Century 21 Exposition

April 21, 2020

… All Roads lead to Seattle

Century_21_Exposition_logo1 The year was 1962. The space race was a real thing. And Americans everywhere were awed by the spectacle of extra-terrestrial travel to the moon and beyond.

And no event summed up America’s love affair with technology, space, and the future more than the Century 21 Exposition in Seattle which opened on April 21^st.

The idea had been hatched seven years earlier. From the Infallible Wikipedia:

“The fair was originally conceived at a Washington Athletic Club luncheon in 1955 to 8130b5bdb8adfdbd937324996d49da37 mark the 50th anniversary of the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition , but it soon became clear that that date was too ambitious. With the Space Race underway and Boeing having ‘put Seattle on the map’ as ‘an aerospace city’, a major theme of the fair was to show that ‘the United States was not really ‘behind’ the Soviet Union in the realms of science and space’. As a result, the themes of space, science, and the future completely trumped the earlier conception of a ‘Festival of the [American] West’.”

Science and technology became the primary focus of the fair. Companies from around the U.S. exhibited a variety of ‘future’ products with a push, particularly, focused on the home of the future. For 13 minutes of pure Seattleite amusement, you can take a trip back in time in this video from Bell Telephone touting how easy communication would one day be. Had they only known…

https://ia800300.us.archive.org/31/items/Century21964/Century21964_512kb.mp4

But it was the space race between the United States and the USSR which was the story which coalesced into my hubby’s family lore.

Gherman Titov was a Soviet cosmonaut and the second man to orbit the earth in outer space. Think of him as the Russian equivalent of John Glenn; a hero in his country. HistoryLink.org – a Washington State history site – chronicles that visit:

“May 5 was incredibly hectic at the Century 21 Exposition, thanks to a visit from Russian cosmonaut Major Gherman Titov, who attracted some of the largest crowds the fair had seen since its opening on April 21. At times, the diminutive 5-foot 4-inch Titov found it hard to see anything other than the Space Needle, as taller spectators gathered around him, hoping to glimpse or photograph one of the few men that had been in outer space. Scores of news reporters compounded the crush.

Gherman Titov with a few Camp Fire Girls who were there on May 5, 1962.

The Russian cosmonaut wasn’t the only one to gather crowds. More than 10,000 Camp Fire Girls were on hand to dedicate the World’s Fair flagpoles, funded by candy mint sales. An estimated 20,000 people — more than a quarter of the day’s total attendance of 75,758 — were there to take part in Camp Fire Girl celebrations. Because of the large crowds, Century 21 Exposition manager Ewen Dingwall (1913-1996) announced that starting May 12, the fair would open an hour earlier each day, at 9:00.

Throughout the day Titov signed autograph books and handed out color photos of himself, especially to children. At one point he handed his photo to a baby in a stroller.”

The baby in the stroller? My husband’s younger sister, Liz!

Back in the 1980’s – when I heard this story for the first time – I contacted the Seattle PI and was able to get a photo of Liz with the cosmonaut. We then framed it and gave that to her as a present. Unfortunately, the photo is stowed away in a box in the attic of the family home… and no one is brave enough to navigate the bat guano to go find it. I will be looking through my physical archives to see if I kept a copy.

In speaking with my Mother in Law, Jean, yesterday, she shared the following:

“We were there that day because I took our older daughter’s Campfire Group. We heard the Cosmonaut was on the grounds and we went out of our way to avoid all that, but ran right in to it. He bent down and talked to Liz who was in a stroller. She was little at that time (editor’s note – she was a few days shy of her first birthday). Normally, I would not take that many in a crowd – there were at least 10 Campfire Girls with us.”

My Mother in Law is looking to see if a copy of the newspaper article and photo might be in their file cabinet. Of course Liz remembers nothing of that day.

As I was putting together the story for this week’s blog, I was reminded of how there are days in our lives which become significant but we do not recognize it at the time. Family events like these highlight how crucial it is to stop and reflect on events which impact our lives.

I was six that year and I know that my family traveled to Seattle from Yakima for the event. But I cannot recall what we did or any specifics about it. I do know that the day it opened was my dad’s 39^th birthday…now 58 years ago. Just last year on April 21st, all my siblings, their spouses, and two of my nieces, gathered together at the Adult Family Home where my dad had recently moved, to celebrate his 96^th birthday. It was a lovely day and perfect weather.

My Dad’s 96th birthday, April 21, 2019, with his four children

Dad had told me that he didn’t want to celebrate his birthday. But my sister and I insisted and promised it would be ‘just’ family. We ignored his protests and proceeded anyway.

Dad (and my sister) with his last birthday cake

Dad rallied for the event and seemed to enjoy the cake, the cards, and a few small presents. Turns out that we were all glad we did. Six months and three days later he was gone.

Carpe Diem!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_21_Exposition

https://www.historylink.org/File/10104

I have a few items of memorabilia from the Century 21 Exposition. My most prized is a pair of aluminum salt and pepper shakers shaped like the Space Needle. The top of one is shown here.

I’m Just A Singer…

Apr14

In A Rock and Roll Band

April 14, 2020

But, oh what a band. When this group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 14, 2018, the music world rose up and exclaimed, “It’s about time.”

The Moody Blues in 1971. From left to right, Graeme Edge, Ray Thomas, John Lodge, Mike Pinder, and Justin Hayward.

The Moody Blues is one of the longest running bands in rock and roll history, their music spanning six decades. It all began near Birmingham, England, in 1964. The original group consisted of Ray Thomas, Mike Pinder, Denny Laine, Graeme Edge, and Clint Warwick.

