Tag: Share Your World 2018

Sharing My World This Week

If you were given $22 million tax free dollars (any currency), what is the first thing you would do? (This is just a dream question, remember anything can happen in SYW.)

Well dream world or real world that’s an easy question to answer. The very first thing I would do after I’d finished doing the happy dance? I’d give half of it to Naomi. $11 million would be more than enough for me to live comfortably on. Then I would arrange things so that I would have an income from the interest and would never have to worry about fulfilling obligations in order to get the measly government allowance again. I wouldn’t have to tell them every time I wanted to go on holidays or move. I would be officially retired and free. After that I could start thinking about spending it, what I would do, where I would go and who I would like to help.

In what do you find the simplest of joys?

At the risk of sounding repetitious because I always say this, my home and pets.

What would be your ideal birthday present, and why?

I really feel now that I have just about everything I want but I guess for me the ideal present is always going to be hobby related. A vintage doll I’ve been looking for or doll house items or maybe a book that I’ve been wanting to read. When it comes to things for the house like appliances I really prefer to buy them myself. I like to research and wait till I can find the exact model I want but I also like surprises so I don’t want ask someone to buy me such and such appliance, model so and so. Of course money is also a good present but there is no fun in trying to guess what’s in an envelope. I like unwrapping stuff.

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 summer I replaced some of the plants along the back fence that were struggling with several new rose bushes. I picked ones that would grow tall and screen the fence but at first several of them didn’t look as if they were doing very well. I kept watering them and they gradually recovered. Now, as winter is approaching they are all still flowering and I’m really enjoying them.

 

 

Sharing My World This Week

Do you use paper money? If so is your money organized sequentially according to denomination?

I still like to have some paper, well plastic actually, money in my purse at all times. I know you can use cards for almost everything now but I feel silly using a card for a four dollar cup of coffee. As I don’t carry a lot  of money I don’t always worry about organising it sequentially but if I do have a wad of notes I may do that. Australian bank notes are different sizes so although I’d prefer to have the smallest denomination on the outside if I fold it I find it works better to have the higher and larger denominations there. When I was on holidays I did organise the notes sequentially because I’d never seen Singapore dollars or Malaysian Ringgits’ before and US dollars all look the same to me as it is all the same colour.

You are comfortable doing nothing? For long stretches of time?

I am very comfortable doing nothing but I call it contemplating, relaxing or enjoying nature. I’m not really doing nothing.

What is your greatest strength?

I’m not sure; perhaps it is that I have the ability to enjoy the small things in life.

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. 

It was a pretty ordinary week for me. I haven’t quite got rid of the cold I picked up on holidays and have been a bit lazy. Probably what I’ve enjoyed most is going through a big pile of vintage magazines a friend gave me over the weekend. Naomi and I love old magazines. I love reading the letters and articles and looking at the old ads and lovely art work. I may even do a few posts about them later.

 

Sharing My World This Week

If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get?

• Raisin bread
• Lamb
• apples

and of course a never-ending supply of Tim Tams

By Bilby – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

 

List at least five movies or books that cheer you up.

I have a few books that always make me laugh even though they are very old.

Gerald Durrell’s “My Family and Other Animals and “The Picnic”, a collection of short stories always make me laugh out loud.

Emily Kimbrough’s travel books such as “Water, Water Everywhere” and “A Right Good Crew” still make me chuckle after many reads.

Also Betty MacDonald’s books particularly “Onions in the Stew”

As I enjoy both travel and humour I also enjoy Bill Bryson’s books although I did take exception to his views on cricket!

If you were a mouse in your house in the evening, what would you see your family doing? 

A hypothetical mouse at my place would see me either on the computer blogging or chatting or on the couch watching Netflix or YouTube. If I was in the lounge Cindy would be asleep in her basket or on an armchair and Polly, if she was feeling sociable,  would be on her favourite perch on top of an armchair. If she wasn’t feeling sociable not even a mouse would spot her as she’d probably be in the linen cupboard.

 

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. 

Autumn, which is probably my favourite season in Tasmania. I’m enjoying the mild days and changing colours of the leaves although I could do without the annual forest regeneration burns.

I’m also re-watching “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mystery’s” on Netflix and appreciating the plots, characters and costumes.

 

Sharing My World This Week

List things or events that changed your life?

