rattleboxtrees

About me??? Well, let's see... I just became a nurse and I work with very sick little children. I love all things relating to grandmothers, sleepy southern towns, the great outdoors, and art (parks and museums are two of my favorite haunts.) I enjoy plays, musicals, rock concerts, symphonies, ballet, opera, comedy clubs, smoky little jazz bars... you name it! I love to garden, but I'm not very good at it. (The heat gets rather cloying here at times.) I love to camp, but only when there is a strong and noble man to keep the fires lit and the perimeter safe. I now live in the same beachside southern town that I was born in, but I spent a good portion of my youth living in NYC as an actress (and oh, what a GRAND time I had there!) I make acquaintance quickly, but dear friends slowly. I am heavily involved in breast cancer awareness, societal and political feminism, advancement in education, and equality for individual life and family choices. Although I am broad-minded in regards to other people's rights for choice, in my personal life I am quite prudish. Most people are mildly shocked to learn that I am a Deaconess and an occasional missionary. I believe that the noblest profession of all is to be a good teacher.

Music is really important. I love classical, beautiful movie instrumentals, broadway musicals, opera, orchestral... really just anything beautiful. I play piano, but I think that the violin and cello are probably the loveliest of all instruments. (Although the oboe has an otherworldly sound to it.) Love stuff like Tony Bennett, Mary Chapin Carpenter (especially her lyrics,) Indigo Girls, Big Band, any kind of 'Torch Song'... etc. I am also a Christmas music junkie... and I refuse to apologise for that :-)

The 'Southern Voice' is my favorite! Anything by Lucy Maude Montgomery, Zora Neale Hurston, Fannie Flagg, and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Favorite books: To Kill a Mockingbird, Cross Creek, The entire 'Anne of Green Gables' series (the 'Anne' books were HUGE influence in my childhood), Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, The Velveteen Rabbit, Confederacy of Dunces, Emma Who Saved My Life, The Blue Castle, The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, and some of the 'Prarie Home Companion' stuff.

The Sound of Music (my absolute favorite!), Crimes of the Heart, On Golden Pond, Fried Green Tomatoes, Out of Africa, Bridges of Madison County (but I hated the book.)"The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band", Steel Magnolias, Fly Away Home, Jaws, Glory, My Fair Lady, And of course the Canadian mini-series "Anne of Green Gables." (Over the years it has become like a comfort food for me. I put it on as background noise when I can't sleep... rather like an old friend)

I don't have time for t.v, but on a rare "sick" day, I will watch an endless processional of sweet old reruns like "Golden Girls", "Designing Women", "Facts Of Life", "Little House on the Prarie", or a mindless DIY show. For me, the television is just a vehicle for the DVD. Yes, I keep up with current events, but NOT on the news (unless there is something super important going on.) I read the daily paper which has no commercial breaks, and comes with the added bonus of a crossword puzzle and a page of 'funnies.'

Honestly, I love everything from cooking to soldering. I would ADORE anything handmade (by YOU!) I dearly love to see how other people choose to express themselves through creation. Even so-called 'failed projects' have their own beauty. These are treasures to me. I wish I had more time to devote to artistic outlets. I do knit and crochet, but mostly just hats and blankets for the babies at the hospital. I love to watercolor. I don't scrapbook in the modern way (I prefer the old-timey scrapbooking) but I use a lot of scrapbook supplies for collage. I have fun in the kitchen and prefer 'tried and trusty' old family recipes to any high-faluting Betty Crocker confection.

That's pretty much all there is to know, unless you want my social security number and Mom's maiden name. I've prattled on long enough... that's the way it is here in the south... talk, talk, talk. Sit down and let me tell you about the time my Papa got caught running moonshine and hid in a haystack for twenty-four hours...