Honest Scrap

The Daily Connoisseur has presented me with an "Honest Scrap" award. She says such nice things:

Scentscelf’s witty and humorous fragrance observations are life-affirming and never fail to bring a smile to my face.

{Blushes} awww.....

I have procrastinated putting together my "10 honest scraps about myself" list, largely because I don't like this blog to be about me. (Though apparently I have no trouble blogging what I think. Hmmm.) What's that you say? Perhaps there is another reason? Oh, okay; yes, it could somewhat be because I am a procrastinator. Or more than somewhat. WAIT...I get ahead of myself...that could have been #1 on my list of "honest scrap about me," the first of the two requirements for accepting the reward. Here, then, are ten pieces of honest scrap about me:

Ten Honest Scraps

1. I tend to put off the oddest chores, sending out packages/mail chief among them. Oh, I love writing letters, old style; I love preparing packages. I just have trouble actually posting them.
2. I'd rather not talk much about myself, I think possibly because I could easily develop a nattering habit.
3. I wish I could capoiera. I can't.
4. I love tending to my garden much more than I love tending to interior tasks, such as the laundry pile. Which means the laundry pile is inevitably taller than the compost heap.
5. For much of my childhood, I was pretty sure that was biting into alien life forms whenever I had to eat raw tomato.
6. I sometimes apologize to greenery when I trim it.
7. Languages I have studied: Spanish. Middle English. Old English.
8. A film I co-wrote has been screened on every continent but Antarctica. (Two magical words: "independent film.") One that I partially shot has been on POV, but since it was B-roll shot on a lark, I didn't get credit.
9. Blond in my youth, brunette as an adult. Always my own color. Always true to my fashion.
10. I have "murderer's thumbs." Also known as clubbed thumbs. They are atypically short and wide, and look kind of like big toes, and made my high school Spanish teacher gasp in horror when she saw them. (That is to say, noticed them in my third year of class with her.) I read about them in some true crime fact book when I was a kid--a higher percentage of convicted murderers have this, um, variation than the general population. And, as long as I'm starting to natter, when I hold my index fingers up next to each other, one starts to point east and the other west--they curve away starting at the first joint. My big toes, should you be wondering by this point, look like big toes, and are the tallest of the bunch.

...erm, #2 became prophetic, no? Just think, had I but started with the original #1, you never would have known...
And now, I am to award blogs that I enjoy with the Honest Scrap Award. As is my wont, I'm going to spread the love around a few of the subjects I enjoy poking around in...perfume, books, gardening, literature, parenting, music, what have you.

10 Blogs I Enjoy and Would Award Honest Scrap To

1. Spy Vibe. Because there's no better way to start surfing bloggery on the intertubes than with a little fun. Focus is spydom ca.1960's. Groovy.
2. Mr. McGregor's Daughter. While I think of myself as related to Mr. McGregor because becoming a gardener led me to understand Mr. McGregor's issues with Peter Rabbit, I think that McG's D is more about being down with the plants than coming down on the rabbits.
3. Scientific Blogging. Not only did certain entry into adulthood involve developing a taste for documentaries, teaching hungry minds opened up my inner scientific curiosity. Scientific Blogging helps me explore without having to tip my hand in terms of just how rote a beginner I am.
4. Okay, here's a benefit of doing this list: I go back and peek at blogs that have been off my radar for a while, like Music Cognition. In one place, I can unify my inner geek, my brief but always a part of me foray into cognitive psychology, and my recurring passion for music.
5. Bibliophile? Design nut? If you haven't been, you'll love Book-By-It's-Cover, which does indeed judge a book by its cover.
6. I'm tossing this one in, though it is brand spanking new to me, and I wouldn't have known about it if Gaia, The Non-Blonde, hadn't posted about it just today: a place where artists are invited to create projects based on a perfume (unidentified) they are given. The blog presenting the results of these projects, Inspire, is French, so it gives me a fresh opportunity to ask my kids to practice their translations. (Perfumista mom calculations: Guerlain's website, safe to ask for translations...Denyse's awesome blog, not always, but fortunately she writes in both French and English...)
7. For home design, I love Mrs. Blandings (aw, go ahead, see her here), but have plugged her before. So today I offer restoration fun, in the form of Retro Renovation. They've got plenty of mid-century modern, with other tossed in. As a person who once carefully, slowly, laboriously, lovingly, respectfully, cursingly lived with the never ending project that was a 115 year old balloon frame Victorian, helped restore a "modernized" pink & blue flat (that I *rented,* mind you), and now lives in a post-mid-century modern ode to suburban split, I feel the many vibes of restoration issues. I particularly enjoy being able to now simply contemplate, rather than worry if the bathroom renovation might adversely affect the cloth & paper electrical wiring, which can't be updated as yet because we are paying for the bathroom renovation.
8. I love looking at images. Shorpy culls wonderful specimens (HD, from 19th c through 1950's) from the Library of Congress to post. I have a friend who has some great prints from the Library of Congress, ordered from them back when you could get a print cheap. REALLY cheap. Before the New York Times and other newspapers started charging for reproductions as a high-profit margin business. I, foolishly, considered myself too poor to spend that much money (" ") on photography. Little did I know what the future would hold...not only would I like perfume, I would spend money on it. More on one bottle than on one LOC print.
9. Okay, so it's clear that I like design...in books, in perfume, in home decorating. Also in building themselves, so the photos and brief essays at Life Without Buildings are a fun way to peek at thoughts about architecture. Don't be mislead by the title...it's not a variation on The Earth Without Us. Though, come to think about it, that could be cool.
10. As my final shout out for this group, I'd like to acknowledge the honest scrap I see in Vintage Books My Kid Loves, which is about just what you would think. This appeals particularly to me, because a) the memories of childhood books are particularly visceral, and b) I have been priviledged to be a part of other children's discoveries of favorite and influential books, both as a parent and as a teacher. VBMKL includes photo illustrations of each book discussed, and whether or not you actually have read the book, you will enjoy checking it out. If you are a parent, you'll enjoy finding fresh oldies but goodies. If you are into graphics, you'll have fun perusing the various styles.

So, me and my green murderer's thumbs are done for the moment. Do you have a favorite? Quirky, insightful, informative, beautiful, other? Please do tell. I love surfing. (Oops, that's another scrap...)

image is from a Make magazine article on ScrapFu, which you can read here. I dig Make magazine, incidentally--and there you have piece of (honest) scrap #13.