Definition for Meme: Me Me Me . . . and the latest from that guy in Italy

I've been tagged! In fact, I was tagged twice for the "Eight Things About Me" meme, first by Gentle Reader and then by MizB. And, after I finished, Melissa tagged me! I love being tagged because it makes me feel loved, so thanks to all three of you. It's much more difficult than I realized to come up with eight things that seem to be worth mentioning. You can tell me if they're the slightest bit interesting.

Here are the rules:

1: Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2: People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
3: At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
4: Don't forget to leave them a comment and tell them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

It's going to be very, very difficult to find 8 people who haven't been tagged, near as I can tell. I'll get to that later, though . . . here goes:

Eight Things About Me

1. I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma. To receive a television signal, we had a 100-foot metal tower adjacent to our home. On pleasant days (and whenever I heard sirens, if the weather was clear), I used to climb the tower and hop up onto the roof. My family and the neighbors thought I was completely nuts, but I liked the view.

2. I had a grade-school sweetheart. We met in first grade and exchanged gushy valentines throughout elementary school, but never did anything beyond hand-holding. During junior high, we went to separate schools and he walked to my house every year to give me his school photo, always with a nice sentence or two about how much I meant to him scrawled on the back. I think I still have his photos and Valentine's cards, somewhere. I hope not.

3. The first photograph I ever took was a photo of one of my dad's roses. I snapped it with a black-and-white Poloroid camera when I was seven years old, and it was quite clear (no visible camera shake). Everyone was stunned. No amount of begging could convince my cheapskate parents to buy me a 35mm camera, so I didn't get a 35mm till I was in my 20's.

4. I met my husband the second week of my freshman year at Oklahoma State University and was 19 when I walked down the aisle. If anyone at all had said, "You don't have to go through with this," I would have backed out.

5. This is how my mother describes me: "Nancy is not very . . . domestic." No kidding. I am not cut out to be a housewife. Staying home was meant to be a temporary thing. I won't go into why that didn't turn out as planned because I'll start whining.

6.My grandmother (really, the only grandparent I knew) was an artist who taught at university level. I have a beautiful little watercolor painting of hers on my living room wall and I had to do a lot of finagling to talk my mother into letting me have it. My grandmother painted it when she was 10 years old.

7. I park as far away from a store as possible because I love to walk. I'm not good at sitting still.

8. Some of my ancestors on my father's side of the family entered the United States via New Orleans in the 17th Century and traveled up the Mississippi River. They settled in Missouri and farmed; and, during the Civil War, one of my ancestral families had a set of brothers who fought on opposite sides.

I'm tagging a.book.in.the.life, kookiejar, Heather, booklogged, Heidijane, Lotus, malady, and coversgirl. But, don't feel obligated if you don't have the time or inclination.

Latest in the Italian saga: Hubby called, today. The good news is that he thinks he's got it all figured out how we can have an enjoyable holiday in Tuscany, some time in the future. The annoying news is that he prattled on about his latest wonderful experience. And, some of you guys will just drool at the thought of what he did. He took an all-day cooking class. This is how it went:
They pick you up and take you to the villa.
There's a basement kitchen with huge sinks and 15-20 foot counters.
They turn on some music and pour some wine.
The students follow the chef outside, where they cut fresh herbs.
They go inside and learn how to cook something.
They drink a little wine.
They cook a little more.
They drink a little wine.
They cook a little more.
I interjected, at this point: "You burn your sleeve and continue drinking wine . . . "
Suffice it to say, he had a blast and now knows what to do with that monstrous bush of fresh sage we've got growing in our herb garden.

Youngster had tryouts for band at 5:45 and wanted to go early to practice, so I took the camera and walked around the marshy area, twice. It was very difficult to get close enough to shoot photos of the birds, but I did my best. Here's my favorite of the red-winged blackbird photos I took:
I'll try again, another day. I worked a good-sized blister onto the top of one foot. Remind me to wear running shoes, next time.

Here are some other things I saw:


I got a little hot and smelly, so I'm off to take a bath. Chris has tagged me for another meme, so I'll try to do that one, tomorrow. I'm reading far too slowly, so I haven't finished any books, just yet.

Wishing you many beautiful sights.

Bookfool