Travel. Hmm, yes, that thing I used to do *g* In the past I have travelled in order to live in different countries.

1. Do you like traveling or are you counting the minutes until the transporter is perfected?
I have always wanted the transporter option, or teleportation. I don't particularly enjoy the act of travelling - being stuck in a seat on a train or an aeroplane for hours with nothing to do. I get antsy and lose the ability to sit and read after a couple of hours. Driving is better, but even so, not my favourite thing.

2. If you could visit any country in the world right now, where would you go?
It would have to be Canada, to see Sparrow, I think. A transporter would be brilliant for that because I could go over for a few hours and still get back in time for tea with DJ. *pauses to consider time zones and what time it would be in Canada when it is tea time here*

3. What is your favourite form of travel?
If forced, I would vote for the train for long distances. Walking or my bicycle for short ones.

4. What is the longest vacation/holiday that you’ve ever been on?
I can't remember. Two weeks camping in Europe as a child, I think.

5. Would you travel for a living?
Really, no! I hate not being home at night *g*


But right now, I really need to go out (travel by foot *g*) to the shops. It looks like it is turning into a lovely spring day.

No Friday Five again, so I went back to the archive.

1. What is your favorite childhood memory?
I don't know that I have only one. I had a great childhood and I can conjure so many wonderful memories, once I start thinking about it.

2. If you could be reincarnated as anything besides human, who would you want to be?
That's an interesting one. I actually found myself thinking about that a few weeks ago, while watching Planet Earth II. The problem, it seemed to me, was that all environments, even the most fertile and richest, still have times when the hunt for food is hard and competition is vicious. So, since I am naturally lazy, something that doesn't need to hunt for its next meal. And since I don't want to die violently, something with no predators. And since I am not maternal, something that doesn't hang around to raise its young. Any ideas?

3. If you had to start your life all over, what are three things you would change?
Nothing. Not even my awkward, early teens. All those years of growing up (I'm still trying to do that) made me who I am and I am happy to be me.

4. If you had to forget everything in your life, except one thing, what would it be?
Again - easy. Loving DJ. Although I hate the idea of losing the rest of my family.

5. Do you have a lucky charm?
Not really. I have things that I carry around with me, silly things that feel comfortable, but they change over time.

Interesting questions.
If a new set get posted late, I will maybe do them too, but those were quite good.

In other news, I finally, finally, finished betaing a rather long chapter for a writer in the Merlin fandom. I am ashamed of how long it took me, who used to take pride in a quick turn around. But it was rewarding and enjoyable and my writer is very kind and has never reproached me for my tardiness. I am very appreciative of that.

And we have a long weekend to look forward to next week. Yay for that.

Happy Sunday!

No Friday Five this week, so once again I went back into the 'archive', aka the first and early posts to the comm. This is the second ever set of questions posted, from May, 2004.

1. What's a song you would enjoy screaming along to as you drive down the motorway?
You know, this is difficult, because I don't listen to music while driving. There is only one CD in the car, which is a mix CD made by DJ years ago and which he sometimes plays when he is in the driving seat. So if I put it on, I know all the words, I have heard it so often, but I really, really don't know who any of the artists are, or the names of the songs. And I can't even google the lyrics to find out, because without the prompt of the CD playing, I can't remember any of them. I do realise that this makes me a musical Luddite/Neanderthal, but *shrugs* I can't bring myself to care *g*

2. What is your favourite place/type of environment to relax?
Now that one is easy - right here, where I am now. A soft chair in my own home, with DJ and my laptop, or a book, or the TV on. Yep, that is perfect, thanks. Pass me that gin and tonic, would you?

3. What are the best kind of dreams?
Are we talking sleep dreams here, or the kind of dreams people have for their future?
Sleep dreams: Good ones, obviously. Thankfully, I very rarely suffer from nightmares. I dream in colour, and sometimes with texture. (I had a very nice dream once in which I kissed someone and could feel every moment on my lips. Mmm... *g*) I like dreams that are populated by people I know and take place in familiar surroundings, just slightly twisted, because my dreams usually have a narrative. It may not make much sense, upon review, but at the time... Yes, Mad Hatter's Tea Party type dreams.
Ambition dreams: Easy - to retire *g* I don't want to wish my life away, but I am counting backwards.

