Outgrowing My Inner Child Trivia Quiz

Answer: Chess

The game of chess has been around since the 15th century and remains a very popular board game. I first learnt to play as a child when my father was given a chess set and he taught me how to play. Within a couple of days I started beating him, so he found a chess club for me to join.

While I thought I was being sneaky with my tactics, apparently I was as subtle as a sledgehammer. As with many things, my aspirations never quite matched my abilities and luckily these days I have no one to bore with my ineptitude.

Answer: Freesia

Freesias are a perennial flower native to the eastern regions of Africa. The plant grows from a corm, which is similar to a bulb, and many are highly fragrant with funnel-shaped flowers. Colours range from white to yellow and through to red and purple. Generally speaking, the darker the colour, the more intense the fragrance and this is what attracted me initially. I still love the deep red and orange variety, especially when the petals have an almost brownish hue; they are quite unique. My dream was always to grow freesias, but unfortunately I have brown thumbs and have never managed to grow any myself.

Answer: Lego

I doubt there is a person on this planet who has not heard of the plastic construction bricks called Lego. I always wanted some Lego when I was a kid, but my parents thought it was for boys not girls, and since I had no brothers, I was never given any.

The only time I got to play with Lego was when I went over to a friend's house. One Christmas, Santa gave me Lego's much poorer and unknown cousin - SnaPix. This consisted of a small base board with holes instead of studs, and flat topped- tiles that you snapped onto the base board.

There were only enough tiles to create the picture shown on the packet, certainly not enough to make a picture of anything else, not that I could think of anything to make with the few tiles provided. Needless to say it was slightly disappointing.

It wasn't until I had children of my own that I finally became the proud owner of some Duplo and Lego. Ostensibly it was for the kids to play with, (but I joined in) and my collection is now being played with by my grandchildren in turn. I have some larger Lego sets myself now, but my forte is following the guide books to create what they dictate.

But it's so much fun! I find I have no idea how to create with Lego the things I envisage and I am in absolute awe of the people on shows like "Lego Masters Australia" who seem to be able to build anything, using pieces I never even knew existed.

Answer: Mango

Stone fruit is a Christmas tradition in Australia, and one of the favourites in both my childhood and adult households is mangoes. Not just any mangoes either. They have to be Bowen mangoes. For me, no other variety comes close to the smell and the taste of these delicious fruit, nor invokes the memories of Christmases past.

This particular mango is a cultivar that originated in Bowen, Queensland in the 1880s, hence the name. Some seedlings were then planted in a local orchard called "Kensington" and the Bowen mango then also became known as the Kensington Pride. Mangoes from this region hit the markets in early December and you know Christmas is close when you see Bowen mangoes for sale.

Answer: Emergency!

"Emergency!" aired from 1972 to 1979 and focused on the budding paramedic role which, at the time, was run out of fire stations, not ambulance centres. This show centred around Station 51 and two of the paramedics, John Gage and Roy DeSoto, played by Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe. This was exactly what a young, medically inquisitive child needed. I got to see how people were treated and I loved the terminology.

It reaffirmed that a career in a medical field was for me. I still love the show, despite the outdated clothes, treatments and the outrageous stereotyping.

In fact, this Christmas I was given (by myself) the entire boxed set! Had to buy a region-free DVD player first, but it was money well spent.

Answer: Jigsaw

The most common type of jigsaw puzzle is the cardboard, interlocking design that makes a picture. Originally made from a painted picture on wood that is then cut to shape, now jigsaw puzzles are made from cardboard, may have pieces that do not interlock, might have straight edges, or may not even have a picture to follow.

Some jigsaw puzzles now are 3-D. I used to enjoy getting a puzzle from one particular aunt every Christmas, but she would always do it first, 'to make sure all the pieces were there'.

It took my naive self a few years to realise what she was really doing. I rarely do a jigsaw bigger than 1000 pieces now, because the eyesight isn't as good as it used to be. Nor do I have the patience I once had. One of the joys of getting older, I guess.

Answer: Jacaranda

Jacarandas are a flowering tree native to the tropical regions of the Americas. One of the first jacarandas to be grown in Australia was planted in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens in 1864 when curator Walter Hill was given the seeds from an Argentinean sea captain.

The most popular and common variety of Jacaranda in Australia is the Jacaranda mimosifolia which blooms in October/November in Queensland through to November/December in the southern states and Territories. It's always a treat to see the masses of purple spring up among the suburbs and possibly more so because the flowering season is so short. Since the end of the educational year is November/December, a common saying in Brisbane where I grew up, is if you haven't begun studying for your exams by the time the jacarandas are in flower, then you've left it too late.

The first house hubby and I bought had a massive jacaranda tree in the back yard and I loved it! It was so shady in summer, but when it was in bloom the noise of the bees almost drowned out the telly and you couldn't walk in bare feet outside because the bees would be in the flowers on the ground.

Answer: Canasta

Canasta is a card game from the Rummy family where the object is to create canastas of seven cards of one rank. and 'going out' by playing all the cards. In this game twos and Jokers are wild, red threes are high scoring cards and black threes cannot be picked up from the discard pile. Best played with two, three or four players, I preferred playing with three players or four, usually in teams of two. My parents and their friends often got together to play Canasta, but Mum and her friend were sneaky players, more often than not leading to Dad and his mate throwing their cards in disgust. We kids thought it was great fun, until we had to crawl under the table and pick up all the cards. Nowadays, I mostly only play when on cruises (remember them?) although a lot of people play with different (sometimes made up) rules.

Answer: Hospital

I have loved nursing and hospitals for as long as I can remember; in fact, one of my earliest memories is playing hospitals with my toys. It all stemmed from my sister having asthma, back before Ventolin was invented, so it meant lots of trips to the children's hospital. Because of the rules back in the '60s, I was never allowed in to the treatment rooms, so I was never privy to what events took place inside, but it must have been magic. My sister went in sick, struggling to breathe, and came out feeling well. Well enough to give me a hard time over wanting to be a nurse and, as she said, 'hurt people'.

She had, and still has, a far different perspective than me. I was lucky enough to have a career in nursing for over 40 years, most of which was spent working in the Intensive Care Unit.

Answer: Cherry

Cherries are another Christmas stone fruit that I never outgrew. My personal favourite are varieties like the Bing, Venus or Black Douglas. These are large, heart-shaped cherries with a deep-red almost black skin and meaty flesh. When I purchased my first cherry-pitter, I almost dropped to my knees in homage to the inventor. Biting into a large cherry without cracking my teeth on the pit would have to be one of the greatest pleasures in life.