10 on the 10th - October this or that

It's time for Marsha in the Middle's 10 on the 10th.
This time it's all about October and fall. Here are her "this or that" questions.

Pumpkin spice latte or apple cider?

I have never had a pumpkin spice latte in my life, but I can imagine that I would like it. I'll still choose the apple cider, though.

Photo by Bonnie Kittle on Unsplash

Lots of layers or one big bulky one?

I rarely wear a lot of layers. It's usually one shirt, maybe a light jacket and my denim jacket. If that's too cold, it's shirt and my big jacket.

Harvest festival or craft fair?

I don't think I have ever been to a harvest fair, to be honest, I don't even remember something like it is done in my area (I can only think of spring events), so it's the craft fair for me.

Football games or movie nights?

This one is really easy. I don't watch sports at all, it bores me. Give me a movie anytime!

Photo via PxHere

Fuzzy socks or fuzzy slippers?

Neither if possible. I would prefer to be barefoot, but have a pair of sensible felt slippers to walk around because my feet need all the support they can get.
I always have a blanket around, but often enough my feet are sticking out and only go under it for a quick warm-up if they need it.

Orange pumpkins or white pumpkins?

Orange pumpkins. They always make me think of Linus sitting in the pumpkin field and are just more traditional to me.
If I decorated for fall, I would probably mix in other natural colors and shapes, but not necessarily white.

Photo via PxHere

Jeans or leggins?

Jeans, but the denim can't be too thick anymore. It's a heat thing with me, I love the look of jeans, but wear thinner ones even in winter now.

Horror movie or Halloween baking championship?

Do you mean to watch or to participate in? 😉
I don't really watch horror movies because it doesn't make much sense to watch a movie through your fingers. If I watch horror, it's usually a really old film.
I'm not a baker myself and also don't watch others baking (not even The Great British Bakeoff, I prefer watching crafts) and I definitely wouldn't take part in a contest. I would gladly have a look at the finished products, though. People's creativity is amazing.

Thunderstorm or crisp, chilly days?

I'll take the crisp, chilly days.

Photo via PxHere

Kettle corn or candy corn?

I only had candy corn once in my life, it's not a thing here. A friend sent me some from the USA when she heard I had never tried it there.
The ex loved his popcorn and he loved it sweet, never salty. He made it in a pot, so I guess that is kettle corn? Then he put a bit aside which didn't get sweetened, that was for Dude who absolutely loved it (of course he didn't get much). I'm not a big popcorn eater myself and never make it.
If I had to choose, I would probably take the candy corn just because it's something different (and can sit around for a while!).

How would you choose? You are welcome to play along on Marsha's blog!

10 on the 10th - Would you rather ...

It's time for Marsha in the Middle's 10 on the 10th again.
Today she has another round of "Would you rather ..." for us.

Would you rather vacation in Alaska or Bali?

I'll take Alaska, but not in winter. Too much snow for me.

Would you rather learn to play a musical instrument or learn to paint?

I had violin lessons when I was (a lot) younger, but my one attempt at learning how to draw failed (not through my fault) and somehow I never managed to try again, so I'll take the painting, please.

Public domain via pxhere

Would you rather wear flip flops or sneakers?

Sneakers. I hate flip flops.

Would you rather ride the highest roller coaster or bump along on the Lazy River ride?

If I really have to pick one, it will be the Lazy River ride. I have been on a roller coaster - no huge one - and it's not for me. I never tried a Lazy River ride or even got the chance to, so I don't know if I would like it.

Would you rather go on a road trip or take a flight to a faraway destination?

Definitely a road trip!

Public domain via pxhere

Would you rather have a summer birthday or a winter birthday?

I have a summer birthday, but I don't celebrate, so I would be fine with any day of the year.

Would you rather go to a flea market or a craft fair?

A craft fair is really nice of course, but I'd always pick the flea market because of the surprise factor if I had to choose.

Public domain via pxhere

Would you rather go tubing down a river or zip-lining through the trees?

Neither. I'm really not that kind of person and never have been.

Would you rather go on a safari or a whale watching tour?

That's a difficult one. I'm never sure what to think about either of those. I find all animals fascinating, though.

