"Poor Johnny One-Note"

March 5 was my dad's birthday; he would be 91 today.  He died so long ago now, that I can't even conceive how he would look as a truly old man!  It's been 31 years!  There's so much that he missed! 

This is a picture of my dad and Little Sis when she was about a year old or so.   (Wasn't  she cute?? Wasn't he???)

He didn't see Little Sis graduate from college or get married.  He never met her ex-husband.  (No great loss there!)  He never met her two children or watched them grow up.  He never saw me on stage in a play.  He never heard the trio I sang with for ten years(which he would have flat-out loved!)  He didn't see Ratchlet grow up, go to college and grad school, and get married.  He never knew what a wonderful person she turned out to be.  He never met his miracle great granddaughter, Maddie-the-Great!  He never knew that his wife (my mother) was a widow and lived alone for for over 20 years after he was gone!

He missed an enormous part of my mom's, my sister's and my lives; and there was so much that he would have loved.  And we would have loved sharing all those things with him too. It wasn't his choice, of course, we understand that.  Nevertheless, it was not to be and now all we have are memories. 

For instance, the little post below, about tone-deaf elephants.... that brings back a memory about my dad and music. 

You first should know that everyone in my mom's family could sing.  A big family in the Depression didn't have much outside entertainment, so they entertained themselves, singing together around the radio, or while doing the dishes and chores.  Pop songs were a big part of their lives.  My mom passed that love of singing to both Little Sis and I.  The Big Guy and I met in the college choir, so he could sing too and much later that ability to sing went on down to Ratchlet and M-t-G.  If we are in the car on a road trip, sooner or later we start to sing.  Its great fun.  And we do sound pretty good too!  We even do harmony!  It's kind of a family tradition!

When I was a little girl (even before Little Sis was born), we had to drive a minimum of 50 miles or more to get to a larger town where we could go shopping for whatever we needed, like clothes or Christmas presents and so on.  So we would get in the car with Daddy driving and head off to West Palm Beach or Tampa or Orlando several times a year.  And on every single trip we sang going and coming back.  And after L.S. was old enough she would join us. 

Now have you noticed that there is one name missing from those stories of singing???  My dad.  Dad could whistle in tune, he had a good sense of rythmn, he could dance, he could hear when someone else was sharp or flat, he knew all the old songs, just like Mom.  But what he couldn't do was.....sing!  He wasn't tone deaf if he could whistle in tune, but he just could not match tones.   His singing voice just could not be in the same place on the scale that everybody else's was. That ability was just not there.  He wasn't exactly a "Poor Johnny One-Note", but it was close.

Unfortunately, that missing element made him sound awful when he sang.  Truly painful.  You couldn't sing along with him because it inevitably sounded like we were all singing different songs!  We couldn't stay in tune while he was all over the place!  And oh, how we tormented him about it!  It was this big family joke, dad would start to sing along with us and after about 5 notes, he was off into a different musical universe, and the rest of us (well, that would be just me, mostly) would cover our ears and yell at him....."Oh no, Daddy, don't sing!  You sound awful!! Please don't sing!"  And then we would all laugh and he would stop singing and just listen the rest of the way.

It makes me cringe to write that.  I can't believe we (mostly me) would repeatedly hurt him like that and he never once got mad!  Never.  He always laughed about it, but still I'm embarrassed that I didn't really know how cruel I was being. 

You see, the saddest part was that Daddy loved music just like all of us.  He just wanted to share in the fun we were having and be a part of it.  He knew that he couldn't sing (heaven knows, we told him so often enough!), still he wanted to so much....but we wouldn't let him.  I'm really sorry, Daddy!

I'd give a lot to sing with him now.    

"Baby Elephant Walk"

Isn't this little guy adorable??  He may just be the cutest elephant I've ever seen!  He has absolutely nothing to do with today's post other than he is the logo (mascot?) of Jumbo Jimbo's Song Lyrics Archive (which is one of the sites I use to verify that the Song Titles I use are correct).  I just love the look on Jumbo Jimbo's face, his big blue eye, and the idea of an elephant singing.  Have you ever heard the ....uhhm.... "song" of a trumpeting elephant???  Music it ain't!  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they are tone deaf!! But this little guy makes me believe that there may be one or two exceptions. 

Anyway, I just love him and I thought I'd share!  Hope you like him too!

"Paperback Writer"

While I'm on the topic of books, a few more words about "Paperback Writers" (sort of a carry-over from yesterday).   I have recently discovered author websites, blogs, and even Facebook pages of a lot of my favorite writers.  I am actually "friends" with two of them, Facebook says so!

It's a lovely thing to be able to get "insider" information directly from the writer.  You can find out all sorts of interesting things.  Sometimes they have short excerpts from their next book, or they'll tell you the next date of publication, or they'll talk about their inspiration, their history, their backgrounds.  All of a sudden the writer becomes a real person who is sharing a real-life picture of who they are. 

They often discuss characters from their books, talking about them as if they were almost real.  I guess when you spend the months and months required to write a noval, the characters you create can take on a life of their own of sorts.  I love that.  

With books that I love, I also come close to thinking of some characters as real!  So much so that I want their story to go on and on.  "But what happens next?" is my frequent thought as I finish the last few pages. That's a great testament to the ability of the writer.  For that reason I'm happy when there is an epilogue or a  sequel or trilogies, or an on-going series of interrelated stories. I can hold on to the character and the story a little while longer. 

Back on the subject of social networking with writers (paperback and otherwise!),  sometimes you find out something that doesn't make you so happy.  For instance, one of my very favorite authors noted that it takes her about 2 years to write a book!  Two Years!!  In two years you could have two children, or sail around the world in a canoe, or read the collected works of Shakespere....twice!   Gee whiz, her books are good and all, but they're not "War and Peace" for heaven's sake! 

Of course, I know that you can't hurry these things, writing is a very personalized talent, you can only write the way you can write!  It is just frustrating for the reader.  When I get a new book by one of my favorite authors, I must force myself to ration my reading.  I have to limit myself to only reading a small portion each day.  In this manner, I can make a new book last for a maximum of about 4 days, 5 days IF I've had a busy week!  Otherwise, I'd finish them in one sitting!  But even if rationing is successful, there is still a 2 year wait till the next one!  It does make me appreciate her books more, and thankfully, hers are of the sort that I can read multiple times, so that helps fill the gap....some!

That's a pretty selfish point of view, I guess, thinking only of my own reading habits.  Still, if you were to go to her FB page, you would see comment after comment from her other readers, expressing similar impatience for the next book.  Some of the comments are funny or well done, but my very favorite comment was simply, "Write faster."   LOL!    Concise and to the point!  I didn't write it, but I wish I had!  Gotta love it!

Anyway, if you are interested in the personal side of your favorite
"Paperback Writer", look for them on Facebook or Google,  I'll bet they are there somewhere....fooling around with clever comments and talking to people, when they KNOW they should be back at work.... writing faster!!

"Bookends"

I have or have had a lot of different interests, activities, or hobbies over the course of my lifetime, everything from Acting to Zoos.  Many have lasted quite a while, like music, singing, games.  Others have come....and gone....in the flash of an eye....like needlework, and crafts of all sorts.  But there has been one constant that never has gone away and I seriously doubt it ever will.  Reading! 

Books are kind of the "bookends" of my life.  I cannot remember ever not being able to read.  There is some speculation that I might very well have been born with a book in my hand!  The consensus is that while I might not have been actually born with a book in hand... I probably picked one up on the way to the newborn nursery!

At the opposite end of life, if I were to die having just finished a wonderful book, I would die a happy woman.  See?  "Bookends!"  And if there is some kind of afterlife, if there aren't books and reading, I'm not going!

Everywhere I go, I have a book with me....either in my purse or somewhere close at hand.  If I go out to eat, I take a book.  If I have a doctor or dental appointment, I take a book.  Hairdresser??  I take a book.  Babysitting???  I've got a book.  Vacation or business trip???   SEVERAL books!!

If I don't have a book or something else to read, I don't know what to do with my hands or where to look.  Books are my escape, my refuge, my best friends!  I LOVE books. 

Writers of books are like idols to me.  I can put a sentence or a paragraph or two together, but write a 400 page novel or a biography or whatever?  I could never do that!  Ever!  The people who have the ability write must have an extra chromosome or something that the rest of us don't have.  And there are hundreds of thousands of people who are (or were) considered AUTHORS.

Of course, there are many levels to writing.  Not everyone has the same ability or style or command of language.  There are poor writers who nonetheless have managed to put together a book and convince somebody to publish it!  Actually, poor writers who have enough concentration or talent or whatever it is, to string enough words together to end up with a "book", albeit a poor one, still amaze me. 

And then there are the plots (I'm speaking about fiction now).  Great ideas that get fleshed out with  fully-developed characters that are believable and that you end up caring about.  Words that not only tell a story, but give a message or a moral, or make you laugh.  That's why books are so powerful!    It's what makes the difference between a Bronte and a Bozo!  

Most of the time when I read, I don't do a bunch of analysis on the message or the moral.  I have no interest in taking a book apart like they do in book clubs.  I read for enjoyment, not to critique.   I don't read anything heavy (either in weight or content).  I don't particularly like short stories or novellas either.  I will read one or two in a pinch, but I read very fast and I just go through them like the wind!  Besides, you are just beginning to be interested in the characters or the story and, BAM, its over.  I find that very unsatisfying.  I've gone through mysteries, political thrillers, and science fiction phases.  After a while those genres get tedious, predictable, unbelievable or sometimes all three!

For the last several years I have been reading "womens' fiction".  Authors of this type of book are overwhelmingly female (is that a given??) who are exploring the relationships women have with their spouse, their mothers, their children, their friends.  They can be written humorously or deadly seriously.  They can have a little love or romance. They can be deeply moving or superficial.  They can have happy endings or not and that's okay. 

There are some wonderful authors writing in this genre.  There are the masters:  Nora Roberts, Judith Kranz, Maeve Binchy, Danielle Steel, Sandra Brown, Debbie Macomber, and the Queen of them all, Anne Rivers Siddons.  There are also the newcomers (at least new to me):  Dorothea Benton Frank, Sheryl Woods, Robyn Carr, Marion Keyes, Emilie Richards.  And in a special group, my favorites!  These are the ones that I will run to buy their new hardcovers as soon as they are published:  Susan Wiggs, Barbara Bretton, Barbara Delinsky, Jennifer Cruisie, Kristin Hannah.  And in a class by herself, the hysterical and masterful  and incomperable Susan Elizabeth Phillips!  For my money, she's the best of the best!

 I love reading these ladies' work.  Some I have read again and again. There are many, many more writers, of course, that I haven't discovered yet.  Not to worry, I'll get to them.  These days I have lots of time to read and that's a dream come true!   So, I'll keep reading until the other end of the "bookends" crops up and there's no more time.   

It's not original to me, of course, but an appropriate epitaph for me just might be:

"So many books, so little time"  

"Buttons and Bows"

I may have mentioned (like only about a thousand times!) that I am technologically challenged.  This isn't really my fault.  I am beyond the cusp of the computer generation.  I was born to soon.  I know just enough to let me do some of the basics of blogging, but I don't know enough to allow me to do the fun stuff....like "buttons and bows". 

When I go visiting new blogs I love the "bows", you know what I mean,  the pretty backgrounds, glorious color schemes, and individuality of so many blogs.  The stuff that really dresses it up.  And lots of bloggers have their very own "buttons" , I mean all those cute personal buttons to grab and post on your own site to give a link to another blog you especially like. 

I love that stuff; in most cases its creative and cleverly done, very eye-catching, and it makes a bit of a statement about who you are and what you're like.  Its cool.

But because I am this old lady techno-dweeb, I don't have any of that stuff!   And worse, I have no clue as how one goes about making a button or getting a neat background.   I actually feel pretty clever that I got this far!  So just because my blog is kind of plain and not very interesting looking, doesn't mean I don't wish it was one of the "pretty" ones.

Hmmmm, Maddie-the-great is getting to the age when she will probably turn into one of those whiz kids that just instinctively know how to do stuff on the computer.  Maybe, if I try real hard to be patient and wait a couple of years, she'll be able to help me "redecorate" my little corner of blogdom!   Of course, by then, blogs will probably have moved beyond "buttons and bows" into something even more complicated that I will never figure out even with M-t-G's help!  That's really not fair. 

Why don't these things come with instructions or tutors or something??