four things

A meme. From Tamar.

Four jobs I've had:
1. Doing intake in a blood bank in Baltimore. It was part of a clerk typist job (there must be a fancier name for that position by now) I had during the summer while in University. Many many many typing jobs. I’m an ace typist (but don’t tell anyone, please!) and could have had a career there! But . . 2. Selling Christmas cards at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in October! One of the first jobs in Manhattan and probably the first that fired me! They said my attitude wasn’t good. It was kinda hard to work up enthusiasm for Christmas cards in October!
3. Walking dogs in Manhattan. I liked this one a lot. Mostly it helped keep my dog, Miranda, happy.
4. Head of (meditation) practice at the Shambala Centre in Halifax NS. This meant setting up and administering meditation programs for the Buddhist community (which at the time grew to about 500 people and is even larger now) and the public here in Halifax. I enjoyed this for about four years but then felt it made me a Sunday painter and I didn’t enjoy that. Not at all! It was great to be in the center of things, yet liberating to quit. And definitely better for my painting not to be an administrator. But it did get me over my fear of the telephone. I had to call a lot of people and request volunteers for programs.

Four movies I can watch over and over again:
1. Antonionni’s L’Aventurra is one of my very favorite movies. I took it out of the school library a couple of years ago. One of my favorite parts is the beginning. For about ten (or more) minutes the main character moves around her bedroom, fussing with her makeup and hair, saying nothing, no music, and it imparts so much emotion, portrays her despair without any words. I was looking forward to seeing it again. But, some people don’t like inactivity any more, it seems, it had been cut from the video. Darn!
2. When Sally Met Harry. Fun.
3. The Wizard of Oz: Yes, Dorothy, there is a Santa Claus!
4. La Strada, by Federico Felini. With the magical Giulietta Masina.

Four places I've lived:
1. I spent most of my childhood in Bethesda, Maryland. We lived in a sweet Dutch Colonial house on a quiet street. There were a lot of empty lots that over the years grew houses. At first the street had no sidewalks and was bordering a dairy farm. The cows would come up to the barbed wire fence and eat the honeysuckle off it. We played in the fields until the farm burned down and was later sold (or maybe it was the other way around). Two hundred little track houses were built on the land. Now they have matured into real houses, some with lots of renovations and plantings.
2. We moved to Richmond, Virginia during The War (then back to the same house in Bethesda where my Dad lived until he died at ninety). I liked it there in Richmond just fine but my parents, who were more aware of the social situation, were upset by the prejudices, both against blacks and Jews.
3. I spent one very interesting year in New Haven, Connecticut, when I was in Art School. I can’t say I really got to know the city but I’ll never forget the few blocks where I feasted on the succulent course of education I was being offered.
4. New York, New York. Twenty-four years in Manhattan and I don’t miss it at all. I’m glad I was there; I’m most glad I am here in Nova Scotia now.

Four TV shows I love:
Well, I really don’t watch much TV. Especially with my intense schedule this semester. But I do occasionally watch
1. Coronation Street whenever I am home on weeknights. I really enjoy it, especially since I can’t watch it every night. (It can get a bit predictable at times and I do get annoyed with some of the characters staying in character so willingly.)
I would watch, if my schedule allowed,
2. Grey’s Anatomy. I really enjoy it (when I see it). All about sex. What could be better!
3. Sue Thomas, FBEye. I know, it’s a bit transparent, very sticky sweet, predictable, but I love Eli, the Golden Retriever (hearing dog for Sue) and I love watching and listening to Sue’s speech (she is deaf and has a beautiful way of talking).
4. I’m having a hard time thinking of a fourth. I did enjoy LA Law years ago, and Joan of Arcadia for a couple of years. I really don’t watch much TV.

Four places I've vacationed (only four? Give me an excuse and I go!):
1. Mexico: I spent a month there in 1977, traveling from the Yukatan to Mexico City and beyond, mostly by myself, and at times, meeting friends in various places (prearranged).
2. In 1973 (I think) I went to Europe with two young children (Tamar was eleven, Aaron five). We stopped first in London for two weeks. They were great travelers, enjoyed the museums (I think) and feeding the pigeons in Trafalger Square. Then their father came over and we took the boat-train to Paris, stayed two weeks, rented a car and drove to Rome, with fascinating stops on the way. My marriage ended in Rome. Not a bad memory. The trip was great, very liberating in many ways.
3. Santa Domingo: I was there in November once. The poverty was quite upsetting but the beaches were beautiful, the weather perfect for a winter holiday, and I did meet some nice people.
4. Amsterdam was a lovely holiday, staying with friends, seeing lots of art, the best. A wonderful city.

Four of my favorite dishes:
1. My first thought was lemon meringue pie (if it’s really good, and actually, this must just be a fantasy, because I haven’t had a good piece of (any) pie in years). Actually I like a lot of lemon dishes: roast chicken stuffed with rosemary and lemon, Armenian meatballs with lemon sauce, lemon and yogurt soup, lemon zest in vegetable dishes, lemonade.
2. My mother’s chicken soup (she would blend the vegetables after cooking them, making a delicate, lovely dish).
3. My mother’s apple pie (with cheese!), It was Heavenly which is jut where she must be right now, and eating apple pie! (She always said “Apple pie without the cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze.”) Come to think of it, any pie my mother made was the best! (She’d let me do the lattice tops.)
4. Crème brulee!

Four blogs that I visit daily:
1. Well, actually, I don’t read blogs every day because of my very erratic schedule, and also because I find reading on the computer not as much fun as reading on paper. So when I go to a blog I might read a few entries, catch up, rather than be an every day visitor. But I do keep up with a few blogs, especially the one’s on my sidebar. So I’m going to wimp out on listing four blogs. Sorry.

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Here is just fine. It may be cold, windy, snowy, but it is, always, so very beautiful and peaceful (except that the wind was so fierce (but musical) last night it was hard to sleep).
2. Someplace warm? How about Southern France? Or Southern Italy? Brazil? Or Greece? Yes, Greece will do. I’ve never been there! I’ll go there!!!
3. Mexico visiting my Nova Scotia friends who have a new place in San Miguel.
4. Amsterdam! In Rembrandt’s house. I would love to go back. Right now!

Four bloggers I'm tagging:
Elin
Heidi
Rachel
Sue

Posted by leya at February 22, 2006 06:47 PM