The group had some moderate success in Great Britain for the next two years but it was in 1966 with a couple of key personnel changes when their sound and style really coalesced. At that time both Laine and Warwick left the group and were replaced with John Lodge and Justin Hayward.

Even with the new musicians in place, the group struggled to find their style. It was in 1967, however, that they released what is, arguably, their most significant album. From the Infallible Wikipedia:

“Released in November 1967, Days of Future Passed peaked at number 27 on the British LP chart. Five years later it reached number 3 on the Billboard chart in the US. The LP was a song cycle or concept album that takes place over the course of a single day. The album drew inspiration in production and arrangement from the pioneering use of the classical instrumentation by the Beatles, to whom Pinder had introduced the mellotron that year. It took the form to new heights using the London Festival Orchestra, a loose affiliation of Decca’s classical musicians given a fictitious name, adding the term ‘London’ to sound impressive, to provide an orchestral linking framework to the Moodies’ already written and performed songs, plus overture and conclusion sections on the album, including backing up Graeme Edge’s opening and closing poems recited by Pinder.”

Since their formation the group produced 16 studio albums, 26 compilation albums, and eight live albums. Of their 21 singles which charted in the Billboard Hot 100, Nights in White Satin (1972) was the biggest hit coming in at number two on November 3. Their next big hit occurred 14 years later with Your Wildest Dreams. It topped out at #9 on July 11, 1986.

The group continued to tour as recently as 2015 but, with the death of founding member Ray Thomas, the group is now whittled down to three members. And, let’s face it, they are not exactly young.

Their entry to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in similar fashion to people warming up to their unique style, took years. Also from the Infallible Wikipedia:

“The Moody Blues are members of the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. In 2013, readers of Rolling Stone voted for them as one of the ten bands that should be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ultimate Classic Rock called them ‘perennial victims of an unaccountable snubbing’ and inducted them into its own Hall of Fame in 2014. (snip)

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

During his acceptance speech in Cleveland, Ohio (to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) Justin Hayward said, ‘If you didn’t know already, well we’re just a bunch of British guys, but of course to us and to all British musicians, this is the home of our heroes and we all know that…’ acknowledging the inspirational role of America’s rock and roll icons. During the ceremony, Ray Thomas was included as a star that was lost in the past year.”

Over the past decade, the MB’s has become one of my favorite ‘hitchhiker’ CD’s as I call them. With the frequent trips to Yakima music became an essential stress releaser and keep me alert strategy. I find I tended to choose the MB’s as companions on days when the weather was dreary and melancholy seemed to serve me best. Some of their early songs take me back to my high school days and dances. Nights in White Satin was a perennial favorite when it was time for a slow one. And the MB’s Your Wildest Dreams effectively captures the lament of the man – once young – who wonders when the years slipped away and if those he once knew still remember him.

Most of all, however, is that the songs are great for ‘cara-aoke’ and for a few minutes we can all be singers in a rock and roll band.

The first article was quite exhaustive. A few links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moody_Blues

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moody_Blues_discography

https://www.billboard.com/music/the-moody-blues/chart-history/HSI/2

Congratulations to Paul Roe who correctly identified all four bands on my Facebook challenge. Here’s what Paul wrote: Magic = The Cars, Sultans of Swing-Dire Straits (Knoffler has an awesome guitar solo), Nights in White Satin-The Moody Blues and You Give Love a Bad Name-Bon Jovi.

He hit it fast and early and no one else even had a chance! Woo Hoo Paul!

I Will Survive

Apr7

April 7, 2020

A Different Kind Of Fever

LIT181EA_12in-DISCO-BALL In the spring of 1979 a different sort of fever gripped the United States. This fever, however, was one that encouraged people to get together in large groups. We called it Disco Fever. By the spring of that year, the musical airwaves were dominated by the catchy beat of Disco tunes and artists such as the Bee Gees, ABBA, and Donna Summer.

There was one song from that year – unlike any others – which has spanned generations and remains popular 40 years later. That song is I Will Survive.

On April 7, 1979, Gloria Gaynor’s anthem topped the Billboard Charts. The song’s path to popularity was one of being almost an afterthought… and yet the song survived and thrived. From the Infallible Wikipedia:

“Originally released as the B-side to a cover version of the Righteous Brothers song ‘Substitute’, ‘I Will Survive’ became a worldwide hit for Gaynor when disc jockeys played that side of the record instead (kick-started by legendary Studio 54 DJ Richie Kaczor). ‘Substitute’ appeared on the Billboard ‘Bubbling Under the Hot 100’ chart for four weeks in October–November 1978, peaking at No. 107. ‘I Will Survive’ then entered the Billboard Hot 100 in December that year and reached No. 1 on the chart in March 1979.” GLORIA_GAYNOR_SUBSTITUTE-402771

Even its three weeks at number one on the charts was unconventional. In March it arrived there for two weeks – March 10^th and 17^th – only to be knocked out by the Bee Gee’s song Tragedy. Yet, I Will Survive was back at number one two weeks later.

In writing this article I had to go out and find a YouTube of the Bee Gee’s Tragedy to remember it. Such has never been the case for Gloria Gaynor’s famous work. In list after list of ‘best’ songs, I Will Survive can be found. The Infallible Wikipedia provides additional information:

“The song received the Grammy Award for Best Disco Recording in 1980, the only year the award was given. It is ranked #492 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of ‘The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time’, and ranked at #97 on Billboard magazine’s ‘All-Time Hot 100’. In 2000, the song was ranked #1 in VH1’s list of the 100 greatest dance songs.^”

Go to any dance today and you are more likely than not to hear this song. Teens respond to its catchy beat and Gaynor’s soulful vocals with the same enthusiasm the young people of 1979 did.

