My PLACE IN MY HISTORY

just before i turned 16, my mom sold our home in west los angeles, and took me out of high school and off to europe for an entire year!!! i became what we call today a "homeschooler." for me, i just studied what i was interested in: french, greek, art, history--and i already knew spanish. we spent 9 months in spain, mostly on the island of ibiza, but also visited france, italy, greece, switzerland, morocco, and holland. we had our good times and not so good times, but we did have quite a time. looking back now, 42 years later, and contemplating that i am about to re-visit some of these same places, i think of the person i have become, all the experiences i have had since then and my current world view. i am quite amazed to be doing this now from the perspective of a 58 year old woman with the life i have lived, and i can sometimes remember myself as a 16 year old woman, daughter, doing some of these same things with a much different awareness of self and world. we shall see when i get there......

still sitting at home planning, planning, planning

hullo there dear friends and relations

this here is carol, the hat lady, of hat people in talent, oregon.

many of you are already in the know about "whassup" with me!!??

for one thing, i do not capitalize when i write, unless i am being extremely business like.

that is not the purpose of this blog.

what is the purpose is to share with you all my excitement and wonder

at my upcoming travels in italy and greece with melda.

it has only been 42 years since my mom and i went to some of these places!!

 i am incredibly thrilled, honored, and astounded to be going there again

as companion of my friend, melda, who lives in eugene. we have been friends for about 30 years, so we know we will get along fine!! jim will stay in oregon and take care of the

hat biz and keep things flowing at the studio.

one thing that is amazing me at the moment, is that somehow i am quickly picking up the modern greek i learned back when i went in 1967. thanks to pano who helped and is helping me now, and i guess just the fact that languages seem to stick in my head. i can read it a bit too. 

i keep thinking italian is only a short step from spanish, so i am not worried, but melda

is working on that one more than i, at the moment.

i have about 7 books stacked by my bed which i am reading here and there, trying to cram in a bit more familiarity of history in relation to places we will visit. when my mom and i were there, i dug into it a bit, but did not really understand the big picture of our world as i do now.

42 years of living and learning makes a big diff in how one views the world, and one's place in it.

our previous trip gave me a lot of appreciation for that part of the world, and now the book i got at least 10 years ago, about the venetian empire, is starting to come alive with a real sense of place!  (THE VENETIAN EMPIRE, by jan morris). also that great book i read last year, which gave me a real feeling for renaissance life in venice  (IN THE COMPANY OF THE COURTESAN, by sarah dunant).

i am almost so excited i can barely sleep!  we will fly out of portland for rome on march 30, and will fly back to portland on april 28. it is now about 6 pm, sunday the 15th of march, and it is time for me to drag jim away from the computer and go out for our walk!! this is one of my big preps to get ready for our trip--get fit!!

mo' next time!

Why My Name is Carol or Maybe You Can Call Me Ingrid

Now it begins, we are at the second step of the long trip, slept last night in Eugene, after one night at our fair in Roseburg......slowly getting moving here.

My dad named me Carol, because he liked the name.  It does mean song, and those are a key to a part of my beingness--liking to sing.  When I am happy and centered, songs I have learned over my life, come pouring thru.  They help me to learn languages--for spanish i recommend "the gypsy kings" and "manu chao", by the way. I can probably sing in more languages than i can speak. some old greek pop songs that have been rattling around for 40 years in my head  are starting to come in handy for stuff i will need to say in greek.  this year began with a class  i took learning songs in macedonian, bulgarian, ladino, gypsy, with bits of russian and turkish thrown in.  somehow i just love the patterns created by language and music, and when i can understand, tanto mejor!!  so the language and the song of my name are all one.  shira will be the hebrew name i choose.

and where does ingrid come in?  this week i have been starting to feel a bit like ingrid our turtle, the  main character of a book we used to read w/ little jacob.....chug........chug..........chug...chug...chug..chug..chugchugchug......

a family had a pet turtle named ingrid. slow moving of course. one day she decided to go somewhere, and went a few inches out the front gate.  no one noticed. the next day she went a foot, then 2, then 4. Pretty soon they noticed she had gone down the block.  very slow chugs.....

anyway, every day she went a little further and a little faster. pretty soon she was sending back postcards from various locations as she circled the planet. having  a blast, meeting people, seeing stuff, chugging along. she even started orbiting thru space......chug chug.......i think eventually she came home again and rested and told stories to her family.  soooo these last few days i am feeling a bit like ingrid! but i am also singing......