Friday Five: Something New

Songbird at RevGalBlogPals tells us: “There's a new baby on my street, a double PK whose Mom and Dad are Methodist pastors and church planters. I'm hoping to go over and meet her today. I love new babies, the way they smell and their sweet little fingers and toes. Little K has me thinking about all the new things that please us with their shiny freshness.
Please share with us five things you like *especially* when they are new.”

1. KITTENS! Puppies too, I suppose, but I have more experience with kittens. Since the passing of our cat Heidi last summer, we have been a cat-less household for longer than we’ve ever been during our whole marriage. Heidi and Rusty never got along very well, so this seems like a wise plan, and yet, we occasionally catch ourselves wistfully wondering whether a new kitten (well, 8 weeks old, as our state law requires) could get used to Rusty and he to it and that there could be peaceful coexistence or even friendship.

2. APPLIANCES! Since we moved into this house in 2005, we’ve replaced the washing machine, the clothes dryer, and the refrigerator; most likely the stove will be next, although I both hope and fear that its replacement is a while in the future still. I still appreciate all the newer appliances, but when they were really new and shiny I appreciated them even more, making excuses to wash and dry things, trying out new arrangements for the refrigerator shelves….

3. NEW PENS, NOTEBOOKS, ETC! I like these far, far too much. At this point, I am making myself use up the pages of old notebooks to write my first drafts of blog posts (I generally do FFs off the cuff, but the others I write in longhand first), because I have so many lying around. It’s a little easier to feed my addiction to new pens because they do get used up or lost/misplaced regularly. I like gel pens mostly, with black fine point as the default. But sometimes it’s fun to write with a thicker blue line, or red or green or purple. This picture is from a blog that I’m going to have to start reading because it seems to be all about pens and stationery! A trip to Staples is both a joy and a struggle for me as I try to resist buying things I don’t really need, but really, really want.

4. NEW BOOKS! New to me, at least. But even though I have no problem with used books and library books, there is still something extra special about crisp-paged, brightly-colored, hot-off-the-press new books. The new book shelf at the library is great, too. This photo is from the Legislative Library in New Brunswick, Canada. I'd be interested in that rubber duck book.

5. NEW SLIPPERS! I’d really like some. Pretty soon they’d be old slippers and I’d still like them even then. Wicked Good slippers from Bean’s, size 11, color immaterial. New shoes are nice too, but sometimes problematic because they can need to be broken in. But new slippers are comfy and warm right away.

I have to say, I do like new babies, for all the reasons Songbird mentions; but as I’ve seen with my own children, the wonder of their babyhood just keeps getting better and better as they grow. I might like to visit those baby days for a little while, but not forever.

Friday Five: Taking a Break

At RevGalBlogPals, Songbird, who lives about 35 miles from me, says:
"Where we live, it's February School Vacation Week!

Yes, that's an odd thing, a vacation extending President's Day. But it's part of our lives here. Some people go South or go skiing, but we always stay home and find more humble amusements.

In that spirit, I offer this Taking a Break Friday Five. Tell us how you would spend:

1. a 15 minute break
2. an afternoon off
3. an unexpected free day
4. a week's vacation
5. a sabbatical"

First off, I have to admit -- right now it's all a break for me, in many ways. That might change before long, but since I don't have a job or children at home, my schedule is my own. So in answering these questions I'll be looking ahead, or back, or into some kind of fantasy world.

1. A 15-minute break: coffee and a book. That's what I did when I had jobs that offered breaks, and that's what I do now if I'm taking a break from some lengthy chore.












2. An afternoon off: wander downtown, exploring shops and coffee places I haven't been into, but surely ending up at the bookstore. Or if I were broke: go to the library and look at the new books, magazines, and any exhibits that are up.


3. An unexpected free day: to me right now, this means a day where we would have no dog responsibilities. I'd like to go to City by the Sea and check out the historical society library, and if I were tired of that, visit the art museum and have lunch at a place we've never been to.