The song has also become an anthem for anyone – particularly women – devastated by a relationship breakup. And perhaps that is one of the reasons for the song’s success. Its message resonates for souls whose heart has been broken only to discover their inner strength and be able to move on.

As a romance writer, breakups and finding one’s inner strength is elemental to many a story line. In fact, it is a theme which never gets old and connects with readers because nearly all have experienced it. I Will Survive taps in to that emotion, that moment in time, when the epiphany occurs. It’s storytelling at its best. That, I believe, is the essence of its staying power. The lyrics speak a universal truth which transcends time. My favorite lyrics of the song:

It took all the strength I had not to fall apart
Kept trying hard to mend the pieces of my broken heart
And I spent, oh, so many nights just feeling sorry for myself
I used to cry but now I hold my head up high

And you see me, somebody new
I’m not that chained up little girl still in love with you
And so you felt like dropping in and just expect me to be free
But now I’m saving all my loving for someone who’s loving me

Stay Healthy everyone. We will SURVIVE!

I feel strongly that the co-writer’s of the song need to be acknowledged:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Perren

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dino_Fekaris

And, of course, a link for the song itself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Will_Survive

Oklahoma!

Mar31

The Beginning Of An Era

March 31, 1943

For those of us who love musical theater, there is no greater duo than Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein. But, prior to March 31, 1943, the pair had never collaborated. It was on that date when their first co-written musical hit Broadway.

Oklahoma! was a smashing success as both a stage production and also as a 1955 movie. From the Infallible Wikipedia:

“The original Broadway production opened on March 31, 1943. It was a box-office smash and ran for an unprecedented 2,212 performances, later enjoying award-winning revivals, national tours, foreign productions and an Oscar-winning 1955 film adaptation. It has long been a popular choice for school and community productions. Rodgers and Hammerstein won a special Pulitzer Prize for Oklahoma! in 1944.

This musical, building on the innovations of the earlier Show Boat, epitomized the development of the ‘book musical’, a musical play where the songs and dances are fully integrated into a well-made story with serious dramatic goals that are able to evoke genuine emotions other than laughter. In addition, Oklahoma! features musical themes, or motifs, that recur throughout the work to connect the music and story. A fifteen-minute ‘dream ballet’ reflects Laurey’s (the heroine) struggle with her feelings about two men, Curly and Jud.”

Richard Rogers (left) set Oscar Hammerstein’s (right) lyrics to music in one of the greatest collaborations of all time.

A string of successful musicals followed followed for Rogers and Hammerstein including their most well known: Carousel, State Fair, South Pacific, The King and I, Cinderella, Flower Drum Song, and The Sound of Music.

The death of lyricist Hammerstein in 1960 ended the partnership.

By the time I was a teenager the American Musical, in the form perfected by Rogers and Hammerstein, had passed its apex. But that did not stop me from loving musicals. Occasionally, one would be shown on television so that by the time I was an adult, I had seen a great many of them.

It was, however, the VCR and the DVD which made it possible to explore this genre in depth and contributd to somewhat of a revival.

When my kids were somewhere around ages 11 and 8, we set up a ‘home theater’ complete with a 8 foot by 8 foot screen, a projector which could connect to a DVD player, and a sound system. I would request movies through the King County Library. It was always a mystery as to which musical we would watch because we never knew when one might become available. Most every weekend for a couple of years we experienced all of the old musicals.

My daughter and I, especially, became de facto critics, evaluating each musical for its songs and story line.

It was the night we were watching the film version of the musical Carousel when I knew that she had truly become a qualified critic. Certainly You Never Walk Alone is an incredible piece, but on the other end of the spectrum is a ridiculous song titled, This Was A Real Nice Clambake. Yet we endured and watched the entire musical. When the lights came on my daughter turned to me and said, “Worst. Musical. Ever.”

For me personally, it’s hard to choose a favorite musical. Of the classics, I love The Music Man, The Sound of Music, and Fiddler on the Roof especially. On the other end of the spectrum I agree with my daughter, Carousel is without question the Worst. Musical. Ever.

I polled the family yesterday morning about which musical is their favorite and which is least liked. Here are the answers:

Hubby: Phantom of the Opera is his favorite but he couldn’t identify a least liked.

Son: Ditto. Phantom of the Opera followed closely by A Chorus Line and no least favorite. He did say he connects with more angst-y music.

Daughter: Wicked is her favorite (she has seen it on stage twice as it has yet to be made into a movie). It was her answer to the second part which surprised me. I expected Carousel as her answer. But it was not her only answer. Another musical has joined it as least favorite. It’s the musical which ushered in the era of great musicals: Oklahoma!

A couple of links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodgers_and_Hammerstein

https://youtu.be/BUX5B6W_Azs ( the infamous Clambake song)

National Cleaning Week

Mar24

March 24, 2020

Americans spend, on average, six hours a week doing this? With the recent pandemic, however, the amount of time may be even greater. What is it?

Grumpy cat vacuum

Cleaning their house.

The last Sunday in March marks the beginning of National Cleaning Week. While the origins of this week are not entirely clear, the term ’spring cleaning ‘ is common and for our pioneer ancestors involved many back breaking tasks. One was the removing the stuffing of one’s mattresses, washing the cover, and then refilling it. It does not take much imagination to envision how those beds may have smelled or what sorts of critters also used them when they were only changed every six months.

In fact every inch of the pioneer home was scrubbed into submission with the cleansing of curtains and bed sheets, the scrubbing of all walls and floors, the polishing of stoves, and the cleaning out of drawers and cupboards.