 Well, I think that the one thing that changed my life more than anything else is coming to live in Australia as a child. If I had stayed in England my whole life would have been different. I’d have gone to different schools, got a different job and visited different places. Maybe I would never have seen Australia. Certainly I would never have met David.

The other thing that journey changed about me was that it gave me a love of ships and travel which has never left me.

Complete this sentence: Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s…

A Jindvik target drone, these were operated by the Royal Australian Navy mainly for crew training exercises. This one is at the Aviation Museum in Port Adelaide.

 

What genre of music do you like?

I like rock and some pop music from the sixties, seventies and eighties but I also enjoy some jazz, some blues, soul and even some classical music at times. I like musicals but not opera.  The only type of country music I can listen to is bluegrass. I find most modern music which Naomi and I have started to call “Millennial Music” quite boring and repetitious.

 

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’ve just returned home from holidays and while I’ve seen some amazing things and appreciated being able to travel and see another part of the world I think what I appreciated most was seeing my home and pets again.

Sharing My World This Week

What is your earliest memory?

The earliest memory I have that I know is my own not something I was told is of looking down from a bridge and seeing the railway line and trains below. It was in Clacton on Sea and the bridge was on the way to the local Recreation Ground.  My grandparents lived in Clacton and we used to visit them for a week or two every summer. When I was about six or seven I was puzzled that I could no longer see the trains when we went over the bridge as the guard rail was too high for me to see over. I asked mum why this was as  I knew I had seen the trains before. Mum told me that my grandfather used to lift me up to see them when they looked after me before Naomi was born. I was two years old. I suppose it says something about me that I remember the trains but not my grandfather lifting me.

Which way does the toilet paper roll go? Over or under?

These days I’m not too fussy but it should be over so that you can do the little pointy fold at the end.

What makes you feel grounded?

I think I have a strong sense of place. I always feel grounded at home with my own things and my pets around me. I feel part of the community I live in. I don’t think I could be a transient  even though I like to travel I need a home to go back to.

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. 

Last Friday I went to Hobart to do some errands, new shoes and a few other small things I needed for our holiday as well as getting my hair cut. When I arrived I saw that there was a cruise ship in port. Passing a local coffee shop that always welcomes cruise passengers with a chalkboard sign I discovered that it was Explorer of the Seas . It’s just over two years now since we cruised on her so after I’d done my shopping I went down to the waterfront to say hello. I have a bit of a soft spot for this ship even though we’ll soon be sailing away on a much larger one.

Sharing My World This Week

If a distant uncle dies and you were always his favorite and leaves you $50,000 (any currency) in his will, what would you do?

Well first of all I’d be surprised. Secondly, I’d think how I could best put it to good use. That amount of money, while it would not buy a new house, would certainly mean we could buy a better house or do any repairs that were needed to whatever we bought.

If I didn’t need it for that I guess I’d spend some, a holiday for Naomi and I, some new toys, save some for a rainy day and give some to deserving charities or individuals. I know a couple of people that I’d love to lend a hand to if I had the means.

What sound or sounds do you love?

Birds, I really enjoy listening to the birds when I sit in the garden, the kookaburras laughing in the gum trees near my house, the little birds, wagtails, finches and so on who hide out in the apple tree and chirp away, even the harsh cries of parrots, crows, gulls and the plover family tell me that nature is all around me and are certainly better than my neighbours taste in music.

CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

taken by User:Benjamint444 using Helicon Filter.

Steam whistles on trains or boats, thunder and the sound of waves crashing onto the beach are also favourite sounds if mine.

 

What’s your middle name?  Why?

My middle name is now Eileen and there is s story behind that. Mum’s name was Eileen Carol and she was always known as Carol. Grandad got the names the wrong way round when he went to register the birth. I was named Eileen Vanda but always known as Vanda. I quite like the name Eileen now but as a child I got annoyed by schoolmates asking if they could call me Eileen instead of Vanda. I like my name and didn’t want to change it. When I went to apply for my first passport I was dismayed to learn it would be issued in the name of Eileen as that came first. I was eighteen and in a fit of contrariness I went and had my name changed to Vanda Eileen by deed poll so I would never suffer this annoyance again. So I am Eileen after mum and Vanda because mum wanted an unusual name and during her pregnancy read a book where the main character was called Vanda.

 

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. 

Our holiday trip is drawing near now and last week we went to Hobart to pick up our tickets and other paperwork. We certainly smiled a lot about that.