glass elevator to the top of a building. In fact I like them although looking through a glass floor in one is a bit unnerving. I enjoy visiting observation towers and riding observation wheels for the views but don’t ask me to climb a ladder or even stand on a chair these days.

Are you a good cook? If so, do you consider yourself a chef?

I’m certainly not a chef. I would say I am an adequate cook. I can cook edible meals and sometimes enjoy baking cakes. I am not interested in food preparation the way that some of my friends are. I never watch food programs on TV. I used to like to experiment with different dishes but as David could not eat most of them I rather lost interest in the end. There are many things I find more interesting than cooking.

What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination. 

• The first King Alfred daffodils bloomed in my garden
• Naomi and I spent a nice day together on her birthday last Sunday.
• We started clearing up the back room of the Op Shop and it looks a lot more spacious now.

Sharing My World This Week

Tell us about your first bicycle or car?

As I never learned to drive or ride a two-wheeler my bicycle memories are of tricycles. The first one I had as a child was red with a yellow seat from memory. When I outgrew it Naomi had it and I had a larger one that had a carrier at the back. I don’t think I have a photo of me on either of them but here is Naomi on my “big” tricycle.

What fictional world or place would you like to visit?

I absolutely have to agree with you on Stars Hollow. I always think what a great little town it is.

If you could have someone follow you around all the time, like a personal assistant, what would you have them do?

• Drive me to the places I need or want to go to although as I hate making people wait for me I’m not sure how well that would work out.
• Make me a cuppa when I am tired and don’t want to get up and make it myself
• Brush the dog hair off me before I go out.
• I’d like to say do the housework but that’s not really what PA’s do is it?

What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination

A friend of mine just officially retired and his wife decided to give him a surprise birthday dinner at the local hotel.  It all went off successfully, he was totally surprised and seven of us had a nice meal together.

Sharing My World This Week

If aliens landed on earth tomorrow and offered to take you home with them, would you go? (remember this is SYW, they are friendly aliens)

Considering the state of the world today I would be very tempted if they had a nice planet. At least a visit would be interesting.

I very much enjoyed “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” when it first came out. I rather hoped that’s what our first meetings with aliens would be like. Or perhaps like in  “Star Trek; First Contact” although Vulcan would not be my choice of planet to visit. It is way too hot.

How tall are you? Are you satisfied with your height?

I believe I am around 155cm or five foot two for non-metric readers. I would have liked to be taller; it would make life a lot easier at home. I have to use a stepladder to reach the top shelves of the kitchen cupboards.

Do you think you could live without your smartphone (or other technology item) for 24 hours?

Smartphone, absolutely. I would not miss it a bit. In fact I sometimes go a whole weekend without touching it. It would be harder to give up computers and the internet but I only used it a couple of times during the cruise and didn’t miss it as much as I thought I might. I could certainly manage 24 hours without checking in.

What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination. 

Now that the nights are chilly I appreciate my electric blanket. I turn it on for an hour before I go to bed and turn it off when I get in. I know I am lucky to have a nice warm bed to sleep in. Many people don’t have a roof over their heads let alone a cosy bed and that is tough at this time of year.

Sharing My World This Week

You can have an unlimited supply of one thing for the rest of your life, what is it? Sushi? Scotch Tape?

Well to me the obvious thing would be money, then I could buy as much Scotch Tape as I liked.  Seriously it wouldn’t have to be a fortune but to know you had a guaranteed income for the rest of your life with no fear of unemployment or the government cutting it back would be a great relief.

Teleportation or flying?

Teleportation; especially if I can do it from home and not have to go to an airport like facility to do it. I wouldn’t trade sea voyages or long distance train trips but flying and buses I would not really miss.

Would you rather live where it only snows or the temperature never falls below 100 degrees?

I’ve just experienced the latter in Singapore. I will take the snow. Well being practical living in a place where it snowed all the time would be hard too so I’d want to spend some of that unlimited money on heating and warm clothing and boots. I like a happy medium really and I think that I have it right here.

Me in Singapore feeling hot.

Untouched snow. This is about as heavy as it usually gets in Geeveston although higher altitudes will get more.

What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination

I had a brief trip to Hobart last week. A friend was going to do some errands in Hobart and nearby Kingston and I went along for the ride. We are both from Adelaide so we spent the drive there and back chatting about places we knew, recalling as many different theatres in the city and suburbs as we could. That was fun. We went to Bunnings, a big hardware store in Kingston and while my friend was buying plumbing supplies I went to the garden department and bought myself several pots of pansies and polyanthus which were on special.