For many people, the task of cleaning is onerous. While a full time, live in housekeeper and even maids was once common for a wealthy household and even upper middle class ones; today’s American middle class has embraced the weekly or every other week, house cleaner. This is especially true for those where a job outside the house takes up the majority of daylight hours or the physical demands of cleaning are not possible.

Rather than quoting from the Infallible Wikipedia, the National Day’s Calendar shares this advice on how to ‘celebrate’ National Cleaning Week:

“Clean. The folks at Home Team have these recommendations to make cleaning week less intimidating: Tackle one room at a time, start from the top and work down, dusting ceiling fans door moldings and window tops. Don’t be afraid to move furniture. Donate to (a) thrift store those things you gather when you clean out closets, basements and storage space.”

Hmmm… that sounds a lot like what the pioneers did. With the exception of thrift stores.

Over the years, I have been lucky enough to have had housekeepers to help me stay on top of cleaning. I’ll never forget the first… the hubby and I had recently purchased a 1910 fixer upper in West Seattle. We were both working full time and this housekeeper was recommended to us.

I imagine this woman took one look at me and thought (not incorrectly) that I was a snotty 24 year old who knew nothing. So she shows up on week one and tells me HER rules. I could live with her rules since I really, really wanted her to clean the house so I didn’t have to. Especially the bathrooms. Did you know that for 52 percent of people that’s the most dreaded task? But I digress.

When she arrives, she is thrilled to learn that we have a cat. His name was Porsche. She immediately picks up Porsche to pet and cuddle him. Then it’s time for me to leave for work, so I put the cat outside. This sparks a conversation as now said housekeeper is upset that Porsche has to be outside for the day. I explain to her that he is the worst thing that ever happened to furniture and point out our badly damaged, and fairly new, couch which has been shredded by cat claws.

I leave for work. When I return later that afternoon, I do discover a cleaned house… and the cat is inside. Upon examination, I also discover that the new housekeeper has given Porsche a pedi.

In a subsequent conversation with her she refused to not cut the cats claws and refused to leave the cat outside per our instructions. I think we had the housekeeper for some three weeks before it was back to no housekeeper.

I’ve had others over the years. My favorite was a woman named Karen who only worked for people who appreciated her. She helped me when my children were little and I just couldn’t keep up with everything. One day she said to me that she liked coming to our house because she felt like her services were very much needed! Hah! Yes, I was truly a horrible housekeeper.

Now that I’m older, I don’t worry quite so much about having the house spotless and neither does my current housekeeper. She is, actually, rather lazy. I never quite know when she might show up and clean the dreaded bathrooms or mop the hardwoods. It’s very hit and miss. Eventually, she gets it done even if she grouses about how her back hurts, or she sits for a while, claiming she needs her frequent breaks.

These past couple of weeks with ‘social distancing’ edicts has really thrown my world into a tizzy. My lazy housekeeper says she won’t come in to clean and has instead declared that she’s staying at her own home to watch Hallmark movies, read trashy romance novels, and eat Bon Bons.

Lazy housekeeping So it’s back to me having to clean the house once again. The hubby pulls out the vacuum when it gets bad. And I’m on constant vigil for signs that the bathrooms need attention. But a funny thing has happened with being forced to stay home. I’ve gotten through a number of boxes of stuff which needed sorting. I’m catching up on some mending projects. I’ve gotten the hubby to take on the task of fixing the barbecue table and plan to have him help me hang a few pictures and a display cabinet I brought back from my Dad’s house.

All in all, The Great Quarantine of 2020 and National Cleaning Week, have coalesced into the week when – I’m pretty sure – households all across the nation are at the Zenith of being clean.

Cats, however, cannot figure out what the fuss is all about. They wrote the book on social distancing and being clean… experts at staying six feet away, only interacting with their favored family members, and spending hours licking their fur clean. Just don’t trim their nails.

Our most dreaded of cleaning tasks:

cleaning the bathroom (52 percent)
kitchen cleaning (23 percent)
dusting (21 percent)
mopping (20 percent)
doing the laundry (17 percent)

Daffodil Days

Mar17

March 17, 2020

Solo Daffodil A harbinger of spring, this particular flower is one of the earliest to appear during the first weeks of March.

The Narcissus – also known as daffodil and jonquil – has been cultivated for centuries. People are drawn to its sunny shades; a welcome splash of color at the end of winter.

A member of the Amaryllis family, its showy blossom reminds one of a face surrounded by a large bonnet. There are thousands of varieties, ranging from tiny clusters of white and yellow flowers, as well as fist sized blossoms in brilliant yellow. Less common blooms can also include combinations of orange and pink.

It was believed, at one time, that the bulb contained cancer curing properties. In fact, the bulb actually contains toxins which can lead to illness and, in rare cases, death if ingested. Rather than getting into the tall weeds in regards to that, here’s a link to the Infallible Wikipedia for those who wish to learn more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissus_(plant)

Skagit Valley daffodils with Mt. Baker in the distance. March 16, 2020

The Narcissus is so popular and so prevalent, that authors have for years used it in their works.

Also from the Infallible Wikipedia:

“Shakespeare, who frequently uses flower imagery, refers to daffodils twice in The Winter’s Tale and also The Two Noble Kinsmen. Robert Herrick alludes to their association with death in a number of poems. Among the English romantic movement writers none is better known than William Wordsworth’s short 1804 poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud which has become linked in the popular mind with the daffodils that form its main image. Wordsworth also included the daffodil in other poems. Yet the description given of daffodils by his sister, Dorothy is just as poetic, if not wordsworth-lonely-daffodils2-500x334 more so, just that her poetry was prose and appears almost an unconscious imitation of the first section of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (see Greek culture, above). Among their contemporaries, Keats refers to daffodils among those things capable of bringing ‘joy forever’.”

