you won’t read a whole lot about romance on this site. Sorry.
I love romance. I love to read a good romance. But I can’t think of anything more boring than promoting my books. Even though if you haven’t already you really should give them a try!
Read me. Read me. Read me.
Blah-blah-blah. Boring!
I’d rather talk about food or health or history or religion or dreams or ghosts or Tudor England or the calamitous Fourteenth Century or the pope or the First Century A.D. and early Christianity/Rabbinic Judaism or my favorite books (not necessarily my books) or numerous other obscure factoids.
Henry and his wives.
You want to talk coffee? I have a favorite. It’s the dark, rich, chocolaty, full-bodied allegro extra-dark French whole bean. I grind it in my coffee grinder and use my REI insulated French press to brew it. I like my coffee sweet so I drop four La Perruche Pure Cane Rough Cut Cubes into my cup along with a couple tablespoons raw cream.
allegro extra dark French.
La Perruche
Chocolate? Milk chocolate (other than Hershey’s). Period. Tried to develop a taste for dark chocolate for years. Failed. Occasionally, in an emergency, I’ll eat some semi-sweet, but the rest? Forget it.
Milk Chocolate.
Tea? I hate green tea. There. I said it. It makes me wanna puke. What do I like? The Republic of Tea Ginger Peach with a teaspoon of raw honey.
Ginger-Peach Tea.
I hate tarragon. Uck. I never met a green pepper I could tolerate. Whenever I was pregnant I couldn’t even be in the same store with a green pepper. I think green peppers should be illegal. Followed closely by a ban on broccoli. (I have strong feelings- hate, love, passion, green bitter things…)
Ewwww.
If a food of the god’s exists it’s not ambrosia, it’s cheese. Yummmmm.
My idea of ambrosia.
I make a point of avoiding raw mushrooms and raw nuts and seeds.
I like fresh squeezed orange juice - juice the oranges myself - but there is no way in hell I can support juicing as a lifestyle. I believe in eating food and I believe, as Richard Wrangham says in Catching Fire: How Cooking Made us Human - that cooking (and thus eating) did indeed make us human.
My wardrobe consists of jeans and one single dress which I never wear.
I love my scuffed cowboy boots.
I say this - a great horse is better than an okay man. And no, I mean actually riding the horse, a relationship with a horse. I’m not into Catherine the Great shit. I still miss my cutting horse, Image. She died way too young. She was the best friend I’ve ever had. She was beautiful.
This is a stallion, but Image was a liver chestnut with a flaxen mane and tail.
My dog Jake is my new best friend.
I’m passionate about my kids and protective as all hell. You mess with my kids you will face a mama lion. I have needle sharp claws, big teeth, and a very long memory.
My kids and me.
I’m married to my soul mate. If he’d married someone else I’d have seduced him and had his kid anyway. I was just that determined to have him. I know… I’m a rotten person. But in my defense, I’ve loved him since I was fourteen years old.
I hate bullies. I hate liars- especially those who use the big lie concept to promote an agenda. (Little white lies to save feelings are A-okay.)
I’m terrified of clowns and I don’t much like dolls except for Barbies and they must face the wall.
Oh dear god…
I don’t trust politicians.
I don’t like extremism.
I don’t trust the popular press.
I’m not worried about global warming, the polar bears, the penguins, or genetically modified foods. It will be okay. Polar bear populations are stable and growing in most areas, as are penguin populations. Climate change is a complicated issue. Please don’t assume the worst and don’t assume a single report in the popular press has all the answers or even some of the answers.
Polar Bear.
I worry about over-fishing, over-grazing in Africa, clean water and the number of raptors killed by wind turbines. I worry about my kids. I pray they will have a future. Isn’t that what we all pray for?
I like being a woman and I like my freedom. I am the boss of me. But I’m not stupid. Experience and commonsense have taught me that all men are not nice men.
I was a geek in high school. I was too tall, my teeth were too big, I wore glasses and braces. I was too flat-chested, too skinny, and too damn smart for my own good. And I was one messed up kid. I’ve never attended a high school reunion because it took a long time to put that dysfunction behind me.
So there you go. I believe in six degrees of separation and I believe in you.