4. What do you look for in a mate?
I am going take 'mate' to mean close friend, rather than sexual partner.
I think they need to be tolerant (to put up with my foibles), intelligent (because I am not very good at suffering fools, gladly or not), a good conversationalist (to make up for my lack of social skills) and... just fun to know. Luckily, I have three of those *g* and I live with one of them, which is good.

5. If you were a crayon colour, what colour would you be and why?
The problem with these sorts of questions is I am always drawn to thinking about what colour I like best, what kind of car would I really love to have, what's my favourite sandwich, etc, etc.
How can I tell what colour I am? Surely that is something only someone else can tell, because colour is an external characteristic and I can't see my own outside.

In other news, I have no idea what to do for this week's photo_scavenger prompt. I used to have a tin full of coins from various countries, left over from holidays, but where it is now... I don't know. I'll have to think of something else.

This weeks questions are very hard for me to answer, at least, I suspect, in the manner intended by the questioner.

1) What was your first word?
I have absolutely no idea. I am told that most children's first word is something along the lines of "ma" or "ma ma", so I imagine it was that. Like most married women of the time, my mother didn't go out to work, so sheer familiarity would suggest that is more likely than "da da".

2) How old were you?
How old are children when they start to talk? I have no experience.

3) Who heard you say it?
I would imagine it was my mother, or my older brother. Maybe I was alone. That raises an interesting question - is a child's first word actually a word, if there is no adult present to recognise it? Does a tree falling in the forest make a sound if there are no ears in the vicinity to hear it?

4) Did you have trouble pronouncing any words as a kid?
I don't remember having any problems. I don't remember ever having a lisp or anything like that.

5) Are there any words you consistently mispronounce today?
I had to think about this one. And the final conclusion is 'no'. Like most people, if I am not sure of the pronunciation of a word, I can usually find an alternative way of saying what I want to say.

So that is this week's five. And now, given the time, I suppose I'd better go and start doing off-line things. Happy Saturday people.

This is an interesting and difficult set of questions to answer.

1) If you could hang out with an actor or actress (dead or alive) for a day who would it be, and why?
And difficult right from the start, because I don't know any actors, male or female. As Angel said, when drugged by the Character Rebecca in the series 1 episode 'Eternity', “They always mistake me for the character I play." And that's the issue with this question for me - I might like the character, but that doesn't mean I will like the actor, or find them interesting. Or they me, for that matter.

2) What would you do with him or her?
If I could be certain they would be intelligent, articulate, witty and forthcoming, I would enjoy a chance to sit over a meal and ask about the art of acting. I would enjoy hearing about the research and thought that goes into developing a character for stage or screen. Something like a live version of Anthony Sher's book "The Year of the King", which was a wonderful description of his preparations for playing Richard III with the RSC. I once saw a TV programme that was a masterclass on acting for the camera, given by Michael Caine to a group of young stage actors. It was fascinating.

3) Do you have a favourite movie of theirs? If so, name it.
There are many actors who I use as a sort of proxy for judging the likely quality or enjoyability of a film, when deciding whether to watch it or not. Who they are depends on the genre. So it could be Vin Deisel or Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren or Bruce Willis. A favourite film? I couldn't even. There are too many that I enjoyed for very different reasons.

4) If you could hang out with a rock star (dead or alive) for a day who would it be, and why?
And the same issue applies, compounded by the fact that I don't really listen to music and I'm not very interested in hearing about the thought that goes into creating songs. Although, there was a series on the radio a year or so ago, in which a number of classical singers, musicians and historians inspected the original scores of composers. Their discussion and dissection of the marks and annotations made fascinating listening.

5) Are you able to play one of their songs on the guitar, bass, or drums?
*laughs* No, I don't play any musical instruments. There was a time when I tried to learn guitar, but I didn't really care enough to persist.

That was fun. It is nice to have a reason to post and it is nice to have questions that make me think.

Happy Saturday, people.

So curiouswombat made an art post with the follow on that she handed out artist's names to commenters for them to post more art. I am not intending to do that, unless you ask. Although if you do ask...

