The Dazzling Haunted Wordsmith Has Nominated Moi For The Sunshine Blogger Award!

I have been nominated by The Haunted Wordsmith for the Sunshine Blogger award, as you can see from her fantastic post below:

https://thehauntedwordsmith.wordpress.com/2018/06/19/sunshine-blogger-award/

These awards are fun…and a great way to support each other’s blogs.  I loved Teresa’s questions and am pleased to be able use them in this post.  Below are the rules for the “Sunshine Blogger Award”.

Rules:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Use the “Sunshine Blogger Award” logo on your post.
3. Answer the 11 questions the selector asks of you.
4. Nominate 5-11 bloggers you want to give the award to.
5. Ask the following bloggers that you selected 11 questions of your own.

These are the questions The Haunted Wordsmith has asked her nominees:

• Which Muppet, Sesame Street, or Jim Henson character is your favourite, and why?

Fraggle Rock is one of the first shows I remember watching.  For every obvious reason I wanted to be Red.  I loved her to bits!

I can hear the theme tune in my head now that I am thinking about Red.  I would love to have chance to watch all of the episodes over again.

• What is your favourite time of day?

I think I am going to have to be honest and say BEDTIME.  I used to be a morning person.  But since I received head injuries three years ago, I wake up each morning with pain in my head.  So nowadays,  mornings involve a regime of making myself ready able to face the day!  And getting through the day trying to ignore that my head feels as if it might split in half at any moment!

I cannot tell you how much I look forward to the celebratory moment I have within myself each evening, The moment when I realize I have survived another day and it is perfectly acceptable to lay my heavy head on the pillow and drift away into sleep.  Almost every time I slip into bed, it is just as delicious as it was the night before.  Once I am horizontal, it takes me seconds to be unconscious.  If it was not for setting two alarms (I have even set a third on days I need to wake up for something important) I am not sure how long I would sleep for. Every now and then I have the chance to go to sleep and not have to wake up early.  I can easily sleep for more than twenty hours.

• If you were to die today, what would you want for your last meal?

I am going to admit that I have occasionally had the thought that the pain in my head was so intense that it could be my last day.  That sounds a bit morbid doesn’t it.  I am not a hypochondriac.  It’s just that I have been told it was a miracle I survived what happened to me the night I went to the park.  I have had several scares since then.

Now, we are not allowing ourselves to dwell on the negative, but I have often had reminders that I must make the most of every day!  Life is such a precious gift.  And I do…I know it sounds daft, but I have become just a bit more determined to make everyday a bit special.  I have occasionally thought to myself…this could be your last meal.  I know exactly what it would be…a vegetarian lasagne, with layers of spinach and ricotta cheese (or cannelloni) with a fresh salad and a wedge of garlic bread.  I love lots of dishes, but if I could choose, this would be my last meal.

• If you could spend 24 hours anywhere and anytime where would it be and what would you want to do?

This…

Does this answer the question?

• Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, or something else?

Oooooh…in moderation I think I could cope with a little of the first two.  Doctor Who is a big no I am afraid.  My brother used to watch it when I was tiny and it terrified me.  I remember very literally hiding behind the sofa with my hands over my eyes.  Terrifying. I probably would not find it so frightening now.  But I was exposed to it at such a young age, it put me off for life.

Star Wars – hmmm.  I kind of like the epicness of it.  But there are a lot of very unbalanced characters within it – are there not?  I feel like sitting them down with a glass of milk and a plate of cookies and asking them if we can work through their issues together.  You know how sometimes parents have to confiscate mobile phones from their teenage offspring.  Well, if I were allowed into the Star Wars films, I would be confiscating light sabres until we all learnt to control our hissy fits.

So I guess of the three, it would be more likely Star Trek I guess…which surprises me as I do not consider myself a “Trekkie”.  But there are some interesting characters I can respect to an extent.  Especially Kathryn Janeway.  Finding yourself light-years away from home and having to keep your crew together and motivated to set a course for home.  Yeah – respect to her definitely.

• What is your favourite musical?

I have seen it on stage at least twenty times.  I am not sure I can confess to it being my favourite musical, it’s just on stage the whole thing with the chandelier always excited me.  Please don’t tell Goldfinch, but I secretly like it, even though I am sick to the back teeth of having to go and see it with friends who visit London.   I don’t think I could sit through it again.

I am probably mad for saying it, but part of me wants Christine to choose to stay with the Phantom.  On stage I quite like the number “Masquarade”, but in the 2004 film I loved seeing these three familiar faces perform “Prima Donna”.

• If you had to pick a single post written by someone else, what would it be and why?

