Ten Things I Like

Gardener in Paradise and A Hocking Hill Gardener, two blogging and gardening friends, participated in the 10 Things I Like blogroll this week.  I love the idea. It's a great way to get to know your blogger, and since you choose to spend time here, reading my blog here or on Facebook etc, it's a lovely concept. So steal it.  Grab the idea, post and share the link love back to Seven Oaks, Gardener in Paradise, and A Hocking Hill Gardener.

List 10 things you like...not just flowers, plants or people. It's a given that you like and love your family, friends and pets, so just assume they rank first in my list, okay?  And my garden and woods.  After that....

What are your 10 things you like?

1.  Rainy Days
Ever since I was little, I've loved rainy days. The coziness. The sound of water tapping on the windowpanes. The grayness of it all. I'm most productive with my writing on rainy days.  Let it rain!




2.  Having My Pets with Me While I work

My pets snore at my feet all day..My  coworkers are the four-legged kind: Shadow and Pierre. It really doesn't get any better than this.  It's not for everyone. Some people lack the self discipline to work from home. They goof off more than they work.  I work more than I goof off, so somewhere, I find a happy medium.

 3.  Red
The color. The loud, obnoxious instrumental piece from King Crimson that changes time signatures a zillion times and has a hauntingly beautiful albeit weird cello solo in the middle of it.  Red clothes, red nail polish, red anything....love that.

4.  Progressive Rock that Steals from Classical Music
I love hearing a piece of progressive rock from say, Renaissance, and suddenly blurting out, "Hey! That's Rachmaninoff!" Or Bach.  Or Jean-Claude Alain.  Or how about Blackmore's Night stealing from Praetorious? Maybe it makes me feel smart, but more likely it makes me feel like I know a secret.  It's like the old "Name that Tune" show.  And why not steal from the best?

5. Cooking
I love to cook.  I didn't always like to cook. In fact, I never wanted to be anywhere near the kitchen as a child, a teen and a young adult. Then I started cooking simple meals for friends when I was in my early twenties.  Then I fell in love and realized that my fella actually expected me to know my way around the kitchen.  A subscription to Cooking Light and I was hooked.  I learned all I could and now I love to be in the kitchen puttering around. I even bake Shadow her own dog treats!  My fantasy is participating on Top Chef, although I'd probably burn the sauce and start yelling at the competitors. But as a hobby, cooking is at the top for me. (See my blog Recipes from the Garden if you don't believe me!) I am NOT a chef by the way. I just like to pretend. 

6.  Stars
One of the perks of living in a rural area are stars. Zillions of them. I love taking Shadow on her walk at night.  I look at the stars and marvel at them. They make me feel small.  They make me feel mysterious and tingly.  Stars.


7.  A Good Book, a Roaring Fire and a Comfy Couch
This probably counts as three things, but I'll count it as one.  Nothing - and I mean nothing - beats a roaring fire, a good mystery novel, a comfy couch and a glass of sherry on a cold winter's night. Enough said.

8.  Horses - Real and Models
I never outgrew that girlhood love of all things equine.  As a young child, I collected Breyer horses.  I painted them, showed them, collected them, you name it.  I even wrote my first magazine articles about model horses.  Many years later my siblings chipped in and gave me riding lessons for my 16th birthday.   I went to college and joined the equestrian team, eventually leasing a school horse, riding, showing.  I rode Quarter Horses, off the track Thoroughbreds, Arabians, Appaloosas and everything in between.  Now my achy joints don't allow me to ride real horses too much but I am back with my first love, model horses!  I write about them, own a company that sells them, and blog about them....my office is filled with them.  They let me ride again, if only in my imagination.  My company is EquinArt Creations.  My blog, Model Horse Fun.

9.  Stained Glass
Stained glass is another thing I love, whether it's a window in a church or a box my friend Connie made for me many years ago.  The colored light filter through the panes of glass is like magic to me.  At our church, St. Theresa, when I go there in the afternoon, there is nothing so beautiful as the afternoon sunlight dappling the big window of the nativity behind the altar...it is just dazzling. Older stained glass windows are the best. Our Lady of Victory, the church of my childhood, had wonderful stained glass. Whether it's a ruby glass pitcher or a stained glass window, I love colorful glass of all sorts. 




10. Writing

Writing is my life. It is my passion, my joy, my gift, my vocation.   I spent many years as a marketing manager and I love that side of my life too, but writing is where my heart is, and I am blessed beyond measure to have discovered my life's work at an early age.