Mary Jo Bellner Swartzberg
A Memory from 1969
We recently attended a performance of the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra. The second selection was “Concierto de Aranjuez,” by Joaquín Rodrigo, a piece that I have loved since 1969 when I was an exchange student living with a Spanish host family in Aranjuez. Aranjuez is located between Madrid and Toledo, Spain.
The third selection of the performance was “Symphony No. 9” (New World), by Antonín Dvořák. Neil Armstrong took this piece of music with him on the Apollo 11 mission when he landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. I watched the moon landing on this date while I was in Aranjuez in the home of my host family.
Grocery Store Stop
Not long ago, I stopped off at a grocery store, and the grocery bill came to $75.57. The young lad at the register raised his eyebrows and said that this number was interesting. So did I, and I should have purchased a lottery ticket! Suffice it to say that I kept the receipt—for future reference.
A Christmas Story About Bread
On a recent Saturday I volunteered for LPGA/USGA Girls Golf of Tucson. We were at the Randolph Golf Complex. Chris Hubbard, PGA, site director for LPGA/USGA Girls Golf of Tucson, arranges twice-monthly lessons from area golf pros for young girl golfers.
Ten little girl golfers from age 6 to 13 were there for lessons of full swing, putting, and chipping. All of the little girls are each so unique and are dedicated to improving their golf game. One couple’s little nine-year-old girl is amazing, with tons of personality.
After the lessons from the pros, the little girls and their parents all went into the restaurant at the course for a buffet lunch. I sat with this little girl and her parents. The father (a professor) is German, and the mother (also a professor) is from the Czech Republic. I said to the father, “I make a German yeast bread every Christmas; it’s called Chleba.” The mother’s eyes got big, and she said, “The Czech word for bread is Chléb!” She explained how the borders of Poland, Germany, and Czechoslovakia merged and receded over the centuries. And all this time, my mother, whose ancestors are from Poland, thought that the bread recipe was from Germany! As it turns out, her Chleba recipe is a hybrid of three countries!
A Smaller World?
One of the other volunteers for Girls Golf of Tucson is an excellent golfer and lives here in SaddleBrooke. She is married to a fellow who was raised in Toledo, Ohio, where we are from. She has two daughters. Awhile back, I asked where her daughters live. She said, “One lives in Oregon, and the other lives in Texas.” “Where in Texas?” I asked. “In Longview, Texas.” “Oh my gosh!” I exclaimed, “I have two brothers, two sisters-in-law, and two nephews who live in Longview!” Longview is not a large metropolitan city. In fact, it only has about 82,000 people. By comparison, Tucson has approximately 552,000 people.