Love Triangle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VMYlJv3VVk

Check out this performance from Chris Botti's 2007 Concert. Sting vs Botti over Trudy Styler (Sting's wife).

1926 - My Grandmother's Wedding Photo

Hazel Clella Hiday married Everett Calvin Hiday on May 11, 1926. Her three sisters were bridesmaids (Mary, Myrtle, and Cora) and her Sunday School students served as attendants, hence the large assemblage here. Wasn't she an adorable bride? She made her dresses...I have them in my home.

Dusty Springfield (1939-1999) - a tribute

I first heard Dusty Springfield sing when I was about 11 years old. It was "love at first note" - if I'd had the money as a teenager, I would have owned every album she ever made. Listeners can hear the influence of Peggy Lee in her voice and see Motown in her performance persona. I wonder if people can hear Dusty in my voice when I sing? At times I can hear Rosemary Clooney in my voice, but I always wanted to sound like Dusty. Isn't it sad that she died before she turned 60?

What do you think of this video? Here she sings with Burt Bacharach at the piano. (I still have the hand-written letter he sent me in 1971 after I wrote and asked him if I could sing with him. It's in my scrapbook, no joke.) I enjoy the interview at the end of this video clip when Dusty says, "Hate the hair! Love the song!"

Small World, Warm Hearts...or something like that.

So my daughter-in-law asks me to respond to an email and send out a recipe to 20 people. So send my bread recipe to a number of friends, because I'm a supportive and caring mother-in-law. I include on my list Cathy Schmitlein, a friend I met while living in Japan. In 2005, I returned to Utah and Cathy's husband was transferred from Zama, Japan to Seattle. That said, I happen to mention that my bread recipe came to me from Gloria Mosbarger. Cathy Schmitlein responds to my email that she uses the same bread recipe -- which she too got from Gloria Mosbarger when they were students at BYU. Who knew? So, Gloria and Myron, wherever you are these days, we're all enjoying that bread recipe!

Small world and distant lands. Warm hearts and busy hands.

Waxing Sentimental

With the "Lawrence Welk Show" playing in the background, I become a 12-year-old in a 55-year-old body. I ride an emotional see-saw between Warm fuzzies and embarrassment as I stroll down memory lane with these beautifully archived snipets of musical/television history. My first paper dolls were the Lennon Sisters (Peggy, Kathy, Diane, and Janet). And I can feel the woolen carpet of my grandmother's living room, where we gather as a family on Saturday nights to watch her favorite show with Hazel. I can see the pale pine green carpet, with its movie-theater motif of flowers abounding. And I can feel the plush velvet of her burgundy-colored sofa and matching armchair. But the floor is where I lie with my paperdolls, my baby doll, and my grandmother's nightgown engulfing me in the warm fuzzy that only a real girly-girl basks. Norma Zimmer is what Hazel should have looked like on the outside, because that's what she was like on the inside. ..more later.

Maya Angelou's Best Poem

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
enough money within her control to move out and rent a place of her own,
even if she never wants or needs to...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
something perfect to wear if the employer or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
a youth she's content to leave behind....

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
a past juicy enough that she's looking forward to retelling it in her old age....

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD H AVE ...
a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
one friend who always makes her laugh... and one who lets her cry.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ..
eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems,
and a recipe for a meal that will make her guests feel honored.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
a feeling of control over her destiny.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
how to fall in love without losing herself.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
how to quit a job, break up with a lover, and confront a friend without ruining the friendship.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
when to try harder... and WHEN TO WALK AWAY.

EVER Y WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
that she can't change the length of her calves, the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
that her childhood may not have been perfect... but its over.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
what she would and wouldn't do for love.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
how to live alone... even if she doesn't like it.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW..
whom she can trust, whom she can't, and why she shouldn't take it personally.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
where to go... be it to her best friend's kitchen table or a charming inn in the woods...
when her soul needs soothing.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
what she can and can't accomplish in a day... a month...and a year.

1965-1975: Elegy for Americans

In 1993 I wrote a tribute to those who lived through, and died in, the Viet Nam "conflict." I was 12 when that war started and 22 when it ended. It marred my adolescence, as the lead story night after night for a decade recounted the dead, the wounded, the missing, the imprisoned. Finally, in 1975 I watched as American soldiers were quietly shuttled back into the U.S. in small groups of 20-30 soldiers. There were no crowds, no parades, no bands, no celebrations to welcome home these broken warriors who would continue to suffer for who knows how long from every possible form of PTSD.

One 4th of July a few years later, I spotted a handful of VietNam War vets marching in the parade. From the depths of my soul rose an unrecognizable sorrow, and tears flowed uncontrollably at the sight of these heroes from my own generation. We are not the noble ones, like that Greatest Generation of our fathers. But we have a story to tell that might bring understanding to the world. We all suffered, we all remember.

I will never cease to love you --
you who are my tattered generation,
who toiled in vain to save someone else's dream.

I will never cease to see you with my heart,
you the uniformed marchers,
the long haired protesters, the dirty,
the young, the injured --
you who left, who gave, who returned --
for my heart carries your face.

Your voice has been seared into my soul
for all time as mine --
my Countrymen.
I mouth the words to worn out tunes
of land and stripes, of rockets and emblems,
whose meanings only you and I share.

I will never cease to feel for you --
you who might have been mine
in this future in which I live and you are remembered.

I will not cease to feel the pain of your memory,
the loss of your presence, the shame of your sacrifice,
and the pride in your honor.

I will never forget to Salute you --
as parades pass noisily,
as winds unfurl flags,
as voices raise in song,
as my throat feels the loss,
the pain, the shame, and the pride --
mingled in an instant.

This is my promise:
I will not cease to remember
you who were mine --
brothers, fathers, lovers, sons, friends --
my Countrymen.

D-Day: Lest We Forget

I made a promise that this year I would write about D-Day. The films, documentaries, biographies, and novels about that incredible series of events have instilled in me an understanding of how it was planned and executed: the names and places of key players; the sensitive timing needed and seized by daring leadership of Allied officers; the bold heroism of the soldiers who pushed through terrifying odds; the fallen children -- sons, fathers, husbands, brothers -- who gave their lives to help retain freedom for all. How humble I am to be the recipient of that freedom. It is my obligation and privilege to honor them this day.

A Bridge Too Far, Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, Kelly's Heroes -- just a few of the best WWII films dealing with D-Day. Lest we forget...


Here's a website about D-Day: http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/dday/default.aspx