G is for..... (and some announcements for WordPlay participants)

Before I do my G List, I'd like to make a few general announcements. I'm trying to play catch up on all my computer tasks before I leave everyone to fend for themselves for a month, and I ran into a couple of snags. Pat, I tried to send you the HTML, but I keep getting e-mail to you returned as undeliverable. If you're name is Mim or Jennifer, I can't find an e-mail or a Blog URL in order to add you to the participants. Well, Jennifer wasn't sure she wanted to join - but her blog is wonderful, so she SHOULD. And I just couldn't find Mim. Even though I couldn't find you, you found me, which was lovely - and you should just go write ahead and play. I'll figure out how to add my e-mail address for folks to find - some place inconspicious (damn spammers, y'know) or you can add your e-mail to the Wordplay post comments and I'll delete it again after I e-mail you - if that works for you. Or you. Or you, or whoever is out there. A couple of people have used the "anonymous" option when writing and asking to join and, uhm, yeah, that doesn't work well.

Also, if I haven't mentioned you specifically, but you've asked to join or would like to join in the next month (that is, be added to the WordPlay participant list so folks can find your blog), then the same applies. Just jump in and start working your way through the alphabet. If you've written to me and I haven't responded (and you're not the people mentioned above), then you can assume either your message never got to me or somehow you fell through the cracks. For argument's sake, let's just say it's all my fault, since I've been so busy and out-of-town-ish and scatterbrained this last month. Just send me a post that somehow leads me to an e-mail and a blog URL. You won't hear back from me until June, but just start right on up and have fun. We'll get all the button adding and whatnot done when we can.

So, I guess that's it. Now, for G....

Green - my favorite color to wear, have in my house, in my garden. In our snowy, bare, long mountain winters, by spring I physically and emotionally crave the color green.

Guitar - one of the instruments I have learned to play. Not well, but I can play it.

gardening - I love to garden. It grounds me. (ha - pun!) It enriches me. It calms me. It helps me think things through. And then there's the rewards of gardening well - tasty homegrown vegetables, pungent fresh herbs, colorful bouquets of flowers.

George - George Weasley, Fred Weasley's twin brother. Not the redheads in the book. These two are velvety black shorthaired cats with orange eyes.

Ginny - Ginny Weasley - George and Fred's sister. She's a rather plump little patchwork tortoiseshell

Gargoyles - My son Joseph loves gargoyles and I share his fascination for them. I often search for them while on vacations. They used to be difficult to find. It's become easier in recent years, which, although taking some of the frustration out of the search, it also makes it a bit less exciting at the same time.

Green Day - one of my favorite bands

glasses - I've worn them since I was in the 3rd grade. I'm now up to two prescriptions, in the form of bifocals, as well as having to take my glasses off altogether for really close up work. And a pair of prescription sunglasses.

Grammy - the name I go by for my grandchildren. When Noel was expecting my first grandchild, she asked me what name I wanted to be called. I hadn't really thought of choosing for myself. I'd called my grandmothers Grandma followed by their last name. As an adult I thought that was sort of weird calling someone who I was so close to by their last name, so I had my kids call their grandparents Grandpa and Grandma and then followed by their first names. But since she asked, I realized I didn't really want to be Grandma, my mom was still using that title. I decided I liked Granny because it seemed a bit different, a bit eccentric, a bit like a grandparent who might not be completely a good example. A bit uppity. But when it came down to using it, it didn't feel or sound quite right, didn't roll off the tongue comfortably. Grammy did. It's a nice blend.

grandchildren - yep, now I've up to three! And boy oh boy (and girl), they're a lot of fun. Exhausting. But it's so wonderful to have wee ones of my own to love and cherish and spoil again. The only down side is not getting to see them as often as I'd like and worrying about them being far away.

Garret - one of the aforementioned grandchildren. What a goofy guy! What a smile!