Would you rather be able to control the weather or talk to animals?

Turning the current heat off or being able to control the weather's impact on the planet for the better sounds tempting of course, but I wouldn't trust any human with an ability like that, no matter if they would abuse the power or messing things up inadvertently despite wanting to do something good.
Talking to animals - sorry, as much as I would like to know right now what Gundel wants from me (probably to control the weather for the better), I don't think humans are ready to hear what they would tell us.

10 on the 10th - Would you rather ...

First of all, yes, I know it's not the 10th. I'm just weird about not having two posts on the same day.
So, without further ado, here are my 10 on the, well, 11th.
These are the questions Marsha gave us.

Would you rather rock a mullet or a perm?

Perm although I've tried it twice without convincing results many years ago. I have always dreamed of soft waves, but I only had those when my hair was wet, no matter how much I kneaded. It's funny that years ago I suddenly got some waves in my very long hair, but weirdly it's only some strands and not necessarily the ones on top.

Would you rather have a magic carpet or a crystal ball?

Easy. Definitely a crystal ball. Even as a kid I had problems to think about Detective Teffan Tiegelmann flying on his magic carpet. Look at the picture, doesn't that make you nervous? I mean, is it like a wooden board or does it sag during the flight? What about turbulences? Can you really put a barrel on it? No no, I'll have the crystal ball, please. I'm not saying I'd use it, though. It can look pretty on a table in the corner.

Would you rather be able to teleport anywhere instantly or read minds?

Another easy one. Teleport of course! If a mere finger snap could do it, that would be great. No machines, it makes me think of "The Fly" or a very creepy story I once read.
Being someone who's not very mobile, teleporting sounds great. First thing I'd do would be visiting some online friends.
Reading minds - no. Seeing minds being dumped on the internet all the time, that's actually a terrible thought. Unless you could turn it off and on. Nah, not even then.

Would you rather eat chocolate-flavored broccoli or broccoli-flavored chocolate?

I read that as chocolate-covered broccoli first, but of course broccoli-covered chocolate might be a tad difficult to achieve (and it sounds disgusting).
Where's the choice here? I could always close my eyes to forget that I'm eating broccoli for the perfect chocolate flavor, couldn't I, but I don't think it would work the other way round.

Would you rather have a talking toilet or a talking fridge?

I'm no fan of my appliances talking at all. I yell at my washing machine when it beeps at me from the bathroom (yes, many Germans have their washing machine in the bathroom) telling it to shut up, I will be there when I'm ready. If my fridge beeps to let me know the door has been open for too long while I try to shove the last items from the grocery delivery in, I yell "I know, I know, I'm hurrying up!"
I talk to inanimate objects, I really don't need them to talk back, but if I have to choose, it'll be the fridge. I just wonder if we will have philosophical conversations or if it will keep reminding me of the dying vegetables or the living cheese.

Would you rather sneeze glitter or cry jelly?

Have you ever seen a slow-motion video of a sneeze? And have you ever seen me do a surprise sneeze? I don't want to live in a world of glitter. I like the look of glitter, but I have given up on it a long time ago for good reason.
Now I can't imagine how difficult it would be to cry jelly, but given the body temperature it probably wouldn't be too terrible?

Would you rather make a snowman or build a sandcastle?

Picture via pxhere

From experience, I'd say I'm pretty terrible at both. I'm not a big fan of the beach as in lying in the sun, but you - looking at you, Marsha - know I hate snow, so the ugly sandcastle it'll be.

Would you rather have a pet unicorn or a pet dragon?

I'm not going to choose. I'm ... I'm going to have both. Yes, and they are going to be best friends ... and we are going to have the best adventures and ... and I'm going to call them Amalthea and Puff ... and they are going to sleep in my room ...

Pictures via pxhere

Sorry, but with such a question I can't help turning into a child again. I hope you heard my excited breathing and I may have had a finger in my mouth in order to think better (and still couldn't came up with less stereotypical names).
But yeah, I'm definitely going to have both.

Would you rather be the funniest person in the room or the smartest person in the room?

