In honor of my lunch today, what are your feelings on Brussels sprouts?

Also in honor of my lunchtime listening (Fresh Air) do you have any experience with group sex on coral reefs?

It will be fun learning more about Susan! She is so interesting.

Susan, for the record and members who might not know...(other posts get deleted)

How did you come to us and now that you are here, whadya think? LOL!

Can you share more about living in Vienna?

Oh, what a surprise! I am honored. I would like to know if I have other duties aside from answering questions.

Brussels Sprouts: I do like Brussels sprouts. One of my favorite recipes is a winter vegetable soup, in which the Brussels sprouts are cut in half and browned in olive oil on the cut side before the rest of the ingredients are added. Mmmmm...

As far as ocean life is concerned, I have little knowledge. I have actually seen both the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans from the deck of a sailboat. I did go snorkeling in the Bahamas, though my friends had to throw me off the boat into the water. Interesting after the panic subsided a bit, but I have no desire to repeat the experience. My knowledge of group sex amongst the corals is terra incognita to me, and is likely to remain so. That said, I understand that some enjoy the experience, but the slime factor would deter me.

Only other duty would be to elect someone (besides me) to be next months WTFer of the month!

Congrats!

I was so naive when I got WTFer of the month that I ended up telling the internet my life story and pi**ed off a lot of people lol.

This reminds me I need to find and post the pics of you me and Rach On!

CHAS introduced me to the forum last fall. We worked at the the same ski resort in Colorado, and kept in touch after I moved back to Missouri. I am absolutely delighted that he did so; the gift of a whole crowd of new friends is generous indeed. I am not a pianist, or at least not much of one, but I love classical music and opera, and also love to sing. Meager qualifications to join such a musically multitalented group, but I am loving all the musical clips and information.

I went to Austria to ski. I was in Germany in 1966, staying with friends of my family, who were stationed at an Air Force base near Wiesbaden. Their daughter and I had traveled through Europe together during the summer and fall, bicycling through Denmark, Sweden and Norway, then seeing parts of France and Germany by train. After Christmas, I wanted to ski, so went to Lech am Arlberg, in Austria. I found lodgings in the home of a local ski instructor and his family, in the little town of Zug, and planned to ski every day all winter. Within only a few days, there was a huge snowstorm, over 3 meters in three days. An avalanche fell between the house and the town, bringing down a forest of huge trees and closing the only road. The wind was constant, blowing about 50 miles an hour. Nothing to be done but stay inside and wait it out. We discovered that we had a card game in common, Canasta. So my first word in German was "aufheben": cut!

I knew only a handful of nouns and no sentence structure, so the whole family undertook the project of teaching me to speak German, immersion method. It worked, I lost my shyness and they both encouraged and corrected me. I had a German-English dictionary, so we looked up words and drew pictures if that failed. Eventually the road was cleared of several year's worth of firewood and more than 10 feet of snow, and I went back to skiing every day. Both my language and my skiing improved, as there was no one who spoke English, and plenty
of incredible skiing.

More later....

quote:

Originally posted by susan dorris:
I went to Austria to ski. I was in Germany in 1966, staying with friends of my family, who were stationed at an Air Force base near Wiesbaden.

You really should go back and visit again as an adult. There's so much more to experience that you couldn't have possibly appreciated as a toddler.

Are you trying to con me into telling my age? No need to be devious, I am 70, and have never had a boring day; it's all interesting, and usually fun.

Have you ever been to Ted Drewes frozen custard? If so, what's your favorite flavor?

Is there anyone in Saint Louis who hasn't been to Ted Drewes?

Coffee is usually my favorite flavor of ice cream, but I can be tempted by anything with chocolate chunks, almonds, or pistachios.

So, give us a Cliff Notes version of what you have been doing the past 70 years...where were you born? Where'd you get schooled? Married or not? Kids or not? Occupation(s)? etc.

quote:

Originally posted by markb:
Have you ever been to Ted Drewes frozen custard? If so, what's your favorite flavor?

ahhhh, Teds....

Brussels sprouts are one of my fave veggies. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Were you in St. Louis in 1993? I'll never forget driving back on the main E-W interstate (I-40?) and seeing the flooding. We were crossing the river for miles and miles and miles, looking out and seeing roofs, etc. poking out from under the water. Amazing to see, but incredibly sad.

