Thanks to the blogger at BE GAY ABOUT IT for her sterling example. I guess I've seen this meme suggested by other bloggers, too--apparently it's a blogger tradition--but I've never really thought about it. In any case, today's the day. June 3, poet Alan Ginsburg's birthday!
1. I love popcorn.
2. Mom wanted to name me Alicia Ann. Whew!
3. My husband and I bought our first house--a log house on two acres of Missouri River bottomland--without seeing the inside. It was that great.
4. While the kids napped, I used to sit on the back porch and shoot ground squirrels with an air rifle.
5. I started smoking my dad's cigarette butts when I was 10 or so.
6. We sewed our own Sunday habits in the convent.
7. My brother taught me how to drive when I was 10.
8. My mother took me to the circus once and bought me a chameleon with a wee collar and chain that I could pin to my shirt. He rode around on my shoulder for a week or two.
9. I read WAR AND PEACE when I was 13.
10. I've been to Paris twice.
11. I can recite the first ten lines of the Odyssey in Greek. Still.
12. When I was in high school, I wanted to be a doctor or an anthropologist or a reporter, then a nun. Nun won.
13. I love pansies because they survive the winter here.
14. When I got married, I couldn't boil water.
15. My favorite place to eat in NYC used to be Rainbow Falafel...just down the block from Union Square.
16. I love old age.
17. During my last summer in the convent, I used to sit outside every night in my nightgown on a small porch off the top floor of the provincial house and watch the stars come out.
18. I haven't heard a nighthawk swoop for more than 50 years.
19. Elizabeth Bishop and Alan Ginsburg came into my sights when I was 60 years old. I couldn't imagine how I could have NOT read them before.
20. I can cast a fly.
21. And spear a fish.
22. And fish through the ice.
23. I have a light weather helmsman rating from the University of Iowa sailing club.
24. If I could be anything in the world I wanted, I'd be an architect.
25. The first time I rode a motorbike by myself, I ran into a fence.
26. My spirit companion is a bear.
27. I love soaking in a hot tub of water. North Dakota survival habits die hard.
28. Spanish wines are my favorites
29. By far!
30. After they get to know me, dogs tend to want to sit by me.
31. And even strange dogs lick my pants legs!
32. I'm wildly allergic to cats.
33. As a kid, I liked to make little clay figures: chairs, tables, people, cats, bicycles, dogs, dishes....it could occupy me all afternoon.
34. I love the Red Train between Paris and Amsterdam.
35. On the Amalfi Coast, I was enchanted by the little green lizards on the hiking paths.
36. Two of my grandsons are almost in their 30s!!!
37. I am a miserable chess player.
38. However, nobody has ever beaten me at "Smess: The Ninny's Chess."
39. I am a member of Beta Beta Beta, the National Biological Honor Society.
40. During WWII, my friend Judy and I skated on the streets to the skating rink in Fargo. No cars.
41. As I get older, I get healthier. Go figure!
42. I love movies.
43. I had polio when I was 7 and missed the first half of third grade.
44. They passed me anyway.
45. My favorite place to play at night in the winter was at my dad's workbench in the basement.
46. I'm glad I don't have a car any more.
47. I hate those tow-along suitcases people drag around.
43. When I can't haul my own bags any more, I'll quit traveling.
44. I was a bed wetter.
45. I rarely did any homework in elementary school and not a whole lot in high school. I was ALWAYS in trouble! But I LOVED college.
46. My favorite subject in first grade was art.
47. In second grade, I was supposed to give an oral book review of DR. DOOLITTLE, so I memorized it. The book. They made me sit down and shut up after the first chapter.
48. EFT works for me.
49. So does Feng Shui.
50. My household job as a kid was coloring the margarine.
51. I cook fish like my mother did: dip it first in milk, then seasoned flour, then fry.
52. I am a very fast worker when I edit.
51. I take Toprol and Plavix and 5 vitamins & supplements every day.
52. My friends from grade school are still fabulous!
53. I couldn't begin to understand and ENJOY Ulysses until I was in my 60s.
54. [all for now....]
What an interesting life you've had!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI was a bed wetter, too! And so were all my daughters! Female gene? The D.N.
ReplyDeleteI think I wet the bed a couple of times and only one of my boys ever wet the bed and it was fewer than five times ever. What is EFT?
ReplyDeletewhat happened to the chameleon? What was his name? (thing number 8)
ReplyDeleteyes, what is EFT?
KD: EVERYone has an interesting life
ReplyDeletePeg & Shammy: Here's a link to EFT:
http://www.thetappingsolution.com/free_eft_ebook.php
DN: from my personal observation, bedwetting is neither male nor female. but it DEFINITELY is Catholic!!!