I am a mushroom

Me & Heimlich filling our faces at Disneyland

"For You have formed my inward parts; You have covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well." Psalm 139: 13-14

I've been tagged! I guess I'm relatively new to the blogging world because I had no idea what that meant. However, my tagging friend Barb said that to be tagged, I had to post 5 weird facts about myself on my blog today. So today, its all about ME!!

Let me just start by saying Weird is Fun! Its fun to have a few strange things in your life that make a few jaws drop. How boring it would be if you did everything everyone expected. Of course there is good weird & bad weird in this day & age but really, I think you all know what I'm talking about!

God has made each one of us unique! He did not make a world of identical robots & we all have our own unique personalities & looks. In a world where many try so hard to achieve a certain look, achieve a certain lifestyle or be part of a certain group of friends, all that effort can sometimes be absorbed in our personalities and people put up 'masks' to become someone they truly aren't.

For example, Weird Thing #1, some days I wish I could be Lara Croft (from the movies, not the game) because not only is she a beautiful woman that gets to kick butt, she gets to travel to many places I would LOVE to travel to also. How cool would that be!! So, is that weird? Its a start.

Weird Thing #2 - I love taking photos of bark. Yes, tree bark. I never seem to do anything with these photos, never print them or display them. I guess I just love the textures of the rough bumpy lines of different types of trees. Especially Ponderosa Pines. As a kid, we would pick off sections like it was a puzzle & then try & put them back on. Every Ponderosa I see is a great memory of those 'puzzling' childhood days.

Memories are a special gift, especially the good ones. Any of the 5 senses can bring back very powerful memories. For example, hearing the song "StaggerLee" makes me think of road trips that my mom & I have gone on where we laughed hysterically. Any time I pass a pineapple in the grocery store, I think of the time Lawrence grabbed one & danced with it on his head in the fruit & veggie aisle while singing "I like to move it".

Weird Thing #3: I have a lot of memories associated with different foods every time I eat them. Today I have a small bag of barbecue chips. Always, when I eat those, I think of my grandpa. There never seemed to be a shortage of chips there & BBQ were always in a bowl somewhere, whether it was Christmastime, a Grey Cup party or just a regular visit, I remember BBQ chips! Same with Kraft Dinner - I often think of my Great Aunt Helen & how we had it a zillion times at her place, always with a dill pickle on the side. Whenever I see blue bubblegum icecream, I think of the time my friend, Janine & I ate an entire tub in one weekend, spilling blue icecream on her white duvet.

We all have our little secrets & securities. Mine is George the elephant. Weird Thing #4 - I still sleep with a stuffed animal. For many years it was Lan, my beloved stuffed lamb, but years of wear & tear has earned him a place of honor on the night table due to the fact that his 'wool' is no longer snuggly but somewhat scratchy, he has a sock for an ear cuz one got ripped off decades ago & his stuffing sometimes falls out. George the elephant was a gift from my friend Georgina at my 17th birthday and is Lan's stand-in & has become the favourite to be lovingly tucked under my arm at night. Sometimes Geoge suffers abuse at the hand of my jealous husband, thrown from the bed or suffocated to near-death. But for the most part Geoge is accepted & sometimes, even my husband makes sure he's packed for over-nighters or trips away.

And lastly, while it may not be that 'out there' Weird Thing #5: I loooooove MUSHROOMS! I use any excuse I can find to add cooked mushrooms to a meal. If you don't like mushrooms (like many people don't) then I will have a hard time feeding you. Mushroom omlettes, mushrooms with steak, mushrooms with chicken, chunky mushroom soup, mushrooms with pasta, seafood stuffed mushroom caps and on and on and on. They are truly my favourite addition to my meals! All the time, from those who are anti-mushroom I get reminded that they are a fungus or that they are grown in manure, or they're slimy, or they taste weird, or, or, or. There is no deterrant for my love of mushrooms.

And because I love eating them (the plain old white variety usually) I also am fascinated by the ones I see in the wild. I love to photograph them. Big golden ones like in the photo above. Tiny slimy looking ones. Ones that poof dust out when you poke them. Hard ones that grow out of trees. Their fantastically unique and somewhat strange... JUST LIKE ME! I am a mushroom.

And there you have it, 5 weird things about me!