For the Thursday Challenge we are asked to make a list of thirteen things, our choice. I am listing thirteen questions I would like readers of my blog to answer. You can either do it on your own blog with a link to my blog or in comments on my blog. Since turn about is fair play, I’ve answered them myself.   https://judydykstrabrown.com/2020/08/06/a-little-bird-told-me-thursday-13/

1 What could you do with an artichoke rather than eating it?  I would dry it and then paint it Christmas tree green and decorate it with glittery things.

2 What is the strangest name you have ever heard and what is your association with it?  I drove school bus for 31 years, one of my students name was Siran Siran. Yup, his first and last was the name. When I asked why they gave him the same name, he said they couldn’t agree on a first name.

3 What is the most embarrassing thing your parents ever did?  My father told me that it was a good thing I didn’t have boobs it would have ruined the look of the tux in front of my date. I wore a white tux with pink cummerbund and my date wore black with matching pink cummerbund.

4 What was your most unusual pet? A snake, named Alice.

5 What is your most favorite holiday and why?  Halloween is my favorite. It’s  also my wedding anniversary. It’s the only holiday where you can dress up and be anyone you want without judgment.

6 What is your favorite footwear and why?  I love wearing my tevas. My feet are comfortable being out in the air. I tend to perspire a lot.

7 What is your most irritating habit?   I’m guilty of being competitive. I love board games and I play to win. If you’re not going to play with a win in mind, why play?

8 If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?  I would live in Jamaica. The nine things that keeps me in the States are seven grandchildren and my two cats.  I would miss my grandchildren something wicked and I don’t want my cats kept in a cage because of the quarantine restrictions.

9 What is the most unusual place you have ever visited?  Monte Carlo. It was different than I expected.

10 How did you meet your spouse or significant other?  In an online writing group on yahoo. He downloaded what I wrote, corrected it and sent it back to me with all the corrections in red. Initially, I was furious but then I looked at the writing honestly and realized I did need the help.  That was 20 years ago. We’ve been married 12 years.

11 Who do you most admire?   Alive, Michele Obama, deceased Eleanor Roosevelt

12 If your pet could name you, what name would they give you and why?  Florence, because they know if it possible I would give every cat a safe home like Florence Nightingale. I read that she had 60 cats.

13 What is the most romantic thing that ever happened to you?  Vic drove 8 hours to come to Maine to spend my birthday with me, we had never met in person. Our only connection had been in the writing group online.  I drove two hours to meet him in Portland. He gave me a beautiful diamond necklace for my birthday and took me to  out to dinner at Dimillo’s , a old ship that’s been converted to a restaurant in the old port area. It was perfect.

We knew after spending the weekend the connection that we felt was real and somehow we had to find a way. We did the long distance thing for 7 years before I moved to New Jersey.