[Edit: Nope, I-70]

I was living in Colorado in 1993, but I have seen the floods many times. One of my earliest memories is riding in the Studebaker with my parents and brothers out to see the flood from Olive Street Road. It was farmland then. but as the suburbs have crept out and levees built, the floods get ever worse. It was bad enough when the farmers lost their crops - lots of vegetable growing then, particularly asparagus - but now homes and businesses are flooded.

Highway 40 and I-70 are often the same road. Now 40 is 64, and I-70 goes north of the city.

Cliff notes version of my life story:

Born in Bronxville, New York. My father, an engineer, worked for the Marley Company in the city, and commuted. My mother had quit her job with the Department of State in Washington DC when they married.

Family moved to Saint Louis, my father's home, when I was 2.

Attended Central School, in what is now Olivette, but was then rural. It was a 5-room school, K-8, with two grades per teacher. The 8th grade teacher was also the principal. My family moved after I completed 4th grade.

Moved to Webster Groves, once a commuter town with a train station, now an inner suburb. Graduated from Webster Groves High School.

Attended Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, VA for one year. Hated it. I was a midwestern weed amongst the flower of southern womanhood. Many of the students decorated their dorm rooms with chains of dance cards from their debuts and cotillions.

Returned to Saint Louis and started working for Ralston Purina in their virology department, making vaccines for poultry diseases. I am probably the only person you know who has vaccinated over 1,000,000 chickens. I was living with my parents and bought myself a horse with my first paycheck.
The department moved to Lenexa, Kansas two years later, and I didn't want to go there. Friends of my parents were transferred to Germany, and invited me to go with them and travel with their daughter. Um, Kansas or Europe? I made a good choice.

Bicycled through Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, staying in youth hostels. Returning to Germany, made shorter trips through Germany and France. After Christmas, I went to Austria to ski, and stayed. After ski season I went to Vienna, which became (and still is) my favorite city.

Returned to Saint Louis after the third ski season. Moved to Breckenridge, Colorado. Opened a bookstore on the main street of what was then a town one block long. It has grown.
Met my now ex (and late) husband and married him. First child (boy, now 32) born there.
Bad economy in 1980 meant no work for my husband, so we sold the house and the bookstore and moved back to Missouri.

Bought a farm property with an old farmhouse about 60 miles west of Saint Louis. Remodeled the house and built a barn. Raised cattle, horses and sheep. Had twins, boy and girl.
Husband started having major psychiatric problems. I went back to college knowing I was going to have to support the family. Worked in the Chemistry department to pay for books and day care.

Started working at Monsanto and divorced the husband. Eventually sold the farm and moved back to Colorado.

This is the bad part. After six happy years in Breckenridge, my younger son, Benjamin, died in an accident at the school, a month before his 15th birthday. His twin sister became the teenager from hell. I was a basket case, and became a recluse. There was an all-night grocery store so I did my shopping at 2 am, because if one more well-meaning person gave me a sympathetic hug while I only wanted to buy groceries and go home, I was going to knock their teeth down their throat.
My daughter didn't want to go back to the school, not that I blamed her, so I home schooled her that year. My older boy was at CU in Boulder. At the end of that year, girl passed her GED, and moved in with her brother in Boulder. They both still live there, though about 2 miles away from each other.

What saved me was my garden, which enlarged until it covered all but a very small patch of lawn. I dug enough rocks out of the ground to build a huge berm. And then dug more rocks. It was therapeutic. My garden was my life, and I grew as it did.

I found a job at the ski resort, driving a bus. I had no interest in a job with multiple responsibilities and multiple deadlines. It turned out to be fun, though I certainly was not the world's best bus driver. (Ask CHAS, lol)

A year before I was 65, I had enough of driving a bus. I worked at a landscaping company, then as church secretary and put my house on the market.

Saint Louis has a far lower cost of living than Colorado, so I moved back here to retire, though I visit Colorado once or twice a year.

Interesting life you have lived, Susan.

One of my favorite places is MOBOT. Do you visit there? I've been a couple of times. I couldn't believe just how busy that place is. Once in spring and the other time during daylily season when we had the AHS convention out there. I fell in love with paper bark maples there and their artistic container gardens. (and many more things)

Ever hear of Brian Mahieu? Artist/gardener? I featured one of his paintings a couple of years ago before you were here, as the D of the M. He does very interesting artwork. Always growing. I so want a garden painting of his, but he has moved on from that type. (google)