Well, that depends on the circumstances, does it? If I'm about to deliver a stand-up routine, I'd prefer to be the funniest, at a work meeting I'd prefer to be the smartest.
Generally speaking, though, I'd always choose to be the smartest and hopefully not in an annoying way.

Would you rather have a conversation with your past self or your future self?

I'm terrible with that time-travelling stuff. I could give my past self a lot of advice, but what would that do to my present self? I don't want to use the crystal ball, so why would I want to talk to my future self?
I'd rather talk to my fridge about fuzzy cheese.

How would you have answered these questions?

10 on the 10th - Would you rather ....

For these 10 on the 10th "Marsha in the Middle" gave us another list of "Would you rather ..." questions. Let's see if I can answer all of them - all 11 of them!! 😉

1. Would you rather eat deep fried Twinkies or butter?

Sorry, no idea. I have never had a Twinkie in my life - we don't have them here and I never thought to try one during my USA trips - and simply can't answer this.

Picture via pxhere

2. Would you rather eat a hot dog cooked or uncooked?

Not at all, I have been a vegetarian for more than 35 years. I don't think I have ever had an uncooked hot dog before that.
I did have uncooked sausage like "Saiten" (what we call Vienna sausage in my part of the country" or "Rote" ("red sausage"), a bit like a thicker version of "Saiten") and I liked those better than cooked, but I wouldn't want to compare a hot dog to either of those.

3. Would you rather dig for gold or dig for gemstones?

I wouldn't want to do either because it's hard work.
I would prefer the gemstones over the gold, though 😉

Quartz and amethyst in my wire
crochet stars for a necklace

4. Would you rather plant your feet in the sand or in the snow?

That's easy. I like looking at snow from inside with a nice beverage in my hands, but I don't want to be in it. Sand it is.

Picture via pxhere

5. Would you rather read a book with no chapters delineated or a book with no chapters at all?

The first one, I guess.

6. Would you rather wear flip flops with tights or high heels with tube socks?

I hate flip flops with a vengeance. I hate the look and I hate the sound even more.
My high heels times have long been over, I probably wouldn't be able to make a single step in them, but if you force me, I'll take them with the tube socks. I had a dream about tube socks just a few days ago although I have no idea why a food truck would give them out and why we got a complimentary extra pair. They were yellow and red, it would be very hard to find heels working with those.

According to "British Vogue" everyone in London is wearing socks with heels right now, by the way. At least, they still did in February.

7. Would you rather wear the twins Polly and Esther or their evil cousin, Latex, for a posh evening of your choice?

Polly and Esther it is. No one wants to see me in Latex. I know I don't.

8. Would you rather watch a really bad movie with your bestie or a really good movie by yourself?

I would do both. Watching a bad movie with a friend can be absolutely hilarious, but I usually watch movies by myself, anyway.

9. Would you rather color in the lines or outside?

That depends on my mood. It can be a concentration exercise to color in the lines, but it can also be incredibly liberating to color outside of them.
That works for all kinds of creative ventures, I think.

Picture via pxhere

10. Would you rather drink warm root beer or cold "hot" chocolate?

I get sick from root beer, I can't even stand the smell, but I could bathe in chocolate, so the choice is easy. I prefer cold beverages to hot ones, anyway.

Picture via pxhere

11. Would you rather have taco chips or celery string stuck in your teeth?

Well, celery is another thing I don't like, so I'll go with the taco chips.

If nothing else, you have sure learned a lot now about all kinds of things I don't like or hate! 😂

10 on the 10th - What I really like or love

"Show us photos of things you really like or love."
That sounds like an easy enough prompt for this month's 10 on the 10th, but as I wrote in my comment to Marsha's preview post, it really seems impossible to choose just ten from my thousands of cat pictures, especially because so far there have been 12 cats I've had the honor to serve.
Not kidding, at this point I didn't even know if I was going to get to ten this time, not because there are not enough things (which I will be interpreting loosely as cats and other animals are not things, neither are people, but you know I don't show people on my blog, anyway), but because I probably don't have pictures of them all.
Also this is difficult because we already did the "Diamonds in your life" post in April and I'm bound to repeat myself. Sorry about that. I'll try to choose different pictures at least.
As usual, the order is quite random (except for the cats, they rightfully insisted to be at the top) and I could keep going if I had the pictures for it (for example movies and music are missing for lack of good pictures) or if I had thought of the other things first.

