Purple Snowflakes??

I realized after I wrote my post yesterday that there would probably be some people thinking to themselves, "Ummm, purple snowflakes?" I thought maybe I should say something about that here.

I don't have any samples at this point, but if I ever find any, I will be sure to scan and post them.

I graduated from high school in 1985. I would say that in 1983 or so, the words "Christmas" and "Holiday" were removed from the educational vocabulary. For me and my peers, it was the beginning of a weird time. We couldn't have Christmas or Holiday trees (mysteriously, decorated trees did show up, they were just called other things). My BFF at the time, Jeffa, and I decided that it was about talking in code. The first year, we took a big piece of butcher paper and drew a "Christmas" tree shape on it. We called it a WishTree. For decoration, we decided to make snowflakes, but because snow seemed to be indicative of a certain holiday time, we decided that they couldn't be called snowflakes, they were, instead, wishflakes. Eventually, we had codes for different colors. Purple wishflakes were the most popular (it was my favorite color at the time, so I'm sure that had something to do with it.)

Growing up, I had never really known how to make "fancy" snowflakes - we folded papers up in squares, cut pieces out and got clumpy, clunky, squat-looking pieces of paper that were really not very attractive to look at. In high school, around the same time that we were speaking in holiday-codes, one of my teachers taught me how to cut beautiful and intricate snowflakes (it's all in the folding, people). From that point on, I was a snowflake cutting maniac - for years!

One year, Roby and I were babysitting his niece around Christmas-time and the only pair of scissors his sister had was a Swiss army knife pair of scissors. Regardless, I used those scissors (I have a great noise to go with the motion, but it doesn't translate to the blog) to create some of the most beautiful and intricately patterned snowflakes I have ever made. We spent many nights making decorations for his apartment when we were poor, so those snowflakes (often purple) turned into something really beautiful and symbolic for us - a time when we were still young and pretty carefree.

So, that's why he wanted purple snowflakes to be put on his quilt. I haven't made any in a long time...Maybe next year.

Memories in a Hand Drawn Blueprint

One of the activities I did for my homework for my telecoaching class was to draw the floor plan of my childhood home.  Since I grew up in a lot of different homes as an Air Force Brat, I wasn't sure which home I would remember most clearly or which would be the most evocative as far as memories go.

I drew one for each place I have lived (several posts under the tag "Nostalgia" are about these places with Google Earth pictures).  A couple of interesting things happened for me.  First, it was interesting to really think about what I could remember of the places I have lived.  I remember 3 major childhood homes, and one other that I have a vague sense of where things were located, but more memories of the outside of the apartment building and the places we played.

The house that I used in my conversation was the first house I lived in until I was 6 years old.  My memory is filled with sensory moments - mostly visual snapshots.  Most vividly, I remember helping my mother make the beds.  She had a moss green chenille bedspread that had lighter, almost lime green fringe around the edges (it was the late 60s, early 70s).  I remember holding the ends of the bedspread and we would throw the fabric up to catch the air and I remember the sun shining through the windows, through the fabric and how safe I felt and how much I wanted to be like my mother.  I remember longing to go to school.  I remember the little alcove just inside the front door where we had a wooden carving of a siamese cat.  The doorbell rang from that alcove and I always thought it came from the cat statue.  I remember my dad bringing home a beagle puppy in his jacket pocket and him showing her to us right there in the doorway near that alcove.  

We had a room in that house and the apartment we lived in when we were on base housing in Germany, that we called "the little bedroom".  It was where we had a small TV, my mom's sewing machine, a couch that pulled out and our 8 track stereo.  My favorite tape was Kenny Rogers and the First Edition's Greatest Hits (the silver one that you can't really find anymore but that I have on vinyl).  My other favorite was the Fifth Dimension.  I remember dancing around helping my mother clean the house - I loved to help her dust with Pledge on all our wooden tables.  **Flash - just now I remember one time laying under our coffee table and drawing on the bottom with chalk.  When we moved, I was afraid my parents would be mad at me, but they weren't .  I had used chalk and it brushed off.

