by Nina Camic
Hey, new readers! If you want a quick summary of how it is that I came to blog, read this:
It is the year 2004. My two daughters are away at college (younger one) and law school (older one). Wow. Suddenly I have time to write! Not big stuff. Little stuff. Bloggy stuff. And so on January 2, I start to post on Ocean. I test styles, I add photos. Things evolve.
Over the years, I tell you just a little about my past life. You’ll have found out that I was born in Poland, but due to my dad’s diplomatic career, I spent some childhood years in New York. Eventually, as a young adult, I moved back to the United States. I married, had kids, went to law school. And after a short stint at a law firm, I came back to the University of Wisconsin Law School, this time as a faculty member.
I taught law for twenty-five years and then took early retirement so that I could hatch new ideas and immerse myself in other projects. In the meantime, my marriage ends, my daughters graduate from law schools (both of them!), life moves forward.
I meet Ed. On line, then in person. Ed is his own guy. Ed is Ed. One date and we are together.
I’m done with suburbs: I live downtown. First in an apartment loft, then a condo. Ed is indifferent to the apartment and hostile to the condo. Ed likes life in his sheep shed. He travels to see me daily, but never tires of calling my brilliantly clever living arrangement ...a dump. (Ed: if I wanted to live in buildings like this, I would have stayed in New York.)
Five years after meeting Ed, I pack up my dwindling belongings and move to a farmhouse on his land (just south of Madison). We renovate it. Ohhhh, the farmhouse needs it! A hundred years of issues. But, Ed has skills and he has time. With the help of a small construction team, the place is patched, mended, finished and (in April of 2011) I move in.
Alright. That’s the chronology. Here’s what else you might want to know: I love our farmette (it's not really a farm anymore), but I am very often on the road. Away. Ed used to tag along. I have been known to call him my occasional travel companion. These days, he prefers to stay home and look after the chickens.
Anything else? My younger daughter lives with her husband and their little ones (Primrose and Juniper) in Chicago, my older one teaches right here at UW in Madison. She and her husband have a little girl (Snowdrop) and two little boys (Sparrow and Sandpiper). This makes me a grandma!
That’s it. Anything else you’ll have to pick up by reading along. Curious about my childhood in postwar Poland? Pick up my book, Like A Swallow!
My late stepfather, was a wealthy man with simple tastes. Among many the many lessons I learned from him, these three are my favorites: treat everyone with friendliness and respect -- especially those whose job it is to serve you, one of life's great pleasures is sitting on a blanket under the shade of a tree talking to a friend on a summer day, and he taught me the joys of driving his beloved and cherished 1949 Farmall H tractor. So I understand why Ed likes your photo. I do too.
ReplyDeleteI come from a long line of farmers. My dad was the first in his family to go to college, much less beyond.
ReplyDeleteTractors speak to me. They are what men use to work the land - for food, to feed families. They work for money indirectly.. for food most directly.
Hard work to put meals on the table for me and mine..
Tractors speak love to me.
They are part of my heritage.
This was spectactularly beautiful.
Brian volunteered at a rural elementary school in Wisconsin and learned that there, kids know their colors by tractor (Massey is red-I think, John Deere is green and evidently, there are at least 3 other kinds of tractors with varying colors). So, your photo provided me with a fun memory of young kids telling Brian about colors.
ReplyDelete