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AynE

AynE
Date Joined: September 10, 2008
Last Online: November 20, 2009
Birthday: October 6
Country: USA

About Me

I write what I call fractured fairy tales or fables. I also write poetry and have been published in England although I live on an island in the Gulf of Alaska. The first five minutes of the movie the Guardian shows where I live or the reality show, The Deadliest Catch is based out of Kodiak.

I am first generation British American. I am married with three children, a grown daughter who lives in Chicago, one in High School and one in elementary school. No empty nest for me!

I also have a Belgian Tervuren named Griffin, sort of a large, gorgeous, long haired, pointy eared dog and a Pomeranian, named Mrs. TiggyWiggle, (Tiggy for short) who thinks she is a large, gorgeous, long haired, pointy eared dog. I also have 3 cats, a black & white (Tuxedo) cat named Edmund the Just-leave-Clementine-alone, a tortiseshell named Madelyn Rose and a Siamese/Himalayan cross, Clementine who is the scourge of the neighborhood except when it comes to Edmund. My cats have sibling rivalry, which is sort of strange but when Ed and Clem have crossed the line, Rosie sorts both of them out. Which is even stranger since she came to us as a declawed lady and has absolutely no fire power. But she has the vocabulary of a dock worker and is not afraid to use it. I am just glad I am not fluent in cat because I don't think Rosie is a lady at heart.

Crafts: Paper, I love the feel, smell and sound of paper. I also dabble in watercolors, chalk and pen. As well as altered books, collage, stamping and needlepoint. I love to make altered composition journals and altered art booklets. It justifies all the bits and pieces of paper, lace, broken jewelry and fabric that I have collected over the years.

Colours: Anything French Country or French Provencial. I love creams, blues and yellows for decor, but in my wardrobe tend towards deep garnet reds, browns, blues, greens and creams. I like muted colors of any type. I am not a big fan of neons or brights, although I have a friend who is trying to reform me. I lived through the 60's and 70's, incense burning, bell bottomed, long haired, flower powered hippie, once was enough. Lots of fun, but enough!

Things I like: I have collected China Cat figurines since I was 9 years old. I also collect teapots, creamers, etc in the shape of English country cottages. I love daisies, sunflowers, violets, irises, lilacs, hollyhocks and English Cottage Gardens. I like dragonflies, moths and bumblebees. Crows and foxes are also motifs that I like. My favorite artist is J.M. Strudwick who is a contemporary of J.W. Waterhouse, I also love Beatrix Potter and Mary Engelbreit illustrations. I have a friend who climbed over a railing and got a picture of David's butt when she was in Rome, so I am not opposed to Roman sculpture (yes, she got invited to leave the museum)

Favourite Stuff:

Books: M.M. Kaye, James Michner, C.S. Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Neville Shute, Jane Austen, Diana Galbadon's Outlander series. I collect children's books and love Hans Christian Anderson's stories and the Andrew Lang Fairy Tale Books. Grimm's Fairy Tales are just that, grim. The Diary of Anne Frank pierces my heart. Favorite poets are Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Kahlil Gilbran. Yes, I know, my tastes are rather eclectic.

I read the dictionary because I love words and their meanings and I read encyclopedias for the miscellaneous and other bits of knowledge and facts that are tucked between the covers. My kindergarten teacher told my parents that I was full of bits of general knowledge. Probably so...

Music: I play guitar and flute, my favorite song is Solveg's Song from the Peter Gynt Suite by Edward Grieg. I listen to Israeli folk music. French Cafe music. Celtic music. World War II era music as well as Sing Along with Mitch Miller. I also like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Judi Collins and Rod Stewart.

Movies: Australia, Chocolat, Neverwas, The Kingdom of Heaven, Under the Tuscan Sun, LOTR, Chronicles of Narnia both of them, Elizabeth, Chariots of Fire, The Last Samurai, old 30's and 40's musicals as well as WWII flying movies. My father was a glider pilot for the RAF so I was raised on stories and movies like the Battle of Britian and 12 o'clock High. My dad thought Spam and ketchup sandwiches were wonderful, blech :-{ !!! My favorite actor of all time is Danny Kaye. My favorite actress is Katherine Hepburn.

TV shows: British TV, All Creatures Great and Small, Rosemary and Thyme, Foyle's War, The House of Elliott, Inspector Lindley, the Sharpe's series (Sean Bean, Napoleonic Wars, good music and great scenery, what could be better) and Robin Hood, yet I never miss StarGate SG1 or Atlantis and I think Eureka is smart and funny, so I am not totally living in the past.

