Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.
1) In this song, Gloria Estefan encourages us to stand up and make it happen. What's something you want to accomplish this fine Saturday?
A. Saturday is "change the bed" day, so hopefully that will happen. I would also like to take a drive. We'll see how it goes.
2) She sings that we've all been through some nasty weather. How has winter 2021/22 treated you thus far (weather wise)?
A. We've had a somewhat mild winter, just a few snows and days of cold temperatures. But winter always looks so bleak and dreary - I am glad to see the grass greening and the sheen of green on the tips of trees, if it that does mean my allergies are back.
3) Best known as a recording artist, Gloria is also a best-selling author of children's books. When you were a kid, were you a big reader?
A. Yes, and I still am.
4) In addition to music and writing, she's a linguist. As a college student, she supported herself as an English/French/Spanish translator at Miami International Airport. When were you most recently at an airport? Were you traveling yourself, or picking someone up/dropping them off?
A. I was last at an airport around 2017, when I picked my husband up from a business trip.
5) Gloria made her acting debut in 1999's Music of the Heart, a Meryl Streep movie about music teachers in Harlem. Did you have music classes in school? Have you ever taken private lessons?
A. We had music classes at my elementary school. Mrs. Tingler taught us many different songs and brought lots of instruments for us to try out. She taught us many songs, some of which I still sing. Later, I was in band, which began in the sixth grade. I played the flute. Mrs. Arrington came to the school and gave private piano lessons (during class time, I'm not sure how they managed that) and I took lessons from her at her home, too, during the summer. She found me frustrating because I didn't want to learn Bach, I wanted to learn The Eagles. I also took private guitar lessons when I was teenager and again when I was in my early 30s and working downtown. I took them on my lunch hour.
6) Today Gloria is one of the celebrity residents of Star Island, a man-made island in Biscayne Bay. Star Island is connected to the mainland by MacArthur Causeway, named for General Douglas MacArthur. Tell us about a street in your neighborhood, and who it's named for.
A. My street is called Blacksburg Road, and it's called that because it's the way people traveled from Fincastle to Blacksburg. It isn't named after anyone. I am not in favor of naming things after people anymore (you just never know what skeletons hide in closets). I think schools, streets, and other public spaces should be named after trees, birds, or geometrical shapes or nondescript nouns, like "Cloud Street" or "Blue Sky School."
7) 1989, the year "Get on Your Feet" was popular, was the year of the first HDTV broadcast. By 1998, high-def shows and TVs were dominant. How many TVs are in your home? Do you watch shows on your computer or phone?
A. We have two TVs, one in the main living area and one in the bedroom. We seldom use the one in the bedroom. I have never watched a show on my phone (tiny little screen) but I have watched shows that I couldn't get on the TV for whatever reason (storm knocked out the satellite dish or something) to catch up on a series.
8) Also in 1989, The Simpsons premiered. It's now the longest-running prime-time TV show ever. Are you a fan?
A. I have never watched an episode of it, although I am familiar with it. Dooh! It is rather hard not to be familiar with something like that.
9) Random question: Should husbands wear their wedding rings?
A. I don't know that they should, but it is nice when they do. Most men I know are in businesses that require the use of their hands - my husband was a fireman and is a farmer, and he does not wear his ring because when he was fighting fires, the ring could get hot and burn his finger, and as a farmer it can become caught in farm machinery. If a fellow at a computer all day, then I suppose he could wear his ring without worrying about losing his finger. I used to be diligent about wearing my wedding band, but I am not so much anymore. We're married whether we have the rings on or not.
_______________
I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.
It was nice to take music in grade school. My sister took guitar lessons and taught me a few chords, but I did not stay with it. I need to get progressive glasses to play the piano now. I do understand not wearing a ring for safety issues. You are right about being married whether you wear a ring or not.
ReplyDeleteYes, the allergies are indeed back. I have been miserable with them all week and Zyrtec is barely helping this year.
ReplyDeleteMy sister lives in Blacksburg. ;) The next time I visit, we'll have to meet up!
ReplyDeleteI want to come to that meetup! :)
ReplyDeleteI watch my bedroom tv in the morning as I get ready for work and the news at night before I go to bed. In the summer, I never have it on unless I am getting ready for an appointment or something. When I am home alone, I rarely watch tv. I prefer to read. Loved your answers! Have a nice weekend.
ReplyDeletehttps://lorisbusylife.blogspot.com/
#6 was a fastball right across the plate for you. Nobody knows her neighborhood and its history like you do!
ReplyDeleteYour answer to the Simpson question was Perfect. ;)
ReplyDeleteGetting music lessons that early must have been wonderful. I'm glad you had that.
I sang in a choir from first grade onward- Grandpa Taught his grandbabies well! I was in choir from then through 10th grade, until we had to move away. The new teachers were strange, but there is a history to that school. And the new guy was such a snob that I didn't last more than a year in his clutches, a very Hateful man. My new school was like a Coven of Prejudice.
We had a tiny TV out of the RV for awhile that I watched VHS tapes on when I was sick, but I wanted the space for my books after so we sold it. One is still out there but it's such a relic! lol We got the weather on it sometimes. It's from 1989, it's that old.
#6 In the city next to me they named the street, "Paul Manafort Way" and the senior center after him, well since Junior got busted and padrone by Trump they renamed it "Paul Manafort Senior Way"
ReplyDelete