Photo by Zoltan Tasi
Seven years ago, when the paint was still drying on my blog site, I was nominated for a start-of-the-summer Sunshine Blogger Award, “given to those who are creative, positive and inspiring.” I don’t do blogger awards anymore (although I was glad to have them then). But with temps nearing 100°, it suddenly feels very (as in too) summery. My challenge with that award was to answer a series of questions. Here’s how I replied:
What is your dream vacation? The British Isles. My last name is Germanic (ish), plus I have une petite quantité of French Canadian blood, but according to Ancestry.com, I’m 96% Anglo-Celtic (English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh), and more than 96% in love with the sceptered isle. Both times I’ve visited, it’s felt like I was coming home: hanging with my London theatre friends, picking wild blackberries along the Thames in Oxford; eating fish and chips with Auntie Kath in sunny Kent (a friend’s aunt, actually, but she unofficially adopted me). And, although my wife has never actually been there, she’s also an incurable Anglophile (descended from Tudor royalty, no less!). So we long ago agreed that our dream holiday would be an extended tour of our ancestral homelands. The only question is whether we would ever leave.
If you could be one fictional character, who would it be and why? Who: Dr. Elwin Ransom, the protagonist of C. S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength). Why: To participate first hand in the ultimate redemption of the universe! (But then, I already am.)
What does your ideal day look like? Completely lost in storytelling: Writing so intensely that I hold in my pee and can’t be bothered to eat; or absorbed in shooting a film with a close-knit cast and crew (with some pee breaks); or editing that film; or recording music for its score.
If you could spend time with three famous people, who would they be? No way I can boil it down to three, but here’s a sample of people whose wisdom I’d love to graze upon: the Apostle Peter (or Paul), St. Francis of Assisi, and C. S. Lewis. But wait, can’t I also have G. K. Chesterton, Evelyn Underhill, and Blaise Pascal? Oh, and I just thought of some more…
P.S. If you’re wondering why I didn’t mention Jesus: I already spend every day with him.
What was the last song you listened to? A tune I wrote for my film Healing River.
If you could tell everyone in the world one thing, what would it be? The reason you exist is to know and love your Creator. So please say yes and come alive, and have…
Mitch Teemley 
You are a sunshine bringer/spreader!
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;>) Thanks, Joy!
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Good answers, Mitch! I wouldn’t mind being Lucy Pevensie (The Chronicles of Narnia). 😉
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Hi Mitch,
Have a great, fun, productive summer.
Thanks,
Gary
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You too, Gary.
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We share very similar tastes and apparently, reading histories. Just wish I had your self-discipline. 😒
❤️&🙏, c.a.
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Oh, my self-discipline is very much a work-in-progress, C.A.
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I was going to start on mine as soon as our Procrastinators Anonymous meetings got going, but we haven’t met yet! 😂
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I might be less Mary sunshine, but I’m making sure that people take me seriously….but I’m happier. I liked Alice in Wonderland 🙂
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Thanks, Mr. Sunshine!
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The British Isles are a splendid vacation destiny. I visited Canterbury once. It was lovely.
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It is indeed. I love the canal and tulips that surround Canterbury, and the cathedral, of course.
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We got to live in the UK for two years. If the cost of living wasn’t (at that time) so much higher than Canada’s we would have thought about living there full time. At the end of the day though, home is where family and friends are, so we content ourselves with vacations in the UK now and then.
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Awesome😍
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Mr. Sunshine, indeed, even with your less-than-sunny weather ancestry 🙂 Since I have similar Anglo-Celtic make-up, I too feel a sense of nostalgia and comfort when visiting the isles. And just finished listening to your “Impossible Love” song from your film Healing River… WOW, it is beautiful.
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Thank you, Randall!
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This post was uplifting, encouraging, and even sunny! I agree CS Lewis would be interesting to talk to. He was a great story-teller!
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Have an awesome summer too XD
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Thanks!
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I like your writing style, Mitch
Keep it up😄✌️
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