My husband and I
have seen the play 'Cats'
eight times. Yes, it's that good. One time, for obvious reasons, we went all
the way to New York City to see it at the Wintergarden Theatre.
Several years ago Les and
I took my parents to Gatlinburg, TN for their wedding anniversary. We bought
tickets to a show with Elvis impersonator Pete Wilcox, at the Memories
Theatre. He has been on Designing Women, Walker Texas Ranger, and L.A.
Law, and other shows...I just can't remember them all. Anyway, Charlie Hodge
was with him. He used to be one of Elvis' closest friends. I got an autograph
from both of them. I had just finished making my dad's white Elvis suit and
dad was to take it with him when he went back home in Maryland. I won several
ribbons on the suit at the local fair. Dad and I took it with us when we all
went to the show. I met Pete Wilcox after the show and let him see the suit I
had just made for dad. They both held it while Les took a picture.
Several years ago I
had the thrill of a life-time...I was fortunate enough to meet one of my all
time favorite actors...Charlton
Heston! My husband bought front row seats, in the center. We also attended
the reception, held after his speech. I didn't care what his speech was
about...he could have recited the alphabet, for all I cared....I just love to
listen to his voice. I brought along my copy of his book "In The
Arena" and he autographed it for me. I grew up watching his movies on
rainy Sunday mornings. In the second picture you'll notice that I got Charlton
to laugh like Moses. This picture was taken with our camera....the first
picture was taken by someone with a Polaroid camera.
In
September 2000 we went to Hollywood, California and I was able to take a
picture of Charlton's footprints and handprints at Mann's Chinese Theatre.
In March 1995 I was at
the local cat show and was able to meet Lilian
Jackson Braun, again. She is the lady who writes all of those 'The
Cat Who....' books. She usually appears at the Spartanburg Auditorium
when the cat show is in town. She signs books and promotes her latest in her
series of 'The Cat Who....' books. That year it was 'The Cat
Who Blew The Whistle'. I have several books signed by her and treasure
them all.
Last year, when Les and I
built our deck, I wanted to put a fireplace on it. So we bought one. I love
going out with a basket of wood, light a fire, and just sit and write or read.
It is one of the best things I've done for myself! I actually look forward to
cold weather, just so we can light a fire.
Hey, cast fetish
people, please leave me alone.
In 1997 I fell and broke
my left arm. It's very, very, very rare that I ever fall...but this time
I did. Can you imagine what it's like to be a double amputee AND have a broken
arm? They shoot horses for less than this!! I was so miserable...but not too
miserable to have Les go and get the camera before we went to the hospital to
have my arm set. I wanted a picture of what my arm looked like before it was
fixed. Even my doctor said I was gross. But, the good doctor put me back
together again...I healed perfectly.
I
have always loved good poetry and beautiful paintings. I didn't develop an
appreciation for modern art...too abstract...'avant garde'. Alfred
Lord Tennyson and William
Shakespeare...sometimes Edgar
Allan Poe, and John
Keats are among my favorite writers. They challenge my mind and emotions.
My favorite paintings are of J.
W. Waterhouse....very romantic paintings, like 'The
Lady of Shalott'. I have a huge painting of 'The
Lady of Shalott' in my bedroom. I never tire of looking at it.
I also have these two
paintings, as well....our dart room/sun porch is done up in Renaissance charm.
I have several suits of armor and these paintings in that room. The paintings
were inspired by another favorite writer of mine, John
Keats, who wrote 'La
Belle Dame Sans Merci'. The first painting you see is by J. W.
Waterhouse and the second painting is by Sir
Frank Dicksee...another artist I admire.
'Stuff
I Like To Collect'
This section wouldn't be
complete unless I told you some of the things that I like to collect. I like
anything with spiders...they
are hard to find...people hate them. I have been fascinated by spiders since I
was a child. I have never been afraid of them. I respect them, though...no
sense in provoking one. And I collect anything with chickens
on it. I also collect tiny
suitcases....cosmetic
cases, any suitcase that is small. I have them all over my bedroom. And let's
not forget monkeys. I
have a barrel of them. For a long time they were hard to find, but not any
more. I collect old stuff,
too. My entire house looks like we live in a Cracker Barrel Restaurant. Old
stuff has charm. My bedroom is dripping with Victorian decor...lace and
flowers everywhere...definitely a woman's bedroom.
