5 Things You Don't Know About @PuppyNumber7's Wendy Archer

You probably know Thomas @PuppyNumber7 from his pawsome pawtography work with the Anipal Wedding Planners. Now meet his mom, Wendy!

1. My real name is Wendy. Dad chose my names; his favourite story of all time was Peter Pan. My middle name is Joy, named for his only sister in a family of 5 boys. When Aunty Joy had her second daughter, it was on the day of my second birthday. Aunty Joy named her baby "Wendy Joy" as well, which at the time upset my mother a little bit.

2. I am a Trekker. I have been a trekker ever since my parents let me stay up longer than 8:00pm to watch Star Trek on TV. That was back in the black and white days, but still Star Trek's imagery and what dialogue I could understand appealed to me. I became a fan. I have struggled against liking each new Star Trek spin-off in their infancy days, being loyal to The Original Series (or "TOS, as any Trekker or Trekkie will tell you) but in time ST-TNG, DS 9, Voyager and Enterprise have earned a place in my heart and on my library shelf.

3. Following on from No. 2 above, I have an eye for William Shatner. He's the only one I would (probably) swap for Pop. I won't say any more, as Thomas is hugely embarrassed by the object of my lust (I think he calls him the "fat old man") and he will be gagging reading this.

4. I am a fossicker. I like to dig around for gems and pan for gold. In fact, I have been known to stop my car next to a likely-looking West Coast stream in the middle of an NZ summer, rip the hubcap off my car tyre with a determined gleam in my eye and sit in said stream panning for gold. The most I found in this way was a test-tube full of gold flakes. I think fossicking is in my blood - Dad & Grandpa had the bug too. My dream retirement would be driving across Australia in a big Winnebago, dogs in tow, fossicking our way from gemfield to gemfield.

5. I have a baby in heaven. Her name is Chloe Rhiannon Archer *smiles and winks at Tom's littlest one*. I wasn't supposed to be able to have children at all but just before my 40th birthday I became pregnant. I didn't know I was expecting until I was around 25 weeks. I knew I was putting on weight but I didn't consider being pregnant until I felt a tiny butterfly touch inside me. Unfortunately though Chloe's heart stopped beating when I was 32 weeks and I gave birth to her the week after. It was a roller-coaster 8 weeks but one that I wouldn't have missed for the world, even knowing the awful ending to the story. I consider myself lucky to have had a small taste of a different life - not a better life, but a different life.

Thank you, Wendy, for sharing with us.

Readers, you're welcome to leave a comment below. Then stay tuned for Special Intermew with Wendy and Thomas on May 22nd.

Herman!!!