Seven things

The lovely, clever Helen Jane has tagged me with a meme, so today you get SEVEN FACTS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME.

1) While I'm a New England girl by birth and residence, I spent four happy years living in the Chicago suburb of Elmhurst, Illinois, from ages three to seven. I remember the town's friendly Midwesterners and the huge elm trees that arched darkly over our summer streets.


2) Speaking of Chicago, my first serious fangirl experience involved the White Sox. Nellie Fox was Da Man back then, maybe because I liked his name. Remember when baseball players were wiry and nonsteroidal?

3) I sucked my thumb until I was 12. Anxious much? When younger, I would simultaneously twirl strands of my fine hair into impossible knots, which Mom had to cut out with nail scissors. My preschool days were one long bad hair day.

4) The worst grade I earned in high school was a D, in chemistry. The periodic table defeated me. I think this is related to my suckiness at almost any card game more complex than Go Fish and the fact that I'm totally unable to learn chess. (Trivial Pursuit? Watch out!)

5) More failure to learn: Despite living on or near the ocean most of my life, I failed Intermediate Swim three years in a row and gave up. On a good day I can swim the length of a pool, employing a combination of simple backstroke, sidestroke, and dogpaddle. Most of the time I float. Body fat is good for something.

6) I was what we called a "tomboy" back in the 1950s: hanging out with the neighborhood boys, playing army (fake guns, oh no!) and touch football, collecting baseball cards. In fifth grade I ran the fastest girls' 50-yard dash in all of Greenwich, Connecticut; I continued to be the best sprinter in all my schools right through high school. At Brown I played ice hockey on the first girls' college team in the country.


For a good skillet-cooked meal in 1972-73, you could call Gail and Anne, the two cheerleader babes at left. Try our special sideline cocktail: cherry Kool-Aid and vodka. Great for getting through a 0-10 football season.


7) Although I could make scrambled eggs and pancakes as a kid (and have the burn scar on one wrist to prove it), I didn't really begin to cook until my senior year in college. Dorm suitemate Gail + my mom's old electric skillet = culinary school for me. Our favorites ranged from ground beef Stroganoff to beef stew to tuna-noodle delight. Campbell's Cream of Celery Soup was a staple of our "kitchen."

Now it's someone else's turn. Here are the rules for the meme:
1. Link to the person’s blog who tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog.
3. List seven random and/or weird facts about yourself.
4. Tag seven random or not-so-random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by posting a comment on their blog.

I tag Mary, Neil, Jenny, Michelle, and Slimbolala (sorry, I actually forget your real name! Braindead in Blogland here). I'll leave it at those five articulate, witty peeps for now. I read lots of other blogs, but many are by high-profile authors and journalists who don't know me from Eve and would scoff at being tagged. The rest of you: get crackin'!

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate tomorrow.