That’s pretty high praise for a flower!

I always think of the third week of March as the season of the daffodil. While I cannot recall when, exactly, I became aware of the flower, I have always rejoiced when I see their heads pop up from the cold ground, knowing that winter is losing its grip.

My most memorable daffodil experience occurred one lovely spring afternoon in March 1993. I had been out running errands. In my company that day were my three year old son and a belly so large that it was near bursting.

We arrived back at our house sometime after 3:30 p.m. My in-laws were there; ready to provide care for the three year old as my official ‘due date’ was March 19^th.

Weary after hours of errands, I sat down for a few minutes but could tell something was not right. A few minutes later, at 4 pm, I feared that my water had broken.

Now, with child number one, I had not experienced natural labor. He was a stubborn one and it took hours and hours along with a labor inducing drug to convince him to arrive.

Those who say that Pitocin and the natural hormone released by a mother’s body during labor are the same, don’t know what they are talking about. Which is why I wanted to avoid its use with child number two.

I went up to the bedroom and called the Doctor’s office, hoping that I could go in and have them check to see if, in fact, my water had broken. Nope. I was instructed to go to the hospital.

The next ten minutes involved tears, calling the hubby to tell him that he needed to come home and take me, and more tears as I wrapped my head around the situation. I assured the hubby during our call that he had plenty of time since I was not experiencing any labor pains. The tears were caused by my anticipation of a 22 hour ordeal similar to the first labor which would involve an IV drip of Pitocin.

Packing was a slow process (have I mentioned how huge I was?) as I gathered all my needed items together and, anyway, I figured I had time. As I was puttering around the bedroom and the bathroom, I kept having these ‘twinges.’ Didn’t think much about it until it occurred to my thick brain that it might be natural contractions, something I had not experienced the first time.

So I timed the twinges… and they were two minutes apart. Wow. I took my now packed bag downstairs and told my mother in law, who was standing in the kitchen, the news about the time between contractions. And then the first big one hit.

The next thing I did was step over to the sink and grip the counter, breathing through the event as best I could. On the other side of the window in our backyard my focus landed on the clusters of bright yellow blooms.

At the end of the contraction my mother-in-law exclaimed, “How soon will he get home? I didn’t sign up to be a midwife!”

And so it went for probably another 15 minutes, me gripping the counter in front of the sink as if it were a life preserver, daffodils swimming before my eyes. Soon the hubby arrived and a flurry of activity ensued with hasty goodbyes to the in laws and our eldest child, then what seemed an excruciatingly long trip to the hospital, and admittance.

Daughter in search of daffodils March 2010 – ten years ago

Three and half hours from the onset of labor, at 7:30 p.m., our daughter was born (without any artificial labor inducing drugs OR any pain relief as there was no time!).

The next day, looking out my window at the landscaping across the street from the hospital, I could see daffodils; bunch after bunch greeted us all along the streets as we drove home with our new baby.

My daughter and I cherish the daffodil as our shared flower, a symbol of spring, new life, and connection from mother to child. Happy Birthday to you, my beloved mid-March child!

*In 2021, the daughter requested a birthday trip to the Daffodil fields near Mount Vernon*

Palm Pilot vs. Paper Planners

Mar10

March 10, 2020

This technology was all the rage

528912-usrobotics-palmpilot-1997 Twenty three years ago, this product was the “be all, end all” in new technology. A year earlier, business people everywhere were snapping these up, sure that they would be the ultimate organization tool. That product was the Palm Pilot – the highly successful Personal Digitial Assistant (PDA) computer you could carry in your pocket.

On March 10, 1997, the second generation Palm products were launched and – much like the latest iPhone or Android phones of today – they were the ‘got to have it’ device of the late 1990’s.

The Infallible Wikipedia tells us:

“Pilot was the name of the first generation of personal digital assistants manufactured by Palm Computing in 1996 (by then a division of U.S. Robotics).

The inventors of the Pilot were Jeff Hawkins, Donna Dubinsky, and Ed Colligan, who founded Palm Computing in 1992. The original purpose of this company was to create handwriting recognition software, named PalmPrint, and personal information management (PIM) software, named PalmOrganizer for the PEN/GEOS based Zoomer devices. Their research convinced them, however, they could create better hardware as well. Before starting development of the Pilot, Hawkins said he carried a block of wood, the size of the potential Pilot, in his pocket for a week. Palm was widely perceived to have benefited from the notable, if ill-fated, earlier attempts to create a popular handheld computing platform by Go Corporation, Tandy, and Apple Computer (Newton).”

Palm – they had to drop the Pilot designation following a legal dispute over the Pilot pen trademark – is a case study of a wildly successful startup. After it was sold to US Robotics, the company switched hands multiple times. Today it is a division of Hewlett Packard. No doubt its founders have prospered financially from their invention.

Personally, I’ve never owned or used a Palm product. Back in the late 1990’s when they were the big thing, I was a Mom just trying to get through each day and making sure my kids were both alive at the end of it. I do recall that there were lots of people who raved about their Palm Pilots and swore they could not live without them. When in meetings or trying to set up something with many of the other people I knew, out would come the device – seems to me there was a little stylus thingy to write on the screen – and it was the only way they seemed to be able to schedule any event in their life.

Ready for 2021 and 2022

Me, I was definitely old school. Give me a calendar and a pen – that’s how I did it. And still do. Yes, I have a phone with a calendar app on it. I also have an electronic notepad on that machine. I use both from time to time but for ease of access and speed I have found the following system which works for me.

Print my own custom monthly calendar pages which fit into a small, portable notebook.
Put all known events onto the dates where they are scheduled.
Carry the calendar with me whenever I go out. Write appointments in it.
Transfer appointments to an erasable weekly calendar which lives on fridge.

