Question Time Over Coffee, 11/19/22

I see where several of you have started a new blog hop, “Question Time Over Coffee,” sponsired by Rory at Earthly Comforts, and decided to play along. Hope that’s okay with everyone…

Have you ever been on an extended vacation/holiday road trip? If so, when and where and for how long? Mary and I have been on a few vacations, none more than two weeks long. One was to Scotland and England in September 1979 that was a sort of “honeymoon,” even though we had been married a year and a half by then. The other was through New York State and Ontario, where we visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, Niagara Falls, drove up into Canada and through to Toronto, then down to Watertown, New York, where some friends of ours lived. I’m sure there have been others, which I don’t remember.

When was the last time you visited an actual bookshop, and what, if any, new/old/secondhand titles did you buy? It’s been a few years, because it’d been difficult for me to get around since the stroke. I think the last one was Barnes & Noble several years ago, and I don’t remember buying anything while we were there.

How do you feel about the new WP Dashboard 7-day highlights Statistics? I really don’t feel one way or the other about it. I don’t really pay a lot of attention to my statistics, which probably is a surprise to everyone here…

How do you feel about all the Russian nuclear sabre rattling? I grew up with Russian saber-rattling and American saber-rattling right back. I guess after all this time none of it surprises me. I’m hoping cooler heads prevail and everyone stands down before anyone gets hurt.

If you could go back or travel to an age of your choice and live or relive a previous era for a day, what age would you pick and why? Probably the Seventies, for no other reason than I feel like it was a great time when I was living through them and want to be sure that they really were as great as all that.

Do you have a favourite coat? [Outdoor/Indoor/Business/Social] What makes it unique to you, OR is a coat just a coat? My current winter coat, or rather jacket. I was in Akron, Ohio and had prepared for much warmer weather than I encountered there, and to top it all off snow was forecast for the next day. I found a Big & Tall store that had winter jackets on sale, and bought a jacket with a nylon shell and a Polar-Tec lining, originally priced at $150, for $30. I’ve had it for almost 20 years and it’s perfect for the weather here. And it’s black and silver, colors of the Chicago White Sox.

Do you enjoy learning something new every day or week? I’m not sure that I do learn something new every day or week, which is probably something I need to change. I think I’d enjoy it.

Are you more comfortable in your skin today than you were in the youth of your yesterdays?
Why and how so? Probably. I’m not sure how comfortable in my skin I was during my misspent youth.

Have you ever kept a hardback diary or a journal as opposed to an online digital one? When did you first start to journal your life? Mary and I went on a retreat called Marriage Encounter back in 1989. During one of those, you and your spouse write “love letters” to each other and share them. I think I realized that I enjoyed writing then, and Mary liked how expressive I was when I wrote, so she encouraged me to take it up. I’ve done it on and of since then, but gave it up after the stroke, when my right hand didn’t come back and I found it almost impossible to write with my left. It’s not for nothing that my blog is called “The Sound of One Hand Typing.” I continue to journal, but not on paper.

How do you feel about Eggplant/Aubergine/Guinea Squash as a vegetable? Is it something you enjoy having in your meals? I like it in Baba Ghanouj and Moussaka. Those are the only two places I’ve had it.

What film could you watch over and over again and why? Without a doubt, A Hard Day’s Night. Every time I watch it, I see something that I hadn’t seen before. I think I was 12 when I first saw it, and a lot of the humor sailed right over my head. As I became more familiar with British humor (through Monty Python’s Flying Circus, The Two Ronnies, The Benny Hill Show, and the various British sitcoms such as Keeping Up Appearances and Are You Being Served?), the more I have been able to understand the jokes, and being older, the more I can appreciate the humor.

What concert, show, or event would you love tickets for if you could get them? Now, or at any point in history? Right now, I’d like to see Leonid & Friends. They cover a lot of rock-with-horns bands, most notably Chicago (I think they sound more like Chicago now than Chicago does), Blood Sweat & Tears, The Ides Of March, and Earth Wind & Fire. As for in the past, I would love to have seen The Beatles at Comiskey Park in Chicago back in 1965.

Would your teenage self be impressed with who you are today and what you have achieved so far in your/their life? I think my teenaged self would be underwhelmed by my achievements. I had such grandiose plans for myself when I was a teenager, which would be part of it, but I look back now with regrets of my own.

Which online behaviours do you find the most annoying in blogging? The bloggers whose whole spiel is about “buy book, subscribe to my blog, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest etc. etc. ad nauseam.” To a certain extent, we all do that, and I don’t mind it because the bloggers I know (that’s all y’all) have a lot more to say than just that.

That’s all for now!