Ooooooh…so many great posts.  Since I have been nominated by The Haunted Wordsmith I would like to share some of my favourites from her site.  The first post I ever read by Teresa Grabs, the genius behind The Haunted Wordsmith, was “The Interview”.  I love it still.

https://thehauntedwordsmith.wordpress.com/2018/05/13/the-interview/

https://thehauntedwordsmith.wordpress.com/2018/05/02/holes/

https://thehauntedwordsmith.wordpress.com/2018/05/10/needs-and-wants/

But what I love about Teresa’s site is that she is a prolific writer.  She never seems to tire of coming up with something new and fresh and she consistently publishes fiction that immediately grabs your attention and makes you want to keep reading right to the last word.  She is a pillar of the blogging community too.  I am sure many would agree with me.

• Do you recycle?

Yes…we have to….we would be fined if we did not.

I was actually thinking of taking a photograph of my recycling box at this point…and then I asked myself why on earth you would want to see my recycling box???  Just getting a bit carried away with the pictures for this post.

• If you could relive any moment in your life, what would it be?

If it was just one moment I could relive, it would be the last time I saw my ex-flatmate, before the night I was the victim of a crime.  I had pressed the button for the elevator and was waiting. The doors opened and he was there on his own.  He scowled at me with so much fury.  I stepped back.  There was no way I was going to be inside the elevator on my own with him.  I went out for a meal with friends.  Afterwards I did not feel I could return home, because I was scared to see him.

I have often thought about what I would change if I could relive that moment.  I am afraid that I really don’t have a clever answer.  But it would be something like this.   I almost feel I would fall at his feet and I would try to say something along the lines of:

Whatever it is that caused this…it really is not worth it.  If there was anything I could do to make this right, I would jump at the chance.  Anything…anything I have I would give for there to be peace between you and I.

• If you could create anything, what would you create and why?

If I could design and create anything, it would be a shoe that looked elegant and feminine and I could wear with beautiful dresses…but had all the practicality and walk-ability of a pair of running shoes, but was just as comfortable as the snuggly booties I wear during the winter indoors.   Aaaaah.  Perfect!

 

 

• What gift do you want most? What gift would you like to be able to give someone?

I don’t really like being given things.  Unless they are edible.  I have to be able to leave accommodation with short notice and move on to the next and fit everything into a suitcase.  So anything that won’t fit, I have to leave behind or take to a charity shop.  But I do like experiences.  If someone gifted me with horse-riding lessons, a scuba-diving course or a hot-air balloon ride (not on my own though, I would prefer to go with some of my nearest and dearest) I would be very excited.

Hmmm….gifts.  I am not brilliant with choosing objects as gifts I have to admit.  I always try to find out what a person really wants or likes.  If they want a kindle, sure I will buy them a kindle.  A gift should be what the recipient likes rather than what you like.  I prefer a paper book, to reading from a screen…but blogging involves reading from a screen…so it is growing on me.  But to me a piece of technology does not say “I think the world of you…and so I wanted to give you something special”.

There was one gift that I planned for a family we were close to.  They were moving away and we wanted to give them a little goodbye.  I wish I had a photograph… I will have to describe it to you.  So I bought a small wooden chest.  I filled it with chocolate coins wrapped in gold and silver foil.  We also threw in chocolates wrapped in coloured foil which made them look like gem stones.  We put a few shells inside the chest and a toy crab.  I used some orange netting from some satsumas I had bought and put a toy fish inside the net.  We put an empty bottle inside and we wrote out a farewell message, which we aged with teabags and burning around the edges to make it look like an ancient scroll, rolled up and stuffed inside the bottle.  They loved it!

I have often been inspired to organize surprise parties and special tokens for GOODBYES…I find they really pull on my heart strings. Some of my friends have been very moved that I had managed to get so may of their nearest and dearest together without them knowing.  For me a GOODBYE is a real reason to get everyone together and show someone how much they are loved and how many people they have touched.  Then when they move on elsewhere (and they are bound to face challenges) they know how much they are loved and how many people are rooting for them.

My Nominees:

The world of Joy

Don’t Eat It! Soap and Skin Care

Morning Glory

sarahsreadingcorner

blackcoffeepro

erikaallen1980

My 11 Questions:

1. I was thinking of inviting you over for a cheese and wine night (soft drinks available for those who do not indulge…Do you have a favourite type of cheese?

2. Did you wear a school uniform?  What was it like?

3. What’s your most embarrassing typo on your own blog posts?

4. Do you like weddings?  Why? (Or Why Not?)

5. Describe your perfect shoe / footwear?

6. Do you like “abstract” art?  Could you please explain it to me?

7. If you owned a shop, what would you be selling?

8. Are you watching World Cup football?  Who do you think will win?

9. Do you have any former school friends who are famous?

10. Have you ever been the victim of a crime?

11. If you were being a tourist for a day in London – where would you like to visit?

If you have been nominated, it is because I have loved your posts and these awards seem like a great way to say thank you for your support.

