Janet's meme

Janet (Just bee-cause) did this meme last week, here is my go at it....


If you could build a house anywhere, where would it be?
Just outside a town, so not hindered by building regulations. I have collected some great old stained glass doors and windows over the years, and I’d love to build a cob house (mud and straw) which kind of evolves as it goes along, not a straight wall in sight, some sort of Moroccan/Mexican influences, but nothing one could commit to paper for the municipality to pass plans! It would be sort of sculpted from the ground up, lots of alcoves in odd places, vaulted ceilings, a dome over the shower, really arty-farty!


What is your favourite item of clothing?
A disreputable shocking pink caftan, covered in paint, torn in places, but loose, comfy and cool. I swan around in it on weekends, giving the old shoulders a rest from tugging bra straps (not a pretty sight due to the effects of gravity!), so if the doorbell rings I do a duck!


Favourite physical feature of the opposite sex?
Butt, hands and nice broad shoulders with good muscles (but NOT like the GROSS pumped up muscleman type!)


What is the last CD you bought?
2 By Mark Knopfler, bought a week or two ago on Amazon. (It’s all Swampgrrls fault!!! I am a Dire Straits fanatic, and she had a link to MK’s latest album with Emmy-Lou Harris. I t was a bit TOO country for me, but I listened to snippets of a few of his older solo albums, and got Sailing to Philadelphia and The Ragpicker’s Dream. I am especially enjoying the first one.


Where is your favourite place to be?
Oh, where to start, this is like asking what is my favourite colour….Usually, wherever Max and /or the kids are. But I also love solitary places, my studio in the cool quiet of the early hours (I paint a lot in the middle of the night, love it), the rocks near the lighthouse at Seal Point (OK you MUST have seen that one coming!), behind the wheel of the car, on the open road heading somewhere I haven’t been before….


Where is your least favourite place to be?
The DENTIST, aaarrgghhh! Also crowded places, especially if there is a lot of noise and aggression. (strangely I love music concerts, though!) Oh well inconsistent is my middle name!



Where is your favourite place to be massaged?
Scalp, Back and shoulders. I have to go with Janet on this one….Don't even think about touching my feet! I'm very ticklish.


Strong in mind or body?
Both, but not all the time. Some days sharp and together, others fuzzy and overloaded! Some days strong and full of stamina, others rickety and full of pain.


What time do you wake up in the morning?
Usually anytime between 4.30AM and 6.30 AM. (Earlier in summer, later in winter when it is still dark and I want to huddle in bed longer!)


What is your favourite kitchen appliance?
Show me where my kitchen is, and we’ll see if anything comes to mind…probably the dustbin we throw the take-away packaging into!!


What makes you really angry?
Injustice, which unfortunately is rampant given the pathetic state of our so called Justice System at the moment. Bullies, especially those who prey on women and children. In this country at the moment, a woman is raped every 3 minutes, and a huge percentage of children, mostly under 11 years old, are abused daily. It is OBSCENE that so little is being done about it…. Oh dear, better kick the old soapbox back under the bed….


If you could play an instrument what would it be?
The Piano. When my sister and I were little (around 5 or so) an old Aunt in England sent money for us to take either horse riding lessons, or piano lessons. We both chose the horses, and I don’t regret it, I had many happy years on horseback before a nasty fall and fractured spine put an end to it. But I do regret that I didn’t learn the piano too, I love music. Learning things like piano, reading music, languages etc is so much easier when you are young!
Ethan loses no time in starting his lessons...

Favourite colour?
1 Favourite? You have got to be kidding…. It changes every day, with the weather, with my mood…. I can get high on colour, and combinations are better than single ones….orange and pink, aqua and lime, ginger and rich purple, even black and white.


Which do you prefer sports car or suv?
Why be mean, one of each please?! The sports car would have to be a metallic blue BMW Z3 roadster (It is SUCH a classic, way nicer than the latest models). To quote from one of my favourite movies, Top Gun, “I feel the need….the need for speed!”
And the suv would be a long wheelbase Landrover, or an old VW Kombi with 4wd. I would fit the Landy with non-standard comfy sprung seats (for the rickety old back) and aircon . It could be any colour, but it must have a lousy paint job, scratched and tatty, so I can take it anywhere without worrying about damaging it. I am not into smart yuppie-mobiles that limit your fun!