I remember the back yard with the swings and squirrels who lived in the porch.  I remember one time, I got in trouble and sent to my room.  I lay on my bed, but I was so scared of my mom being mad at me that I snuck outside and saw a beautiful flower - it was bright orange and yellow (I think it was a clematis  or amaryllis).  I didn't want my mother to be mad anymore, so I picked it for her.  When I gave it to her, I remember her just hugging me and letting me come out of my room.  Later, she told me that she knew it had come from our yard because that was the only plant around the city like that.  I remember we had a beautiful wisteria and my mom was so proud of that tree.

When we were getting ready to move, I took small treasures and hid them around the area.  I knew that we wouldn't be coming home for a long time, so I hid a Playskool plastic trike looking thing that was painted like a giraffe and hid it in the bushes at the doctor's office.  I took dolls that were not my favorite and hid them behind the garage in the back yard and in the bushes around that doctor's office.  It was a big black building with lots of shrubs along the walkway.  If any kids ever looked in there, they found a treasure trove waiting for me to return to it.

One time, my cousins came to visit us - I was about 4 or so.  We all went to the City Park that was across the medical center/doctor's office parking lot and across one more street.  We would say it was "kitty corner" to the house.  There were the 3 boy cousins, my sister, the dads and the moms.  We played on the swings and then finally, the dads said they would push us on the merry-go-round.  We gathered quite a crowd of people - lots of kids on the wooden toy.  The dads pushed and pushed and somehow, I let go and fell off, the centrifugal force pulling me under the merry-go-round.  I had rolled and ended up face down on the ground with the wooden merry-go-round whizzing past me, slapping me on the behind the whole time.  After what seemed like a long time, laying face down in the dirt, the dads got the thing stopped and pulled me out.  I don't remember if I was crying or not, but my dad carried me back home.  My mom had me change into my nightgown and as they were all sitting around shooting the breeze, they sent me over to my dad who took me over his knee, face down and spent the next however long pulling splinter after splinter out of my poor red behind.  Even at that age, I was horrified that they were all so casually sitting there chatting while my behind was exposed to everyone.  I loved my father for not hurting me while he was pulling the jillions of splinters out, but I hated him for doing it in front of other people.  

Happier memory - we used to take wax paper to the City Park and sit on it as we rode down the slide to make it go faster.  I loved to do that.  The more you waxed it, the faster you would go down the slide.  We used to go to the "Recreation Center" that was there and do crafts.  I learned to make potholders and did macrame, painted, made popsicle stick art and went to Shakey's Pizza for a party.  I remember that trip because Chicago's "Saturday in the Park" was popular and I got a migraine and threw up on the bus ride home.  

Good times.  Goal:  Get some of the slides scanned so I can add them to the posts.  Visuals help. :)  

[The photo is me in first grade.]

My Life In Music - from Billboard Charts (Long)

My friend and I were talking about our life in music the other day - we have known each other since 1990, but we work with musical theatre, so we never really discussed the music of our pasts.  I decided that I would make a CD to give her of some of the songs from my formative years, which made me want to look up some of the songs I remember but that I wasn't sure what year they are from.

So here is the partial list (I stopped in 1990).  I started by choosing one or two songs each year that are particularly meaningful or memorable or ones that I loved and played over and over again.  As the years go on, it is harder and harder to choose one song...but you can definitely see trends.  I will finish the 1990-2009 tomorrow.  I have a feeling that my choices will decrease again as the years go on...I mostly listen to Broadway stuff now, so I rarely know anyone who is popular.

Anyway, hope some of these songs spark your memory.