1. Cats.
I love them. I'm obsessed with them. They are beautiful and elegant (most of the time), they can be very goofy and sweet, and they can be very effective predators. Big and small. Also they have been with me through good times and hard times.
The names are in the order they came into my life.

2. Animals.
I didn't have any pets of my own as a kid, but I always had animals in my life - dogs at my friends' houses, cats, cows, and bunnies at the farm of my godmother's parents.
Then the ex and I had not only our little zoo at home once we moved in together, but also the little zoo in my hometown where we volunteered. How many people can say they have been "combed" by a coati (there was no one around to take a picture, sorry)?
This is just a very, very small selection of animals from home and the real zoo.

3. Books.
You already know this picture, but I think it expresses it best.

4. My collections.
I have already told you how I feel about my collections, but at least I can show you some different pictures.
My main collections are Steiff animals and vintage Barbies.
 

5. Flowers.
I'm no gardener and like to tell anyone that I have ten black thumbs. That doesn't mean I don't like flowers or plants, though.
I have taken these pictures in our little garden and on trips, in Botanic Gardens and zoos.

6. Beads and wire and cabs and everything else you can create with!
That probably doesn't come as a surprise. There is so much you can make and do with tiny bits of glass or roving, stone or metal.
Here's a little selection.

7. Museums and libraries.
Can't say I always approve of the method of acquisition, but I could never resist a nice museum.
Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures without someone standing in front of a museum or library.
These are the best I have (a mix of Cardiff, Cambridge, Edinburgh, London, and Weil am Rhein).

8. Cemeteries.
They have something peaceful. I like the smaller ones, with trees and with benches where you can sit and dream and feel the stories of the people around you.
My town has two cemeteries that we call the old and the new one (the new one opened up in 1903). The old one is around our oldest building, the Oberhofenkirche (built from 1436 - 1490).

9. Vintage.
Vintage this and that. Toys, furniture, decorations, books, paintings, calendars, clothes, fabric, tools, needles, dishes, glasses ... I could go on and on. Unfortunately I have neither the space nor the money for everything I love, but I may have one or the other item around.

10. Chocolate.
I can't help it. I don't have the habit of photographing chocolate, though. So this one picture from a birthday a few years back will have to suffice. These are so-called "Göppingerle", named after our town and made in our oldest café (macaroon with a vanilla souffle in fine chocolate, available in different flavors).

10 on the 10th, uhm, 9th - Diamonds in my life

Yes, I'm early again. The 10th is Thursday - silent movie day.
So I'm here today to talk about the prompt "Marsha in the Middle" gave us - diamonds in my life.
I have two options now. I get out all my jewelry, see if I get to ten with diamonds, clean it and take pictures. The other option is "mir etwas aus den Fingern zu saugen", literally to suck something out of my fingers or to make something up out of thin air as you would put it in English.
Both sounds very exhausting, it might be easier to go look for a diamond mine. Not that we have any around here.
This is already getting hard.
What else counts as diamonds in my life? Would rhinestones work, too? 😉
As usual, this will be in completely random order, but ...

1. How about starting with some real diamonds to give me a bit of time to think about the rest.
These are raw diamonds treated for blue color in fine silver wire crochet around an aquamarine drop. I made the ring in 2012 and think I would definitely do better now.

2. Let's do this right away. You know it, I know it ... the list wouldn't be complete without my cats and other animals. They are big carat diamonds.
This is the ancestral gallery.
Upper row - White Dude, Madam Mim, Magica de Spell, Jester, Gandalf
Bottom row - Merlin, Mephista, Greebo, Esmerelda Weatherwax, Ponder Stibbons

I don't have that many pictures of the rest of the zoo we lived with, at least not digital, so here are just a few. Very few. Volunteering at our local zoo for many years, we fostered, we adopted and had temporary guests.

3. "Panther and Tiger." No documentary, no martial arts movie, no book title. Those two are just my feline overlords (and they wouldn't appreciate my saying "just", I will probably regret that).