Do you believe in an afterlife?
Yes, but since, at the moment, I am not on the close terms with God that I used to be, I don’t know how much fun it will be!!


Favourite childrens book?
I loved the Mary O’Hara Thunderhead trilogy about horses in Wyoming. The Green Grass of Wyoming, My Friend Flika, and Thunderhead. I read them over and over was ecstatic to find the set on sale for next to nothing, at a Museum in Graaf Reinet recently. So I will soon be reading them again! To this day have a THING about herds of horses running free, it is one of the world’s magic sights! (If you agree, don’t miss Robert Duvall’s new movie called Broken Trail, it is stunning to see the herd swirling around.) And I still want to get to Wyoming one of these days! Of course as a teenager I also read and re-read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.


What is your favourite season?
Spring, not too hot yet, but full of new life and fresh transparent leaves…

Your least favourite household chore.
Where do I start? Ironing, vacuuming, washing dishes, ad infinitum. I think there is only one thing I do enjoy, and that is hanging out the laundry, I love the fresh smell, and feel of cool damp fabric wafted against me by the wind.


If you could have one super power what would it be?
I always fancied the idea of astral travel, I think it would be cool to be able to travel the world at will, visiting friends and special places, without pots of money and going through customs, and long cramped flights!


If you have a tattoo what is it?
I don’t and won’t, too permanent and disfiguring.
But I must admit that lately, a little inner leprechaun has been thinking how cool it would be to have a neat little one on my butt cheek which says ‘kiss my ass’. Then I would get one of those cool pairs of jeans with buttoned flaps for pockets, and holes underneath, because I would just love to show that tattoo to a couple of people I have had to deal with recently!!


Can you juggle?
Hey, I am a wife, mom, granny, interior designer, painter, blogger, etc, of course I can! (But that is not to say the balls all stay in the air when they should!)


The one person from your past that you wish you could go back and talk to
My Grandfather (my dad’s father). I wrote to him often as a child and adored him, but only met him once when we went over to Majorca when I was 14, for his 85th birthday. He died shortly afterwards, so I am so glad we went. But I was too young to ask the sort of things I want to know about now.
He was a fascinating man, the archetypical English gentleman, wore a fresh carnation in his buttonhole every single day, and “dressed” for dinner no matter how ill or frail he was.
He had three marriages, the first to my grandmother, but I gather it was one of those typical upper class marriages of convenience (she was from an excellent family and I have a copy of the family tree going back to King Henry 7th, and including Lady Jane Grey who was Queen for 9 days). I gather it was an unhappy marriage all along. His second wife was a German woman who had been dating my father, but fell for his father when she met him!
His third wife was a French Countess, who I met in Majorca, but wasn’t too fond of.
He was an architect, and his most famous projects were the Bank of Egypt Building, and the Madhi’s Palace in Khartoum, which he designed, quantity surveyed and project managed.
I asked my son to get photos for me, now that he coincidentally finds himself living in Khartoum, but it is too dangerous. The government is draconian and taking photos is illegal. (When I say draconian, I mean it, they beheaded a foreign journalist recently!) So the closest I have come to seeing my grandfather’s work is an etching of the Palace on a Sudanese bank note I was given!
I’d love to ask him about his life, and especially his work, and his other projects.
My Grandfather's house in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

Whats your favourite day?
Almost every day.


Whats in the trunk of your car?
Usually this would have been a LONG answer, it is worse than my handbag! But luckily I cleaned it out the other day when Max had to collect someone from the airport, so it is EMPTY! (Except for a dried patch of shocking pink paint, from a leaking tin on the way home from one of my paint technique jobs.)


Which do you prefer sushi or hamburger?
Tough call, I could live without both. If it was a grilled chicken burger with real breast, not patties, I might relent….