five things meme

The redoubtable (a word I have always longed to use) Marly Youmans, whose wonderful Adantis books will be out in paperback soon (and none too soon--I wanted them in the springtime, but publishers are as slow and recalcitrant as bears, it would seem), and whose blog, The Palace at 2:00AM is over at this place:http://thepalaceat2.blogspot.com/, has tagged me with the "Five things people do not know about you" meme.
Things in lists fit quite well over here in the notebooks. This meme is a bit like one I answered long ago--only I think there were more than five points in that, but let me think. Having lived in a small rural community a very long time I'm not sure there is much that is unknown here. Or at least placed into wonderful made up stories (small town gossip is more creative than most fiction). But the random reader may not yet know that...

1. When I was quite young I had an imaginary turtle who went everywhere with me, and took responsibility for all my lapses of sensibility and decorum. Why a turtle? I don't know. But he was a most convenient imaginary companion to have.

2. When I was 10 and 11 I spent much of my spare time reading the Bible, particularly the Book of Revelations, and trying to make sense of it, having been told each word was true, and being a literal minded child.

3. I have cloven feet. Well, not really--what I have are what my dear mama called "twin toes", toes that are joined as they leave my foot. Both my paternal grandmother and my maternal grandfather had this odd twist of genes as well; none of my children do. I have always liked my odd feet. They serve me well.

4. My birth was predicted by a fortuneteller to whom my desperate mother went. It took no great insight to predict that the young, heavily pregnant woman was going to give birth (my mother thought she'd been pregnant nearly a year at the time, due to ignorance and an early miscarriage followed by conception), but the...in family tradition...Gypsy fortuneteller predicted the day and time of my coming, and that I would be born "with a veil". I was born, yes, with the birth sac still intact. ("wrapped like a present" said my sentimental mother later).

5. I taught myself to read before I was 3, yet saw my first library when I was around 11, and first bookstore much, much later. It is not true that I was born with a book in my hands (my younger brothers used to speculate this must be true), but I think I was born craving the magic and consolation of words, an obsession that has never stopped.

So...Marly's post includes what she terms a mandatory thing:"PLEASE LEAVE THE FOLLOWING IN ALL ‘PEOPLE COLLECTION’ POSTS Remember that it isn’t always the sensational stuff that writers are looking for, it can just as easily be something that you take for granted like having raised twins or knowing how to grow beetroot. Mind you, if you know how to fly a helicopter or have worked as a film extra, do feel free to let the rest of us know about it ."

And as to whom I pass this on...well, there is the young Tourmaline whose blog is at http://thepointatinfinity.blogspot.com/
up in frosty, complicated Canada. She surely has more than 5 odd things to tell.
And my crafty friend Dido over at http://www.fivegallonbucket.net/
(and/or either of her interesting daughters...aha! tagged three at once there!)
and perhaps Livewire, over at http://livewire7.blogspot.com/--because, I think, she was the first to tag me with a similar meme, and one should return gracious favors.