Hels invited me to follow her with replies to five questions. You can see her answers here and I thought her response to the historical person you would like to join for dinner was quite brilliant and very educative.
I found it hard to apply the questions to myself and put it in the too hard basket, but I didn't forget and I've thought of a way out of the hole.
1. Yes, but not an indigenous Australian. I mostly come from white invader English stock, most of who were in Australia by 1850, including the Swiss branch. It may make me boring but I've never seen any information that any were convicts.
2. This was a big stumbling block. I'll get back to the dinner companion.
3. My great accomplishments are too many and too great to mention, and modesty prevents me from listing them. I am rather pleased with my nearly 45 year relationship with R. Rocky is an understatement but we are still together and still arguing about trivial matters.
4. My phone. I can access nearly everything I need to by a phone/internet connection including twenty years worth of digital photos.
5. Personal expression before blogging was probably by typed letter and in earlier days, hand written. I am my mother's son.
Right, back to Question 2. I can't answer this, so how about some of you suggest which historical figure I would find good company over dinner? If you suggest Oscar Wilde you will receive a slapping but otherwise, have some fun with it if you like.
- Are you a native Australian? How many generations of your family were born there?
- If you could have dinner with one historical figure, who would it be and why?
- What would you consider your greatest accomplishment?
- Other than your loved ones, what is your most treasured possession? And
- Before blogging, what, if any, was your main mode of personal expression?
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I was the first of my family to be born in Australia.
ReplyDeleteOne historical figure? I am not at all sure on that one and will give it some thought.
I am not sure that my/our relationship is an accomplishment. I am grateful for its longevity just the same. I guess I just don't feel acccomplished. In any arena.
I am not sure about treasured possessions either. Despite having a LOT of things cluttering our home they are just things. The jewellery that my father made is probably the only thing that cannot be replaced. Photos I hear you say? Well yes, but I rarely look at them.
And a big yes to letters. Mostly handwritten.
EC, yes I think the jewellery is rather special. I think you must be quite accomplished in the area of phone counselling and that is certainly an admirable skill.
DeleteMy husband and I haven't been together as long as you and R but still fascinate people. Isn't that a sad thing to say? A lot of the het couples we know throw in the towel after their kids grow up and they find no other common interests. ~scratches head~ And arguing about petty things definitely qualifies as a shared interest. lol Congratulations on staying together through the years. ~hugs~ Be well!
ReplyDeleteDarla, in the time while there is hot passion, at the same time you are hopefully developing a relationship with a wonderful friend who is there for you and you are there for them. This remains once the passion has gone and the practicalities of life set in.
DeleteWell said. ~nods~ And I feel shared laughter is our greatest bond.
DeleteInteresting to learn about you through the answers. Amazing to see that you kept the relationship going for 45 years
ReplyDeleteRoentare, I can only say our relationship was meant to be. R can be very unreasonable but of course I am perfect.
DeleteI don't understand the desire to sit down with someone famous - past or present. I can only suggest you might enjoy chatting someone who had something to do with trains and trams!
ReplyDeleteCaro, been there done that. Often rather boring. I am not a rivet counter or a collector of train numbers. I like the big picture of public transport and how it has and does shape society, with some finer detail at times.
DeleteYou mostly come from white invader English stock :) Everyone has a background that might have been horrible at the time - exploitation of indigenous populations, slavery, war crimes, sending working men into poisonous coal mines, dictatorships etc.
ReplyDeleteHels, of course we all do have such backgrounds but that is history and not our doing. Strongly or meekly, we all want a better society for all.
DeleteWhen these "dinner with historical person" questions are asked, I wonder, is this individual being plucked out of historical time to have this dinner, in which case that person only knows the time and the place they were plucked from and not anything of what the future holds for them, or is the historical person taking time out of the afterlife to attend this dinner, meaning that person could tell you EVERYTHING about their life, right up to the very end? If it's the latter, as a railroad enthusiast I think you'd have a lot of questions for Casey Jones, whose historical moment was also his final moment:
ReplyDelete.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Jones
Kirk, I've just had a thought Bette Midler would be a good person to dine with. I'd forgotten about Casey Jones and John Luther Jones looks nothing like Casey Jones. Was that Alan Hale from Gilligan's Island? There must be a YouTube clip about Jones disastrous last train moment.
DeleteQ: Native Australian?