1967: To Sir, With Love – Lulu
1968: Scarborough Fair/Canticle – Simon and Garfunkel
1969: Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town – Kenny Rogers and the First Edition
1970: Something’s Burning – Kenny Rogers and the First Edition
 Fire and Rain – James Taylor
1971: Joy to the World – Three Dog Night
 Take me Home, Country Roads – John Denver
1972: American Pie – Don McLean
 The Lion Sleeps Tonight – Robert John
 A Horse with No Name – America
 Burning Love – Elvis Presley
1973: Bad Bad Leroy Brown – Jim Croce
 The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia – Vicki Lawrence
 Delta Dawn – Helen Reddy
 Rocky Mountain High – John Denver
 Behind Closed Doors – Charlie Rich
 Live and Let Die – Wings
1974: Seasons in the Sun – Terry Jacks
 Sunshine on my Shoulder – John Denver
 Billy Don’t Be a Hero – Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods
 The Most Beautiful Girl – Charlie Rich
 Time in a Bottle – Jim Croce
 Annie’s Song – John Denver
1975: My Eyes Adored You – Frankie Valli
 Thank God, I’m a Country Boy – John Denver
 Laughter in the Rain – Neil Sedaka
 Mandy – Barry Manilow
 Wildfire – Michael Murphy
 Listen to What the Man Said – Paul McCartney and Wings
1976: Don’t Go Breaking my Heart – Elton John and Kiki Dee
 December, 1963 (Oh What a Night)- Four Seasons 
 Play the Funky Music – Wild Cherry
 I Write the Songs – Barry Manilow
 I’d Really Love to See You Tonight – England Dan and John Ford Coley
 Convoy – C.W. McCall
 Disco Duck – Rick Dees
1977: Undercover Angel – Alan O’Day
 You Make Me Feel Like Dancing – Leo Sayer
 Blinded by the Light – Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
 Hot Line – Sylvers
1978: (Love Is) Thicker than Water – Andy Gibb
 Boogie Oogie Oogie – A Taste of Honey
 Three Times a Lady – Commodores
 You’re the One that I Want – Grease
 Hot Child in the City – Nick Gilder
 Two out of Three Ain’t Bad – Meat Loaf
 Take A Chance on Me – Abba
 Hot Blooded – Foreigner
 Dust in the Wind – Kansas
 Come Sail Away – Styx
 Here You Come Again – Dolly Parton
 Copacabana – Barry Manilow
1979: Le Freak – Chic
 Ring My Bell – Anita Ward
 Sad Eyes – Robert John
 Knock on Wood – Amii Stewart
 Don’t Cry Out Loud – Melissa Manchester
 Just When I Needed You Most – Randy Vanwarmer
 Shake Your Groove Thing – Peaches and Herb
 The Devil Went Down To Georgia – Charlie Daniels Band
 We are Family – Sister Sledge
 Boogie Wonderland – Earth Wind and Fire
 Renegade – Styx
1980: The Rose – Bette Midler
 Escape (The Pina Colada Song) – Rupert Holmes
 Babe – Styx
 With You I’m Born Again – Billy Preston and Syreeta
 Don’t Fall In Love with a Dreamer – Kenny Rogers and Kim Carnes
 Fame – Irene Cara
1981: Endless Love – Diana Ross and Lionel Richie
 Lady – Kenny Rogers
 Jessie’s Girl – Rick Springfield
 Keep On Loving You – REO Speedwagon
 Theme from “Greatest American Hero” – Joey Scarbury
 Morning Train (Nine to Five) – Sheena Easton
 I Love You – Climax Blues Band
 Medley – Stars on 45
 The One that You Love – Air Supply
 Take It On the Run – REO Speedwagon
 Boy from NYC – Manhattan Transfer
 Urgent – Foreigner
 You Make My Dreams – Hall and Oates
 America – Neil Diamond
 Ain’t Even Done with the Night – John Cougar
 While You See A Chance – Steve Windwood
 Same Old Lang Syne – Dan Fogelberg
 What Kind of Fool – Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb
 Whip It – Devo
1982: Jack and Diane – John Cougar
 Hard to Say I’m Sorry – Chicago
 Tainted Love – Soft Cell
 Rosanna – Toto
 Key Largo – Bertie Higgins
 Don’t Talk to Strangers – Rick Springfield
 Always on My Mind – Willie Nelson
 Sweet Dreams – Air Supply
 Who Can it Be Now- Men at Work
 Open Arms – Journey
 Don’t Stop Believing – Journey
 Leader of the Band – Dan Fogelberg
 Leather and Lace – Stevie Nicks and Don Henley
 I’ve Never Been To Me – Charlene
 Heat of the Moment – Asia
 Love in the First Degree – Alabama
 Gloria – Laura Branigan
 I Keep Forgetting – Michael McDonald
 Kids In America – Kim Wilde
 Working for the Weekend – Loverboy

