I have been tagged by Dave Snowden to reveal eight things about myself that are not commonly known. Dave himself revealed such details about his past as having lived in a commune (and slapping a child who threw a kitten down a stairwell) and participating in expotitions looking for UFOs. My life has not been nearly as interesting. Here are my eight.

1. I married my stepson. That is, I performed the marriage ceremony. You can do this in Massachusetts, if you pay $10.00 for a certificate to perform a specific marriage. The ceremony was outdoors at the Fruitlands in Harvard, a beautiful day at a beautiful place. (Fruitlands, by the way, was a commune.)
2. The first time I set foot in an ocean was on the opposite side of the Atlantic from my own home. Born in land locked Wisconsin (excepting the great lakes), I spent a college semester in Brittany, and lived with a family who took pains to get me out and about. Mont Saint Michelle was especially inspiring.
3. I first started working for IBM while I was crashing (quaint ’70’s term) at the home of friends who just happened to make their living selling pot, hash, and various psychedelics.
4. My first-ever vacation south of the 33rd parallel was in pre-revolutionary El Salvador. I was young, had some time and decided at the last minute to go somewhere warm for Christmas. A travel agent signed me up for a trip to a heavily guarded hotel in the middle of San Salvador, where I spent most of the time getting tanned at the pool. Two kind elderly gentlemen from New Jersey invited me along when they rented a car to go visit the black sand beaches. I think I got out of the hotel two other times.
5. One of my four brothers is the captain of a nuclear submarine, the SSBN West Virginia (or “West BY GOD Virginia” as he likes to say).
6. My mother was the youngest of 10 children. My grandfather was a blacksmith.
7. I scavenge crossword puzzles from newspapers abandoned in airport waiting areas. I keep them in a notebook in my bag, so I always have something to fill up waiting times when I feel neither like reading nor working.
8. I am an accidental gardener. Successive waves of landscaping projects have left me with 7 or 8 planting areas, including one very long and deep border which is mostly in the shade. I do not plan, but come by plants and do my best for them. Sometimes I dig everything out and start over.

Yes, Dave, I do keep up with your blog. And, Thanks.