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Hmm, let’s see….
1. I have an ancestor named Deacon John whose true identity has never been discovered and who I am fascinated by. We have documentation of him in the mid-1800s in the U.S., but the area of Germany he always claimed to be from has zero records about him. No notice of birth, no baptism records, nothing. Our family tree is almost entirely German and French according to those DNA test kits that were popular a few years ago, so he probably really was German instead of from some other ethnic or racial group. Maybe he changed his name or was from a different town in that corner of the world, though?
2. I abhor the smell and taste of olives. If you eat olives around me, I will graciously leave the room or turn my head and hope for a gentle breeze between us. Under no circumstances will I help you eat them, but I will wish you well if this is a food you like.
3. Several years ago, I was filling out a family history form for a doctor’s office and started writing down a mild medical condition that one of my nephews has. Then I remembered that he’s adopted. (Our family loves everyone equally, so I don’t spend much time thinking about who is and isn’t a blood relative unless there’s a pressing reason to do so like answering family medical history questions).
4. I have been known to hug trees in the spring when they finally have leaves again. I so miss leaves and other greenery during the winter!
5. Sometimes I’m a little too stoic. Once I visited my family doctor for a suspected case of pneumonia. When she asked how I was, I said, “oh, alright.” I was not, in fact, alright until after the antibiotics kicked in and the simple act of breathing no longer lead to coughing and the unpleasant things a body can do when you’re unable to stop coughing.
6. I occasionally have dreams about blogging, from writing posts to visiting other people’s sites and commenting on their latest content. Some of these sites don’t even exist in real life, they’re just apparently run in dreamland by friends I’ve made online. It’s one of my happier types of dreams other than the ones where I get to explore old mansions and try to find their attics before I wake up. If I can find the attic in time, I get to talk to all sorts of famous dead people and pick their brains which is quite rewarding.
7. Sometimes my dreams have commercials in them which vexes me terribly as one can never fast-forward through them. I’d much rather have a nice, calm lucid dream instead.
8. I spent years petitioning my parents for a baby sister and even went so far as to help pick her name: Grace Marie. It never happened as they had enough children to raise already, but I still sometimes wonder what little Gracie might have been like if she existed.
9. There’s a specific clicking sound a mouth can make that can draw squirrels to you. I enjoy being a squirrel whisperer on occasion with that noise, although I’m still not sure what it means to them.
10. I have an occasional, light stutter.
Taking long, meandering photography walks
I think stories about people is a great way to get to know their personalities, so here are some of the stories I’ve told about myself over the years.
I am an introvert because my emotional battery is charged up by being alone.
Every time we came over to visit, they were to pour a little water in one end of the pipe and make sure it flowed out the other end into a nearby creek.
Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone celebrating it today!
1. Fewer Migraines
2. Better Sleep
3. More Time to Read
practical to cook or appetizing to eat when it’s 40 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) outside and the humidity levels are 90%.
6. Enjoying Winter-y Reads 
8. Seasonal Treats
9. Winter Light Displays
10. Quiet Days