An Unusual Tag

Dharm of Dad - Baker & Chef has tagged me for an unusual meme. The rules are below, but before we get to that, I want to acknowledge that he blogged the L is for Love, and sweetly, too. I'm also a romantic and have great faith in the power of love to transform individuals and, by extension, the world. It's one of the reasons why making new friends through blogging, like Dharm, is so satisfying.

So this meme works this way:

1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.

2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of their middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.

3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.

4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag.

5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

My name, Elle, is a pen name for blogging, purely invented, so my middle name is invented, too. I think that Marie goes well with Elle, don't you?

M - Memory used to be something I had in spades. I could find anything and rarely forget an important date or task. Now I rely on lists and PDAs and putting things away where they belong (you can see that I was not organized, just lucky) and leaving myself notes to help remember things. I still have a fair memory, just not as facile a memory as I had even a few years ago.

A - Art is one of the enthusiasms in my life and I've been lucky enough to attend a watercolor class most Monday mornings for almost two years. I love the light that you get with watercolor and also the fact that sometimes the 'mistakes' where the paint does things like runbacks and sort of has a mind of its own can create the best paintings in the end.

R - Roses are one of my favorite flowers. I don't have over a hundred roses like a couple of friends of mine do, but they are Rose Society members and would be very unhappy to see the state of my roses right now. I do prune and spray half of my rose bushes each year, but have yet to be diligent with each one every year. Something to aim for.

I - Ice cream is my least favorite dessert. Not sure why, but it's true. I don't enjoy icy drinks like smoothies, either. Icing, on the other hand, I can eat right out of the bowl :)

E - Eight children is quite a few to raise, but that is what my parents did, and I believe they did a good job. I enjoyed being one of the eight and was lucky enough to be the third from the top. An older brother and an older sister did a lot of the work of finding out what the rules were and I benefited by their experiences. Cooking for eight kids and two parents also helped me to be comfortable with cooking for larger groups, which is coming in handy with my new job where I assist with making lunch for 25 about 4 times a month.

OK, so now I have to tag 5 bloggers:

Ahn of Food Lover's Journey

Cynthia of Tastes Like Home

Kristen of Dish and Dine

Kelly of Sass and Veracity

Sandi of Whistlestop Cafe