Re: 1900 House

[Margaret Trawick <trawick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Katha wrote:

>Yes, childbirth, big debilitator!

Sounds like you're being sarcastic here.  You're not, are you?

> On a positive note, though, my piano
>teacher tells me a famous soprano whose name I forget, who had large
>troop of children, said every pregnancy made her sing better -- it
>opened her ribcage to let her breathe more deeply.  Or something like
>that.

Pregnancy does indeed stretch the ribcage, widen the pelvis, and pull abdominal
muscles apart.  As I have experienced, and I guess you have, too.  My singing
teacher also told me that pregnancy opens the ribcage, or something like that,
and not to let shortness of breath be an excuse for poor singing during the
eighth month.  Pregnancy can even be fun for women who are in peak health to
begin with, and have all the circumstances on their side.  Even natural
childbirth can be a great high .... for the lucky few.

But the vast majority are not so fortunate, hm?

>  Personally, I think a little exercise goes a long way.

Me too.  But there is such a thing as too much, you must agree.  To me it was
interesting that people in Indian villages, who did hard physical labor for a
living,  thought that it must be a hardship for me to engage in just a little
bit of exercise, like walking down the road for a mile or two.  And my losing
weight and browning in the sun were proof to them that I was in a bad way.
"She's getting just like us," was what they said, out of pity.  Made me think.

M