4. Family, friends - real life and online - and neighbors. I won't say more about that because they appreciate not ending up on my blog as more than a short remark and I respect that.

5. My library. I always dreamed of my own library. Shelves up to the ceiling would have been nice, but with high ceilings and my inability to get on a ladder and look up without getting dizzy - no idea if it's my glasses - that wouldn't have been a good idea.
Instead I have vintage book cabinets. This is half of them. Although this is an old picture and I have donated books since, the cabinets are still quite full.
And yes, I do have kind of a catalog.

6. My collections. They are more than just a bit of plush, vinyl, and whatnot.
They are experiences, memories of meeting people, making friendships - short-lived or really long ones - , of early mornings at fleamarkets, picknicks, amazing finds or newbie mistakes, disappointments, sunrises; they are also history, company history, design history, the history of people having an idea, of fails and successes which are often as interesting as the pieces themselves.
I might not remember the story to each piece I have, but I remember a lot, and if you make the mistake to ask me for one, you might not be able to stop me without pushing me into a river.
It's the same with all collectors, may their passion be stamps, coasters, porcelain, glass, books - or teddies and dolls.

7. Being creative. I've told the story before of how I got into crafting, how I found "my people", how I managed to do things I had never thought possible.
It was a long way from the girl who couldn't finish her cardigan in 4th grade (and didn't even want to) and got a C to the artisan I am now.
Had anyone told me back then that I would be knitting for years, work with wire and/or beads, needle felt, and embroider, I would have laughed out loud.

Here's my signature design, actually the miniature baskets were the first real design I ever made. Over the years, I have filled tiny baskets with all kinds of things, just yarn (wire or felted), yarn with scarves or socks, once a tiny knitting magazine, knitting needles or crochet hooks, cats, dogs, chickens, flowers, as pendants, earrings, and even rings.
This is one of my favorites, the basket is so tiny and cute, made from 0.2 mm sterling silver wire.

Enough now, I think you get the idea. I like being creative.

Also I appreciate artisans sharing their knowledge. I wouldn't even have dared to try more without the encouragement and mentoring I got when I started out.

8. Movies and shows. There are days when I'm pretty much knocked out. The Internet still allows me to keep contact and if even that is too much, I can find something on TV or watch a DVD.
And if you have a cat to snuggle up to you at the same time? Perfect.

9. This is probably the weirdest diamond in the list, but I think you will agree it's a big one even if it doesn't sparkle.
I have mentioned it before, my kidney and I have been together for more than 21 years now. We didn't have a perfect start, so that is practically a miracle.

10. Humor. Twisted, weird, black, dry. Where would we be without humor, a smile, a laugh? At the moment, I'm really grateful for all the cartoonists, comedians, and artists who share their work so generously. I wish I could support more of them.

There you go, ten diamonds in my life. They would make a very strange necklace indeed, but I don't prepare these posts, I just spill what's in my head right now.
Can't wait to see what the others list!

10 on the 10th - Irrational things

10 things I would do that are just a little or a lot irrational.
Marsha from Marsha in the Middle's choice of this topic was inspired by Pi Day which has officially been celebrated since 1988. Pi is an irrational number.
I asked if that meant things I would want to do or things I did in the past and got the permission to choose whatever I felt like.

What is irrational in humans, though?
The Cambridge Dictionary tells me that "irrational" means "not using reason or clear thinking".
It's a stereotype that women tend to be emotional and irrational while men are logical and rational. Being in customer service for decades, that's not a stereotype I can subscribe to myself. From my experience, there are often just different words used for the same behavior. Women are emotional and irrational about a topic, if men behave  the same, they are for example called passionate.

You can tell that I'm already thinking about this too much, typical for me. Just keep in mind that irrational may be relative, but yeah, some of my 10 may surprise you.

1. No one has asked me yet which is a darn shame, but I would totally join a search party for Nessie if the boat isn't too small, not because I'm afraid Nessie would knock it over, but because I'm claustrophobic.
It would be harder to join one for Bigfoot because I don't see myself hiking through the woods anymore.
I think the reason for this is obvious - to speak with Fox Mulder, I want to believe.