The erasable by week calendar segments on the family fridge

Occasionally, I forget to take the calendar with me. It’s then I will either put dates in the phone or, more likely, send myself an email reminder. Then when I get to my regular computer I will retrieve the information and write it on my calendar.

While technology is great, the advantage of paper for calendars and lists is simple: they never run out of battery power and quickly writing a few details is easier than the hunt and peck of an electronic keyboard. Of course, anyone who has ever seen my desk knows that I never run out of pens. Or paper.

In 2021 I am becoming a true calendar recycler. The past few months I’ve been working my way through boxes of old papers. I have assembled, over the years, quite a number of wall calendars. I wondered if, rather than throwing them out, perhaps there were years coming up which had the same date configurations?

Of course there had to be, but how to easily determine which years matched? There’s a website called TimeandDate.com which, for the geeky among us, is just the best. Put in the year of the calendar you have and it will reveal all.

Which I did with my 22 saved wall calendars. I’m all set for 2021, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and beyond. This year, however, I had to buy a new paper calendar. Why? Leap year. For 2020, the layout of dates occurs only once every 28 years and there was not a 1992 in my arsenal. But I’m now good for the year 2048 (Note to my children, be sure to put the calendar up on the wall for me in my Senior facility, okay?)

By my calculations the next time I need to buy a calendar is in 4 years with yet another leap year and not having saved a 1996 calendar. 2024 may be the last one I’ll ever have to buy. Being a saver can really pay off.

(Update… a few weeks after I posted this I discovered a couple more paper calendars! Total now stands at 28.)

(Update #2… March 10, 2021. I’m pretty sure of the FINAL count… 45. I am not sure I have enough wall space for the 2025 and 2026 years!)

The links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_(PDA)

https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/repeating.html?year=2020

http://www.uvpinc.com/14-x-14-weekly-magnetic-dry-erase-calendar

Seasons In The Sun

Mar3

March 3, 2020

Illness is a funny thing. Oftentimes our memories of it are sharp and clear – as it has such a profound impact on our lives. And yet our brains play funny tricks on us, causing us to ‘remember’ things that did not occur.

I will forever associate the song Seasons In The Sun with the year I had the hard measles. More about that in a bit. First some information about the song.

Seasons In The Sun was an adaptation of the 1961 song Le Moribund written by Belgian Jacques Brel. Poet Rod McCune wrote the English lyrics. Canadian musician Terry Jacks arranged them to the original tune by Brel. The piece was going to be recorded by the Beach Boys. When they decided not to go forward with the project Jacks, and his then wife Susan, recorded it in December 1973. It hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 the first week of March, 1974, and spent three weeks in the number one position. According to the Infallible Wikipedia:

“(Terry) Jacks released his version as a single in 1973 on his own label, Goldfish Records. “Put the Bone In”, an original composition about burying a deceased pet dog, was included as the B-side. The single soon topped the record charts in the U.S. (where it was released on Bell Records), in Canada, and the UK, selling over 14 million copies worldwide.

Jacks’ version was released in the United States in December 1973, and made the Billboard Hot 100 a month later. On March 2, 1974, the song began a three-week run at number one atop the Hot 100, and remained in the top 40 until almost Memorial Day weekend. Jacks’ version also spent one week on the Easy Listening charts. Billboard ranked it as the number two song for 1974. Although he released several other singles that were moderately successful in Canada, “Seasons in the Sun” would become Jacks’ only major solo hit in the United States. In Canada, the single (Gold Fish GF 100) reached number one on the RPM Magazine charts January 26, 1974, and remained there four weeks.

Though the song enjoyed contemporary success, modern criticism takes a dimmer view, considering it overly sentimentalized. Jacks’ version has been held up as an example of bad music, such as having been listed as one of the worst pop songs ever recorded and ranking number five in a similar CNN poll in 2006.”

Now regardless of how one might feel about the song, it was memorable and played perfectly into the baby boomer consciousness of 1974. We were all a bit melodramatic and, as is often the case for teenagers, had become aware of our own mortality. The song preyed on that understanding.

My 1972 diary entry which chronicled the beginning of the measles

Enter my own faulty memories. On February 20^th I got very sick, and did not return to school until February 29th; I have a distinct memory of laying in bed in my darkened room. I had the hard measles, a case so severe they had settled everywhere including my eyes. The only thing I would or could eat were milkshakes which my mother made for me… I eventually refused even those. I found out much later that she sneaked chocolate protein drink mix into them to try and boost their nutritional value. This totally changed the flavor rendering them undrinkable. (Pro tip to parents: when your skinny teenager is lying in bed running a 103 degree fever for over a week, that is not the time to be concerned about nutrition. Calories are what matters, especially when said child is 5’7 and weighs 110 pounds to start and ends up losing 20 pounds…)

But back to the song. I spent my illness with my deceased grandmother’s old black and white TV set up near my bed, watching whatever I could get on the few channels. One night, unable to sleep, I happened upon a particularly disturbing horror film, Village of the Damned. I read the book The Search for Bridey Murphy. I was in a really, really dark place emotionally. And I was positive that as I lay in bed that last week of February, it was Terry Jack’s Seasons in the Sun which added to that dark place as I contemplated not surviving the measles.

