Linking UP With Catholic All Year for Answer Me This

I've done Answer Me This in the past and find it to be a great blogging prompt so I thought I'd give it another whirl (twirl?). I'm in the middle of a much more serious blog post but I'm riding the Crazy Gut Pain Train today and don't trust my ability to articulate well when I'm partially drugged/partially miserable. Check out the insightful and witty Kendra Tierney at www.CatholicAllYear.com. Her questions this week are:

1. Any big plans for the summer?

Yes, two big life changing events... the birth of a grandson and the (hopeful) resolution of my Social Security disability claim. Oliver is due to arrive toward the end of July and my hearing is on August 5th. I'm appropriately anxious about both events but not in full on "freak out" mode quite yet. In the meantime cuddle time with Cosette is a great distraction.

2. What is the strangest thing you believed as a child?

There were probably a lot of crazy things I believed as a child. Those of you who know my older brother and his penchant for puns will understand how hard it was to stay a step ahead of him. Come to think of it... at my younger brother's rehearsal dinner one of his groomsmen said in his toast that he isn't always sure when Bryan is joking. I second that emotion. Gants are funny people, at least we think we are.

Probably the weirdest thing I believed was dog biscuits tasted like animal crackers. I can't remember how many bites it took me to figure that one out. I also vaguely remember a great-grandmother that Jim was scared of who, he told me, was a lion or monster or something. He has better recall about the events of our childhood because he was older and probably had a less active imagination than me. There was also this time when he told me that if I ate toilet paper the firemen would come and get me. I don't know what that was all about - if he was trying to break a bad habit or what.

3. What is your favorite amusement park ride? (can be a specific one at a specific park or just a type of ride)

I SOOOOO miss being able to go on amusement park rides! I have a little problem with things that spin and get really queasy on the kind of rides where you're watching something on a screen while being moved around. Motion sickness is not pretty on me. I loved (past tense) roller coasters so much but hated anything with the possibility of getting wet. Wet in public is also not pretty on me. But if I had to give my favorite ride ever, it would be the Mind Scrambler, I think it was called, at the Pavilion Amusement Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Our church youth group would spend a week in Myrtle Beach every Summer and we would have one evening where they turned us loose at the Pavilion. The Mind Scrambler was the type of ride described in this quote from an article named "Ten Classic Amusement Park Rides" on the website How Stuff Works. 

There are many names for this ride and its variations, but Americans usually call it the Scrambler. Whatever name is emblazoned on its side, this ride is fast -- really fast. Picture this: the ride has three arms. On the ends of each of those arms are clusters of individual cars, each on a smaller arm of its own. When the Scrambler starts, the main arm and the little arms all rotate. The outermost arms are slowed and the inner arms are accelerated, creating an illusion of frighteningly close collisions between the cars and their passengers. The Scrambler proves that you don't have to go on a roller coaster to lose your lunch or have the wits scared out of you.

The thing that really added to the experience was that the Mind Scrambler was housed in a building with mirrored walls. As the ride was going there was loud rock music playing, the lights were turned off with all kinds of black light and other lighting effects. It was also really well air-conditioned, something that was greatly appreciated in the middle of a week long camping trip in the Summer in the Deep South. Most trips to the Pavilion this was the only ride I rode and I would ride it over and over until my money ran out. 

4. What's on your summer reading list?

Mostly I just read websites. I do read a large variety of websites daily with everything from news to celebrity gossip to historical stuff to travel info to blogs to biographies - lots of diverse stuff. I've got a couple of books going on my Nook but nothing particularly noteworthy. 

5. Have you ever fallen asleep in public?

I sleep in the car if I'm not driving. I sleep on planes, sometimes. I'm rarely in public places other than the grocery store or doctors office and sleeping would be weird in either place. 

6. What is your favorite smell?

There was a lilac bush right outside our rental house in Connecticut that was intoxicating. I both labeled it "jasmine" and called it jasmine repeatedly because I'm not great at plant names but my mom, who is good at plant names, assures me it was a lilac bush. Whatever the case, it was amazing! I'm also a fan of honeysuckle, gardenias, roses ... just about any sweet floral scent. I also love rosemary, basil, mint... so apparently I'm big on natural scents. 




So that's Answer Me This for this week. Hope everything in your world is coming up roses ... or lilacs... 
love and hugs, y'all!