10 Things I Love to Do -- Part II

[Link to KK Texture Tuesday]

Continuing the list from the other day: 

6.  I love to watch a good movie.  Don't we all?  Don't you love it, when you're transported out of your ordinary life for a couple of hours?  Some of my favorites:  Cinema Paradiso; Casablanca; Jean de Florette; Love, Actually (a bathtub CD, but an excellent one).  I could go on but will save further discussion of movies for another day.

7.  I love to travel.  Well, okay, actually I don't like the traveling part at all, but I like it once I get to where I'm going and am settled in my home-away-from-home and able to relax and enjoy a new place.  My husband and I have a long list, which we're hoping to be able to start checking off:  London, Paris, Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice), Greece to Istanbul, St. Petersburg . . . the list goes on.  Hope to be blogging about these places soon.

8.  I love to play computer games, RPGs* in particular.  Okay, I've said it.  I'm sure it seems somewhat incongruous for someone who's supposed to be an academic, but I've been playing them since my ex went into the computer industry in the late '70's.  I've played everything from the original Bard's Tale and Castle Wolfenstein to Assassin's Creed:  Brotherhood and Dragon Age II, both of which are calling my name right now, but I don't have time to play.  :(  I love the experience of becoming immersed in a world for a few weeks or months, building up a character that's a reflection of yourself (I always wind up a human Paladin), and living out an interesting story that's much more exciting than your real life could ever be.  More on that another time as well.

9.  I love to write.  But you probably knew that.

10.  I love spending time with my husband.  I have been blessed, this late in life, to find the man of my dreams, an excellent man, who supports me in everything I do, who allows me to be who I am, and who takes care of me in the ways I like/need to be taken care of.  I hope I return the favor to him, every day.

This has given me lots of ideas for future blog posts.  Thanks, Cat!  I invite you to do the same, on your blog.

[*Role playing games, mostly of  the fantasy kind.]

Tulip Mania

Who doesn't love tulips?  The colors of the flowers, the green speary leaves, the neatness of their petals, all combine to make a most pleasing appearance.  Tulips, third most popular flower in the world, come in 3000 varieties, some striped, some frilly, all beautiful and colorful.

Tulips have inspired many artists:  Jan Brueghel the Elder, Hans Bollongier, and the prolific Anonymous, whose painting represents the most expensive tulip sold during the "tulip mania" that struck Holland in the 1630's, at the height of which, a single bulb sold for an amount that would have "clothed and [fed] an entire Dutch family for half a lifetime" (James Grout).    

In the language of flowers, tulips represent "perfect love"; their black center is a lover's heart, "darkened by the heat of passion."  I love tulips; with peonies and ranunculus (oh, and lilacs), they are my favorite flowers.  They are extremely photogenic and lend themselves to the kind of treatment I enjoy -- here, I'm working on making them look like old botanical illustrations.  Elegant in their simplicity, they are beautiful heralds of the spring.  Stay tuned for more tulip portraits, later today.

[Note:  The picture is processed with Kim Klassen's "Chamomile," "Warmsun," and "Sweettreat2" textures.  Thanks, Kim.]