A Bit About Me

This is the street where I live.  You can't see our house because it's hiding on the left behind some trees (the white car is parked in front of it).  You can get a sense of the semi-rural area where I live (a small town called El Granada on the San Mateo County coast, about 20 miles south of San Francisco).  There aren't any sidewalks, and the street is only semi-paved.  At the end  of our block is an entrance to a protected open space called Montara Mountain.  I took this picture in landscape mode for the Week 1 assignment in the Get out of Auto Mode class at BPS.  For those who asked, I'm liking the class so far.  This week, we're exploring the various pre-set icons on digital SLR's, and I do feel like I'm learning much more about how to use my camera.  For instance, landscape mode makes blues and greens pop, automatically shuts off the flash, and can be used to photograph nearby objects, not just objects that are far away.  All news to me, and all useful information.  I feel like I learned something about the close-up mode this week, too.  I still need to complete the portrait mode and night-time mode assignments for this week, but I expect I'll find those pretty helpful as well. I'm getting a lot out of the class because it's at exactly the level I was hoping for, and I'm willing to go out and do the assignments.  I would also add that there was a bit of confusion early on about the assignments and the galleries, but the teacher and BPS were responsive and reorganized the galleries to make them better.
In other news, Mel tagged me and asked me a few questions.  Here they are with my answers:
1. Where in the world did you spend your most memorable day ever, and what did you do?
  About a year after DH Paul and I were married, we took our first trip to Europe.  After spending three weeks driving around Spain, we took an overnight train to Paris.  We took the metro to our pension only two blocks from the Eiffel Tower and dropped our bags.  Then we bought a Cuban cigar, lit it and smoked it while we wandered around the Eiffel Tower.  And laughed.  We felt so worldly and sophisticated. And young and happy. And in love. In Paris.
2. What is your favourite time of year, and why?
  I love summer because I get to sleep in and don't have the pressure of a set schedule.  Plus, I get to watch my girl at the beach and my boy playing baseball. And we often take a fab summer holiday.
3. What is your favourite time of day, and why?
  Mornings, after the kids are off to school and before I have to go about my work-work, I sit in bed with my computer on my lap and the cat purring by my side.  I cruise blogs and get a little me-time.  Just like right now!
4. What food would you find it very hard to do without?
  Cheese.  I love cheese . . . it's fast, it's full of protein, and it's oh so yummy!  Especially with a glass of wine.
5. What colour makes you feel happiest?
  The combination of yellow, blue and white always makes me smile.  For just one color, orange.  It's a bright, funny color that kindof makes me want to laugh because it's so ridiculous (but not too ridiculous like purple).
6. What's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to you? (Or the most recent nice thing?)
All the comments you guys made on the Challenger baseball photo post really touched me - especially when Elizabeth said I had a heart as big as my talent.  That just made my toes tingle.
7. What's the nicest thing you've ever said to anyone else? (Or the most recent nice thing?)
I recently spoke at a memorial service for a young mom in my area who passed away from cancer, leaving a 12 year old and an 8 year old.  Even though I blubbered through my remarks, everyone really appreciated what I had to say.  I think it's really important to speak at memorials because I know how much it means to the family.
8. Who would be guest of honour at your dream dinner party?
 Bruce Springsteen.  Love his music, love his politics.  If he started playing his guitar, I might have trouble keeping my clothes on, though.
9. What's your favourite bird?
 Red-winged blackbird.  They show up here in the spring, and I love the flash of red you get when they fly by!  Plus, I remember reading about them in the opening paragraph of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (which seemed like a very profound book when I was in college).
10. What word or phrase do you find yourself over-using? 
"sort of", "just", "kind of", "guess" - I guess I'm just kind of equivocal.
Looking to learn even more about me?  Come back late Friday night or first thing Saturday California time for the "All About Me" blog hop that Mel is putting together.  Here's a peek at my project: