BACK TO SCHOOL

Tomorrow is "back to school day" for so many children including my two grand children who are getting ready for a new year. Sara will be going into third grade and Ben will be entering Kindergarten. Big yellow buses will begin to roll through the neighborhoods, and mothers will be frantic to see that their kids have everything they need for the day, and for the year. I cannot help but think back to my own mother who had to get two boys and five girls off to school every day with all the things they needed, and also, dressed in neatly pressed uniforms. Being the organized person that I am, this was always an exciting time for me. I loved going to buy new notebooks, lined papers, new pencils and pens, and to think about how I was going to use these throughout the school year. I loved a clean, crisp sheet of paper to begin, and a way to organized all of my subjects and classes. Perhaps I was a bit of a "geek" in this regard. We did not have backpacks as kids have today, and maybe our backs are better because of that. My most favorite time, in late August each year, was to go with my mother to downtown Shillatoes Department Store in Cincinnati, to purchase my new brown and white saddle shoes (see picture above) that matched our brown uniform skirts and blazers. Our shoes (with white knee-high socks) and uniforms were only sold at Shillatoes and this was a traditional trek with my mother to get everything I needed there. And after we were done, Mother and I would treat ourselves to lunch at the luncheonette in the indoor colonnade, near the Department Store. To this day, this is one of the happiest memories I have with my mother. My most cherished school years were high school at The Summit where we were taught by the enlightened Sisters of Notre Dame De Namur, a French Order, who created a very peaceful, structured and loving place for me to learn. And now as I see kids going off to school today, I wish them an enlightened, happy learning experience this year and for all the years. ahead.   

What Charlotte Said.....

Why am I thinking of  "Charlotte's Web" today? Perhaps it is because, in today's paper, I read that the State Fair is beginning which makes me think of farms and raising animals (which my husband did in 4-H growing up) and particularly of pigs, those cute little pink animals that you want to keep as pets instead of the alternative. And though I do not like spiders, the thought of Wilbur leads me to thoughts of Charlotte, and the wisdom and truth of what she says. For example: ON FRIENDSHIP: "You have been my friend, (to Wilbur) and that in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what's a life anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die. A spider's life can't help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that." ON BEING YOUNG/YOUNG AT HEART: "Go down through the garden, dig up the radishes! Root up everything! Eat grass! Look for corn! Look for oats! Run all over! Skip and dance, jump and prance! Go down through the orchard and stroll in the woods! The world is a wonderful place when you're young." ON ENCOURAGEMENT: "We must advertise Wilbur's noble qualities; not his testiness." ON PEOPLE'S VULNERABILITY: "People believe almost anything they see in print." ON FREEDOM: "An hour of freedom is worth a barrel of slops." (said by the goose) ON BOREDOM: "When I'm out here (in my pen), there's no place to go but in. When I'm indoors, there's no place to go but out in the yard." ON PATIENCE: "Charlotte was naturally patient. She knew from experience that if she waited long enough, a fly would come to her web." ON LOGIC: "What do you mean, less than nothing? How can something be less than nothing? If nothing is nothing, then nothing has nothing that is less than it is." ON COURAGE: "Take a deep breath! Now climb to the highest place you can get to. Now make an attachment with your spinnerets, hurl yourself into space, and let out a dragline as you go down." (Charlotte explaining how to spin a web.) ON LAZY TIME: "What does sedentary mean? It means I sit still a good part of the time and don't go wandering all over creation. I stay put and wait for what comes. Gives me a chance to think." ON BEING HUMBLE: "Humble? Humble has two meanings. It means 'not proud' and it means 'near the ground.' That's Wilbur all over. He's not proud and he's close to the ground.? ON CREATING SOMETHING: "I don't know what a magnum opus is," (Wilbur) "That's Latin; it means 'great work.' This egg sac is my great work...the finest thing I have ever made." (Charlotte)

* Written with the help and quotes from book, "Charlotte's Web."

Marilyn Monroe & Fashion

A very good friend of mine in New York, George Zano, has co-authored this stunning book about Marilyn Monroe and her influence on fashion. It is a book of shimmering elegance with hundreds of rare photographs of this iconic beauty, and is extremely well written. Even though I do not have a particular interest in Marilyn Monroe, this book is so classy and beautiful that it "knocked my socks off!"  The book takes Marilyn from "girl-next-door" naive, shy brunette to the smart, sexy,  poised model and actress she became in her very short life. The pictures are all here to tell the story! Marilyn arrived on the human stage when I was busy being a typical teenager,and our mothers were still wearing button-up blouses, long skirts and white gloves. Many an American housewife was surely shocked and perhaps a little envious of this brilliant beauty. And, you know they were all looking at what she was wearing! And unbeknown to most of them, she was being outfitted by some of the most famous designers who influenced fashion then and now. This is a book not to be missed for its amazing photographs,and story of a woman who continues to be as"present" today as she was "back then."

Horror in Colorado

It is not possible for this day to go by without commenting on the horror and tragedy that happened Friday night in Aurora, Colorado. What a deranged, senseless, awful thing to have happened there, and my thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims, their families and their friends. I believe that we have become a less civilized country, and instead of evolving to a higher state of being, we are sinking to the lowest, greedy, violent level. Someone has said that man is made in the likeness of the angels, and that we are just below the angels in our presence, but I rather think, these days, that we are just above the apes. Why are we surprised when things like this happen when so much of what is in the media, on video games etc. is all very violent. Recently, my husband and I went to the movies and were subject to five previews of upcoming films, each one more violent than the one before. If we lead a horse to water over and over again, eventually the horse will drink; the same is true of man's exposure to violence. We have become desensitized to the horrors of guns, rifles, assault weapons etc. and the impact of the bullets that actually do kill people. In real life, it is not a reality show; it really happens and changes lives forever. With so much violence to watch everywhere, what does it take for an already deranged person to do exactly what they see in the movies, on T.V., in video games etc. Not much. I am discouraged today about the direction these incidents point to in our society. Is there any hope for a nation without guns to mow down innocent people?

I have not been on my BLOG for quite some time, but I have an excuse. I have just completed a wonderful college music class called, "Blues, Jazz and Rock & Roll," and oh, what a walk down memory lane it was for me. The book we used (above) is called' I Hear America Singing," by David Kastin and if you want to read an overview of how the Blues music led to Jazz and then to Rock & Roll, this is the book to read. We went to the Mississippi Delta first, where the blues is said to have started, with the slaves on cotton plantations singing " a call and response" format that was then imitated time and again in all these genres of music. And after learning about Muddy Waters and others and the involvement of big city blues, we went to New Orleans, the birthplace of Jazz and heard the music of Buddy Bolden, B.B. King, Stevie Vaughn and then on to Chuck Berry, Jelly Roll Mortin  the New Orleans Brass Band, King Oliver and finally Louis Armstrong and Fats Domino. Then came the "swing era" with the bands of Benny Goodman(King of Swing), Glen Miller and Duke Ellington. Billy Holliday made her debut about this time, as well as Ella Fitzgerald. Bebop arrived on the scene with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie playing a more spontaneous style of Jazz and really "kicked" things up. Soon "cool jazz" arrived with Miles Davis and a more soothing respite from bebop's heated intensity. Other greats at this time in jazz history were Thelonious Munk, John Coltrane and Wynton Marsalis. And then came "Rock & Roll" and the boogie-woogie. This was my teen era of music having started H.S. in 1954 when R&R really took off with songs like Sh-Boom, Rock Around the Clock, and Shake Rattle & Roll...all of which I owned on those single 45s. Here we get the talents of Bill Haley, Joe Turner, Chuck Berry, Johnnie Ray (Cry), Little Richard (Tutti-Fruitti), Carl Perkins (Blue Suede Shoes) Fats Domino, Elvis, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis (Whole Lot of Shaking Goin On), Everly Brothers (Bye, Bye Love & Little Susie) to name a few. You also had the "Rockabilly" tunes like "That'll Be the Day." And then you had "the day the music died," with the airplane crash, February 3, 1959, which took three of the newest and brightest Rock & Roll stars; Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the "Big Bopper," J. P. Richardson. Motown emerged with small women groups like "the Shirelles" singing Tonight's the Night and Will You Love Me Tomorrow? and The Supremes singing "Stop in the Name of Love," and "Baby Love." Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin were on top at this time and their music has endured over time. The Sound of the Beach Boys surfaced just before the on slot of The Beatles, and Beatlemania in the U.S. They arrived two months after the death of President Kennedy, and brightened a sad nation with their upbeat songs, humor, and showmanship.  Just what the country needed at the time! I was in Africa and missed the whole hoop-la, and when I came back, had never heard of the Beatles! Others around this time surfaced, like The Kingston Trio, and Bob Dylan with his "Blowin in the Wind," and socially conscience lyrics which would soon change. With the Beatles & Bob Dylan came the electric guitar and amped -up music, for better or worse, depending on how you like it. Me, I like the calmer music played on acoustic guitar. My interest in the class began to wane with the arrival of "The Rolling Stones," and their loud, wild, electric guitar music with lyrics about drugs. I could go on and on with the likes of Jimi Hendriux, The Doors and The Who but I think that I will not although our class continued on with these groups. I cannot think of a more interesting (to me) class to have taken this summer! I loved it! 

FLOWERS OF SUMMER

YESTERDAY, (OR IS IT TODAY?) WAS THE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER, THE LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR. I GUESS WE CAN SAY, FROM NOW ON, IT IS ALL DOWN HILL. I TOOK THIS PICTURE THIS MORNING IN OUR BACKYARD GARDEN, AND I DO NOT KNOW WHAT MORE COULD BE SAID ABOUT THE DELIGHT OF SUMMER EXCEPT PERHAPS THIS POEM BY ROBERT LEWIS STEVENSON CALLED:

THE FLOWERS

ALL THE NAMES I KNOW FROM NURSE

GARDENER'S GARTERS, SHEPHERD'S PURSE,

BACHELOR'S BUTTONS, LADY'S SMOCK,

AND THE LADY HOLLYHOCK

FAIRY PLACES, FAIRY THINGS,

FAIRY WOODS WHERE THE WILD BEE WINGS,

TINY TREES FOR TINY DAMES----

THESE MUST ALL BE FAIRY NAMES!

TINY WOODS BELOW THOSE BOUGHS

SHADY FAIRIES WEAVE A HOUSE;

TINY TREE-TOPS, ROSE OR THYME,

WHERE THE BRAVER FAIRIES CLIMB!

FAIR ARE GROWN-UP PEOPLE'S TREES,

BUT THE FAIREST WOODS ARE THESE;

WHERE IF I WERE NOT SO TALL,

I SHOULD LIVE FOR GOOD AND ALL.

AH, YES....WERE I NOT SO TALL, AND WERE THERE NOT SNAKES IN THE GARDEN, I TOO WOULD ENJOY LIVING AMONG THE BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS OF SUMMER!

* CLICK ON PICTURE TO SEE FLOWER DETAIL

SO YOU THINK YOUR LIFE DOESN'T MATTER
If you don't know about "The Writer's Almanac" website, and you love poetry, you will love clicking into this site. I have always known that poetry needs to be read aloud for its full enjoyment and appreciation, and this is what this web-site will bring you; a poem of the day read by Garrison Keeler along with other tidbits of the day. Last week, I was experiencing one of those nasty days when I was thinking that my life was worthless and did not amount to much, or that I made any difference to anyone at all on this stage we call LIFE. And then, as if a mysterious hand led me to this poem, read on The Writer's Almanac, I was able to make a pyridine shift to envision things differently. This poem is sad, but also profound, and I invite you to read it here, and then think about the people in your life that YOU make a difference to......

IT IS NOT THE FACT THAT I WILL DIE THAT I MIND
                                                            Poem by: Jim Moore
but that no one will love as I did
the oak tree out my boyhood window,
the mother who set herself
so stubbornly against life,
the sister with her serious frown
and her wish for someone by her side,
the father with his dreamy gaze
and his left hand idly buried
in the fur of his dog.
And the dog herself,
that mournful look and huge appetite,
her need for absolute stillness
in the presence of a bird.
I know how each of them looks
when sleeping. And I know how it feels
to fall asleep among them.
No one knows that but me,
No one knows how to love the way I do.

And isn't this really the measure of each of us? We each have a few people in our lives for which we make a real difference, one difference being that we know them and love them in a singular, unique way that is not available to anyone else. I think that we all crave someone to be in our life who can be our historian, our notebook, and to know us and love us to the enth degree of honesty, warts and all.