(NON)-DISCLAIMER A LA "DRAGNET"!

-
Dum da dum dum:this is NOT a disclaimer!

You know those disclaimers that go something like "names have been changed to protect the innocent;any resemblance between this and actual people you think you know is purely coincidendental" ? Because I am old, I remember statements like that fondly from one of my favorite tv programs of the 50s, "Dragnet." The weekly opening was molto dramatico, with a hand hammering a definitive mark on something, kind of the way I imagined they used to mark criminals. It starred the ever-cool Jack Webb, whom I still find it hard to imagine married to the sultry Julie London. I guess he did, too, since it didn't last.

Anyway, what I am about to say is just the opposite. If you look closely and see stuff that looks familiar, there might be a good reason for that. The only thing I'm aiming for is to protect everyone's anonymity,

So if you think you recognize yourself here, it's because of how much your friendship means to me.

I like to tell my students that my goal is to mark them with a lifelong passion for French. Well, you have marked me with one for you!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WHO SAYS THAT LIFE IN THE COUNTRY IS BORING? WHAT’S THAT GIGANTIC CREATURE ON THE KITCHEN FLOOR?🙀

-
Image
Our friend Veronica whom we love dearly and vice versa has always been a city chick. Even though she enjoys the change of pace of staying with us out here in the middle of nowhere, when pressed, I think she’d admit that the life of a Country Mouse is boring. Ditto for Jim’s sister, my lovely, sociable sister-in-law, Nan, who bought her own apartment in town rather than stay out here with us in the sticks.  All that is a prelude to what would’ve been a far more dramatic story if I had had my camera handy at the right time.😕 But these photos will have to do.  Here goes. Last night after I should’ve been in bed, I remembered that my freshly-washed clothes were still in the kitchen. As I was about to head back upstairs, laundry in hand, I noticed a very large creature on the floor that should not have been there. At first it looked like a wounded bird. But, no.  I looked for a workaround and decided to try to cover it with just the right size piece of Tupperware. Success! But now w
Read more

HOW IT ALL STARTED

-
Once upon a time there was, as the French like to say, "une femme d'un certain âge"--and a very risk-averse one, at that--so much so that she would rarely leave her nest. But she had a husband who did not suffer from this problem, and a prince of a son who is an expatriate writer who thought she needed a project. As a birthday present from my husband, I received Under the Tuscan Sun --the book that first pried me out of my nest for a trip to Italy. If you can swing it--if your generous 91-yr-old mother-in-law, the only member of the family with any money sense--leaves you some dough--you can see if two nests are better than one.
Read more

A HOARDER? MOI?

-
Image
    “The Yale Daily News” wanted to do a report on faculty offices that had interesting decor or collections. Someone suggested mine. The poor reporter thought she’d just breeze in, take a quick photo, and move on. Ha!   Well, I wish I had a camera to capture the look on her face when she stepped into my office. Her jaw dropped. There were touchstones everywhere!   I’m sure I’ve mentioned that my family is missing the throwaway gene. When I told a psychologist friend who knew about my collections of stuff that “I see the poetry in everything,” he chuckled and replied, “That’s a hunk of bunk, Diane. You’re a hoarder!”   Above are some of the photos of my beloved Yale office that I posted on Facebook, but there are many more including the two panoramas. I would have liked to take you on a full tour, and Jim made three videos that we hoped would allow me to do a version of that. Remember the old tv show, "You Are There"? Well, that's what I was going for in trying to give a
Read more