1983: Beat it – Michael Jackson
 Total Eclipse of the Heart – Bonnie Tyler
 Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)- Eurythmics
 Do You Really Want to Hurt Me – Culture Club
 Hungry Like the Wolf – Duran Duran
 Africa – Toto
 Little Red Corvette – Prince
 Mr. Robato – Styx
 Time (clock of the Heart) – Culture Club
 Mickey – Toni Basil
 You Can’t Hurry Love – Phil Collins
 Separate Ways – Journey
 We’ve Got Tonight – Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton
 Always Something There to Remind Me – Naked Eyes
 Goody Two Shoes – Adam Ant
 Affair of the Heart – Rick Springfield
 Faithfully – Journey
 True – Spandau Ballet

1984: When Doves Cry – Prince
 Hello – Lionel Richie
 Karma Chameleon – Culture Club
 Girls Just Want To Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper
 Time After Time – Cyndi Lauper
 The Reflex – Duran Duran
 Let’s Go Crazy – Prince
 The Glamorous Life – Sheila E.
 Borderline – Madonna
 Sunglasses at Night – Corey Heart
Here Comes the Rain Again – Eurythmics
 Love is a Battlefield – Pat Benetar
 Love Somebody – Rick Springfield
 Church of the Poison Mind = Culture Club
 The Longest Time – Billy Joel

1985: Careless Whisper – Wham
 Like A Virgin – Madonna
 Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go – Wham
 I Want to Know what Love is – Foreigner
 Everybody Wants to Rule the World – Tears for Fears
 Take On Me – A-ha
 We are the World – USA for Africa
 Shout – Tears for Fears
 Everything she Wants – Wham
 All I Need – Jack Wagner
 Missing You – Diana Ross
 Material Girl- Madonna
 Would I Lie to You – Eurythmics
 Walking on Sunshine – Katrina and the Waves
 Dress You Up – Madonna

1986: Broken Wings – Mr. Mister
 Greatest Love of All – Whitney Houston
 Friends and Lovers – Carl Anderson and Gloria Loring
 True Colors – Cyndi Lauper
 What Have You Done for me Lately? – Janet Jackson
 I Didn’t Mean to Turn You on – Robert Palmer
 What You Need – INXS
 All Cried Out – Lisa Lisa with Cult Jam and Full Force
 Life In a Northern Town – Dream Academy
 

1987: I Wanna Dance with Somebody – Whitney Houston
 The Way it is – Bruce Hornsby and the Range
 Looking for a New Love – Jody Watley
 I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – U2
 Heart and Soul – T’pau
 Control – Janet Jackson
 Breakout – Swing Out Sister

1988: Faith – George Michael
 Need You tonight – INXS
 Never Gonna Give You Up – Rick Astley
 So Emotional – Whitney Houston
 Hands to Heaven – Breathe
 One More Try – George Michael
 Anything for You – Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine
 Wild, Wild West – Escape Club
 I’ll Always Love You – Taylor Dayne
 Man in the Mirror – Michael Jackson
 Father Figure – George Michael
 Hazy Shade of Winter – Bangles
 Monkey – George Michael
 Tell It To My Heart – Taylor Dayne
 1-2-3 – Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine
 Fast Car – Tracy Chapman