2. Anthropomorphizing - giving feelings and/or talking to inanimate objects.
Yes, I do talk and sometimes even apologize to inanimate objects, but not with all of them or not all the time. It's actually not that unusual for people to do. I never felt the urge to marry my toaster, though - wait, I don't own a toaster - ok, my hand mixer although we have been together for 35 years.
The nice thing about them is that they don't talk back. Everyone likes a good listener.
In the picture is my teddy, ingeniously named Teddy by me. I got him for my birth although I have no active memory of that, and I was without him only once (except for vactions for which I shamelessly left him alone at home) when the very young daughter of a friend of my father's fell in love with the "talking bear" and my mother lent it to her for the weekend without asking me. I was about seven and devastated. That changed to outrage when he was returned in a plastic bag and standing on his head. The indignity! I had very strong opinions even at that age.

3. This is Hannah. She was my employee of the month in October 2020 helping me to tackle the hardest part of one side of my beaded HeatherCat shoes. She was also the only needle to ever get a name and blog feature from me. If persistence had a shape, this would be it.
I also thank broken needles for their commitment although I don't put them in tofu or konnyaku. Confused? Look up Hari-Kuyō and you'll understand.

4. My bookmarks and the icons in my taskbar have to be in a certain order. If they aren't, something terrible will be happening. Or maybe not, but I need my order, so I can hit them blindly, more or less.
It's hard enough that I haven't learned completely yet how to use my new TV remote control blindly. Who needs that many buttons?

5. I can't stand hearing people eat loudly, but I'm absolutely fine with animals doing it. A big favorite of mine at the zoo were the porcupines even if they weren't as talkative as Teddy (not my Teddy).
Snoring can drive me nuts - unless it's my cats. So cute.

6. I haven't worn a wristwatch for years now, but when I still did, it was always set to California time ever since I visited there for the first time. At first, it was just to keep the vacation feeling a bit longer when we were back home and then it just stayed.
It confused the heck out of people, for example the watchmakers who put new batteries in. I remember one time when one of them said "oh, let me set it, that's the wrong time" and my sister just shook her head at him lightly indicating to leave it 😂

7. If I buy my favorite tortilla chips (nacho cheese) or peanut flips (a German snack you may not know), they have to be on sale, but even then I don't buy them every time because they are very dangerous to have around.
I eat them using chopsticks because I hate having the powder on my fingers. Although I'm very much right-handed which was very tough when I had a cat bite, I'm better at doing that with my left hand.
Wait, is that even irrational?

8. I know a lot of people feel the same way about this one. It's the reason for the site called "Does the dog die?" although that has all kinds of trigger warnings now. We can watch a thriller, mystery or maybe even horror movie, but insist they stay away from the animals. I have DNF'ed books that I knew to have monsters, but I was tired of yet another dog getting killed (yes, Preston and Child, I'm looking at you, do you have a personal problem with dogs?).

9. No elevators for me. As mentioned, I'm claustrophobic and it has got worse with age.
Elevators are the worst. It started when I got stuck twice at work - different buildings - since then every little hiccup made me extra nervous until I couldn't use them anymore at all.
I'm aware it's irrational, but panic is panic. You will also not find me visiting a cave anymore and I will probably never become a submarine captain. I'm still blaming Poe.

10. I love crafting sounds, a needle going through fabric, the little pop of beads settling between the warps on a bead loom, the clacking of knitting needles etc. They have something soothing for me.
I also love documentaries about crafts, and sometimes when I craft, I pretend to be in such a documentary and play through in my head how I would explain what I'm doing right now.

There, now you know the complete horrible truth about me (you don't, but we can pretend you do)!
But hey, I got an extra for you, rebel that I am.

11. As a child, someone told me that a vampire was living in the space underneath our cellar stairs, well, or rather not living. I must have been about five or so at the time, and I swear hearing the lid of the coffin shut more than once. You could see through the steps of the cellar stairs and while I was too scared to look into that space, I was deeply convinced that the vampire would reach out and grab me if I went down there.
Although I eventually didn't believe the story anymore, I never lost that weird feeling on those stairs.

There you go, now you really know everything.