I think we were poor, but I really don’t know. We always had enough food, and I had clothes; we had livestock and fields with vegetables and fruits, our pantries and the cellar were stocked with jars and cans, but money was tight. Most farmers are not rich; they are just getting by, and we were no exception.
What is your favorite piece of art? (it doesn’t have to be famous)
I bought this picture at a thrift store, for a the outrages amount of $7. I fell in love with it and it hangs since years in our living room. I wish I could make out the artists signature, because I would like to have more information about the picture and the painter. I think it’s a very unusual piece of art and I would like to know what the painter had in mind.
I had grown up with different traditions and I was looking forward to our first American Christmas together. It was in the 80’s and we had just gotten married a few months earlier. It was my first Christmas in America –in my new home- with the man I loved.
A friend gave me the book “Eat, Pray, Love” and I wasn’t too thrilled about it. I had listened to a few interviews about the book and didn’t really understand what all the fuzz was about.
Today is the last day in September and we had the first cold night. Summer is over, the winds are picking up and the October fairy is getting ready to paint all the leaves in beautiful reds and golds, so that we don’t forget why it’s called the “Golden October.”
What made you feel good this week?
I decided to take two days off. I can’t even remember when I took a few days off, so I think it was about time. I did nothing useful and it felt so good. I needed it.
That was fun. I had to look it up and come to find out, the charts in Austria -where I come from- started in 1965, two years after I was born. The realization, that I am older than the hit charts in my country made me laugh hard. Now I feel older than dirt.
I was raised on a farm in Austria, right on the boarder to Italy in a beautiful, idyllic mountain village. We had some cows, sheep’s and pigs and chickens everywhere. A farmers day starts early in the morning and doesn’t end before late at night. Everybody is needed -no exceptions, there is always something to do. We had acres of fruits trees and fields with potatoes and corn. Grass had to be mowed, fences had to be repaired and fruits had to be picked. The farms were not in calling distance; we had to drive to our neighbor’s house.
Yes of course, I tossed a coin in that damn fountain and made a wish. It was my first vacation alone. I had driven to Rome all by myself in the old, cancer eaten Beetle I had back then. I had studied Latin in school, had learned everything there is to know about the Roman Empire and the politics back then and now, for the first time, I was visiting the city of my dreams and walking the old roads that had made so much history. I was 18 years old and an adult, so they said.
Dear young one,
It’s me, your older –much older- self and that’s good news, because as of today, you will at least live to be 51. So stay in shape, you have a long road ahead of you.