1989: Straight Up – Paula Abdul
 Wind Beneath My Wings – Bette Midler
 If You Don’t Know Me By Now – Simply Red
 Like A Prayer – Madonna
 Toy Soldier – Martika
 The Living Years –Mike and the Mechanics
 Wild Thing – Tone Loc
 If I Could Turn Back Time – Cher
 So Alive – Love and Rockets
 Soldier of Love – Donny Osmond
 Cherish – Madonna
 Heaven Help Me – Deon Estus
 The End of Innocence – Don Henley
1990: Hold On, Wilson Phillips
 Vogue, Madonna
 Release Me, Wilson Phillips
 All Around The World, Lisa Stansfield
 We Didn't Start The Fire, Billy Joel
 Rhythm Nation, Janet Jackson
 Praying For Time, George Michael
 Black Cat, Janet Jackson
 

One Regret

I regret that I never got married at the official 24-hour Church of Elvis when I had the chance.  I went, I toured, I won a prize for answering crazy questions about Days of Our Lives from when I was a teenager watching the soap, but I never got married.

Nostalgia caught me tonight and I decided to look up 24-Hour Church of Elvis and I found out that they are ONLINE!!!  Yahoo! You can now visit by going to www.24hourchurchofelvis.com NOT to be confused with www.churchofelvis.com which is apparently very official and corporate-looking.

Enjoy!

Childhood stuff

I have been looking for this song for a long time. I had a cassette with all these crazy songs from when I was 10 or 12 years old and I didn't know who they were by...I kept looking them up on the internet, but I knew eventually, some of them would show up.

The Court of King Caractacus - Rolf Harris


I've Lost my Mommy - Rolf Harris


"Please Mr. Custer" (don't be offended...it is just a song from my childhood...)


The Unicorn Song - The Irish Rovers

My "Buffy" Passion

My friend Kevin was really into "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" while the show was on TV (I'm always late to the party...). We were together one day and he asked me if I had seen the Musical Episode ("Once More with Feeling" from Season 6). I hadn't because when the show originally came on television, I couldn't get the channel with any regularity. I had thought, when the show came on, that Roby would have loved it - he loved all things vampire. Kevin mentioned the episode to me several times and really seemed to think that I would like it. At the time, I was sort of off scary things and since I hadn't seen the show, I just kept thinking it was going to be some bloody horror show that I couldn't handle.



Maybe a year or more later, as I was recouperating from surgery and laid out flat on my back for 3 weeks, I was flipping through the channels on a Saturday afternoon and I ran across an episode of "Buffy". I watched it, but I had NO IDEA what was happening. Turns out, I was watching the third-to-last episode of the entire series (this episode is still one of my favorites). My favorite Buffy and Spike scene are in this episode...when I finally watched the series, I kept looking for this episode because I didn't know where it came into the whole Buffyverse.

Touched - BTVS


Anyway, I watched that first episode and I was intrigued because I loved Eliza Dushku and Spike was very cool and dashing. Immediately afterward, there was another episode which I eagerly watched - but it was from Season 5 with Glory. I didn't know which one came first, but it was intriguing. The following week, I only caught the second one or I would have pretty much known how the whole thing was careening to an end.

I lost track of the Saturday/Sunday episodes (little did I know they played 2 on each weekend day - the 2pm following season 7 and the 3pm following season 5). Later on, Kevin mentioned the musical episode again. On a whim, I bought Season 6 on DVD - I figured I might as well watch the whole thing to try and understand it. But when I got it home, I realized how dumb that was. I don't know who any of these people are, I don't know how the musical fits in, would I understand what was going on? So I went on eBay and purchased Season 1 on DVD for cheap. I figured I would start watching and see if I liked the show. I started watching and I was hooked. I just kept watching each episode, each Season, slowly but surely. I am always happy I get to watch them all together - if there is a 2 parter or a cliff-hanger, I can just watch the next episode and not have to wait a week.

Tempting though it was to jump ahead and watch the musical episode, I didn't want to do it...I wanted to see it organically (ha, funny word to use). I wanted to have the show's history to have the full experience (I learned that from watching "Friends" - another show Roby LOVED, but I didn't full understand until after he died...the only reason I started watching "Friends" was to maintain some fragile thread to him - if he loved it so much and I watched it, it was another way to hold on to him).

