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Leaping from tree to tree! As they float down the mighty rivers of
British Columbia! With my best girl by my side!
The Larch!
The Pine!
The Giant Redwood tree!
The Sequoia!
The Little Whopping Rule Tree!
We'd sing! Sing! Sing!
Oh, I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay,
I sleep all night and I work all day....
Sorry... sometimes I get carried away. Let me just get to the details:
My favorite dark chocolate: too expensive for me to buy. Or, too expensive for me to buy regularly. Or maybe I'm just cheap.
My favorite backpacking amenity: either the nylon hammocks or a leather-wrapped flask (filled, of course). But I also like my trusty little Grundig radio. Then again, having someone to carry my pack wouldn't be bad.
If you want to play racquetball with me: you'd better be fairly good.
Playing pool: Strictly "old school" there, straight pool preferred.
Can I roast a pigeon? Can you get me one? It's my favorite.
And dessert? O.K., I can bake, too.
If they'd never filmed "Apocalypse Now": my favorite film would be an old Czech anti-Nazi film, "The Cremator." Well, maybe the British anti-Thatcher "Brassed Off," or just "Mary Poppins."
Why I speak German: weil ich dort lange gewohnt habe. (I lived there a long time. Maybe too long.)
My favorite poem: is still "The Cremation of Sam McGee." You'd think I'd be a little past that by now.
Ah, but, unlike a lot of guys who once memorized that poem, I actually met a fellow named Sam McGee. He was from Pennsylvania.
The best circus I ever saw: the Moscow State Circus (with Oleg Popov); one ring in a big tent. Now, I've never wanted to run off and join a circus; just wish a few more good ones would come through town.
The worst circus I ever saw: I've seen some bad ones. One-family operations with far too many horse acts. The Shriners (bless their other work) can put on a dud of a hyped show.
If Burl Ives and Pete Seeger had never made music: I'd probably know a bunch of hymns, or maybe I'd understand why Mendelssohn's 3rd sounds Scottish.
My two favorite sayings: "the plural of anecdote is not data" and "a day without cancer is like... a day without cancer." (Say, I don't have to explain that first one, do I?)
Why I brew my own beer: Strange thing is, I hardly drink the stuff. But it's very good.
I'm writing this all here because... I'm a very private person. For all I know, this might be a pack of lies.
And on a rare occasion where we're all dressed up and looking serious, posing at home (that's me on the right, and the boy is now nearly my height, but with great sadness I have to report that my wife, Pia Freund, died January, 2007)...
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