My Favorite Things

Color: Green: Growing up in western Oregon I learned early that green is the color of life.
Blue: How can one not favor the color of the sky and the ocean?
Burgundy: I like burgundy for its richness and subtlety.
Really, I can't pick between these colors. It depends on my mood.

Singer:

Yes, it's fair to have multiple favorite singers. Even more so than having multiple favorite colors.

Song: "The Wild Flowers". This is from Cathie Ryan's album 'The Farthest Wave'. It wasn't my favorite at first, but it grew on me. At another time, or in another mood, I might choose another song, but this one stands out and strikes a chord within me.

Hymn: "Only in God". This is a hymn that I love to sing just as well as to hear. I first heard this hymn only a few years ago.
"How Great Thou Art". If you like science, and you truly appreciate it, you cannot help but see this hymn in all that you do!

Food: This is a tough one, as it depends on how I feel, what the weather is like, what I've eaten recently, etc. So, here goes nothing...
Fruit: Mango. This would have been a much easier decision 25 years ago, but my wife introduced me to a new fruit at the rate of about once per month for the first five years that we were married. How does one decide between fresh cherries from one's own tree, fresh local strawberries (on ice cream, no less!) and a mango?
Vegetable: Do mushrooms count here? Fresh cherry tomatoes are good no matter what. Hmmmm.... the jury's still out.
Dessert: This is most difficult, yet simple. I love all kinds of desserts, because I have a terrible sweet tooth. But if there's one that I can't resist it's the Heavenly Hot Fudge Sauce on ice cream. Actually, I usually have a little bit of ice cream with my Hot Fudge Sauce. I know at least one family member who dispenses with the ice cream entirely!
Main Dish: My wife makes a delicious salmon dish with onions and soy beans of which I've never tired. She says I titled it incorrectly, but I'll call it Salmon Dau Nanh

Composer: This is like asking for a favorite singer. It depends on what type of music I want to listen to, which depends on all kinds of factors. I like Satie, Vangelis, and many others. But I can actually give a single name here. Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the soundtracks for Phantom of the Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Evita, and more. He just keeps doing it, time after time.

Coffee: This one is really easy, as I don't drink much coffee. Indian Mysore coffee is rich and mild, and better than any other that I have tasted. Vietnamese Ice Coffee is also great, but that has more to do with the preparation than the coffee itself.

Sport: I think that tennis has to be the one. I enjoy watching it, and I loved playing it. I should start playing again. But isn't fishing a sport? OK, if I'm restricted to a few hours I'll play tennis, but give me an afternoon or a day, and you'll find me fishing!

Painting: As a genre, I appreciate impressionist works like Monet's. But when it comes to a specific painting I like "La Joconde". My wife once told me that my smile reminded her of La Joconde. So when we went to the Louvre I asked someone where I could find it. He said it was right around the corner. Go figure.

Flower: Roses are always high on my list, and I really love the Peruvian Lilies in our yard. But my two favorites are wildflowers, at least they're wild where I grew up. I picked a wild daffodil for my wife on our wedding day, just a couple miles from my parents' house. And I remember the wild irises that grew along the roadside near their house. Listen to Cathie Ryan's song "The Wild Flowers", and your first choice will also be wildflowers.

Sculpture: This one's easy. At the Musee d'Orsay in Paris we saw what I call "The Coke Polar Bear". I don't know what its formal name is, but it looks like the inspiration for the polar bears in the Coke commercials.

Vacation Spot: Yosemite in winter. Morro Bay in autumn. Lourdes (France) in spring. Maui in summer. These are all low-season times at the respective locations, so you can guess that I don't like crowds.

Book: "The Lord of the Rings", without a doubt. I liked it so much when I was in high school that I learned to write notes to my friends in the Elvish and Dwarvish scripts. I've read the series through multiple times. When I finished reading the trilogy to my wife she enjoyed it so much that she asked me to find another book that was as much fun to read together. So far I have found nothing comparable.

Painter: My favorite painter does not need to be the creator of my favorite painting, and because I favor impressionism, both in painting as well as music, I choose Monet. See here for more on the great Impressionist artists.

Musician: As with several other "favorites" this category does not lend itself to just a single answer.
Pianist: Carol, whose last name I will leave off, as she is a personal friend. When I sang in a college choir she was the accompanist. For most, if not all, of our choir performances she played one or two solos. She is very gifted. Commercially, you will do well if you can find music by Cyprien Katsaris. I have most of the albums that he ever produced.

Photographer: I cannot find anyone comparable to Ansel Adams. What can I say? What need I say?

Bible Story: A good story teaches a valuable lesson. An excellent story teaches two valuable lessons. But one could (and I'm sure that many have) write an essay on John 8:3-11. This story illustrates at least two major points, along with a myriad of supporting points. If you can read this story and not come away profoundly impacted, you have not understood it.

Author: Tolkien did a masterful job of writing "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings". They were not only entertaining, but he created a complete world with its own history of thousands of years. Isaac Asimov attempted something similar with his science fiction "Foundation" series, but Tolkien's effort was not only the greatest in the genre of fantasy, but has no peer in science fiction or anywhere else. Thus, J. R. R. Tolkien is my favorite author.

That said, I still have read more books by C.S. Lewis than by any other author. He has written fantasy (Chronicles of Narnia), science fiction (Perelandra), as well as much philosophy and theology. I have easily 20 of his books in my library.

Pasttime: There is nothing I like more than going for a walk in the fields or hills with my wife, holding hands and talking about whatever. I married her because I wanted, more than anything that I have ever wanted, to spend the rest of my life with her, and this desire has never wavered.

Movie: This one is surprisingly clear. It's Dae Jang Geum, a Korean show with English subtitles. It's actually a series of 54 1-hour episodes rather than a movie, but if we didn't need to eat or sleep or go to work we would have watched this series in one sitting. The acting is superb, the production is flawless, and the story will evoke every emotion that you are capable of generating. How can anybody make an interesting film centered on the events in the royal kitchen of 16th century Korea? They not only made it interesting and exciting, but they did it so well that you will be disgusted with the American film industry for its shallowness and its concept of what constitutes good film content.

Poem: This is another difficult decision. I have written poems that touch my heart in ways that no others can, so I am inclined to select one of my own. But even then I am caught between a poem that is what I consider my "best" and others that capture my own personal feelings most accurately. But what is the purpose of a poem? Thus, which one (or ones) best serve that purpose? If it is perfect which completely satisfies the intentions of its creator, then which one? And I must choose between those that satisfy their reader (me) and those that I have written that satisfy me as author and reader. I'll save this decision for another day.

Restaurant: California Pizza Kitchen. We are pretty finicky when it comes to restaurants, so we usually say "Never again" after our first try. However, we keep going back to CPK, and it's always satisfactory at the least, and good at best.

Actor: Richard Gere is among the very best of modern actors. Given my appreciation for science fiction, I think that Richard Dean Anderson could give Gere a run for his money.

Actress: Not to be unoriginal here, but my wife's appreciation of Audrey Hepburn has merit. I can't think of any better choice, though Amanda Tapping has a lot going for her. I suppose that now it's clear that I'm a fan of SG-1. Yeah, it's corny at times, but it's fun to watch.