Interview

TMC of Return to Rural sent me this. I added the bit about non-bloggers:

If you'd like to play along, here are the rules:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. If I don't have your e-mail, please send it to me. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.If you don't have a blog, I will post your responses on my blog. Hey, you non-bloggers, here's your chance to be heard! C'mon, just do it!
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the
same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Now, TMC says these are "silly questions", but some of them are rather serious, at least to me! I wish they were silly.

1. How did you come to live in Maine?
I used to live in New York. I had a dream of raising sheep, which is pretty hard to do in the city (though I have seen some sheep running around the building on Letterman)! Between my ex-husband and myself, we had four jobs and were barely getting by. One summer, we spent two weeks up here in Maine and on our way home, we decided that it was time to leave the rat race. I'd spent summers in Maine when I was a kid and had a deep love for the place and the people. Neither of us knew a soul here. In the fall of 1991, we moved up here and rented a log cabin on 220 acres. Pretty soon I was raising sheep and growing my own vegetables. I tried to make a living weaving linen and tartans and if the Web was as it is now, this may have succeeded financially, but the whole venture (sheep, weaving, processing wool) was like owning a big, expensive boat. This was also before the big crafts and knitting boom (oh well). Anyway, I'm still here, though I neither have sheep nor weave and my ex-husband went back to the city.
2. A tailored vest is a sharp,attractive garment for men and women of all ages,
sizes and shapes. True or False?
My first reaction was a definate "No!" But, on second thought, I do like vests. I like traditional knitted pullover vests and menswear vests worn by women. But it seems that I see vests worn in ways I don't like more often. I don't like black leather biker vests or ones that are part of cheap three piece suits. Nor do I like ones made out of unusual fabrics, especially South American weaves. Hey, it's all personal taste, isn't it?
3. You've received a grant for $1 million to do something good internationally for
the poorest of the poor. The grant stipulates that you must live with the community you aim to help for at least 1 year. Where in the (3rd) world would you go, and what would you do?
I'd ask Dick what he thinks. Seriously. Dick has a patent on a new way of making geodesic domes. He is dedicated to sheltering the homeless and displaced people of the world.
4. What is your go-to comfort food or treat?
I love a good apple pie, warmed up, with vanilla iced cream. My neighbor made the ultimate apple pie last month and I'm glad I don't have it around often. It was a regular apple pie, not too sweet, with an apple crisp topping. Heavenly! I love pie crust and I love shortbread. Maybe what I really like is butter.
5. If you could pick a new name for yourself what would it be and why?
I have never been good at naming anything. I once needed a stage name and couldn't come up with one. If I were to have a new name, I hope it'll be one given to me by a Zen teacher, and so, I have no idea what that would be. It would be Japanese. That's all I can tell you.

Photo note: Looks like two poor kids, doesn't it? Surprise! It's Alfred (1844–1900), later Duke of Edinburgh, and his elder brother Bertie, later king Edward VII. of Great Britain and Ireland, 1855. I was going to post a splendid old painting of a man in a vest. There are thousands to choose from. Old vests (waistcoats) are wonderful. I approve of them all.