Sweet Award, another Meme and...

...continuing phoktober.

Dear Rambler over at Virtual Ramblings gave me a Sweet Award - that's just so sweet of him! He said: "Absolute Vanilla does truly deserve this, the kind of issues she deals with, and the stands she takes, does make her really sweet." Thank you, Rambler - you too are very sweet and were given your award deservedly.


Now, in time honoured tradition, I have to pass the award on and so I do to Wanderlust Scarlett, Canterbury Soul, Jefferson Davis, Vesper and Marie.

And talking of Marie, she, the Deep Thinker, tagged me with a meme... It doesn't appear to have a name so it's probably best referred to as "Three things that enliven you more than blogging". Only three?!

"The rules (I just hate rules) are as follows - words in italics have been added by the one who hates rules... for anyone playing further, take the italicised words out - if you want... ;-) :

* 1. After your intro, copy/paste this line and the rules below it: The originator - one Damien Riley - wants to see how far it goes so please keep his link intact: http://rileycentral.net/

* 2. Encourage people to post with the incentive of a link (People need an incentive? I thought self motivation and interest usually did it! ;-) ) by including those who have passed it along here: Audrey, Celtic Angel, JM, Romance Writer, Deep Thinker.

* 3. Visit at least 3 on the list who’ve written and passed this meme. Leave them a comment. I so hate being told what to do. Rules, I'm sure, are half mankinds' problem...

And then you are supposed to, “pick three things that enrapture, consume, fascinate, or otherwise enliven you more than blogging. Then write a few lines about each to explain what the nonblog activity does for you, why and how.”

So, here goes...

1. Writing: For as long as I can remember I've loved writing. I wrote my first play when I was about eight - it was performed on rollerskates, thus predating Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express by a good few years! It was called Little Girl Lost and I charged the neighbourhood kids five cents to come and watch. The hero was played by the German boy from across the road - he only got the part because he could rollerskate! Needless to say the playwright was also the leading lady... So, what does writing do for me - it takes me to other worlds, other states of being and it makes my soul sing. How? Because I get to give flight to my imagination and I tap into a far greater creativity than my own - there are times when I'm writing a novel, that I feel I am merely a conduit for something so much bigger than me.

Where the words happen...

2. Photography: This is something I've only recently rediscovered when Significant Other bought me a shiny new Nikon. I'd been into photography as a student but eventually gave it up when the developing costs became too exhorbitant. Now digital has opened that wonderful world of creativity to me again. As to why I do it - again, it takes me to other places (Significant Other asssures me I go into a sort of fugue state when I get behind the lens), it enables me to see the world very differently, encourages me to be so much more observant and it allows me to indulge in a visual form of creativity.





3. Cooking: My grandfather was a cook, all my mother's family cook passionately, so I guess maybe this passion is in the blood. Again, for me it's about creativity. Cooking is not a chore, it's an culinary adventure. When I was first married all I could cook was good old spaghetti bolognese. Within a year or two I was doing choux pastry, souffles and dinner parties. I suppose it never occurred to me to be afraid in the kitchen or to think something might go wrong (though I have had one spectacular blunder involving a dinner party, gelatine and raspberry mousse...). I think there is also something about food that has been prepared with love and joy that simply makes it taste that much better. Today, health problems preclude all sorts of things from my diet but it doesn't stop me from experimenting and trying new things - if anything, cooking simply but tastily creates more of a challenge. And while I have shelves of cookery books (my preferences lean towards Italian and French country cooking), I now read them for ideas and them make up my own recipes - like my grandfather, I have learned to "cook by ear". As for the why, I like to know exactly what I'm eating, I enjoy my own food, I love it that others enjoy it too and, above all, I love the art of creation in still another form!

Berry pavlova

Now, I tag Wanderlust Scarlett and Verilion.