FRIDAY FIVE

Appetizer – What is your favorite type of art?
Art wasn’t an especially big part of my childhood. My people were word people. Well, my father was anyway. And he, bless his heart, preserved one large still life water color from that time and framed it, which now hangs in my living room. He had a knack for architecture, learning it in the shipyard during World War II, and later made the plans to build the barn structures on the farm where I grew up. When he was ill and failing with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease in his old age, he turned to wood carving, making many delicate, lovely creations. In college, I took a class in Art History from the noted calligrapher, Lloyd Reynolds, which was my first comprehensive introduction to art. In my first travels to Europe in the early ’60′s, I got to see some of the marvelous buildings, like the Notre Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle, plus some of the museums – the Louvre and Jeu de Paume – in Paris. It’s one thing to see the work in books, another to see the real thing. But the real breakthrough came for me when I left my marriage and struck out on my own back in California, meeting young artists of all sorts and eventually living with one (my daughter’s father, a young Swiss painter from a family of artists). Then I got a chance to live the scruffy artist life in all its romantic squalor for a year or two. During that time, I even modeled for a couple of well-known painters in New York City – Moses and Raphael Soyer. And then I left it all behind, moving back to the Oregon of my childhood with my own two young children. Today all the art I saw and thought about and wondered at is part of the tapestry of my life memories, but the art I call my favorite that clutters my tiny house is mostly by my flesh and blood – my daughter, my son, my grandchildren, an aunt, my father – they all create. And finally me. These past few years I’ve taken up photography. When I look through the lens at my family or my environment, I look with all that history of learning about art over a lifetime.
Soup – When was the last time you got a free lunch (or breakfast or dinner)? Who paid for it?
Let’s see. A few Sundays ago I got a free gelato across from Powell’s Bookstore. I’ve only had those Italian ice creams a few times, but they stood out. It was paid for by a man I was dating for the first time. I’d insisted on paying for my own lunch just before that, but he slipped the gelato over on me.
Salad – On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how emotional are you?
If emotional means acting out by yelling or sobbing or laughing hysterically, about a 2. If it means loving deeply, sorrowing quietly over the wounds in life, or taking in a deep breath at the beauty I see each day, about an 11.
Main Course – Approximately how long do you spend each day responding to emails?
Depends on how many I get. I try to reply the same day. Since I’m home a lot, it isn’t really a problem. Being a Mac person, I don’t get that much spam thank god.
Dessert – To what temperature do you usually set your home’s thermostat?
I couldn’t believe how the oil prices suddenly spiked. Well, I could when I think about it. Bush and his friends just have to have more. Four years ago I paid $50/month for furnace oil to heat my house. Two years ago it went to $70. Last year $90. Last month $129. I hope they’re enjoying their cars and homes and whatever. So I try to keep my thermostat at about 68. I refuse to huddle around in three coats until I absolutely have to.