In this brief vignette, the interviewer had insightfully captured the essence of this couple. They loved to host other people and demonstrate their shared commitment to and expertise in providing a richly sensuous environment in which to live and work. They have created “the good life” for themselves by surrounding themselves with their own products (art work, architectural design, meals) and by creating an environment that reflects their common tastes as well as the individual tastes of each member of the couple. Visitors are warmly welcomed and invited to fully partake of environment.
Much as a shared interest in architecture, design and visual beauty provided the base for and helped animate Larry and Harold’s mutual project and love, music and a love of Poland have kept Mick and Sheila’s relationship alive during the past twenty years. As a defector from Poland during the late nineteen seventies, Mick has a deep, abiding interest in the culture and political liberation of Poland. Sheila shares this interest, having been raised by first generation Polish parents Sheila and Mick met as performers at a House of Poland social gathering. They still play together at House of Poland events, and sing together in the evenings in their home (where Mick has built a recording studio).
Mick and Sheila have produced their own recording which they give out or sell at their performances. Their songs are all written by Mick, while Sheila assists with the vocal arrangements. They love being able to perform in their own home studio, because their home itself has taken on special significance for them. They bought this home five years ago. It was in miserable condition. They renovated the house themselves and built their studio into their home. Their interviewer noted that every detail of their home reflects their unique tastes and their love for one another and their music. Clearly, for Mick and Sheila, Poland, music and home are the three children they have raised and are still nurturing. Each of these children has required considerable effort and one of them (Poland) went through its own adolescence during the last decades of the 20th Century. They worry a great deal about its future prospects and hope someday soon to be able to travel back to their beloved Poland.
