Sunshine Blogger Award #3

The lovely Stephanie of Stephanie’s Ninth Suitcase has tagged me for the Sunshine Blogger Award! This is always such a fun tag, and I’m excited to answer Stephanie’s questions!

First things first, here are the rules.

1. Display the award’s official logo somewhere on your blog.
2. Thank the person who nominated you. (Thank you, Stephanie! :))
3. Provide a link to your nominator’s blog.
4. Answer your nominator’s questions.
5. Nominate up to 11 bloggers.
6. Ask your nominees 11 questions.
7. Notify your nominees by commenting on at least one of their blog posts.

Now second things second, here are my answers to the questions.

1. What is something powerful you learned from someone of an older generation than you?

For some reason I’m having trouble thinking of an answer to this one. I’ve learned a lot from my parents, of course, but that’s such an obvious answer that it kind of seems like cheating.

Well, a value I admire – and try to emulate – that I think many people of an older generation have is being thrifty and creative with what you have and enjoying that, rather than feeling the need to get new possessions.

2. If you are a candle person, what is your favorite scent? If you are not a candle person, what is one cozy-making item that you do enjoy?

I love candles that smell like sweet foods. Maple pancakes, apple pies, vanilla, caramel…I have one currently that’s some variation of pecan pie flavor, which I’ve been loving. (It’s funny, because I don’t eat those kinds of things very often. But I sure love smelling them.)

3. If you could be pulled into a setting from a photo, piece of artwork, or illustration, which setting would that be? What is it about the visual representation of the setting makes you want to choose this place?

Ooh, such a good question! I could choose a lot of different things for this…and the longer I look on Pinterest for ideas the less certain I become about what I should do. I’ll call it a tie between these three.

The first two are obviously gorgeous, and have a sort of quiet, beautiful, bittersweet, almost lonely feel to them. It’s an aesthetic I absolutely love. The last picture has that slightly lonely feel to it too, and also BOOKS. Look at them all. ‘Tis beautiful.

4. Do you currently own, or have you reacquired, any of your childhood toys? (I have tons of stuffed animals, still, and Groovy Girl dolls. Did anyone else have those?)

I actually still own most of my old toys; there are enormous quantities of stuffed animals and dolls in storage in the basement. I had acquired a vast collection of Polly Pocket dolls, especially – mostly the older model, before they started making their heads and eyes about twice as large as the entire mass of the rest of their bodies.

5. Have you ever been appetized by a food in a book that you wouldn’t actually want to eat in real life? If so, which book and which food? If not, what is one book that makes you feel hungry?

I think I could fairly say that Farmer Maggot’s mushrooms in The Lord of the Rings did this for me. Although mushrooms have grown on me with time, I used to not like them much. But even then, Tolkien somehow just made them sound so good.

6. If you could play a board game with a historical figure, who would you choose and why?

This is a bit of a random choice (and there are so many good options I don’t think it’s possible to make any kind of definitive choice), but I think I’ll say Louis XVI. From what I’ve heard he was more of the awkward, introverted sort, which I would quite likely feel more comfortable with than a charismatic outgoing sort. I’ve also always felt sorry for him; I think he was one of those people who honestly meant well and who just got caught in a really bad place at a really bad time (and also was probably just not suited for the role of governing a country).

7. What is one song, book, or movie that the Lord has recently used to minister to you?

The frustrating thing is that I’ve had multiple occasions of feeling gentle Holy Spirit inspirations recently, but I can’t think of specific examples right now of media which inspired them. I recently read The Jeweler’s Shop by Karol Wojtyla (later Pope St. John Paul II) for school and found parts of that very powerful, so I guess I’ll go with that…it has some very true, very deep insights about love and commitment. One quote struck me so much that I wrote it down in my notebook of inspiring/striking quotes:

“Love is a constant challenge, thrown to us by God, thrown, I think, so that we should challenge fate.”

(I also was recently noticing how beautiful and consoling the lyrics for Terry Talbot’s “Stronger Than All of These” are, so I’ll say that as a special mention.)

