Читать книгу Westward. Encounters with Swiss American Women онлайн

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In 1984 David retired. “We didn’t know where we should live. In his house in Sag Harbor certainly just for a time – but then we stayed forever!” Ellen resumed her creative crafts: “I began with patchwork and quilts, sewed pillows and vests. A neighbor provided me with cloth samples and covers, which she fished out of the containers of various interior decorators in Manhattan. My creations were sold in a store in Sag Harbor and even in some art galleries – until patchwork became very fashionable. Then I stopped. Later I described the memories of my Swiss childhood in a book that I also illustrated.”

Today Ellen no longer likes to cook. “Often we eat at the Senior Center where one can get a lunch for $2.50. You have to be at least 55 to go there. At the beginning people there didn’t like me, I probably used too many foreign words. But in time they accepted us. Recently I edited a book about the people who frequent the center. They come from Poland, Germany, Ireland – it is a multi-cultural project about mostly simple, but interesting people who have so much to tell if you take the time to listen to them. Everyone has his or her own story to tell. There are so many people here who experienced a lot. Americans are often more profound than we think. They are easygoing. As a nation they think that they are powerful – but as individuals they are sensitive, more sensitive than the Swiss, I think.”