You Ask? I Answer. . .

I’m back from the dentist — I’m going back in on Thursday to begin getting another crown; I really think that teeth are a big flaw in the design! — and I said I’d answer Mardel’s questionswhen I got back, so here goes.

Here are the guidelines:
1. Respond and rework. Answer the questions on your blog, replace one question you dislike with a question of your own invention; add a question of your own.
2. Tag eight other un-tagged people.

What is your current obsesssion? I don’t think I’ll admit to an obsession, but I’m quite besotted with my granddaughter, Nola. Then there’s the knitting and now, with the spring weather, I’ll be out in the garden again as much as possible. And I’m beginning to fret to obsessive proportions about some research and writing I’ve got to get done by the end of May.

Good fika place? (That would be coffee to us non-Swedes) In Nanaimo, Mon Petit Choux; In Vancouver, any Caffe Artigiano; in Mill Bay, Serious Coffee.

Do you nap a lot? Oh, if wishes were horses, I’d be napping all the time, to coin a strange mixed metaphor or something. If I didn’t have to stay awake all day for work, I’d nap every day. Any day I’m home, I do my best to schedule a nap.

What’s for dinner? Tonight I sautéed a succulent halibut fillet, such a treat, and I oven-fried thin slices of Yukon Gold new potatoes to have alongside (with catsup, just for class!) accompanied by roast cauliflour and a mixed greens salad.

What was the last thing you bought? I’ll show you tomorrow — I love my new bag, love it!

What are you listening to right now? A subtle harmony between my fridge humming inside and the Gabriola ferry shuttling across the water outside in the dark. In the car today I was playing Lucinda Williams’ latest CD.

What is your favorite weather? Today’s will do — that first day in spring when the weather finally spikes a bit of a temp and we can leave our jackets at home. Also partial to sultry late-August weather, to crisp fall days, to those dramatic wind-and-rainstorms of late fall, as long as I’m inside, and a deep snowfall that means we all have to stay off the roads and home from work.

What is on your bedside table? Stacks of books and magazines, an alarm-clock/phone, family photos.

Say something to the person/s who tagged you. I am so enjoying getting to know you through your three blogs and I do hope we meet some day, especially since I’m discovering so many interests, likes, and dislikes we have in common and since I so appreciate your thoughtful, discerning observations and gentle, honest wit.

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you want it to be? I’m going to say Paris, and if I get tired of it, I suspect it won’t be too difficult to trade.

Favorite Vacation Spot? Like Mardel, I most like a city I can walk around in. Paris has been a constant over the past 5 years, but I would love to go back to Lisbon.

Name the Things you would rather not live without. (I’m going to stick with Mardel’s rewording of this question — I think the original was “things you could not live without”) I don’t want to imagine life without any of my family; I’d be unhappy if I couldn’t knit or garden; I’d hate to be without my computer and my internet access; can’t imagine having to live without books; would be very sad to have to eschew perfume; hope I never have to give up drinking tea or wine.

What would you like to have in your hands right now? Hmmmm, that question just suggests naughty to me. I think that’s all the answer you’re getting.

What is your favorite tea flavor? I like a good strong breakfast tea, mostly — I blend Russian Caravan with an extra hit of Lapsang Souchong for a strong smoky cuppa. Otherwise, the only flavoured tea I can tolerate is Earl Grey, preferably Murchie’s, which doesn’t get carried away with the bergamot.

What would you like to get rid of? My mom’s cancer. Useless guilt and anxiety (I qualify because some of each can be useful, a spur to action). A hand-me-down cat (a “gift” from one of my daughters) who has never really settled into the household but who I can’t “give away” and whose care has to be arranged every time I go away. And right now, marking of all the crappy student papers (I’ll keep the good ones, though, which I quite enjoy marking)

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
I think I’d go spend the hour with my mom, ’cause I never made it over there on the weekend and now I’m stuck with useless guilt (well, it’s actually a bit productive ’cause it will get me over to see her soon).

What did you want to become as a child? A lawyer, a child psychologist,
What do you miss? Youth’s energy and painfree joints. The kind of sex you’re surprised to wake and find yourself in the middle of at 2 or 3 in the morning in the first, say, 20 or so years of being together. Don’t worry — we still enjoy it at other times but in the deep of the night now we’re either sound asleep or having solo bouts of insomnia. Oh, and now I’ll probably miss hearing from my kids ’cause they’ll be mortified to read me writing about sex. . .

What are you reading right now? Besides a zillion blogs? Just finished a mystery by Peter Robinson, just started Mark Doty’s The Dog Years. Hoping to catch up on the last four issues of The Walrus now that classes are over but am probably more likely to dig into the shape-issue Vogue.
What’s your favorite brand of jeans? So far, I still like my Citizens of Humanity Ingrids the best — on my second pair. Also like Sevens.

What fear would you most like to lose? I wish I were less fearful of the combination of speed and gravity and high places — then I might be more willing to unclench my braking fingers when riding a bike downhill, more likely to ever take Nola down a waterslide as her greatgrandmother (my mother-in-law) once took her mother.

Do you, or did you ever, play a musical instrument? Which one? And if not, did you ever want to? I studied piano for many, many years, got a conservatory associateship in performance and taught for many years. Sadly, I rarely find time to play, let alone practice, these days, but someday I’ll spend more time at the keyboard.

So there, that was fun. I’ve responded and reworked, following Guideline #1. As for Guideline #2, there’s no way I can think of 8 bloggers I’d ask, so I’m going to be a bad memer (memist?).
But if you want to help me follow the rules and you haven’t done this meme yet, it’s a fun way to build a post and let your readers know a bit more about you. If you decide to pick up the torch, let me know so that I can link to you.