She gave me the Scottish artist John Duncan, who I had not heard of, so I followed her useful link to Art UK and did a search.

It seems that he painted in a few different styles. Most of his work that I saw is definitely Victorian, high-romantic Art Nouveau – Arthurian and Celtic legendary characters in gorgeous and colourful medieval garb.

But there was also this very human portrait of Marjory Kennedy-Fraser (1857–1930), "Musician and Collector of Hebridean Songs" which caught my eye amongst the gaud and which I really like.



So if you want an artist, ask and I will see what I can do. (Or go look at wombat's post and ask her *g*)

Continuing my resolution to post more regularly, I am once again grateful to The Friday Five for the prompts.

This week the questions are about pets.

How many pets have you had at one time?
The most pets at one time? Hmm, *thinks back to childhood* Well, I did have two cats and a couple of goldfish, although not at the same time (the cats and the goldfish, I mean. That might have quickly become just two cats.)

What is the strangest pet you have ever had?
See above. I begin to suspect I was a boring child.

What is the coolest trick you have ever taught a pet?
Have you ever tried to teach either cats or goldfish to do tricks?

Real animals: What animal have you always wanted as a pet?
A unicorn. What do you mean they're not real? I saw a picture of one in a book, so they must be.
It would have to be a small unicorn though. One that could live indoors, because we don't have room for a horse-sized creature in our house.

Imaginary animals: Describe the ideal pet, an animal that doesn't really exist.
Something lethargic, so it didn't need to be taken for a walk three times every day (I have friends with dogs; I know what that entails.) Something furry, so it would be comforting to have on my lap. No claws. Preferably vegetarian (carnivore pets tend to smell) but not a ruminant (because they to too, for different reasons *g*) Maybe a small lion, who would not mind acting as a pillow?
Alternatively, a friendly griffin, because I have always wanted to fly and it could take me for rides.

That was fun. I hope you are all having a good weekend, too. *waves at flist*

... thefridayfive and we'll see how well this works.

It was something shapinglight asked that made me realise I only ever post in photo_scavenger these days. Then I saw kazzy_cee's mention of thefridayfive, so I am going to give it a go.

The Friday Five for January 20, 2017

1. How do you like your coffee?
I drink my coffee white (or, more accurately, dark brown) with milk (never with cream) and one sugar. Except at work, where without a fridge milk doesn't keep, so I've become accustomed to drinking it black with no sugar.

2. How do you like your tea?
Strongish, with a small amount of milk, about as dark as my coffee and with no sugar.

3. What's your favourite late night beverage?
Even after all these years of reading fanfic written by Americans, I still do a double take when presented with the word 'beverage' *g* It makes me think of hot bovril for some reason. But to answer the question about favourite (evening and late night) drinks...
Week nights - various fruit juices diluted with soda water, so I can drink a number of them from a tall glass. (It's all about the volume.)
Weekends - G&T.

4. If you could only drink one thing for the next week, what would it be?
That's a difficult one because I have a serious caffeine addiction and would hate not having my early morning coffee. But you can't drink coffee all day, so I guess it would have be the week-night answer to question 3 (and feel sorry for anybody who comes into contact with me during my withdrawal).

5. If you were on vacation (again, a word I don't use, so - holiday), what would be the first thing you'd drink to celebrate?
And again a reference to question 3 (I am a creature of habit) - gin and tonic.

I don't do memes. Really, I don't. So why did this one catch my eye? *shrugs*
Because I found myself doing it as I read it on kazzy_cee's, brutti_ma_buoni's and curiouswombat's posts.

So gakked from all three of them -

The rules - No using Google
Every answer must start with the last letter of your previous answer

Name – Maz *g*
Animal - Zebra
Girl's name - Anne
Colour - Emerald
Movie – Dogma
Something you wear – Amber Pendant
Drink - Tea
Food - Apple
Item in the bathroom – Elastoplasts (It's where I keep the first aid kit)
Place – South Shields
Reason to be late – Slept in

Happy birthday, sparrow2000, I hope you have a perfectly lovely day (even though you are now quite old.)
I can't begin to say how grateful I am that you replied to my first ever comment left on a LJ post and the friendship that developed from that is one of the gems in my life. Have a wonderful day.