Questions : Answers

02022-01-20 | Uncategorized | 8 comments

Alison asked: “Old house?” Does it feel weird saying that?

No, it doesn’t feel weird. I am reminded of the house quite often, either because of memories that stir, or because I wonder how the house or landscape might have changed since August. Maybe this seems strange, but while I love that place I don’t feel the desire to be back there. Thirty years is a long time to experience something… would forty or fifty years make the experience better? Packing up and moving was hard work and I would not want to do that when I am ten or fifteen years older. On the other hand, moving should be easier now that I got rid of a lot of stuff and have some practice. :-)

Doc mentioned having dinner with James Bobchak and talking about me.

James is a great guy and I have many fond memories of him. Did he mention the “solo” he played in Pittsburgh in 1997? We were touring with the XL band and I had told everyone that they each would get a solo in the show and could do anything they wanted to. In Pittsburgh James decided to do this:
When the time for his solo came, he put down his guitar, stood up, walked to the middle of the stage, and flexed his muscles in body builder poses. We had no advance warning of this “solo” and it was quite difficult to keep playing while everyone cracked up.

Do you have a question? Leave it in the comment section of this post.

8 Comments

  1. Steve

    >”No, it doesn’t feel weird. I am reminded of the house quite often, either because of memories that stir, or because I wonder how the house or landscape might have changed since August. ”

    Did it ever feel weird?

    (When I left Boulder, CO for Lincoln, NE … it was entirely for employment reasons. For the first … I dunno … I guess 100 days or so I kept using the phrase, “this is not my town. I miss my town” … because I had lived in and around Boulder for so long that to not have certain buildings, geography, and weather in my midst was super weird, and disorienting. )

    Reply
    • ottmar

      Leaving didn’t feel weird, but getting used to the new landscape was often weird. I moved from an elevation of 7,500 feet to one around 200 feet. From the humidity of 25% in the high desert to more than three times that humidity in a tropical landscape. That takes some getting used to. Spending some time in Lisbon was a totally different experience again. I think that, after spending more than three decades in Santa Fe, it’s still exciting to discover something different. To sum it up, perhaps I enjoyed the weirdness of the move… something different and new.

      Reply
      • Steve

        Could it be that the premise under which one moves alters that “weirdness?”

        You left to seek adventure or a new perspective or however you might phrase it. My departure was much, much more mundane and higher friction. Given a slightly different set of conditions, I might well have stayed in Boulder if I’d had [financial] resource to do so.

        (An aside: my father traveled extensively when he was a kid (9 schools in 4 states in 3 years for example), and he used to express the same sentiment that JaneParhamKatz does: i.e., “home is internal.”)

        I am not a nomad, I am much more like a tree.

        Reply
        • anne

          “I am not a nomad, I am much more like a tree.” – me too

          Although when traveling in Nepal/India…the wondering spirit did take hold. Lived in conditions like the locals…traveled 3rd class on trains and on top of a buss… but it was different cause at any moment i could switch to first class and when my health suffered I did just that to recharge myself.

          I bought my house in 1992 and the only way i will leave is if I have too.

          Reply
  2. JaneParhamKatz

    I’ve changed homes and towns so often, beginning at age 15, I have seen that you can carry “home” solidly within your own heart. That warm joy of the beloved familiar is actually enhanced as you expand your experience of new places, each adding to your “home” feeling. I think it is real love.

    Reply
    • ottmar

      That’s a lovely way of looking at it.

      Reply
  3. Doc

    HAHAHA, He did not mention that! I will be sure and remind him of that moment in time!

    Reply
  4. Luz

    Just curious as to how Lisbon was chosen to move too? I read some time back that Portugal was one of the most under-rated countries in all of Europe to visit and/or reside.

    Reply

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