The Elysian Fields

My maternal grandfather was a great embroider as well, although I don't know if he ever touched needle and thread. =)

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malinaldarose.livejournal.com

*snerk*

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patrixa.livejournal.com

whaaa? Asin embellishing stories and fabricating tales? Probably. But he many times touched needle and thread: some sewing on buttons, but more often leather stuff like shoes, gloves and cases. Now you've got some new info on him. Oh, and he cooked, too. But laundry? Never.

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"Probably." Probably? Oy. We talking about the same guy who used to entertain me and Dan with all manner of tall tale, not to mention all the times he tried to teach us a Polish so pure we were afraid to repeat it because we were 90% positive he was actually teaching us words whose English equivalents we weren't allowed to say out loud? =)

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I grew up in a magical garden. Seriously. On a sugar cane farm in what was then just Natal, in the green rolling hills of Kearsney, I grew from about 4 to about 12 in a garden where snacks quite literally grew on trees. We never had 'snacks' in our cupboards as kids. We had naartjies (mandarins) and pineapples, and litchis, and bananas, and strawberries, and grapefruit, and granadillas and many other things growing, and when we got peckish, we wandered up to them, picked them, and ate them. Our garden had sections and hedges, and holes in the hedges if you knew where to look, and a bit we weren't allowed in, because there were snakes there, and a couple of swings attached to a gigantic tree that made everything (including swinging) green. We picniced often, and ran around barefoot. I had tough tough feet. We had border collies, and geese.

I honestly believed, when I read the Narnia books as a child, that if there was a door to Narnia, I'd find it in that garden.

Also, I sometimes wonder if all this is why I don't like cities. :)

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Having food at hand like that is the way everyone should live, city or not. I don't like the whole "ship the food from way over there" kind of thing. Works for exotic treats, but it just shouldn't be the way *everything* works.

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Indeed. I maintain that to this day this is why I don't eat junkfood. (well, very seldom, and when I do, I usually regret it). I grew up fit and tanned and veryvery healthy. I was hardly ever sick as a child. And I am absolutely convinced that it was because I spent most of my childhood outside running and eating fruit straight off the tree (or bush), instead of inside watching tv and eating crisps. OK, sometimes I wasn't running I was lying under a tree somewhere reading, but you get the gist. ;P

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OH wow! On different sides of the world, but a similar childhood. My fruits were grozelhas, goiabas, jambos, cacao, and sapotillas. Most of the time we lived on the beach, and our picnics were most often cookouts. What a great way to grow up.

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Indeed. And I took it totally for granted until much much later. ALthough it's no longer *that* garden, I still love going back to my parents' house because I end up spending so much time outside. They have a hammock, and lying in that hammock under a tree with a good book is my idea of heaven. :)

Great. Now I'm homesick.

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I went back to my folks' house in Brazil this past spring for a week's visit. One of the joys was sleeping in a hammock every night. My daughter snagged a photo of me during afternoon rest time: Photobucket

Are the SA hammocks like the Brazilian ones?

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More or less, except my dad has a handy little metal stand so that you can put it anywhere, next to the pool, under a tree, which is cool. :)

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lonesomenumber1

Despite the fact that I'm a college graduate, I've never held a job that didn't involve manual labor. I'm well aware that doesn't make me unique, though: a buddy of mine from college, Sean, became a foreman for a roofing company in the early 90s and hired everybody he knew who needed a job. On the roof at one point, we had five SUNY alumni from five different liberal arts disciplines : English, Psych, Anthropology, Communications, and Theater (that last was Sean's brother; he didn't last too long). One day I said, "Sean, you ever notice that none of us were Business majors?"

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Despite the fact that I'm a college graduate, I've never held a job that didn't involve manual labor.

EDIT: Because of the fact... graduate who actually learned something,

=)

Because that's a much healthier way of life. I'm glad to be heading back that way. This sitting-at-desks stuff is going to kill me. At least if I swing a chainsaw around, I have a good chance of not actually lopping off anything important. Beats sitting there knowing your arteries are solidifying with every keypress.

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Best job I ever had was the one that involved playing with kids outside most of the time.

Come to think of it, maybe I should be aiming at working outside again somehow...

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popfiend.livejournal.com

My lower jaw sticks out further than my upper jaw.

My upper and lower teeth do not meet in the front, so if I were to grin an uber grin there would be a gap.

The only solution would be to have sections of my jaw removed, but since bone growth can be altered, there is a chance that it won't fix anything long term. It would also alter my appearance and possibly the sound of my voice as my mouth would be shaped differently.

At almost 40, it would be 3 years of physical therapy before my jaw would be 100%.

The bad part is that I don't get precise scissor action with my front teeth and eating certain things (especially certain sandwiches) can be problematic.

I'm mildly deformed, but no one ever notices.

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See, that's the great thing. Except for certain unnatural creatures with overactive surgeons, everybody's got stuff like that, to one degree or another.

I mentioned it in response to someone else's post of this meme - I'm short one extra rib, which only manifests itself in the beer belly which exists no matter how many abicides I may commit via sit-up, push-up, or, more to the point, no matter the lack of actual beer involved.

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puddock.livejournal.com

I am tongue tied!

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Could be a problem from a frog's point of view. No way to whip out that sticky lash and snag a fly!

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puddock.livejournal.com

probably why this frog doesn't eat bugs of any sort, yuk!

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LOL! You are certainly a very unique frog :)

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This page might help! =)

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I listen to more heavy metal music than my children do! But I also listen to classical, choral, blues, jazz and hymns.

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Heavy metal good. Bang head good.

What me saying?

=)

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GO metal heads! Going to post some clips of your group, and/or your kids playing music? I'd love ot hear Mr. B on his drums, and Justin on on the keys.

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Mr. B's performance was a special appearance at that music store.

He doesn't have drums. Yet.

As for the rest of us, first we have to finish some original material, and then I'll post it to my MySpace Music page. =)

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Yet. Right. And Christmas is right around the corner, LOL

Keep working on the original stuff. The world is waiting to hear it. This corner of it anyway.

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lady-ravenlocke.livejournal.com

I'm a writer of 15 (dear gods, has it really been that long?) years, though I've never been published professionally. I also love to read, play video games, paint, and have been on both sides of the camera when it comes to photography.

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I'm not so sure the "published professionally" bit is going to remain important much longer. ref.

shadesong and

haikujaguar's recent efforts.

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lady-ravenlocke.livejournal.com

Not too important if you already have a readership. LOL I confess to not having a clue how to build enough of one to try and do what they have done.

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Yeah, ditto that. I've debated just tossing a PayPal button on the poems, short fiction, and other pieces. Might make a few pennies over a few years! =)

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patrixa.livejournal.com

You didn't know (till now) that I turned down 2 marriage proposals before I accepted your Dad's. I think you know just about everything else!

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