Edibles: My Nan lived in Yorkshire and every holiday season she would send boxes filled with chocolate and candies from England, Callard and Bowser butterscotch and licorice toffees, Cadbury chocolates and Smarties as well as Ginger marmalade and Lyle's Golden Syrup. I also have a weakness for maple sugar candy and MacIntosh apples. I love Chai tea as well as some herbal teas.

I love the smell of lavender, lilacs, violets, cinnamon, ginger, tarragon, basil, rosemary and oranges. My favorite spice is Nutmeg and I have an awesome recipe for nutmeg cake.

I don't like flowery perfumes or candles, it has to be the real thing or I get bad headaches but for some strange reason I have this incredible collection of candles shaped like fruit, I cannot explain how it happened but I have apple, pear, apricot, plum and even avocado shaped candles. One of those things that you don't realize you are doing until you start to list it on Swap-bot...

I am addicted to old costume jewelry, rhinestones and all, especially brooches/pins and dangly earrings.

Things I don't like: I am not a modern kind of lady, nor do I like anything dark, gory, goth or 'witchy'. My mother loved Edgar Allen Poe and so does my oldest daughter, but I am more of a Beatrix Potter/Pollyanna kind of gal. May have something to do with the fact that my parents took me to see Vincent Price in the Pit and the Pendulum when I was six years old, scarred (scared) me for life...I have a hard time watching Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds without major burying my head in the pillow sessions.

Other stuff: I like Victorian emphera, Art Deco, Arts and Crafts style. I do like Frank Lloyd Wright's Praire Style because it is simply breathtaking in it's elegant simplicity and dream some day of decluttering and living in a Japanese style, clean-lined, austere, ordered house, not!

I love the alphabet in all types, fonts and sizes. As well as words, new words, old, fallen from use words, forgotten words, words 25 letters long in different languages. Did you know that one of the prettiest sounding words in any language is l'arc en ciel? It's rainbow in French, amazing, n'est pas? The prettiest sounding word in the English language is cellar door, it is a lyrical fluid sound, even if the meaning is not quite as pretty. Although a cellar door surrounded by vines and flowers could be very pretty visually.

Buttons, wooden spools of thread, and old game pieces, broken jewelry, stamps, pictures cut out of magazines, bits of ribbons, fabrics and lace. Silk embroidery thread.

Pictures of doors and windows or pictures of scenes with empty chairs in them. I like to imagine me, sitting in them, looking out over the beach, or garden...

I grew up in a small town in Western New York that, in my opinion is the prettiest town in America, beautiful landscapes, incredible architecture, just enough of each season, the one I like best being from late August through late November because of the fullness, richness and sense of completion during that time. Piles of pumpkins and baskets of apples at roadside stands, red maple leaves, Canadian geese overhead, huge orange harvest moons rising over the hills.

I miss western New York so much...ah well... to quote Joni Mitchell... don't it always seem to go that we don't know what we got til it's gone...

Ratings

Robin rated for Fall Glory Row House on Nov 15, 2009
5
rating
Comment: Thank you for the cute row house and extras.....Have a beautiful day
Response: You are welcome and you deserve the heart, not I.
Cocoa rated for Townhouse/Apartment Row House on Nov 14, 2009
5
rating
Comment: Thank you for the wonderful Apartment House ! Thanks for the chocolate :)
Response: You are very welcome.
Zefaniya rated for Quotecard Postcard #29 on Oct 25, 2009
5
rating
Comment: Thanks!
Response: You are welcome.
hollycm6 rated for Quotecard Postcard #29 on Oct 19, 2009
5
rating
Comment: I love it!
Response: I am glad.
fede rated for Redhead Postcard Swap! on Oct 15, 2009
5
rating
Comment: Your postcard arrived today!what a beautiful pin-up!thanks:)
Response: You are more than welcome. It takes a while for things to get from Alaska to Italy. She was a very well traveled redhead.
Skron11 rated for Sweet Sukkot Scavenger Swap on Oct 3, 2009
5
rating
Comment: Thanks for the goodies. It was a lovely surprise to get your package today. I immediately shared one of the jokes with my husband. Happy Sukkoth.
Response: I am glad you liked it, I so wanted to keep the book but that wouldn't have been very nice of me.
movietiffany rated for Quotecard Postcard #28 on Oct 2, 2009
5
rating
Comment: loved it
Response: thank you.
shoakteng rated for 090909 Postcard Swap on Sep 29, 2009
5
rating
Comment: Thks 090909!! I Love It =)
Response: You are most welcome.
Jaddy rated for 090909 Postcard Swap on Sep 29, 2009
5
rating
Comment: Thanks!
Response: You are welcome
Cinnabear rated for October Birthday Swap!! on Sep 22, 2009
5
rating
Comment: Thank You! Thank You!! Thank You!!!! I love the bear he is so cute and soft!! The bear bell is hilarious - and the Alaska angel pin fits on purse great!! Why can't we give more than one heart??
Response: Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Cinnabear, Happy Birthday to you and a big bear hug too....You can put the bear bell on your pup, so he never gets lost, actually that is what people up here do, put bells on their dogs so the bears know they are coming....
KatyC rated for Quotecard Postcard #28 on Sep 22, 2009
5
rating
Comment: Thank you for the postcard and quote. I really liked both.
Response: You are very welcome. I liked the quote as well, although it was a little tricky to write and get it down in the right order.
studiomnivorous rated for Quotecard Postcard #28 on Sep 21, 2009
5
rating
Comment: Thank you for the card and quote! Einstein had a lot of pretty catchy stuff to say =)
Response: Oh yeah, Einstein knew what he was talking about.
Cocoa rated for School House Row House on Sep 21, 2009
5
rating
Comment: I love the School House!!! You are very creative!!
Response: I am so glad, I had a whole other school house planned and then read that you didn't like green so it was back to the crafts table, I am glad you liked it.
helent rated for 090909 Postcard Swap on Sep 21, 2009
5
rating
Comment: Thanks for the card.
Response: You are welcome.
daarhon rated for Door or Window Postcard Swap on Sep 19, 2009
5
rating
Comment: Thank you!!
Response: You are welcome.
IslandBroad rated for Island Postcards on Sep 17, 2009
5
rating
Comment: Really liked the history & the whole pc. Thank you so much!!!
Response: You are so very welcome!
KillerKlownKate rated for 090909 Postcard Swap on Sep 16, 2009
5
rating
 