ReplyDeleteA: In my heart and in my bones, though I was born in Hamburg, Germany. The oldest of my younger brothers was the first Australian born in my generation, but I have added generations with children, grandchildren and now one great grandson.
Q: Dinner with an historical person?
A: Pass. I eat alone.
Q: Greatest accomplishment?
A: Staying debt free since 1999.
Q: Other than your loved ones, what is your most treasured possession? A: Most likely whatever I would grab first on my way out of a burning building, so that would be my laptop.
Q: Before blogging, what, if any, was your main mode of personal expression.
A: Letter writing.
River, does your birthplace give you any rights in Germany as a Hamburger?
DeleteSo you too were an inveterate letter writer.
I think I will give this try tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on, and stay safe.
That would be good Dora.
DeleteAnswer 5 matches with mine.
ReplyDeleteI am not surprised Haddock. I expect most personal bloggers have always been writers of one kind or another.
DeleteI would like to amend my answer to Question 2. I'd have dinner with Dolly Parton.
ReplyDeleteGood choice River. I added an answer too, Bette Midler.
DeleteInteresting questions.
ReplyDelete1. I'm 5th generation born here in Australia.
2. I can't think of anyone from the past who I would like to eat a meal
with.
3. Having a business and being able to pay the bills without an
overdraft.
4. Don't know from the top of my head.
5. Digital Graphics.
Margaret, any rels in Waratah in the 1860's? Maybe we are connected.
DeleteNot that it is wrong for a business to have an overdraft (my father nearly always had one), but that is an achievement for sure.
Digital graphics...I've seen signs of that.
I suppose longevity in relationships is remarkable to many. So many people seem to indulge in throw-away relationships and are serial monogamists at best.
ReplyDeleteJB, out relationship was never based on monogamy but that nothing would come before our relationship, and it didn't. Only in our very earliest days did we at times doubt that commitment.
DeleteI would like to sit down to dinner with my dad. Well, he was famous to me and I miss him.
ReplyDeleteThat is so sweet JayCee and you've made me think I would like a dinner with my father and ask him lots of questions.
DeleteWouldn't it be fun to have dinner with Winston Churchill? I bet he has some stories to tell.
ReplyDeleteIt is someone I have thought about TP. He was both clever and witty. After a drink or two, as he was fond of, maybe his lips would become loose and tell some good and scandalous gossip, although as an Admiral, he would know loose lips sink ships.
DeleteI'm amazed and confounded by couples who stick it out together, despite the quirks and spats and petty things that one says when tired or stressed. Both my brothers have long term relationships with their spouses. I think its incredible and wonderful and an accomplishment of supreme character! Why don't you sit down and have dinner with the likes of Hitler and feed him some poison mushrooms although he's already dead. Someone like that. Give them their comeupance once and for all.
ReplyDeleteStrayer, it rather amazes me. Good on your brothers. I have thought of Hitler in the past, just to ask him why.
DeleteAre loved ones possessions? LOL
ReplyDeleteI'd have dinner with Hibiscus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus_(entertainer)
They probably are Steve.
DeleteHibiscus seems like an interesting character in many ways. I remember seeing a picture of someone putting flowers in a gun barrel. That may have been him.
Are you a native Australian? How many generations of your family were born there? No and None. I am a thoroughbred Yorkshireman and proud of this..
ReplyDeleteIf you could have dinner with one historical figure, who would it be and why? Captain James Cook because he is my hero in spite of the bad press he has received in recent years.
What would you consider your greatest accomplishment? Helping to raise two fine children.
Other than your loved ones, what is your most treasured possession? My mother's silver plated cigarette box which she received on the occasion of her wedding in New Delhi, India in 1945.
Before blogging, what, if any, was your main mode of personal expression? Speech i.e. talking with other people. You should try it some time Andrew!
YP, talking to people leads to trouble. It is best avoided.
DeleteThe cigarette case sounds lovely.
DeleteThinking about who to invite to dinner, I think I would like it to be my father. I was 18 when he had a stroke and I didn't hear him speak again. He died when I was 20. Looking back I realised that I never had a grown up conversation with him. He was very strict and Victorian in outlook and I never felt I knew him. I would like to find out what really made him tick. The questions my kids ask me I would never have dared ask my father.
ReplyDeleteMarie, very old school. Your mother lived to a good age. I wonder what she had to say about him to you. Men of that era could be, mostly perhaps, such closed books.
Delete