But Season’s in the Sun was a faulty memory. I was sick in late February 1972… and Season’s in the Sun didn’t hit the airwaves until 1974. Perhaps there was another illness in 1974 which took me down for a couple days when I listened to that song. To this day those depressing lyrics are implanted on my brain and associated with the 1972 illness. And I’ve always wondered WHY the junior class at my high school thought it would be a good theme for prom my Senior year. I’ll wait IKE class of 1976 for the explanation. Reveille 1975 Prom page

This past week I’ve been sick with an upper respiratory ailment. There have been moments when I thought I would cough up my lungs. I’ve wondered is it or is it not Coronavirus? I called the Dr.’s office and got what I wanted: a series of questions as to my symptoms and confirmation that, although it’s not pleasant, it is not Coronavirus. Based on how I’m feeling today, I think I’ll live.

And my reading and TV viewing habits? Way better than in 1972. This past week, I enjoyed a nice upbeat LaVyrle Spencer novel – Small Town Girl – and have watched hours and hours of HGTV programs as well as the Hallmark Movie Channel and American Pickers. I’ve crushed candy and found Pokemon lurking in my house. And slept. I think I might be on the other side of it… just in time to take care of the hubby as he begins his week long odyssey. Poor guy.

Several links for all the obscure cultural references this week:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasons_in_the_Sun

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridey_Murphy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_of_the_Damned_(1960_film)

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/symptoms.html

Postscript: March 3, 2021. Upon further contemplation I believe it was Covid19 which both the hubby and I had a year ago. At the time of the Doctor’s visit, it was believed that only those who had recently traveled out of the country may have contracted it. Over the past year I’ve read numerous accounts of COVID being in the United States as early as late November 2019. Unfortunately, when I got sick the tests were not being given except to those who landed in the hospital. Thankfully that wasn’t us.

Remembering Karen Carpenter: The Voice That Captivated a Generation

Feb4

February 4

Karen Carpenter

A Tuesday Newsday Classic

February 3, 1959. August 16, 1977. December 8, 1980. February 4, 1983. April 5, 1994.

For any person who is a true fan, any one of these dates might invoke an unpleasant memory of the ‘day the music died’ for them. Each date marks the passing of a well loved and famous musical artist. Do you recall where you were and what you were doing on any one of these days?

My brother – who is a disc jockey – still talks about August 16, 1977. The day Elvis died. For Nirvana fans it’s April 5, 1994. Beatles devotees recall December 8, 1980 as a day which shocked the world. And, of course, February 3, 1959, marks the tragic date when Buddy Holly died in a plane crash along with a few others.

Karen Carpenter in the early 1970’s

If you don’t recognize February 4, 1983, you can be forgiven. But for me that was the date when the first artist whose voice and music truly captured me, died: Karen Carpenter.

To this day I wonder it was an avoidable outcome if only… if only her mother had been more loving and less controlling… if only she hadn’t been forced to come out from behind her drums… if only the press had not been so awful to her… if only she could have loved herself the way her fans loved her.

By all accounts, Karen’s life could have become a fairy-tale come true. At the age of nineteen Karen, as one half of The Carpenters, saw their first big hit “Close To You” rocket to the top of the pop charts. Fame and financial success followed with a string of Top Ten records. Concerts, TV specials, and an invitation to the White House were all a part of those heady years.

And yet. Karen was particularly sensitive to body image. From the Infallible Wikipedia:

“Carpenter began dieting while in high school. Under a doctor’s guidance, she began the Stillman diet, eating lean foods, drinking eight glasses of water a day, and avoiding fatty foods. She reduced her weight to 120 pounds and stayed approximately at that weight until around 1973, when the Carpenters’ career reached its peak. That year, she happened to see a photo of herself taken at a concert in which her outfit made her appear heavy. Carpenter hired a personal trainer who advised her to change her diet. The new diet caused her to build muscle, which made her feel heavier instead of slimmer. Carpenter fired the trainer and began her own weight loss program using exercise equipment and counting calories. She lost about 20 pounds and intended to lose another five pounds. Her eating habits also changed around this time, with Carpenter trying to get food off her plate by offering it to others at the meal as a taste.”

With increased success, came increased pressure to look and be perfect. By most accounts it seems that Karen spent her life trying to gain her mother’s love and approval. Older brother Richard was the focus of the family’s attention. At age 3 he was playing the piano and had been identified as a child prodigy with immense talent. It must have come as a huge shock to her parents when it was Karen and her amazing voice that proved to be the secret to success. Also from the Infallible Wikipedia:

“(Karen) Carpenter had a complicated relationship with her parents. They had hoped that Richard’s musical talents would be recognized and that he would enter the music business, but were not prepared for Karen’s success. She continued to live with them until 1974. In 1976, Carpenter bought two Century City apartments which she combined into one; the doorbell chimed the opening notes of ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’.”

In this photo, you can clearly see that she is not at a healthy weight.

Most of the focus on Anorexia Nervosa came after Karen’s untimely death. In the decades since there has been research and a public push to find solutions for those who are afflicted by the disorder. Karen Carpenter’s struggle has been largely responsible for this.

One of the things I would have loved would have been to attend a Carpenter’s concert. Alas, being only 13 when they hit the top of the charts, it was not going to happen. My mother believed rock and roll concerts (the Carpenters were not exactly rock and roll BTW) were not appropriate places for young women. In fact, the first concert I attended was a decade later, long after the Carpenters were no longer touring.

For several years in the 1970’s, however, I purchased every one of their albums and would listen to Karen’s dulcet tones for hours on end. I loved her voice.

Fast forward to Friday, February 4, 1983. I was working at Microsoft – then located near the Burger Master on Northup Way in Belleuve, Washington – paying more attention to selling computer software and not listening to music for hours each day.

It was payday and at lunchtime one of my fellow Microsofties, Sue C., and me decided to go deposit our paychecks in the bank. We headed to downtown Kirkland, a few miles north. Once our banking was complete, we drove south on Lake Washington Boulevard. We likely had the radio on – background to our chatting – when I heard the announcement “Pop star Karen Carpenter has died.”

