A Fascinating Read

this probably won't be. I've been tagged by Bev from Bev's Colorado Garden some time ago to reveal 7 random things about myself. I finally found the time to do so. Consider yourself warned!

Here goes:

1) I have been very fortunate to have lived in houses with gardens all my life. When the weather is good I'm usually outside in the garden. Even when I was a baby I was always outside, weather permitting. I need to be able to go outside, to commune with mother nature with my feet firmly planted on Terra Firma. Putting me in an apartment on the 3th floor (or higher) would very probably drive me crazy.
Having a cuppa tea while reading a book in the garden with a cat on my lap, that's very much me!

2) There is always room for one more plant. No matter how jam packed the garden is, I always find room for more plants to bung in.
There's always room for one more plant or kittycat!

3) As a child I was fascinated by nature, I loved being in the garden my dad had created and I loved the wild flower meadows and the forests too. As a young adult I was too busy with other things and I temporarily misplaced my love of gardens, wild flowers and trees. My cats Chuck, Wendy, Babooshka and Emma were the ones that made me aware once again of how much I loved to be in the garden, putting my hands in the sun warmed soil and smelling the wonderful scents of the garden. They lured me outside time and again, and showed me how much fun it is to be in the garden with the sun shining, the birds singing and by having a close look at all those little miracles that you can find there.

Wendy (left) and Chuck (Persians/Longhairs) in my very first garden.

Babooshka (my first Russian Blue) on the stairs with stencilled blue roses in the background.
Emma (Russian Blue) who shared my love of wild flower meadows.

4) It was through my love of cats that I became a vegetarian. They made me aware of how special each and every one of them was, and as the next logical step, how special dogs, birds, fish, bunnies and all other animals were. When I fully realised how special each and every living being was and what a precious gift life was, I decided to become a vegetarian. And after that it was only one small step to start growing my own veggies, fruit and herbs.
Delicious fresh tatties and sugar snaps straight from my potager on my plate.

5) I'm not easily frightened but there is one thing to scares me very much: depths! You know how some people claim to be afraid of heights? Well not me, because I can look up at the highest mountain on earth and not be afraid at all. The problem starts when you put me on top of that mountain and I look down: Gaaaaaaaaaa!!!!! So it's depths not heights!

Dolly Daisy about to climb to the top of the walnut tree. She's not afraid of depths or heights!

6) My love of white roses was passed on to me by my paternal grandmother. I remember very little of my grandmother as she died while I was still very young. But this has been her gift to me and I feel connected with her via the white roses.
Glorious white roses in the white garden in June.

7) From the age of 9 I loved to play with dollhouses and as my parents never gave me one, I turned cardboard boxes into dollhouses and made dollhouse furniture out of match boxes and such. Later, as an adult, I studied interior design and architecture. It's really not surprising that I love to create beautiful rooms, both indoors and out. I'm nuts about Gustavian furniture; it is just so beautiful, elegant and very no nonsense at the same time. It is also very suitable for where I live as for a big part of the year the days are short and on the gloomy side. So having light coloured furniture in the house really helps to brighten the place up.
Lovely Gustavian furniture, but not mine I'm afraid!

A million spermatozoa,
All of them alive:
Out of their cataclysm but one poor Noah
Dare hope to survive.
And among that billion minus one
Might have chanced to be
Shakespeare, another Newton, a new Donne -
But the One was Me.

Aldous Huxley, The Fifth Philosopher's Song