Grande Galerie des Glaces

Today's topic: Moods

Today's topic: Parties.



Yeah, this is pretty much how I am all of the time. :)

Today's topic: book challenge



I love this idea and plan to start it on 1st Jan 15. (I just hope that it will print out ok.)

Today's topic: Your favourite Tolkien character.

This is really hard to decide. Ever since I began seriously re-reading Tolkien in the last few years, I've discovered a lot more depth to his writings than I remembered from when I last read them at university.

And there are *so many* to choose from! So often he would make reference to someone/thing in passing, almost as a throwaway line -- and yet in the book, all of the characters have an almost instant understanding of that reference.

I think, though, that rather than choosing one of the men I will choose one of the women. There are a few very notable exceptions but most of the women in Middle Earth are seldom referenced -- except when they are connected by either blood or marriage to one of the more important men -- and sadly even then only in passing.

And while it is tempting to choose an Elfwoman (so many to choose from!) or someone like Éowyn (whom I like to imagine as being an ancestress of mine) or Gilraen (so much to discover about her), I think I will instead choose Haleth because she is one of the very few women who was named in a genuine position of leadership.

Today's topic: Travel.

I love traveling but I don't get to do nearly as much of it as I would like to. When I was younger, I foolishly made a "dream list" (which I like better than the more common "bucket list) which I managed to lose.

The biggest number involved travel in some way -- and/or not staying/living where I am now. And oh how I would have loved to travel back then! It was so different from now, being able to come and go with very minimal hassles. Now it's a whole different story and due to that and lack of a serious travel 'cushion' (aka: money), I end up doing far too little. But I do get a chance to see my cousins some summers, which is fun.

Today's topic: Choices


I think there might have been an earlier version of this posted here but since I can't remember when, I thought it was time for a repost. :)

Oh and my apologies for not responding to comments. I recently changed emails for this and they seem to be showing up later than expected. Ah well. But I do intend to answer them as soon as possible.

Today's topic: Cooking & Recipes

I love cooking and I *really* love experimenting with new recipes! :)

I think my mom and grandma started teaching me to cook as soon as I could make a stirring motion with a spoon because seriously, I do not remember a time when I didn't cook. I remember cookies most of all because at Christmas time there were always cookies being baked *and* frosted! Yum! And pies and cakes and bread -- real bread, the kind that you kneaded and then let rise before kneading it again before putting it in bread pans to bake in the ovens. (As you have guessed, this was before the inventing of bread machines. Which are ok but not nearly as good as the old-fashioned kind.)

But now I don't cook as much because it's just me and I do not need to have large amounts of sweets around. They are just far too tempting and I have minimal will power to resist their siren call, alas.

As for my favorite recipes, I will save those for another day, so stay tuned! :)

Today's topic: Charities

This time of year, I always seem to get bunches of mail asking for charitable donations. And yes, I do give to some but for the most part I try to keep it as local as possible.

If you are wondering about just how 'good' certain charities are, I found this link that might be of some help:

http:// www. charitynavigator .org/
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Today's topic: your favourite work of art (or one of your favourites):
I will try and choose art that is either painting, photography or sculpture, as opposed to books or films.

As for what I like, I tend to like things that are classic and perhaps easy on the eye, so that I can relax and enjoy it. If not that, then at least something I can identify with in some way. I don't like a lot of modern art, though I do like the "melting clocks" of Dali (iirc, that is) and the blue horses of Franz (?). I also think a lot of art needs to be seen "in person" if at all possible, for the simple fact that there is so much detail is missed by looking at a photograph.

Then again, photographs can be amazing when they are done right.

I've put a few of my favorites under the cut. They might be a little big though.

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