I think Sue was behind the wheel and immediately stopped the car as we both exclaimed shock and dismay. How could it be? What I most recall about that day is that it seemed dark to me. In reality, according to the weather history, it was a fairly mild, clear day. But in my mind, it’s dark.

Karen Carpenter was such a part of our growing up experience; she was 32 years old, a mere seven years older than ourselves.

In 1989 I watched with interest the CBS TV movie The Karen Carpenter Story. In the years since her death I had not listened much to The Carpenters. The moment I heard those favorite songs and her voice, however, it was as if I was transported back to the early 1970’s. What a voice. It was filled with emotion and able to convey a sadness that transcended the years. Like so many artists who died young, I wonder what wonderful songs the world missed out on when Karen Carpenter left us on February 4, 1983.

A few links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Carpenter

I couldn’t make up my mind as to which of these two songs to share… so I did both. I think Superstar also captures the depth of whatever pains she felt in life.

Superstar: https://youtu.be/SJmmaIGiGBg

Links to three other posts I’ve made about Karen Carpenter:

Wedding Woes

Just like me, they long to be…

Top Of The World

Alan Alda

Jan28

January 28, 2020

Made His Mark On M.A.S.H.

This actor has been nominated for Emmy Awards 34 times and won 6, the majority for his role as the irreverent realist Hawkeye Pierce in the TV Series M.A.S.H. January 28 marks his 84^rd birthday.

ct-wayne-rogers-trapper-john-mash-dead-20151231

A few of M*A*S*H’s original cast members: Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers, and Loretta Swit

Alphonso Joseph D’Abruzzo, aka Alan Alda ,was, for the 11 years M.A.S.H. was on CBS, one of the most popular and recognizable actors of the 1970’s and early 1980’s. Although the series was based on a 1970 movie of the same name which starred Donald Sutherland in the Hawkeye role, Alda embraced the persona and made it his own during the TV shows run. From the Infallible Wikipedia:

“Between long sessions of treating wounded patients, he (Hawkeye) is found making wisecracks, drinking heavily, carousing, womanizing, and pulling pranks on the people around him, especially Frank Burns and “Hot Lips” Houlihan. Although just one of an ensemble of characters in author Richard Hooker’s MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, in the television series Hawkeye became the center of the M*A*S*H unit’s medical activity. In the television series, he becomes the Chief Surgeon of the unit early in the first season.”

Unlike the notorious skirt chaser Hawkeye Pierce, Alda was married in 1957 to Arlene Weiss. Their nearly 63 year marriage produced three daughters and eight grandchildren. In the TV series, Hawkeye never marries but has an unending string of relationships with nurses and enticing female visitors to the 4077th.

One interesting tidbit I learned about Alda – and one which may have contributed to his being able to play his M.A.S.H. role convincingly – is that he spent six months in Korea as part of the US Army Reserve in 1957. The Korean hostilities were long since over, but his experiences in the ROTC followed by a year in the army likely provided him a true understanding as to the ways of military life.

During the M.A.S.H. years, in addition to his role as Hawkeye, Alda gradually became one of the show’s writers, producers, and creative consultants. In all, he either wrote/co-wrote and/or directed 36 of M.A.S.H.’s episodes. He is also the only actor from the series to appear in all 256 episodes.

Alda, according to firsthand accounts, was not easy to work with. Also from the Infallible Wikipedia:

“For the first three seasons, Alda and his co-stars Wayne Rogers and McLean Stevenson worked well together, but later, tensions increased, particularly as Alda’s role grew in popularity. Rogers and Stevenson both left the show at the end of the third season. At the beginning of the fourth season, Alda and the producers decided to find a replacement actor to play the surrogate parent role formerly taken by Colonel Blake. They eventually found veteran actor and fan of the series, Harry Morgan, who starred as Colonel Sherman T. Potter, becoming another of the show’s protagonists. Mike Farrell was also introduced as Hawkeye’s new roommate BJ Hunnicutt.

In his 1981 autobiography, Jackie Cooper (who directed several early episodes) wrote that Alda concealed a lot of hostility beneath the surface, and that the two of them barely spoke to each other by the time Cooper’s directing of M*A*S*H ended.”

After M.A.S.H., Alda went on to act in a variety of projects which included the TV series West Wing, a number of Broadway plays, and several movies. Despite being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, Alda continues to work and told ExtraTV recently, “”Eighty-three was very nice; I’m trying for 84 now. When I wake up and say, ‘I’m done,’ that will be when I’m already dead.”

M.A.S.H. was, for my family in the 1970’s, one of a handful of ‘must watch TV’ shows. It started as a Sunday night show then moved to Saturday and then Tuesday for its second and third years. Eventually, after back and forth time slots on Friday’s and Tuesday’s, it eventually found its permanent night on Monday.

But none of that mattered to my mother. She loved the show and found it on whatever night it aired.

This 4 minute video is interesting to watch… Alan Alda in his own words reflects on his life and career.

I never really thought much about Alan Alda’s age when M.A.S.H. was popular. In reality he was a contemporary of most of my classmate’s parents, having been born in 1936. Even though my own parents were over a decade older, Alda did such a great job in the role that he became ageless. Part of the reason to tune in each week was to hear his wry and pithy observations on the inconsistencies of human behavior.

It was easy to relate to the character of Hawkeye and see the delicious irony of life – even in a war zone – through his skeptical eyes.

So be sure to raise a toast to Alan Alda and cheer his positive attitude which, in spite of life’s hurdles, continues to inspire.

A couple of links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Alda

https://extratv.com/2020/01/13/alan-alda-talks-living-with-parkinsons-and-not-giving-up-acting/