Green Bay Packers - my dad had season tickets for his favorite team all his life, until the year he died when he sold them to a friend. Makes you wonder if he didn't know.... y'know. Anyhoo, I've always followed the Pack because of my dad, and now it's one of William's favorite teams too so they share this love of the green and gold even though they never got the chance to meet each other.

geometry - it's not like I didn't like algebra (I know, I liked math, I was a a wierd kid), but I liked geometry more

Gandhi - we need more people who are willing to sacrifice for their beliefs, who are willing to be a strong and humble example of what one voice can do in this world

gab - I tend to do a lot of it

grief - it's not a stranger. I wouldn't call it a friend. But I've learned to accept it as part of the family of human experience and try to use it to become a better person rather then a bitter one

garage sale - I think garage sale loving is genetic. I know I certainly got the trait from my mom. It's not the cheap stuff that's the appeal, although that isn't a bad thing. It's all about the thrill of the hunt, the anticipation of finding buried treasure, the giving love and a good home to something someone else was gonna trash.

gardenia - this scent always reminds me of my maternal grandmother. I don't really know why. I don't have any conscious memory of her wearing the scent. But, there ya go.

garlic, ginger - two of my favorite spices

garnet - my birth stone, January

garter snakes - I really liked snakes as a kid. I was fortunate in that we lived in a part of the country that had no poisonous snakes, so I was never afraid of them. I used to catch them, keep them for a few days to handle and enjoy, and then release them back into the wild. One of my most magical childhood moments was the time I found a nest of baby garter snakes in the leaf mulch of the forest near my house, probably a dozen of them, all of them together so small that they would have all fit in my cupped hands.

gates - I have a thing for gates, specially old ones or artistically created ones. I love the look of a gate in the garden. I like to take photographs of them. I like the mystery of wondering what lays beyond a closed gate or the temptation of seeing a small glimpse of what lies behind a half opened one.

gratitude - I try to always remember to have gratitude. I am so blessed in this life and realizing how much I have to be grateful for is one of the few things that keeps me from becoming a spoiled brat

Grandmothers - I didn't have grandfathers. I have a few very vague memories of my paternal grandfather and a lingering sense of how much he loved me. My maternal grandfather died when my mother was a child. However both of my grandmothers were very strong influences in my life. Very different women, I am grateful (there's that other G word again) for having them in my life. They both taught me that women could live any sort of life they wanted to live and they could certainly be a lot more then the stereotypes of what women should want or could be that were prevalent during my formative years.

genre - a word I use a lot. It's hard to do without it when you love books and music as much as I do

gentle - I think it's an often overlooked skill and strength - the ability to be gentle, whether it be to others or to oneself

grades - I was always very grade driven in school. No. Scratch that. Start over. I was very grade driven for most of my school years. The last two years of high school I was mainly driven by social desires. I let my grades slip. But by that, I mean to A's and B's, so you can see, it's all relative. In college I was almost always one of the top two or three of students who would compete not only fora good grade, but for the highest grade in the class. Nowadays I'm less impressed and less concerned with the ability to get a good grade simply for the sake of a good grade. It's not that I think wanting a good grade is a bad thing, I certainly encouraged my children to get good grades. But from my current perspective, I can see that it's a lot healthier to be driven by an internal desire for knowledge and skills then it is to crave the external stamp of approval that a grade, in part, represents. Fortunately my children and I have all had a strong love of learning regardless of whether a grade is dangled in front of us, so I think my own love of a top grade is more an indication of how much fun I find a challenge to be then it is a desire to please others in an unhealthy way. If you can keep things balanced, and understand that getting good grades might be the means to an end in reaching a particular goal - a school slot or a job opportunity - then it can be a good thing to play the grade game. Still, I wish we had another method other then grades for assessing what someone knows or understand of a subject. I don't give William grades.

ghosts - I believe in them. I haven't seen any human shaped ones, as far as I know that is. I've seen what I think may have been ghostly apparitions. I've seen things move in strange ways. Not just slide or fall off a shelf. I've seen things fly out off a shelf. I sometimes wonder if fear of seeing a ghost keeps most of us from ever seeing one. I think I'd like to see one.

Goddess - my favorite anthropomorphic way of understanding the greater sentience of the universe, my language for communicating with "spirit." I find that I use different Goddess aspects to work with different lessons. Kwan Yin or the Virgin Mary for compassion, Kali or Demeter or Isis for strength, Brigid for creativity.....

Gaia - the earth is our mother, we must take care of her, as she takes care of us

geraniums - a flower that reminds me of my very own mother. My mother used to grow them in small, wooden, barrel-shaped planters. As an adult gardener, I've also discovered scented geraniums, another plant entirely, but such a wonderful range of scents they offer - rose, lemon, cinammon, lime..even caraway! They only last one summer around here, but I always like to keep a pot or two on my front porch to remind me of my childhood.