Now, it is 5 years later and I have seen the series about 10 times through - give or take. I would rather pop in a "Buffy" episode than watch some of the crap that is on TV right now. Each time I watch it, there is some new joke, new look, new phrase that makes me laugh, catches my eye, or makes me think. I never thought I could be this attached to a TV show, but there you go. I love the strength of Buffy and the themes of isolation, confronting adulthood, friendship, grief, etc. Joss Whedon is a brilliant writer. I am even reading the "Buffy Season 8" comic books. This is a harder sell for me because I am not a big comic book/graphic novel person...the story seems too fragmented for me to follow, but I keep plugging away.

Anyway, that's my Buffy story. Thanks to KGV for the introduction - I owe you one. :)

Here's a season 7 promo:

More good stuff from the 70s

America - Horse with No Name



Four Seasons - December 1963 (Oh What a Night)


"Whoever Finds this I Love You" - Mac Davis

"Blinded By the Light" - Manfred Mann's Earth Band

What does this song mean anyway?

Well, it doesn't matter. "Blinded by the Light" was popular when I was about 10 years old (1977?). I loved singing it...I bought the 45 at the TG&Y store that was through the woods by our house. I used to squirrel away whatever money I had and save up to buy various things - jewelry, candy, records, beach chotchkies (is that the right spelling???). So, I bought my 45 of this song and took it home. I gathered my girlfriends and we made up dances to it. This one and songs by The Sylvers - "Boogie Fever" and "Hot Line". We choreographed and rehearsed and forced my poor parents and sister to watch us dance. I don't really have much rhythm, so I'm not sure what I thought I was doing, but it gave me such joy to dance around. And SING!!

I LOVED to SING!! I learned songs from the time I was really little and I made up songs all the time. I made up songs to the music books my mother had for her accordion and later her organ. I made up songs to the pictures in the Atlas we had. I made up songs for my dolls. And I was fascinated by all the variety shows on TV - Glenn Campbell, John Denver, Mac Davis, Sonny and Cher... I remember singing, "Brand New Rollerskates" when I was pretty young. And learning my sister's camp songs.

I don't sing much anymore...only in the car when I'm not listening to Air America (I love Thom Hartmann). I used to sing with Roby in the car all the time. Sometimes, we would find a song we were in love with and put it on repeat for days... He was a tenor and I have a pretty low voice for a woman. He would sing the female roles in Chess, Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera and I would sing the male roles... We could sing "Embassy Lament" acapella. He never told me I couldn't sing. We loved singing together. One time (a silly but cherished memory), we were in his apartment down by PSU - making his four-post bed, singing to Alison Moyet..."Is This Love?". He said to me, "You sound just like her when you sing this song..." I'm sure he never knew how special that made me feel. I was embarrassed but so pleased. It made me want to sing Alison Moyet all the time. What I wouldn't give to sing one more song with him in my car.

"Write to Remember" - 37Days

I have only completed the forward and like the beginning of Chapter 1 of "Life is a Verb" by Patti Digh (of 37Days)and already I am compelled to write here. My thoughts are pouring over each other because I keep getting this sense that I should write it all down before I forget. That's why I keep coming back to the blog...I don't live an extraordinary life or have original or extraordinary thoughts, but I want to remember the stories of my life and the things that have brought me comfort, sadness, satisfaction, joy, anger, ambivalence, peace...Now that I am 41 years old, some of the older memories seem almost crowded out, so I feel like this is the external hard drive of my mind.

So, in my previous post, I mentioned telling how "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" came to be an important part of my world...I will still save that story because I remember it clearly right now...I was thinking that I would write a couple of things down that I don't remember as clearly.

Last night, as I fell through the YouTube rabbit-hole, I was struck by the strange conglomeration of embarrassingly uncool music, popular and completely obscure obsessions I have in my collection. Today, I was thinking about Patti Digh's passion for Johnny Depp...made me remember some of the people, things, songs, books I have been passionate about in my life. Some of my passions were the objects of derision and mockery, some were popular at the time, some I have held onto all these years while others have fallen by the wayside. I want to enjoy the passion I have for things and people and not feel ashamed or embarrassed that something strikes my fancy. I'm pretty sure that this will be of no interest to anyone but me, but just think of it as sneaking a peek into my hard drive.

