Natasha's 50th Birthday Spectacular!

Today is Natasha's 50th birthday, and to mark the occasion I am going a bit beyond my usual guest birthday post. Instead of a collection of pictures, I'm sharing 50 facts, stories, or bits of trivia all about Natasha. Leaning on the "mountain of trivia" theme, I've organized them according to the Trivial Pursuit categories, for your reading pleasure. Enjoy, and happy birthday Natasha!


Geography
1. Natasha has lived in a number of far-flung places – the Netherlands, Israel/Palestine, and Germany – as well as several Canadian provinces.
2. Natasha has traveled to over 40 countries, on five of seven continents; she’s only missing Antarctica and South America, although she has been to Bonaire and Curacao, which are just off the coast of Venezuela
3. Natasha has road tripped from Saskatoon to the Yukon (2,500 km or 1,550 miles) twice – once on a family trip as a teen, and again in 2019
4. Some of Natasha’s more interesting travel destinations include the smallest desert in the world (Carcross Desert, Yukon); Hobbiton, in New Zealand; the biggest ball of twine in Darwin, MN; and Petra, in Jordan
   
   
5. Natasha has had the chance to visit a country that no longer exists: East Germany, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall
6. Through Natasha’s travels, she has learned several languages: Dutch, German, and Arabic. She also learned French in school (it's included in school curriculums across Canada).
7. Recently (pre-COVID, that is), our travels have included a few Disney cruises. While our first cruise was pretty brief (a few Caribbean islands off the cost of Florida), our second cruise lasted a week and took us from San Juan to Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao.
   

   
8. Natasha took a three week-long trip across China, Mongolia, and Russia, with a stop in Ukraine to visit the village her grandpa was from, with her dad on the Trans-Siberian railway, when she was in her early 30s. One life lesson from that trip is that fermented mare’s milk is just as appetizing as it sounds.
   

   
   Entertainment
   
9. Natasha is not a great singer (by her own admission), but she loves musicals, and can really get into singing along with her favourite songs! This can be a dangerous combination when driving down the highway and listening to “Do You Hear the People Sing?”
10. Natasha is a fan of Friends, and was able to visit Central Perk in NYC during a promotional event eight years ago.
    
    
11. In a desperate attempt to keep everyone in the house “entertained” at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, Natasha spearheaded the creation of the KC Post, a newsletter (aka series of blog posts) written by everyone in our house. While the journalistic quality may have wavered at times, she kept publication going for a couple of months during very adverse circumstances. Here are links to the first and ninth editions of the newsletter.
12. Natasha takes charge of decorating in our house, and has festive decorations ready for just about any occasion – pink heart-covered tablecloth for Valentine’s Day, hanging tacos for Cinco de Mayo, and wreaths for all seasons.
    
    
13. Natasha has played a wide variety of musical instruments over the years, including piano, flute, violin, ukulele, and hand bells.
14. Natasha loves 80's music, especially the cheesy love ballads. She is gradually passing this along to the kids, who are learning to love Celine Dion and Queen.
15. Natasha doesn’t really watch TV or movies, with the exception of Blue Jays baseball games (more on this later) or other major sports events, such as the Raptor's 2019 championship playoff run.
    
    History
    
16. Natasha has been involved in at her church for a long time; how long, you ask? Well, some of the little 4-year-old kids she taught in Sunday School have gone on to get married; become a teacher; teach our kids how to swim; and even become a YouTube sensation.
17. Natasha grew up in the prairie province of Saskatchewan (north of North Dakota and Montana) and has a deep and passionate love for it which she has passed along to our kids.
    
    
18. Natasha took a while to get her driver’s license, due to some parental impatience (according to her) when she was a teenager. She didn't get her full license until she was 35, a few days before we drove across three provinces and moved to Edmonton.
19. The history of Natasha’s travels and interests is reflected in her extensive mug collection; which one is your favourite?
    
    
20. While living in the Netherlands, she learned Dutch by insisting that she didn’t speak English, whenever people tried to switch languages for her. Eventually, people assumed that she was a native German speaker who had learned Dutch!
21. Natasha went to a Mennonite private school for her last year of high school, which was very much a family tradition – not only had her parents gone there, but so had her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, on both sides of the family.
22. As part of her human rights observation work in Israel/Palestine, Natasha was interviewed on CBC (the Canadian equivalent to NPR), and wrote articles that were published around the world in different languages.
    
    Arts & Literature
23. Natasha’s guilty pleasure reading is Nora Roberts, although sometimes she’ll switch to J.D. Robb when she wants a change of pace :)
    
24. Most of you already know that Natasha is an avid reader, but you may not know just how much she reads. While some of us might aspire to read a book every week or so, she managed to read 200 books last year! Here is a summary of her past year of reading, as well as a blog post label to check out more reading-related posts
25. Natasha has created many craft projects over the years (often with help from Sam and Rachel). Two of my favourite projects are our Blue Jays pillows (made out of free give-away rally towels) and the ice luminaries (lanterns) we made last winter.
    