Have fun! Keep writing…or blogging I should say…and keep supporting each other.  Have a lovely Sunday (I am off to see Goldfinch).

 

 

Lucy… Showed What She Would Do If Only Things Were Different

Lucy… I am sad to say I did not know her anywhere near as much as I would have liked to.  I met Lucy on a voluntary project many years ago.  Only she was too young to be on the construction site. Insurance would only allow us to use volunteers who were aged 16 and over. However, Lucy was part of a team who baked cakes to feed the volunteers on site.  We saw her every day.  I remember how much she wished she was old enough to be on the construction site.  Lucy was a teenager full of life, she was active and loved sports and dancing and being active.

I have to take you forward now a few years.  I found out that Lucy had been through an ordeal with her health. I heard that Lucy had cancer.  I don’t know where it started, but it had spread into her bones.  Lucy was a teenager.  So many of us are effected by cancer.  It seems to have touched every family on the planet. Maybe you can imagine the mix of emotions that both Lucy and her family went through.

I heard that Lucy had eventually been told they would have to remove one of her legs.  It was after that when I saw Lucy again.  I worked with her on another voluntary project.  This time Lucy was old enough to be on the construction site.  Only there were so many tasks it was not safe for Lucy to be involved with.  Yet she did what she could.  She was asked to join the purchasing team.  She threw herself into her assigned role.  I am certain she would have loved to have been climbing up scaffolding and taking wheel-barrows from one end of the site to another.  But she was happy to be involved in any way she could.

Lucy said that she had always been encouraged by the phrase:  “I can run, I can skip, I can hop…but I cannot fly”.

Ironically for Luc,y she was at that time not able to do some of those things with the ease she had before her operation.  She explained that it is better to make the most of what you can do and not to become bitter about what you can’t do.  Better not bitter.

I am sure Lucy may have had her tearful moments, but she lit up the room when she arrived with her effervescent smiles and laughter.  Lucy had a very giving nature.  She had a hope in her heart that convinced her that her situation was temporary.  She had many family and friends who loved her dearly.

But my outstanding memory of Lucy was a couple of years before I became a full-time volunteer.  I went to a training session where they had invited those already involved in voluntary projects to consider if they could give up their homes and jobs to make themselves fully available.  They made it very clear that this would not be for the faint-hearted  or the half-hearted.  The lifestyle would be demanding and tough.  It meant a lot of personal sacrifice and endurance, both physically and emotionally.  The qualifications were very particular and included a pretty much perfect bill of health.

I was very interested in being a full-time volunteer.  They made it clear that it is mostly strong, healthy young men that are selected because of the nature of the work as well as the difficult living conditions.  I had applied for seven years in a row but had never been selected.  I just knew though, that having it as a goal was shaping my life, my mindset, influencing all of my decisions.  Even if I never made it… I was convinced that it was the best goal possible and was having a wonderful effect on my life.

At that training session something moved me to my core though.  Lucy walked into the meeting.  With her crutches, and her one remaining leg, she made her way towards the seating area and as soon as she saw me, she headed my way.  She sat beside me and we chatted.  Lucy told me how much she had loved all of the projects she had been involved with.  She told me that if things were different, her dream was to be a full-time volunteer being able to be sent on any assignment anywhere in the world she was needed.

I held her hand throughout the training session.  I had a few tears brimming over my eye-lids because I was so deeply touched by what Lucy had said to me.  I have often thought about what Lucy said.  “If things were different….”  Sigh!

That wonderful girl showed what was in her heart. She did everything she could to support voluntary projects in her area.  She would have loved to have been a full-time volunteer able to be sent to any area of need in the world.  Imagine at the age of 14, having one of your legs removed.  There may have been many other things she would have liked to have done… but her dream was a life of full-time giving.

Lucy…. aaaah… it breaks my heart to tell you this.  Lucy went to sleep in death about three months after I sat there in that training session holding her hand.  She was around 18 years of age.

I often remembered her expressing to me that it was her dream to be a full-time volunteer.  She gave me another reason to reach out to that goal myself.  I had many reasons, but now one was reason was to do it for Lucy.

One day, I would love to work with Lucy again.  Only this time I would like to see her up on the roof where I know she would have loved to have worked.  She would have loved to be part of a roofing team.

I can see her now in my mind’s eye.  She would help build houses for those who needed them.  I am sure Lucy would be willing to go anywhere she was needed, to any corner of the world.

Next time, I am able to work with Lucy, things will be very different.  I am sure there will be tears brimming over my eye-lids again.  But very different tears.  Tears of joy that at last Lucy has her dream.

Aaaaaaw Lucy Lucy … we truly love our Lucy!