The really nice thing about connecting online? I’ve come to realize just how intelligent, how aware, how conscious, how patient, supportive, and how totally cool you, my readers, are.
Yay you! I would love to learn what you’re passionate about.
I like reading your insights better than reading about book promotions every day.
This was awesomesauce.
Although it might have backfired because now I want to read your books. I want to read the words of the woman who is this passionate about things.
I agree with Amber, this was fun. I love hearing about what you think.
These days GMO’s scare me a lot more than creepy clowns.
Wow, this is great. There is nothing about this post I didn’t like. I too am a coffee lover, but I’m ok with green tea. White tea, on the other hand, is crap. Tastes like nothing.
Lovely post, I’ll be following your blog!
Oh my, we could have such a food fight! You dissed my favorite vegetable, broccoli.
Agree with you about clowns and dolls. *shudder*
I bet the inside of your head is more fun than a bookshop/oddities museum.
Welcome Michael! White tea… hard to hate something that tastes like nothing! I think white tea is a marketing gimmick. Doesn’t really exist.
And thanks!
The big problem with GMO’s Kat? The issue with butterflies. As far as eating the food I don’t worry. It’s more that butterflies and other helpful insects are impacted. However - it’s a mixed bag - GMO’s decrease the need for pesticides which also kill helpful insects. GMO’s could be critical in helping poor countries feed their people. I’m hoping as technology improves we can finely tune plant genetics so there will be less of an impact on the environment. Humans have been messing with the plant gene pool of tens of thousands of years. This isn’t new, it’s the pace of change that’s new.
Jaye -
You and my husband. He loves broccoli. Thus I must cook it. Yuck. Don’t get me started on my head… There’s an awful lot crammed in there.
Thanks, Margaret! I can be pretty black and white - I love something or I hate it. I have few likes. But you can certainly read my books anytime! I give ‘em away!
Oh, phew! Thanks Amber. I never know how I’m gonna come off. I’m thinking of you and hoping next week goes well.
Beauty and the Feast is great. Delicious and Dirty!
I don’t know what I am passionate about anymore. I am in flux.
Staying really skinny?
Hmmmm. How shall we rekindle your passion, Steph? Somebody better write a good paranormal, quick! Skinny right now because I’ve been so damn sick.
Passionate. Hmmm. Reading, my children/grandchildren/spouse, survival preparation (just because so many folks are so unaware of the world around them), learning (the day we stop learning is the day we really die), living, hopefully getting healthier, writing.
This was a very thought provoking post. Thank you for sharing it.
Thanks for answering my question, Anny. I agree. I think we are put on this earth to learn. If we don’t learn we keep repeating the same mistakes/lives all over again. And you’re welcome. Thank you.
I am most passionate about staying skinny; although as sick as you have been I bet your a string bean. Speaking of string beans, we went out to a great Thai place for Don’s birthday and I learned the hard way that the long green things sliced on the diagonal were not string beans but those uber hot Thai peppers. Oh My!
Oh Steph, you poor kid. Like I said, hubs did that once and he regretted it for a week. I do love chilies, just not green peppers.
Great post but now what ya gonna write about for the next few years? What am I passionate about? Pretty much everything I guess but especially cleaning. I love getting things really, really clean (just kidding). I’ll tell you what I’m afraid of, genetic manipulation of animals with human genes and stem cells. That and radical Islamic sects. I guess I am passionate about critical thinking, human rights and good hiking boots. Yeah that’s what I am going with.
I’m liking this, Yoshi. Maybe I can hire you to clean? Cuz I’m passionate about avoiding dusting and vacuuming.
You do bring up a good point, Yoshi. If my dog was any smarter, not only would it be impossible for us to live with him, he’d be miserable. He’d be wondering why he can’t go to school and why he can’t wear clothes and why he can’t sit at the table and eat like a human being and why he has to poop out in the grass. Yeah. He’d be absolutely miserable.
I love horses. Image must have been a beauty.
I’m passionate about rescue and people being responsible pet owners. But you already know that:)
Oh, honey, Image was beautiful and so sweet and smart. I miss her. I know you’re a big fan of animals.