So here goes:

Music:

Most popular-then-unpopular-then-completely-uncool-then-popular again group: Peter, Paul and Mary



Singers I have been mocked for liking: Rick Springfield, Barry Manilow, Clay Aiken, Peter, Paul and Mary, John Denver, Air Supply(I know there are more...I just have to remember them all...I'm a music geek)

Groups I liked while they were unknown: Everything But the Girl, River City People, Wilson Phillips,

Artists I didn't warm to until well after their popularity had already peaked: Foreigner, Madonna, Pink, Paula Abdul,(it was the 90s - gimme a break), Culture Club, Duran Duran, Prince ("Purple Rain" era), Eurythmics (there are many, many more)

My most abiding and enduring crush/obsession/love: Rick Springfield (I have all his albums, I was in his fanclub, I had posters of him on my ceiling and I still LOVE him)

I liked the group BEFORE the lead singer got famous: Kenny Rogers and the First Edition (the first pop song I ever learned the words to was "Something's Burning" when I was about 4 years old. The 8 track tape came with the 8 track player my parents bought. I wish I had a video of it..."Something's burning da-na-na-na-na, Something's burning da-na-na-na-na, and I think it's loooo ooooovvvvve...")

She was better when she was only 15 years old but she is probably still at it: Tanya Tucker (Greatest Hits - she's in a car on the cover... I love "What's Your Mama's Name Child?" and "The Jamestown Ferry" and her version of "Delta Dawn", but really the whole album rocked)

I loved him and thought his stories were true - I remember listening to one of his songs and crying because I thought it was real...It was rare for me to meet anyone who really listened to him when they were a kid: Mac Davis ("Whoever Finds This I Love You" made me cry - even when I was 6 years old)

First album I ever owned: An Evening With John Denver
(All the classics are here. "Matthew", "Grandma's Feather Bed", "My Sweet Lady", "Rocky Mountain High", "Take Me Home Country Roads", "This Old Guitar", "Annie's Song", "The Eagle and the Hawk". I was born in Aurora, Colorado, my mother was from West Virginia, so I pretty much thought that all his songs were written for me or her. I wanted to marry John Denver when I grew up. I am still saddened that I never got to see him play live. )


First album I ever bought with my own money: Kristy and Jimmy McNichol (I'm not saying I'm proud of it...)






Best album I ever took from my mother after she bought it: Peter, Paul and Mary In Concert

First "cool" album I ever got as a Christmas gift: Journey "Escape" (and I saw them in concert for the Escape Tour - go uncool, me!)












First cool music I listened to because my sister had the album: Styx "Paradise Theater" (although I was a long time fan from the first time I ever heard "Castle Walls" on the "Grand Illusion" album)













Favorite songs while living in Europe (ages 6-9): "Seasons in the Sun", "Fernando", "Mandy", "WildFire", "Love Will Keep Us Together", "Cats in the Cradle", "Crocodile Rock", "Afternoon Delight" (I know but I didn't know what they were talking about...), "December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)""I'd Really Love to See You Tonight", "Sister Golden Hair", "All By Myself", "Dream Weaver", "Devil Woman" (more to come...once I open the floodgates...), "Laughter in the Rain", "Billy Don't be a Hero", "One Tin Soldier", "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves", "Cherokee People"

First music I was introduced to that was completely not what my friends were listening to: Indigo Girls

The first musical I ever listened to: "A Chorus Line"

The First musical album I ever became obsessed with and geeked out my musical tastes forever: "Annie" Original Broadway Cast

The first musical theatre cd I bought before I even owned a CD player: Original London Cast of "Les Miserables"

First professional musical I ever saw performed on stage: "Cats" with Roby and Shirlee and Bob.

First musical I saw on Broadway in NYC: "Starlight Express" in a Sunday Matinee with Roby.

First musical as a movie that I totally grooved to: "Grease" in 1977

First musical as a movie that I fell in love with and wanted to watch every day for months: "West Side Story"

Well, I am down another rabbit hole, but it is fun to reminisce...And I have always been a musical geek. I think that much is obvious. But I'm ok with it. I like what I like, right? It's all good.