ManitoulinGirl rated for Island Postcards on Sep 15, 2009
5
rating
Comment: Great postcard! Kodiak looks like a lovely spot - I hope I get a chance to get to Alaska someday.
Response: Kodiak can be gorgeous and if you ever make it up this far let me know, the door is always open.
maggie16 rated for Redhead Postcard Swap! on Sep 15, 2009
5
rating
Comment: Thanks for the beautiful postcard! The image was a lil' pixelated, but love the design! :)
Response: Sorry about the pixelation, I am learning how to make postcards and work with the photo shop images and copier. Thanks for the heart.
zigg13pra rated for Altered School Notebook Swap on Sep 14, 2009
5
rating
Comment: This is the COOLEST notebook I've ever gotten! Thanks so much! Let me know if you are in another one. :D
Response: Thank you, I really enjoyed putting it together for you. I like Ravenclaw as well, although the question is, if they are Ravenclaw's why is the bird an eagle???? Perhaps the wrackspurts were involved in that one...

Rating Overview

Overall Hearts Stars  
5.0000 86 2  
Completed Fives Threes Ones
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Comments

BeautifulMess on Nov 5, 2009:

Swap-bot friends forum is rather lonely, how about spreading some love and checking it out!

Theres a new tag and round robin, games and if you've not done yet, post your birthday!

Thanks!

SkippyMom on Oct 28, 2009:

Thank you for giving Buck such a wonderful home. I am so sorry for your loss and will think happy thoughts for you. Hugs.

mousepoo on Oct 20, 2009:

I just started a new group, and I would like to invite you.

Art Journal Love.

stacirose on Oct 19, 2009:

Hi, Hot Stuff!!! Have I got a swap for you! ;)

Sign up for this swap ends on Thursday! Please join me and the Jewish Swappers for a repeat of this fun swap! :D

Hanukah Harry

Thanks very much!!

panda2778 on Sep 30, 2009:

Happy Birthday

BeautifulMess on Sep 28, 2009:

Thank you soooo, soooo much for the Alaska photo package you sent, I got it this morning and it is truely amazing =] I sat reading the magazines and looking through all the beautiful photos before I'd even woken up. The postage price is outragous! I am so happy you sent it to me, I have fallen in love with the place a second time if thats possible? =] Thank you again!!

Simone on Sep 12, 2009:

Uplifting Prayer

Prayer

OfficeWeed on Aug 11, 2009:

~HEARTS~HEARTS~HEARTS~ I'm sorry this is late, but I FINALLY found you!! lol I lost your name... Anyway...I received the package for the FAVORITE COLOR SWAP and I absolutely LOVE it!! Thank you sooo much for your time and thoughtfulness!! Hugs N Hearts, Lisa

ManitoulinGirl on Aug 7, 2009:

Thanks so much for joining the Island postcard swap from the Island Chicks group!

ManitoulinGirl on Aug 7, 2009:

Hi. There is an easy peasy postcard swap at the Island Chicks group. I hope that you can join us.

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