The Little
Black Book
In 1985 I met a girl who became a friend of
mine, Rita Thomas. She worked for a singles magazine called The Little Black
Book in 'advertising sales'. During the month of November 1985, she approached
me and said that they needed a "Single Of The Month" for January
1986....and asked me if I would run for it. Well, I had never been in a single's
ad, and had no interest in it at all. She explained that she thought I would be
a 'sure win' and said I didn't even have to answer any of the
ads...but that I could go out with whomever I wanted and they would buy dinner
for two and some others things I'd receive as gifts, if I won..
Okay, fine....so I told her she could have
a picture of me and I didn't think any more of it. Then she stopped over one day
and told me I won for Single Of The Month....January 1986. Well, I had just
started dating Les, the husband I have now...and I when I gave the interview I
had Les in mind, when giving some of my answers.
This was a lot of fun. Les and I went to
dinner and had a great time. We had just begun to get serious in our
relationship. Rita would come over every week with lots of letters, and it was
very interesting and fun to read them. When I entered the contest I was single,
but by the time the magazine came out, Les and I were together. I never answered
any of the letters. Rita told me I received more mail than anyone else ever had
for Single Of The Month, at that point.
Somewhere through the years I lost my only
copy of this newspaper and I contacted my good friend Joyce and she had a friend
who still had a copy. She told me I could have it and Joyce mailed it to me
recently. Upon reading it, for the first time since the month this magazine
article was published, I discovered that very little of myself had changed
through the years.
Oh,
and as an extra surprise, Rita ran a free ad for me during that month. I was
very surprised that she did that, knowing how expensive they were. I had nothing
to do with it, Rita designed it all out herself.
One of our on-going
projects, still, is painting our home. We love to work on our
home. We still
have to put the gutters up and paint around the back of the
house. I re-glaze
windows...can you believe it? I actually like it. And I also love to paint the
windows. Les appreciates that very much... We still have much to do and
hope to finish up this summer and build a deck for the front of the house in
front of the sun porch.
The
Fears
We all have them...and
I'm no different...maybe some of my fears are...but I can't help it. I hate roaches...I
don't mind any bug, except a roach...I
can't believe I'm typing the word...I won't even say it...I usually call them
"R's". I hate them...enough about them.
I hate waterfalls...all
waterfalls. I don't know why, but the very site of one sends me right into a
panic attack and I actually have been put on medication for it. Isn't that
silly? But it's so true. My husband had to practically carry me out of the
Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC one year. They had some water project
and huge walls with waves painted on them , and the sounds of waves...and I
fell out....went into a full-dress panic attack. I am not afraid of water at
all, I love to swim and go boating, but I can't stand vertical water. I've
never heard a name for this phobia, so I made one up...I call it
Niagara-phobia!
I hate canned biscuits...terrified of
opening them. And I'm not the only one, I have a friend who feels the same way. If I
want to make canned biscuits,
which is rare, I like to make them home-made, but when I want them, I have to
get Les to open them...the anticipation of the can bursting open freaks me
out...messes me up.
Body hair...I
don't like hairy people at all. I don't like clowns,
either. I used to go to the circus when I was little and when they would get
all up in my face, I would void myself....lol...I was so scared of them that
the ol' bladder just released itself. I also had a dream once that I was down
by mom-mom's creek and a huge clown was sitting on a tree stump laughing his
head off and making a bowl of French Toast batter...freaked me out. I have
hated them all my life.
People with huge heads...they
also scare me, I can't quit looking at them, yet I am afraid of them.
Oh, and I hated Santa
Clause, too...terrified of him. I also
released my bladder on him when I was little. And I am scared to death of roller
coasters...you got it, bladder wouldn't
hold up on that thing, either. My dad took us to Hershey Park and he put me on
a roller coaster. I was sick, threw up on everything, as well.
When I think of some more
of my little fears, I'll write them down.