**Please note that I have tried at least 5 times to bold all the categories I have listed here.  For some reason, the formatting is intermittently disappearing and I just don't want to do it again. Sometimes Blogger is great and sometimes it annoys me.  

Places I've Lived...Nostalgia continued

This is where we lived in Florida

Panama City, Florida - 5230 Park Street. The marker is on the wrong house. We were the corner lot on the inside. We lived across the street from Nina Haanio (her father was Hawaiin), Thalia Smith, Julie (big hair), Debbie (Italian family), Sandy (mean girl lived down the street), Robert (Linda's big crush), Joe Pitt lived somewhere around (Robert's friend), Dee Dee Small lived on the opposite inside corner lot. We rode our bikes around doing the "what do you want to do?" "I don't know what do you what to do?" lament that kids do when they are 11 and 12. During the summer, we went swimming every day - either at the base pool or in the Tyndall Bay.


Here are some pictures of the beaches where we swam and the pool, too. My sister has all the pictures of our house and friends in Panama City, so I have to try and talk her into scanning them for me.

Panama City Beach


Mexico Beach




Tyndal AFB Swimming Pool



It is hard to find pictures of some of this stuff, even online. I was trying to find the schools I went to, but some schools don't even have pictures online. Some of the schools don't exist anymore, I think.

Anyway...just trying to record some of this so that I won't forget.

Nostalgia - Places I've Lived

For some reason, today I was feeling nostalgic for the places I have lived. I decided to look them up on Google Earth. We don't really have any photos of where we lived before moving to Panama City, Florida except for some slides from Colorado. All the photos from Germany were stolen, so most of the places live in my mind's eye. To see the places from Google Earth is wild - very little has changed since I was living in those places. This is really more for me than anything else, so bear with me.

Aurora, Colorado - the first house I lived in on Florence Street. Crawford Elementary school, where I attended Kindergarten and 1/2 of first grade is across the street. There is also the city park a few blocks away and the medical center behind the house where I hid some of my toys thinking I would come back and get them after going to "Germany" which I didn't know was a place (I was 6).



The Amelia Earhart Hotel in Wiesbaden, Germany was the next "home" I remember. We lived there for at least a month or two while waiting for housing. Eventually, we found a place in Medenbach, Wiesbaden, Germany and lived "off the base" otherwise known as "on the economy" for the rest of the year. I am still looking for that place - I don't remember the address. I know that we lived on the second floor and there was an orchard across the weird alley that was right next to our house. The landlady's daughter was named Sabina and they spoke no English. I used to walk to the school bus stop with my sister in the dark with a flashlight there.

In the Amelia Earhart hotel, where most of the USAF families lived in the early 1970s before getting into housing, there were all kinds of strange smells. Across the street was a stand that sold the most delicious rindwurst (my mother and I loved those) and bratwurst (my father and sister loved those). We could walk across the street and get a rindwurst, brochen and a triangular paper cone filled with pomme frites (which were always superior in my mind to french fries). I understand that the AE is no longer a hotel but is still under the US Armed Forces control. I have seen several blogs and other items on the internet where people are inquiring about the stand and the hotel.

The Amelia Earhart Hotel


Currently on Google Earth - AE Hotel (not a hotel anymore)


Crestview Housing Area on Bierstadter Hohe and Plutoweg

This shows the building we lived in. There were two stairwells (I always thought there were 3) per building. These have covers over the little patio we had (we just jumped over the rail from the first floor) but we didn't have covers then. As you move up Plutoweg, the last house on the lower right hand corner of the intersection of Plutoweg and Saturnstrasse was Uncle Paul's house. He was a kindly elderly German gentleman (we lived on the edge of the housing area) who gave us fruit (He gave me my first pear to eat) when we passed by. One time he invited my friend and I in to pick some fruit and gave us a glass of fresh lemonade. He spoke little English but we took German an hour a day.





To be continued...