Wordful Wednesday - What's in a Name?

I have one of the most common names in the world. It is an old Bible name and every culture has their own version. My Mom has told me that she had two names picked out for me. I was either going to be Sarah or Emily. Evidently my parents didn't even bother picking out a boys name for me. My mom wanted a girl so much. I am glad I ended up with Sarah. It is a lovely name with a lot of history and means Princess, the perfect name for a me. And it isn't a name kids could do a lot with when they tried to haze me in school. I think they tried Triceratops but usually they just took jabs at my last name, which was way easier.

I was one of 4 girls in my Kindergarden class that all had the same name. So I went by Sarah and my last names initial for the first few years of school. It seems like I have always known other girls, ladies and woman with my name. My brother even married someone with my name. (I remember the first time my sister Julie, who has downs syndrome, realized there were two "Sewahs". She just kept holding up two fingers and laughing and saying "two") Since they live in the town I grew up in she often got mistaken for me when people just saw the name. Often she ended up being called "the other Sarah _____". When I got engaged I told her I was finally going to let her have the name. The family I married into also already has a Sarah. So I will have to share my new name with her until she decides to get married.

Sarah isn't used quite as much any more but I do still hear it given to babies once in awhile. It is nice to hear girls of all different ages called by my name. It will never be an "old woman name". But also doesn't seem too youthful for an older woman. I like my name but then I haven't really had answer to any other except "Sister" (while I was a missionary and sometimes now at church) or "Mama" which is one of the best names around!

For other Wordful Wednesday posts on this topic check out Chocolate on my Cranium

Wordful Wednesday - Memorable Family Vacations

When I look back at all the different Vacations my family has been on I feel pretty blessed to have been able to travel as much as I have. When most of my siblings and I were young our vacations were close to home and we drove everywhere. When I was in High School that changed a bit. My Dad started winning trips to some very cool places. My Dad was a car dealer by trade and Dodge or Chrysler, in their hey day, would send some of their dealers on trips. My Dad often opted for the family trips which made us all happy because before this he had won a few and just my parents would go.

The first of these family trips, paid for by Chrysler or Dodge, was to London. When Dodge was paying we stayed at some of the nicest hotels, went on lots of tours and ate at fancy restaurants that normally my family wouldn't even think about. I remember on this particular trip that because we had more than the normal 4 people, we got a suite in the hotel rather than just a room. We each had our own bedroom and bathroom, there was a kitchen, a sitting room and even a dinning room that sat 10. That suite was bigger than my house is now. Our Hotel was right off of Hyde Park. One of the nights, while we were in London, Pavarotti give a concert in Hyde Park. I believe Charles and Diana attended that concert. My Mom attended also, from the window of our Hotel suite. The rest of us went and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and went to see a show, Starlight Express, if I remember right. Or was it Les Miserables which we also went to see that week. On this trip we saw most of the normal tourist places you would go to in and around London. I was still young and didn't totally know all of what we were seeing but enjoyed the whole trip.
Here is my sister at Stonehenge. For some reason I don't have any pictures of me from this trip. I took a number but most of them are of the scenery and not of people.

A few years later my Dad won another Family trip through Dodge, this time to Paris. This time all my siblings went, not just the ones "still at home". Again we stayed at a very nice hotel and ate at fancy places. I remember that we walked and walked through Paris and went to museum after museum. I loved seeing real Van Goghs in the Muse de Orsay and bought myself a poster in the gift shop of one of them. That poster, when I got home, was framed and now still hangs on my wall. My sister bought a poster of the Mona Lisa after seeing it at the Louvre. I don't know what she did with it but I don't remember seeing it much after we got back.

We stayed an extra week past the vacation that Dodge paid for. We rented cars and drove through the Loire Valley visiting a number of the Chateaus scattered along the french countryside. My favorites were
Chambord
Chenonceau
Normandy and the beaches along the coast were another stop on our tour. Having seen The Longest Day so many times I recognized some of the locations around there and knew about the historical significance of this place. Many of the other places we had visited I didn't know the history that well and spent a lot of my time looking at the beautiful decorations and lavish rooms. During this 2nd week in France we stayed at many different hotels along the way and got a much more real look at French life than we did the first week in our fancier hotel Paris. My favorite meal in France was the simple ham and cheese stuffed in a baguette. I made the mistake and just pointing to something on the menu at one restaurant and hoping it would be good. My brother ended up eating the tripe that I had ordered. How he could do that? I still don't know!

My Dad was able to win these Dodge Trips every few years and the next one was to Italy. First a few days spent up in the Dolomites and then a few days in Venice.
The Alps were so beautiful. We really enjoyed hiking a bit and looking for Edelweiss. We couldn't stop thinking we were in "Sound of Music land". My sister and I tried to go on a bike ride which was so much harder to do at that altitude than it usually is down lower. This felt more like we were Austria than in Italy. The people spoke German and the food wasn't Italian either.
It was a totally different story when we left the Alps and headed to Venice.
Here I am riding a water taxi up the Grand Canal.
Venice was what I was expecting. By this time I had had a few years of college where I took some art history and Design classes and could appreciate the architecture more than I would have just a few years earlier. We enjoyed just walking around and through the city. We got to take a gondola ride and eat some more authentic Italian food. When we ordered Pepperoni pizza we got a pizza with just peppers on it. Mysteriously it still tasted like pepperoni pizza.