Polyanthus

Pansies

Polyanthus

Sharing My World This Week

I usually read Cee’s Share Your World questions over breakfast but yesterday I was hurrying to get ready for the Op Shop and misread the first two questions as one. My immediate thought was I don’t want a historical character for an imaginary friend. I want Doctor Who then I could visit all those decades and any others I wanted as well. Of course it would have to be a previous Doctor Who. I am not ready for a lady Doctor and don’t think I ever will be.

If you could choose any person from history to be your imaginary friend, who would it be and why?

This one has really had me flummoxed, who from history would I like as an imaginary friend because after Doctor Who I really wanted to say Mr Spock; another fictional character. Who would I choose in the real world? Not a princess, or a politician, maybe a writer, someone who would like the things I liked and make me laugh with her sense of humour. Two writers I think it would be fun to have been friends with would be Betty McDonald (The Egg and I) and Emily Kimbrough who wrote such amusing travel stories. Maybe she would take me with her on one of her adventures.

60s, 70s, 80s, 90s: Which decade do you love the most and why?

I was a child in the 60s, a teenager in the 70s, a young adult in the 80s and turned forty in the 90s and there were good and bad times for me personally in each of those decades. However, just looking at things like music, fashions, decor etc. I would choose the 60s. You could still travel on a steam train to many places that are now without a railway, it took a month to travel to Australia from England by sea; you could buy a Pedigree doll, a Barbie  or a Triang Hornby train set for just a few pounds. The scariest thing on television was a Dalek not an orange haired politician and his Korean best buddy.

When you die, what do you want to be remembered for?

I’d like to think that I had made some contribution to helping fellow doll collectors learn about their dolls and maybe inspiring some new collectors through our doll blog but I would be happy just to be remembered as a nice person.

What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination. 

This past weekend was a long one for the Queen’s Birthday holiday so the shop was not open Monday. As I don’t go there on Fridays I had four days to myself. I stayed at home, did a few odd jobs tidying the garage and a lot of writing and photography for our doll blog which had been a bit neglected lately. I never feel lonely spending days on my own like this. I have Cindy and Polly for company and I know that if I want to talk to someone I only have to pick up the phone or there is always someone to chat to on the internet.

Sharing My World This Week

I hadn’t forgotten about Share Your World this week. I wanted to find some of our childhood photos. Unfortunately a lot of that stuff is packed in boxes at present and the ones that I had out did not show the garments I was writing about. I did manage to find one of us from probably 1963 or 64.

A piece of clothing from your younger childhood you still remember?

I remember a lot of the clothing that I had as a small child. Of course there are photos but some I actually remember mum buying. Mum often used to shop from mail order catalogues and sometimes she would buy Naomi and I matching outfits but in different colours. I remember knitted “ski outfits” as mum called them.There were knitted leggings, striped jumpers and hats with a bobble. Naomi’s was in shades of blue and mine browns and beige. I thought hers was nicer than mine as I considered brown rather a boring colour. I still rarely, if ever,  wear brown but mum liked it.

We also had royal blue knitted twin sets which comprised a pleated skirt and a cardigan with an embroidered flower on the front. We once had our photos taken in these outfits with our two cousins who were both wearing jeans. Mum did not like jeans and we did not own any until we were in our teens.

I also had a  little tartan suit in shades of green that I loved but grew out of very quickly. Naomi, who was a very slim child, was able to wear the skirt for several years. I can still remember the time that mum bought matching “Duster Coats”, for herself and both of us to wear in summer. They were all in different shades of blue. We did not like the straw bonnets she bought to go with them very much though and I think I actually refused to wear mine. Still not a fan of hats either.

Irregardless of your physical fitness, coordination or agility: If you could be an athlete what would you do?   Remember this is SYW, dreaming is always allowed.

Well maybe if I’d had fitness, coordination and agility as a child I’d have been more interested in athletics but as it is even dreaming I’m really not interested. I never wished I could do sport better so I’d probably pick something more like table tennis or ten pin bowling which I enjoy even though I am bad at both.

In a car would you rather drive or be a passenger?

I do enjoy being a passenger because I can look at the scenery. I used to navigate for David and still do if Naomi and I go on a long trip. I quite enjoy doing that.  It would be nice to drive myself around though as I could be more independent.

What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination. 

I went out for coffee with some friends as I do every week and two of them had photographs of themselves when they were in their twenties. It was fun to see how these guys looked in the nineteen seventies with long hair as both were in their mid-fifties when I first met them.