4. A week's vacation: right now, a week at the beach in South Carolina sounds really good. If I get to go this year, it will be in May, and it will still be good then.

5. A sabbatical: no piddly three-months sabbaticals for us! Nosir. We (Onkel Hankie Pants and I) want a whole year, and although there might be many things we could choose, I think we could agree on a literary/genealogical tour of the British Isles. There's enough there to keep him busy and happy taking pictures while I poke around ancestor-hunting, and we would both enjoy seeing the Lake District, the Cotswolds, the Fen Country, London, Scotland, and so on and so on. We would also require a ten-pound box of money and someone to care for the dog and cat; or if we could arrange a home exchange, perhaps only a five-pound box of money.
All the photos, except for the beach one which is mine, are from wonderful photographers at Flickr.com. The Maine St. photo has my hairdresser's salon, which I should visit soon, afternoon off or not!

Friday Five: Twenty-Four Hours (24 hours later)

Rev HRod at RevGalBlogPals remarks:

Yesterday I had the 24 hour flu. I had been told by the people who had it first that it really was a twenty-four hour bug. And so while I dealt with all the blech of the flu, I kept reminding myself that morning would come and I would feel a lot better.

This is certainly a strange way to start out a Friday Five but it made me think about what I might like to do if I knew it would only last for 24 hours. There are no reality boundaries to these imaginings. So here are the five things for you to consider...

1. If you could dramatically change your physical appearance for 24 hours, what would you do?
This might be cheating because it's not just "appearance," but I'd like to go back to the body I had 37 years ago. I don't think I appreciated it sufficiently at the time.

2. If you could live in another place for 24 hours where would you go? Almost anywhere except Las Vegas or Orlando. (Or Atlantic City I suppose). There are so many interesting places! But maybe just for 24 hours I'd like to go to the Ruzizi Valley in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where my nephew's organization is building a sustainable village (www.workingvillages.org).
   


3. You get to do somebody else's job for a day... And does this mean I'd be competent at it too? Then, I'd like to work as an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control. Though I have no talent or training for it, epidemiology has always fascinated me and I will always read books about it. It would be fun to see what the work is like from the inside.
   


4. Spend the day with another person from anywhere in time and space... Initially I thought about just going back to when one of my children was small -- 3 or 4 years old perhaps. But then I'd have to choose which one. So now I say, pick an ancestor - any ancestor. I enjoy ferreting out the details of their lives but there is only so much that's in the records. Perhaps my great-great-grandparents during their brief sojourn in southeastern Minnesota -- why did they leave?
   


5. A magical power is yours. Which one would you pick? This one was mentioned as a "futuristic" technology in some Friday Fives a few weeks back -- teleportation! I'd love to be able to visit my children and friends who live far away without the expense and downright misery of airline travel these days. (Not to mention I could come back the same way and sleep in my own bed!)
   

Friday Five: If I Had a Million Dollars

Singing Owl, over at RevGalBlogPals, says:
"Lingering effects of a cold have me watching more television than usual. There appears to be a resurgence of the old daytime staple--the quiz show. Except they are on during prime time, and a great many of them offer the chance of winning one million dollars.

I think it started with Regis Philbin and "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" but now we have a half dozen or so.

My husband and I started musing (after watching "Deal or No Deal") about what we could do with a million dollars. I thought I'd just bring that discussion into the Friday Five this week. It's simple. What are five things you would want to do with a million dollar deposit in your bank account?"

1. Pay off all my kids' student loans, and fund any further education they need or want.
2. Finish our basement and add a dumbwaiter to bring groceries, etc. up from the basement-level garage.
3. Travel.
4. Give more charity to the many worthy organizations I can't afford to support now.
5. When my cybercompanions on the DorothyL list publish new books, buy them.

What would you do with a million dollars? Feel free to post on your own blog or leave a comment here.