Again we took an extra week beyond what Dodge was paying for so we could see a bit more of Italy. We drove out of Venice and visited Tuscany. We somehow made it through the crazy streets of Florence without hitting any vespas. And got to see many of the great works of art housed in the museums there. We stayed at the little pension in Siena and had a wonderful relaxing day walking the streets there. Driving through this city was not fun. I don't really ever want to try to drive in Europe again. We visited a number of the small cities in northern Italy before returning to Venice to fly home.

This was the last of the family trips we went on with Dodge. My dad did win other trips that were for two people and would either take my mom or give the trip to one of us to take with our spouse. Dodge and Chrysler were very good to our family. We got to see a lot more of the world than we would have otherwise.

Over the last month or two Chrysler hasn't been as good to our family. My Dad's small business that he has been running since before I was born was one of the dealerships to loose their franchise. Chrysler isn't looked on too favorably, by my family, at the moment. But I have to say.... I loved the trips that we were able to take during the good years.

Wordful Wednesday - Favorite Genre

Cocoa over at Chocolate on my Cranium gave us the topic of books again for this weeks Wordful Wednesday. This time however we are supposed to discuss our favorite genre. This was actually harder for me then I thought it would be. If you look at the list of books I have read recently you would come to the conclusion that I don't read anything that couldn't be found in the children's section of the library. My mental state at the moment is only able to take in simple reading I guess. Teen fiction or young adult novels have been the bulk of my reading the last few months. I can honestly say Fiction is by far the majority of the books I read. I read non fiction too but usually have a novel going at the same time. I usually stick to classics because they have stood the test of time and I don't have to worry to much about some of the content slipped into more modern novels.

I think by far I do enjoy Historical fiction the most. If well researched and written it also teaches me a bit about the time period that the story takes place in. In the past I have enjoyed Sharon Kay Penman's Medieval novels such as the Here Be Dragons series, which is all about Wales, or Time and Chance which is about William II and Eleanor of Aquatine.

Another great author in this genre is Anna Seton. She has written Katherine which is also Medieval, ( I must really like this time period.) and tells the story of the Katherine who's children take over the royal line in England. I have read several of her other books as well but Katherine is my favorite.
Just to throw in one more medieval book. I finally read Ivanhoe last fall and really enjoyed it. It is interesting to see how our modern ideas of Robin hood were influenced by Sir Walter Scott's depiction.

Just to change time periods. I have recently enjoyed a few western stories as well. But that may be considered a different genre but to me they were historical. My favorite that I read was The Virginian. I read it two years or so ago and liked it so much I had our book club read it and they all loved it as well. I am going to encourage my boys to read this one some day. You can learn a lot about being a man from the Virginian.

Of course I always go for book from the Regency or Victorian times. Anything by Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, or Charles Dickens is always a good read (and clean! Thank Goodness). I am such an Austen fan that I also read a lot of the sequels and fan fiction that are inspired by her stories. The best of these has been Jane Fairfax. I enjoyed reading Emma but this one gives us the Emma story but from Jane Fairfax's point of view. I loved it and even bought a copy so I could read it again whenever I wanted.

I actually don't read many novels that take place in modern times. (Unless you consider James Herriot or P.G Wodehouse are modern) I guess I like being transported to another time and place when I read. I haven't ventured too much into fantasy (Children's fantasy yes) or Science Fiction. But I am sure when and if I do I will enjoy the trip.

This is Me

Every few weeks in our Ward's Primary our "Sister Friendly" (Does every ward have a Sister Friendly?) spotlights one or two of the children and teachers. Last week she spotlighted me. She read off some the answers I filled in on a sheet we passed around to all the kids at the beginning of the year. I remember trying to fill in that spotlight sheet and having such a hard time. I don't like to talk about myself and especially don't like to have to answer questions like "What are you especially good at?" or "What do other people like about you?". I don't mind the "What is you favorite food?" or What is your favorite color?" type questions. I thought it was kinda funny because as Sister Friendly read the clues the kids couldn't guess who it was of course but finally settled on Sophie. People are always telling me that we look alike, but I really don't see it. Most people would agree that her personality is more like my husbands. I do admit I play a large role in her likes and dislikes because of what I choose to expose her to but only to a certain extent. She is definitely her own girl. But this isn't supposed to be about her. I am supposed to talk about me.

I think I have a hard time answering the "What are you especially good at?" question because I don't really consider myself really good at anything. I have always thought of myself as a jack of all trades but master of none. I do a lot of things well but nothing stands out as my particular talent. I can draw but am not an artist. I can cook but am not a Betty Crocker. I can do crafts but am no Martha Stewart. I think when I answered this question on the spotlight sheet, I said something like "I learn new things easily". I consider this a talent. I catch on to things quickly. I usually only have to be shown things once before I can do it on my own. (The key word here is shown. I am very visual. I don't follow directions or patterns well. I need pictures!) Not that I am going to master the skill but I am proficient enough to do the job.

When it came to that other hard question.... I don't think I ever answered it. I left the "What do other people like about you?" question blank. I couldn't think of anything that would make any sense, especially to a room full of primary kids. When they answer that question it is usually something like. I am funny or friendly or nice. None of those answers seemed to fit. Not that I can't be funny or friendly. But I don't know if that is why people like me. I am sure some people don't even think of me as friendly. I tend to be shy and not want attention so I don't jump into conversations with others quickly and easily all the time especially those I don't know well. I also don't usually talk unless I have something I need to say.
The only thing that came to mind in answer to this question was something along the lines of "I do my job or duties". I pull my weight and then some, when given assignments (remember I am the jack of all trades). But even this hasn't totally been the case recently. At times I have let some of my balls drop because I am juggling too many things.

I know I am going to have to fill in a lot more of these spotlight questionnaires so I am going to have to come up with some better answers. But for now THIS IS ME.