More of 'The Farm' as promised....this was the swimming hole and it really was a swimming hole...this tree that we are all on became our diving board into the natural stream that ran through the property. At this point in the stream there was this deep deep hole. At top is Gene...me next looking straight into the camera...cousin June...one year and one day younger than me...and our then piano teacher, Frances Druckerman...I'll post another picture of her at another time...but just to say something about all the music that went on in our house...we all have and had musical ability...everyone took piano lessons...some played better than others...Gene and I took Violin lessons as well...Gordon took trumpet lessons...Robin was really the best pianist of all of us...and I am the only one who made music a part of my adult life in the form of a career...singing and composing...but I believe my three siblings were certainly capable of doing more than they did, musicwise...Here is a photograph taken out on the patio behind the house that overlooked the vast landscape all around us...
Gene, our dear Mema, me, and in front of Mema...little Junie...who's mom was my mom's sister, my Aunt Ruthie....I have very very fond memories of our summers on The Farm...(we did spend a few Christmas Holidays up there, too...winter was pretty daunting though...) When you grow up with a certain abundance around you, you don't think about it in any special way...it is just 'your life'. Of course as I grew a bit older I realized that my early childhood---certainly till my parents separated and then divorced---was a very privelaged one...three homes....all really lovely and spacious and gracious, too...Both my parents had grown up in poverty. Both had to leave schoool when they turned 14 years old to go to work and earn a living to help their individual family's remain afloat. I think because of this and because both had struggled in their early life they wanted us to enjoy the fruits of my fathers success... but they instilled in us much deeper values, too....values that went way beyond material things. I think it was important to them, particularly my mother, that we value the things in life that had to do with the rights of human beings and a deep regard for humanity in general. They were both liberal and most of us have been 'liberals' too.
This next picture is such a dear dear photograph. Dear Sweet Robin with her (I believe) first really serious love...and the young man basically responsible for saving my life when I had that horrendous illness at nine years old that has come back to haunt me now, Stanley Glickman. Stanley was a graduate student in Med School when we first met him...my parents hired him for the summer to kind of 'wrangle' all of us kids and our friends and relatives up at The Farm.
He was kind of a counselor--if you will--he was the gentlest dearest of young men...Robin and Stanley fell in love...here they are sitting at the piano--Robin playing, Stanley turning the pages of the music. We all were crazy about him. He and his sister Sylvia became very much a part of our family. By the time Stanley was an Intern at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City a few years later, he knew I was sick and he was the one who said to my parents..'this is going on to long...I think you should call Dr. Newhoff, Head of Lungs (that's not the correct title, but you get the idea...) at Mt. Sinai...nothing against your family doctor, but....' . Well...if he had not said that and they had not acted on what he said, I would not be writing this right now. I really owe my life to Dr. Stanley Glickman...
Here are Ma & Grandma...'mema' to all of us....this gives you a small idea of the scope of the view from this lovely big patio that overlooked the truly 'rolling hills' of our farm. Incidentally, all the stone that was used to build the house and this patio was quarried on the property. It was beautiful stone...just really beautiful. Somewhere I have a photograph of the first man I fell in love with when I was 5 years old....one of the 'boys' who worked in the quarry that produced that stone that built the house. His name was.....Oh Lord...I cannot remember his first name....Descus was his last name....And he was an Adonis. Never went to a gym in his life...just weilded those sledge hammers in the quarry and got all those gorgeous rippling muscles....Good God, I sound like a bad Romance Novel! (lol)
Daddy Joe, resting-sleeping on one of the lounge chairs on that lovely lovely patio/porch. My parents marriage, always a true struggle, was continuing to unravel...unbeknownst to me. Maybe my siblings were aware of it, but I was not...at least not until I began to hear shouting and crying behind closed doors later in Great Neck and on North Bay Road in Florida the year of my brush with death.
More will be forthcoming tomorrow, my dears...