8. What is your favorite type of weather? Do you prefer being out in it, or enjoying the ambiance from indoors?

I realized afresh on a recent rainy day that I like pretty much all weather. I suppose I’ll say that a sunny, deliciously cool and slightly breezy day is my favorite, but I don’t know that I can really pin it down definitively – I also love thunderstorms, cloudy days, snow – nearly anything but hot humidity.

I often enjoy being out in weather, though some kinds are also well enjoyed from a window – rain and snow particularly.

9. When it comes to socializing, do you prefer large groups (5+ other people), medium-sized groups (3-4 other people), or small group/one-on-one interactions?

As somewhat of an introvert, I definitely do best in small groups or one-on-one interactions.

10. If you had to plan a wedding or birthday party for a fictional character, who would you choose and why? What would that event look like?

Oh, what a fun question! I could say Elinor Dashwood – I think we would get along marvelously together, and she would like a tasteful, quiet sort of wedding, which would be very enjoyable to plan for…actually, she might like her wedding a little too simple to be properly fun to plan for.

So since I’m currently reading Wives and Daughters for the first time, I’ll cheat a bit and sneak Molly Gibson in as a second answer. As with Elinor, I would love to be acquainted with her, and I would also love planning a wedding which suited her personality – pretty and elegant, but simple and quiet and un-ostentatious.

11. I liked Iona’s concept of “now nostalgia.” What is something that evokes this response in you?

I think the experiences that most inspire in me a desire to live more deeply in the present moment tend to be either in nature – special moments, like when you’re outside at sunrise and can smell the growing-earthy smells and hear the birds singing and the whole world feels hushed – or sometimes spiritual experiences. The Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter) liturgies especially can evoke a feeling like that.

Bonus question 😉 What does your perfect reading haven look like?

Stephanie’s answer sounded marvelous, so mine would be quite similar. My reading haven would be a deep window seat, next to a living room, but with a red velvet curtain that I could draw across if I wanted to be blocked off from the room for special concentration on my reading. I would have lots of pillows and cushions and blankets, and a view out the window which looked out on a mixture of fields and woods, preferably with a brook or stream somewhere too. I would also have a custom-made bookshelf on hinges which normally would be flush against the wall next to the window, but when I was in my nook I could swing it around and have it next to me for easy reach. There’d be plenty of room on this bookshelf for books, obviously, but also for putting hot drinks within easy reach.

There, that sounds positively idyllic!

~

Now, let’s see if I can manage to nominate eleven people while still leaving a few people left in the blogging pool for others to tag…

I nominate:

Autumn Grace at Shades of Art

Cecilia at Craft, Coffee and Cake

Faith at The Inspired Whisk

Frankie at Such An Anime Character

Grace and Katherine at The Maidens of Green Gables

Hannah at Inkling Corner

Liz Churchill at The Antique Bookworm (obviously feel free to fill out the tag on your blog, but as your blog is private, if you would like to put your answers into the comments here too so I could see them that would be lovely!)

Ruth at The Bend in the Road

The Grim Writer

The Hopeful Pen at With Joy for the Work

The Story Sponge

~

And here are my eleven questions for you:

1. What was your first word?

2. It’s a rainy afternoon. Would you most enjoy going outside and feeling the rain on your face Marianne-Dashwood-style, curling up in a window seat with a good book, or getting your favorite music on and doing some housecleaning?

3. What does your handwriting look like?

4. Which decade in history do you think had the best women’s fashion, and which decade had the best men’s fashion?

5. What’s your dream career?

6. Name three to five of your favorite fictional characters.

7. What’s one virtue that particularly attracts you in other people?

8. If you write, which authors do you think have most influenced your writing style? (If you don’t, which authors’ styles do you most admire?)

9. What are the three best and three worst period dramas you’ve seen? (Broaden this to movies in general if you’re not a period drama person.)

10. Who were some of your earliest role models (either real or fictional)?

11. What’s one of your favorite prayers/Bible verses?

~

Hope you all have a lovely and sunshiny day!