Russ Towne's A Grateful Man

Judysp kindly nominated me for the Liebster award in her blog A Daily Thought at http://judysp.wordpress.com/. I highly recommend that you check out her thought-provoking, touching, and fun blog.

I cut and pasted most of her post below:

“What is a Liebster? The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.” (Russ: Are you sure you have the right person, Judy? OK, I like what I’ve read so far! Thank you, Judy!)

“So what do we have to do to show our appreciation?” (Russ: Have I said lately how much I dislike being told what to do? ;-D! )

“1.Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you’ve tagged to answer. (Russ: OK, did that, please see below)

2.Choose 11 bloggers and link them in your post. (Russ: I mention several bloggers each week and reblog posts, etc, so I’m going to plan to just keep spreadng the love that way.)

3.Go to their page and tell them.” (Russ: Pease see my response to #2 above.)

“The Questions for Nominees:” (Russ: I put my answers next to them.)

1. Name a book you would read over and over again?” Ender’s Game and Jonathan Livingston Seagull. I’ve read them both probably 3 or 4 times and will probably read them again.

2. If you could have 3 wishes granted, what would they be? 1. That people who are working to help the world succeed in doing so. 2. That people who are not working to help the world become enlightened and begin to do so. 3. That everyone find lasting joy and inner peace.

3. Who was your favorite teacher and why? My 4th Grade teacher Miss Forrest (because I had a crush on her. But then she went off and got married breaking my heart forever so I’ll come up with a different answer): It was a teacher in 7th grade. I’m embarassed to admit that I no longer remember her name (it was after all 45 years ago and she was one of 7 teachers I had that year). She was a sweet lady in her late 50’s or early 60’s who was respectful and nice but could still come up with a zinger from out of left field. I remember once that we were discussing the book “Snow White” and she made a comment along the lines of “She wasn’t snow white if she’d been living with seven men!” The comment was so unlike her classroom persona that I was amazed by it. But the primary reason she was my favorite teacher is that she got me interested in reading again. She didn’t do what most teachers did which is to jam a specific book down our throats and make us read it. That’s a great way to kill any possible enthusiasm from me about any book–or anything else for that matter! Instead, she had a large bookcase full of a great variety of interesting books and said we could select whichever one we wanted to read (and of course report on.) I found a book called “Where Eagles Dare” by British author Alistair MacLean. I loved it and have been reading ever since–including reading that one a few times over the years.

4. Where is your favorite vacation spot? Green Gables, a gorgeous Victorian Bed and Breakfast over-looking the ocean (Monterey Bay) in Pacific Grove just a few blocks from Monterey, California, and quite near Carmel-By-The-Sea, Pebble Beach, and Point Lobos. Our favorite room has kind of a semi-open balcony with a bed from which we can hear the delightfully powerful pounding of waves on jagged picturesque rocks and enjoy the refreshing smell of the ocean mist as it filters in all night, under a canopy of stars and bathed in the magical glow of the moon. We love it so much that we sometimes stay in our romantic hideaway for days despite some of the world’s most beautiful scenery being neaarby.

5. What chore do you absolutely hate doing? I’m a basically very lazy person so there is a LONG list of chores that I absolutely hate doing, but the ones that often top my list are those that need to be done frequently. And painting.

6. What personality traits do you dislike in other people? The personality traits I dislike in others are the same ones I most dislike in myself (in no particular order): Arrogance, unkindness, sarcasm, greed, selfishness, apathy, envy, meaness, rudeness, and impatience.

7. What is your least favorite mode of transportation? I suspect that I haven’t experienced it yet, but being in a glider on a very hot day under a glass canopy experiencing huge and sudden downdrafts, and hang-gliding/bouncing/dragging would probably be tied at this point.

8. If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be? The exact moment when the last hungry person is fed, the last ill person is healed, the last lonely person feels connected and loved, the last impoverished person has all their basic needs met, the last sad person finds lasting joy, and the last heart-broken person finds their soul mate.

9. What did you do growing up that got you into trouble? I got caught in a dark parking lot behind a closed store fogging up windows with a gal (who was above the age of consent!)

10. When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time? Be with My Beloved, play with Duke, play with my grandson when he is around, talk with a friend, blog, analyze investment ideas, tend to my small redwood grove and fern garden, read, or watch TV.

11. What movie do you flat-out refuse to watch, no matter how good people say it is? I like happy endings, so the best way to keep me from watching a movie is to tell me it has a sad ending. And movies where someone is dying and takes the whole movie to do it. I watch movies to escape and be uplifted, not get buried in sadness. I’m not saying there aren’t great sad movies, I’m just not into watching them.

Thank you again for honoring me with this award, Judy.

You know, if this keeps up, I’m not going to have any secrets left. You all will end up hearing what I had for breakfast and that won’t be fun for any of us! ;-D!

Russ