***PARTY PARTY..."Virtual Birthday Party" coming now.... in 6---count them---6 days! You are all invited to join in the fun and frivolity....****
- had this to say:
You keep outdoing yourself!! Other's in your family had to be photography nuts to have so many great pictures of your life!
love the swimming hole! lol.. and really love that farm!! Is it still standing?
wow.. amazing how Stanley came into your life just at the right time!!!- Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 4:42:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
What gorgeous photos, I felt like I was looking through my own family album at cherished old loved ones. I also grew up with a swimming hole. The most memorable things about it for me, were swinging off a rope into the water, catching crawdads, and then the time I got a bloodsucker on the back of my leg. I never went swimming there again. *giggle*
- Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 5:36:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
Lovely shots again. I particularly like the one of your sister playing the piano.
- Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 6:09:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
love the swimming hole photo best of all!
dontchaworry, am counting down the days with you too, naomi. ;)- Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 7:54:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
That house is gorgeous and the scenery; no wonder you loved it there. I wonder if the house is still there along with the rolling hills or if they have parcelled up the land for development.
Counting down to partytime.- Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 9:08:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
You did have a lovely place! Such a wonderful patio and view. All those pictures. When I was a kid we never had a camera (unheard of until I was older!), so we have very few pictures of us as kids. Sad really, as I'd love to have some of me little!! I have a couple but that's all.
Interesting stuff Naomi! Love all these memories and pictures.- Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 10:56:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
OMG !!! I so love reading your blog. I love when people talk of their childhood and you're pics are fabulous!!!!. I'm linking you cause I want to come back and read lots more.:-)
Have a great day!!- Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 11:46:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
Naomi, all your photos are amazing and it was a great pleasure to looking at your family album. I think it was great that all kids on your family have and had musical ability. Your parents was so wise to afford the music’s teaching to their children. And also to teaching and instilled in their children the priceless value that went way beyond material things.
How fortunate that Dr. Stanley Glickman helped you. The link shows that Dr. Glickman is a very reputable physician.
I am looking forward to see more memories and pictures. Till tomorrow!- Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 1:42:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
Wow. This is better than reading a book! I'm lovin' this! You know, I could ask you so many questions about things you posted. I'm one who always wants to know more, to know the deeper side. Maybe you can do an 'ask and answer' post.
I'm going to be in your neck of the woods on Friday. We're taking the kids to the El Capitan to see the new Disney movie and then have a late lunch/early dinner at Hollywood and Highland. I'll wave in your direction!- Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 1:57:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
I really love sseing all your old photos and hearing about the people, Naomi. Is that doctor still alive?
- Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 4:50:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
Wow! I leave town for a week and you spill the beans! I didn't do much blog reading last week because they dole out "wi-fi cards" at 10 Euros a pop! I'm going to be doing some research here and I will get back.
Rick- Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 6:34:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
Charming post! I love seeing the pix and reading about this kind of life. My own early life was so very different from yours.
- Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 6:55:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
The swimming hole picture mad eme think aobut how my husband (who is several years older than me...17!) telling me that when he was a child he would go to his nanny's house and she didn't have inside plumming, and they would go to the creek to get Kool-Aide water and pick the tadpoles out of it before mixing it up.....yuck!
I have to know-Did Robin and Dr. Stanley get married? Have you kept in touch with him all of these years?
Only six more days!!! Party!!- Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 11:18:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
I felt like looking at photos printed out in a book. Your story of your life is very interesting and heartwarming. It's as if I'm reading a book, chapter by chapter.
- Thursday, June 22, 2006 at 1:55:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
Your family life sounds so secure. Even though you parents were going thru a hard time, it sounds as though they tried to keep the family structure strong.
I think it's wonderful that you realized you were indeed priveleged, yet you appreciated it & your parents instilled important human values in you.
I cant tell you how much I enjoy looking at the pictures. They tell a story in themselves.- Thursday, June 22, 2006 at 2:09:00 AM PDT
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