Off to take a walk… and who knows what I will find? (adding info as I remember…)
My walks have taken me from New York, (born on a cold December day in White Plains Hospital, NY. My parents at the time were living in Scarsdale, NY. I still have the “Map of Scarsdale and Environs” from 1952 which my Father kept among his possessions.) to Buenos Aires…, (Punta del Este, Uruguay, too.) People ask me all the time, where are you from, you speak with an accent… where were you born…? If you are really interested (sure…) you can find more details in a book “The Irish in Argentina…” In honor of my ancestors, I placed an ad (my letter openers) in the 125th anniversary (2000) of an Argentine newspaper, founded by another Dillon, “The Southern Cross;” and in 2003, I placed another (Jewelry) ad, at the insistense of a great Aunt in the Swiss – Argentine Chamber of Commerce catalog. I continued over the years to place my jewelry ads in the Scarsdale Inquirer, (NY) the magazine,(2005,) of the US Navy League, Madrid Council, – of which I was editor and publisher. I conducted all interviews and translated (no Google translate then) to Spanish. I also placed jewelry ads in the major newspapers and magazines in Spain and Japan…and most recently, in Florida.
I should write about my education…I am a product of various girls schools in 3 continents as well as a stint in US Public Schools… Have great memories and I am fortunate to have reconnected with many of my classmates through Social Media. Throughout my College years I worked Summers and Christmases part-time at Saks Fifth Avenue. I was offered an entry into their Executive Training Program but upon graduation I became a paralegal/legal assistant (translating/ digesting depositions from French into English) at Shearman and Sterling, 53 Wall Street. Worked on the largest arbitration between two huge oil conglomerates; I do not remember the particulars. After a year in Litigation, moved uptown to work in their banking division… Great law firm, great experience… After my two years at S&S I started working with Elsa Peretti, Tiffany & Co’s foremost jewelry designer. (And you can read about this somewhere else on this website…) Years ago while living in Madrid, Spain, someone mentioned to me that I should write my memoirs… No one will read them, just me! But, been there, done that…
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And thanks to the Gold Key Service , I was given interviews and was able to sell my wares to international companies and establishments in Europe and the Far East… My trajectory in Jewelry goes back at least 30+ years – without giving my age away- and you can read about this somewhere else on this website…but, going back to my walks… I cannot forget the hours spent in Rio de Janeiro’s airport ( did see the magical Andes from the plane’s window on the way to the US) to Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nikko, ( cannot forget life in Japan during my early teens…horseback riding on a rented horse on snow covered ground around Mt Fuji!…) to visiting many times later as an adult business woman), to New York, from Manhattan- my first apartment on 71st Street, and my landlady, Magda Gabor…eldest sister of Eva and Zsa Zsa…- to every Town and Village in the State (practically) to Madrid, Toledo, Granada, (oh! the Alhambra!) Aranjuez, Lisbon, Cascais, Nazareth – doing many u-turns to London, visiting Parliament, standing on the great hall where Henry VIII played badmington and Sir Thomas More was tried… , then to Paris, and now, if you happen to stand under the Arc de Triomphe, there is another Dillon, … whose name is inscribed in the Northern Pillar, Avenue de la Grande Armee…, Versailles, (Dillon, again), Fontainbleau, Normandy, (Omaha Beach), Lourdes!!!, Luxembourg, Berlin, Munich, Bratislava, Slovakia…, this was a fun trip invited by the US Embassy/US Commercial Service… visited the Tatras Mountains… Vienna, Hong Kong ( read about one of the many adventures with Elsa Peretti, RIP) Kowloon too and a peak at the then New Territories (mainland China) Tokyo again, Rome and Rome, Venice, Florence, Naples, Mantova, Verona (of Romeo and Juliet fame) Bologna, Trieste, Sienna, Genoa, Monaco, Barcelona, Madrid, again and again, Marbella…!, Bilbao, Santander, Seychelles with a stopover at Kenya airport…, Barbados, Bahamas, Santo Domingo, Mexico, DF and Puerto Vallarta, Canada, Calgary, Montreal, Toronto; (birdseye view of Niagara Falls…from the plane) Taiwan and last but not least, Erbil, Kurdistan.
In reminiscing, down memory lane…, I had a radio show, International Dialogues, (on the Internet and terrestrial radio) for about 8 years… a show about politics, art and culture… and I interviewed at least 800 people from the US and abroad. It was a lot of work… I was producer and host of the show and because I love to research and investigate I enjoyed every minute of it…. I have the radio ad, for Diolun Designs , advertising my jewelry collections… on every show…
Now for those long walks through several places in the USA… from the long waits at the Airport in Anchorage, Alaska, en route to the Far East, to Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles (Disneyland and Marineland, for sure. It’s a small world after all!) New Mexico,(Taos) Arizona, (Lake Powell, Scottsdale) Utah, (Salt Lake City and all the wonderful National Parks, Bryce and Canyonlands?) Dallas and Houston, Texas; dearest Florida with hurricanes and all, Georgia, went through Dillon, South Carolina, and Charleston too!, North Carolina, Virginia (North, Middle and South) West Virginia; learned to water ski ( on one ski!) somewhere in the Chattanooga, Tennessee, and visited Kentucky too. Ah! New Jersey (cannot forget the canoe trip down the Delaware Gap…pouring rain, with no sight of any other canoes for 2 days! and Pennsylvania , Connecticut…..
Oh, and I almost forgot about Green Bay, Wisconsin, Ohio, Nebraska, St . Paul, Minnesota. and Sun Valley, Idaho… Did I mention Colorado, went through Dillon (town) more than once…. that is where I learned to become a pretty good skier (well, tried my best again in Zakopane, where Pope John Paul II used to ski) and near Salzburg, (of the Sound of Music fame and many, many others too! and at a resort St. Veit…(where I received 3rd prize…oh! no correction…2nd!! for yodeling!) Austria… I am exhausted just thinking of all those walks in Prague (and visit to Terezin, transit camp) and Warsaw, Marlbork, the largest castle in the world measured by land area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site dating from the 13th century and built by/for the the Knight Templars……Gdansk (of Solidarnosz fame) and Krakow (Auschwitz, extermination camp)… If I think of any other place… will come back to this! oops!! Hawaii!!! and Kansas City. Missouri…, and Massachussetts, New Hampshire, Vermont (went to College there for a year!) and Maine… after all we have offices in Penobscot! Now how could I forget? …
But I did forget where I spent about 8 years… and probably the most beautiful city in the world, Washington, DC…with those imposing monuments. I lived then in Foggy Bottom, a block from Kennedy Center and would take many a long walk by the Potomac …all the way to the Lincoln Memorial….
And herebelow is a summary (in photos) of some of my work over the years. I keep a record of every piece and where I was at the time I concocted my “creation.” To be continued…
