Seven Random Things About Me

Thursday, July 26, 2007

I'd like to think I'm fashionably late to the party, but I think I'm just... late. It's already been more than a month since Colleen at In the Garden Online tagged me for the Seven Random Things About Me meme. (That's eons ago in blogging time.) And then Beth at Morning Glories tagged me too.

The object of this meme is to tell seven random facts about oneself and relate them to one's blog. So here we go, seven random things.

#1. I grew a grapefruit tree from seed. Years ago, I was eating a piece of grapefruit in a cafeteria when I noticed a tiny root emerging from one of the seeds. I took that seed home with me and put it in a pot of soil. When I moved away from home, I left my little grapefruit tree in my dad's care. Many years later, dad still has that grapefruit tree, which now stands about twice as tall as me. It has never produced any fruit, but I think we both remain hopeful. I wish I could grow a citrus tree in my garden. I would choose a lemon tree over grapefruit, though, since I use a lot of lemons.

#2. I'd never seen a black squirrel before I moved to the District of Columbia . I often see black squirrels when I'm walking to and from my plot. Gray ones, too. Sometimes I'm afraid one of those squirrels is going to jump out of a tree and land on my head. Such an occurrence is highly unlikely, I realize, but it's because of this fear that I've never taken a photo of a black squirrel to post on my blog.

#3. I eat a lot of popcorn. (And I mean, a lot!) I cook popcorn on the stove top. I don't like microwave popcorn because it tastes (and smells) like chemicals. Two years ago I wanted to grow popcorn in my garden, but one of my (more experienced) gardening friends said, "Don't waste your time with corn. It'll suck all the nitrogen out of your soil, cast shade all over your plot (and the neighbor's), and in the end, you'll only get two ears of corn. And then a squirrel will come along and eat them!" Darn squirrels.

Does anyone want this packet of popcorn seeds I never planted?


#4. I used to hate cooking. Baking was always fun; I was especially fond of my family's Christmas-cookie-baking extravaganza. But whenever my mom tried to teach me the basics of cooking, I wanted nothing to do with it. Growing food in the garden has helped me learn to enjoy cooking. (There are other reasons, too, but the garden is one of them.) It is the greatest compliment when people write to me and say my blog makes them hungry. I love making people hungry with my blog!

#5. I've never had any formal training in photography. I still don't know what an f-stop is and I don't care. I'm learning photography the same way I'm learning about gardening and blogging (and cooking): lots of practice, trial and error.

#6. I played violin for two years and then quit because my teacher told me my pinkie is too short. She said the tip of one's left pinkie should be at least equal in length to the crease behind the second knuckle on the ring finger. My little finger doesn't measure up. It's too short to wrap comfortably around the neck of a violin. Fortunately, this doesn't hinder my ability to do gardening or blogging. In fact, all of the "a's" on this post were typed with said short pinkie.

(How many of you just looked at your pinkie?)

#7. My favorite herb is... whatever is growing well at the moment. Right now, I am very fond of tarragon. But if you pressed me to pick one herb I could not live without, I would choose garlic.

Now it's my turn to pass this meme to other bloggers. I'm tagging:

1. A Caribbean Garden
2. Windywillow
3. Purple Podded Peas
4. A Thinking Stomach
5. Columbus Foodie