The Sunday Stealing for today is LEP Autumn. LEP is the League of Extraordinary PenPals.
1. Do you decorate for Autumn?
There’s a pumpkin on our porch right now. The leaves aren’t swept, so that’s sort of decorative. One of our former next-door neighbors used to have banners for many occasions – Thanksgiving, St. Patrick’s Day, etc. I thought at the time that it was rather corny, but in retrospect, I liked it.
2. How often do you clean out your closets?
I don’t have a closet. When we bought the house, there was a closet in one of the spare bedrooms, but that space was converted into our daughter’s bedroom. (She subsequently moved to the other bedroom, which was larger.) So there’s an armoire in our bedroom for my shirts, etc. I hated it at first, but now I merely dislike it. And I’ve NEVER cleaned it out except when I pull a shirt out, and I decide (or more likely, my wife decides) it’s too worn.
3. When was the last time you planned a surprise for someone?
I used to do so regularly, but I can’t recall a recent time.
4. Are there foods you really don’t like?
Anchovies. Sardines. Most canned vegetables (spinach, beets…) Cucumbers. Watermelon. Any candy that has the faux flavor of watermelon or bananas, though I do like real bananas.
Diversity?
5. What is something you recently learned?
Charles Curtis, Vice-President under Herbert Hoover, was “the first Native American and first person with acknowledged non-European ancestry to reach either of the highest offices in the federal executive branch.”
6. Items you’re most likely to buy at a convenience store
Cough drops or Vitamin C drops, diet Pepsi.
7. Do you believe in the paranormal?
I don’t either believe it or not believe it. That’s a solid maybe, but I spend almost no time thinking about it.
Have you got good religion?
8. How would you describe your spirituality?
The idea of religion is quite appealing. But it’s too often ruined by its supposed believers. Some evangelicals called Jesus “liberal” and “weak, forgetting that Jesus hung out with pretty scuzzy people who heeded the call to follow Him. Others have mistaken Jesus for an ATM. No wonder Mahatma Gandhi famously noted: “I like your Christ, but not your Christianity.” As a Christian, it alternately depresses and enrages me that some of my nominal fellow followers make it difficult/impossible for others to embrace the faith.
And I won’t even get into talking about the heretics of other faiths because it’s not my area of expertise.
9. Do you make plans far in advance?
I HATE doing things at the last minute. But FAR in advance? Aside from our trip to France, which had many moving parts, I avoid planning so far in advance that I can’t envision the end goal.
10. Do you like being scared for fun?
No. Not at all. I don’t see scary movies. Haunted houses are not for me.
11. What has been difficult for you lately?
Time management. Some of that is directly related to my wife’s job as one of the two employees of an afterschool tutoring program. One of the two became sick with COVID, so I spent about 15 hours helping her with simple tasks (sharpening pencils, taking out garbage, etc.) It was fine, but the things I had previously had on my docket got crunched.
12. Have you ever written or read fanfiction?
No; and a smattering.
Barren walls
13. What type of wall art do you have in your home?
This is a bit of a sore point. We have quite a bit of art we COULD put on our walls. My wife said she wanted to wait until the walls got painted before decorating. So they were painted over a decade ago, and still, no art on the walls. Now, you might say, “Why don’t you put them up yourself?” Mostly, I lack the artistic eye to ascertain what piece should go with another and at what height. Maybe I can get my daughter to help me at Christmas.
14. Are you more likely to be private or overshare?
I’ve thought about this a lot. When you have a blog you’ve written for 18.5 years, people think they know all about the blogger. This is not true, but I rather enjoy the myth.
15. What have you recently learned to live without?
Reading a daily newspaper. It tends to collect, and then I’ll pour through a week’s or fortnight’s worth in one sitting. I can skip the stories I already know about, but there’s always something I learn.