    
26. Natasha has been part of several book clubs over the years. Currently, she is meeting regularly (online, of course) with some far-flung blog friends; it started out as a way to visit and have a drink in the midst of COVID lockdowns, and then someone had the bright idea to talk about books while they were there! :)
    
    
27. Natasha has been enthusiastic about checking out local events put on by artists in our area, including the K-W Artwalk, Lumen, and Lights on Stratford.
    

    
28. Natasha may not run marathons, but she does participate in readathons. For those of you who aren't familiar with this challenge, there are two varieties: the "traditional" 24-hour readathon, where the goal is to read as much as possible over a full 24-hour day. Then, there's the "24 in 48" variety, where the goal is to read for 24 out of 48 hours. Over the years, Natasha has dragged the rest of the family into it, too, lured in no small part by the copious readathon snacks, which are an integral part of the experience!
    

    
29. As part of a project for her Arts degree, Natasha interviewed Gordon Korman, a popular Canadian kid lit author. Since Gordon started his writing career as a teenager (you can read more here), his mother has apparently been his agent for many years. Thus, when Natasha called him to arrange the interview, it was his mother who called back and someone shouted down the hall of her residence, “Natasha, Gordon Korman’s mom is on the phone for you!”
    
    Science & Nature
30. Natasha’s dad and uncles have owned a tree nursery/garden centre for many years, and Natasha spent several summers (and other school vacations) working there in various capacities.
31. I was a total gardening newbie when I met Natasha 15 years ago, and one way we got to know each other better was that she taught me to recognize some basic flowers and other plants
32. Natasha is officially the “fun science experiment” parent in our family, and has tackled all sorts of fun, messy, and occasionally educational projects with the kids. We've also checked out events like Engineering Science Quest at school and Women in Science at the local university (pictured below).
    
    
    
33. While we were mostly stuck at home over the COVID winter of 2020-21, Natasha was the driving force behind a series of family hikes. We checked out a number of trails in our area, including one that took us on a trip through geologic history.
    
    
34. Unsurprisingly, Natasha is the head gardener in our family (I am an “assistant undergardener”, at best), and lovingly tends to a range of beds and flowers from spring to fall.
    
35. Natasha has had a few spontaneous lung detachments (pneumothorax, to use the technical term), the most recent of which occurred this past January. Fortunately, she's received excellent medical care when these have occurred, and the most serious long-term consequence is that she can't ever go scuba diving.
    
    
36. Although she is not a pet person, Natasha has consented to having a succession of fish in our house, from Beta (Sam’s first fish, when he was 5) to Bluey (Rachel’s fish that lived for over three years). Despite much interest from certain others in our house, we won’t be getting any larger (or furrier) animals any time soon!
    
    Sports & Leisure
37. Natasha played for a rec league Ultimate Frisbee team (the Pickle Bombs) in her 30s; the name came from a particularly strong batch of pickles made by one of her friends on the team.
38. An occasional downhill skier, she has gone skiing in the Rockies, Europe, and Utah, but has never braved the slopes of our local ski hill.
39. Natasha is hooked on virtual walking challenges. She has “traveled” across the Kruger National Park in South Africa, the Camino Santiago (in Spain), and the north coast of Scotland – a total of 1,990 km (1,234 miles) and counting. Next up: Ring Road in Iceland!
40. Natasha is a huge Blue Jays fan, and loves everything about going to games, from cheering herself hoarse, to singing at the seventh-inning stretch, and (perhaps especially?) the ballpark hot dogs
    
    
    
41. Natasha was the official scorekeeper for her high school basketball team, which meant that she had a front-row seat for plenty of sports excitement, including working some of the biggest games at one of the largest tournaments in Western Canada.
42. Natasha has taken on a variety of athletic challenges, including a few 5/10 km walks and runs for charities, a “sprint” duathlon, and a ballet class for adults.
    
    
43. When Natasha lived in the Netherlands, she biked 10 km (6.2 miles) each way to work, every day for six months. In total, this added up to 2,200 km (1,360 miles), which is like biking from Toronto to Winnipeg (or from New York City to Miami).
    
    Wild Card
44. Natasha is very, um, particular about how laundry is hung and folded; she gets this from her mother, who is even more particular. Watching Natasha get schooled on laundry hanging by her mom was a glorious moment in my life which I will treasure forever.
    
    
45. After many years of happily consuming her mom’s fresh-baked buns, Natasha eventually asked for the recipe, and has been our household bun-baker for the past several years. The buns are great with soup, chili, or on their own with a slice of cheese!
    
    
46. Natasha is double-jointed, and can bend her fingers (and toes) in ways that make me squirm.
47. Natasha has bungee-jumped off a crane in Australia, gone bar-hopping in Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day, and taken flying lessons at our local airport… but when it comes to dealing with bugs that invade our room, apparently that is entirely up to me.
    
    
48. Natasha is not a “hair and makeup” person, but she takes one for the team when it comes to getting Rachel ready for her dance performances.
49. Natasha has been vegetarian for over 20 years, although she makes an exception for Saskatchewan farmer sausage. If you've ever tried it, you'll understand why!
50. This last item is not trivia, but simply a final recognition that Natasha is a wonderful mother to our two kids, and thus this is an excuse to include a few more photos. Happy birthday once again!