Person o' the Week
An Interview with my neighbor and friend, Bernadette
bHs: What’s your full name and tell me about
it?
Bernadette: Bernadette Mary Daraio Feltz
bHs: That’s a cool name.
Bernadette: It’s long.
bHs: Anything else?
Bernadette: Bernadette because up until about a month before I was
born, I was supposed to be Gabrielle. But then they were driving
by an adult movie theatre and the name of the movie was Gabrielle.
After that, my dad wouldn’t name me Gabrielle. When they wrote
out a list of names, the only similar one was Bernadette.
bHs: Was it influenced by the song
Bernadette: No, I don’t think they know the song.
bHs: Do you like the Motown Bernadette song?
Bernadette: It’s not bad. Could be worse.
bHs: While we’re on names, am I remembering
correctly that there are two different family pronunciations for
Daraio?
Bernadette: Yes. My dad says DARE-ee-oh, and the rest of the family
says duh-RAY-oh. And my grandmother was no help. When my uncle and
dad were working together, people didn’t realize they were
related because their last names were said differently.
bHs: For something completely different, what’s
your favorite color?
Bernadette: Blue. Navy blue, if you want to be specific?
bHs: Is it important to be specific? And why navy
blue
Bernadette: I don’t know. ‘Cause it always has been.
bHs: What’s your favorite food?
Bernadette: Ooo. That’s hard. Today, I don’t know. Um.
To go out to eat – sushi. Or Thai food. Um. I eat everything.
Is that bad? Sushi and Thai at the moment.
bHs: What’s your worst encounter with food?
Bernadette: Being stuck in the rain in Glacier National Park with
only a loaf of sliced bread to eat and nothing open to buy more
food.
bHs: Why?
Bernadette: The campsite had been overrun by bears and they moved
us to another campsite. We had food to cook with a fire, but nothing
without fire. And it was after dark and the camp store was closed
down.
bHs: Is that one of the better traveling stories from
your cross country road trip or are there others that leap up higher?
Bernadette: As far as bad experiences, that would have to be the
beach in Texas on Padre Island. I was very excited to camp on beach
and thought it would be fun, and convinced Jake to do it. But, the
beach there isn’t so nice. There is debris all over and it
was close to 100 degrees and it’s not quite the Gulf Coast
like you would imagine. The water was full of seaweed, 80 degrees,
and oil derricks are your view. It’s very windy and hot by
7am and no where to go and there is still sand in everything. Setting
up a tent in a sandstorm is not fun.
I left him on the beach and took the car to go find a better spot,
but he wasn’t sure if I was coming back. Oh, and there were
snakes in the dunes and no bathrooms. Jake discovered the sign about
the snaked while I was hiding in the dunes. There was an actual
campsite off the sand, but I didn’t want to stay there because
it wasn’t as much fun as staying in the sand.
bHs: Did you find a better spot?
Bernadette: No, we left and moved on to Austin.
bHs: Tell us about the incident behind your house
involving a receptacle.
Bernadette: Ha ha! Well. Um. I purchased a keg tub (a large round
bucket) to for returnable bottles and cans because we had ants in
the kitchen. I put it by the back steps and it was there for about
a week. And then somebody took not only the bottles but the whole
tub. So it’s been replaced by an old laundry basket found
next to the dumpster.
bHs: Did you go looking for the keg tub?
Bernadette: No, but I would notice if there was a keg tub in the
shopping carts that travel around. Not that I would do anything.
bHs: If you were a piece of tablesetting, which piece
would you be?
Bernadette: Huh. That’s a good question. I haven’t heard
that one before.
bHs: I don’t know the significance of
the different pieces…
Bernadette: A wine glass because that usually leads to fun things.