Friday's Feast

Appetizer
When someone smiles at you, do you smile back?

Yes, I like to think I do. I've got lovely memories of the sudden smiles of strangers, the "Hello"s people might exchange as we pass on the street. One woman approaching me on a Berkeley street, while I was exploring and obviously looking through newborn eyes at everything, had the hugest, most welcoming grin on her face, and delighted me with her "How you doin'?" greeting. Did I smile? Oh yes, and I answered "I'm doing just fine! Just fine!"

Soup
Describe the flooring in your home. Do you have carpet, hardwood, vinyl, a mix?

I recovered all the floors in my house less than 2 years ago, ripping out and dumping old, stained and worn carpet. I replaced it with oak boards in living-room and hallway - warm and welcoming when they're nicely swept clear of dust. My study/office has purple twill carpeting. My kitchen has vinyl that most people mistake for genuine stone flags. On the stairs and landing, a tweedy beige/cream carpet. In the guest-room, a plain deep-rose-pink carpet and in my room purple carpeting that's soft underfoot. My little therapy room has a plain gold carpet. I don't like patterned carpets, so got my wish with either wood or plain colours throughout the house. Bathroom has a mosaic-tile patterned vinyl. Complete picture?

Salad
Write a sentence with only 5 words, but all of the words have to start with the first letter of your first name.

I'm imagining India: immediate IS.

Main Course
Do you know anyone whose life has been touched by adoption?

Yes. I remember people at school about whom I heard the whisper "She's adopted." It seemed the only way someone could be an only child.

I have an adopted first cousin, about whom we were all told "She's been specially chosen to join our family".

My cousin and his wife have just returned home from Vietnam with their new daughter, Kate Nu-Thi, who is a beauty, a wonder, a delight to them and to all of us.

When I realised I would not have more children, adoption was a question for my husband and I. He honestly said he wasn't sure he could feel the same about an adopted child as he did about our son. In retrospect, it seems it was a wise thing that we didn't go ahead and try to adopt a daughter.

The person who always comes to my mind when I think of the topic of adoption, though, is a friend who was raised as an only child by a rather bitter and not very affectionate adoptive mother. This friend has always expressed her sense of loneliness, and her envy of my sisters and I for having one another. She longed all her life for a sister. In recent years, she has learnt that her birth-mother has five daughters, with whom she is not allowed contact, and her birth-father, who is now dead, was also the father of five other daughters. She has ten sisters, none of whom know she exists. It just seems the cruellest of situations to me. So near and yet so far.

Dessert
Name 2 blue things.

The recycling bins used in our area, and the feet of the blue-footed booby.

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By the way, the post with my Paris pictures is HERE. Something went wrong whereby when I started to change font-size, I couldn't, couldn't get it changed back to smaller. So, I'm not shouting at you, just in case you think I am!

If you want to find all the other Friday Feasts, go on over HERE Enjoy!