Halloween: What to do? What to do? The issue is not just kids, it is invading safe space of the elderly and compromised. If our positive numbers rise by Halloween, as is expected, then this special evening will not be a good situation for anyone. Knocking on doors of random houses does not really sound like a positive thing right now for anyone. It has been suggested you should have a conversation with everyone that you plan to visit that evening and get their permission to bring your children to their home. Some people are suggesting individual sweets (of course) left outside your front door with tongs. For safety, the candy they receive can be left out in the open for several days before eating. Another idea is a Halloween tree with individual treats hanging from the tree so kids can take one without touching all the others. One dad put a length of PVC pipe on the handrail, up the stairs to his front porch. Each year, he positions himself on the porch and slides the candy down the pipe to a ‘ready and waiting’ Halloween bag or basket. He has done this in the past for the safety of the kids climbing the stairs, but that would work really well in 2020. You can plan your own private party with treats, crafts, music, and games…for just your own family. One suggestion is a spooky ghost walk in your neighborhood or a scavenger hunt around your house or yard. I guess there will not be much guilt this year if you turn off your porch lights and just watch a movie. Against all odds, if your children go treat-or-treating, then remind them that after they knock or ring the doorbell, to step back in order to have proper distancing from others.
A tropical wave is located over the west-central Caribbean Sea and is expected to move westward over the next couple of days, with the possibility of a tropical depression forming in the next five days.
Connie and I were talking about asthma, then that conversation led us to the flavorings in asthma medicine, which led to Harvey Wallbanger cocktails. That is just the way our minds work. Do you remember having a Harvey Wallbanger? It is now called a modern classic cocktail because everything old is new. The drink was born in the 1950’s but became a hit in the 1970’s. It is vodka, Galliano Liqueur, & orange juice garnished with an orange slice and a maraschino cherry. The liqueur is made from neutral alcohol steeped with herbs and spices (juniper, anise, vanilla, and more.) Galliano has a vanilla sweetness that sets it apart from other herbal liqueurs, so when you’re mixing with it, no simple syrup or other sweeteners are required. FYI
There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still. Franklin D. Roosevelt
Billy Porter will play Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother in Sony’s live-action version of the fairy tale that is expected February 5, 2021. He describes his take on the Fairy Godmother as genderless and non-conforming. “Magic is genderless,” he says. “We have all these sort of genders that we’ve put on things and it doesn’t actually matter. It’s not about sex. It’s not about sexuality. It’s not about gender. It’s about magic. It’s about being somebody’s fairy godmother, father, person, whatever you want to call it. That’s what it’s about.” If anyone can pull it off, he can. Camila Cabello is cast as Cinderella, Nicholas Galitzine as the Prince, Minnie Driver as Queen Beatrice, John Mulaney and James Corden as mice-footman, with Pierce Brosnan and Idina Menzel thrown in somewhere. A winner, even if all we do is watch the mice.
The New York townhouse used for the exterior shots of Elaine Benes’ apartment building from the show Seinfeld, went on the market for the low, low price of $8.65 million. Get out! Now, remember that this building was used for the apartment exterior in 1989, so the inside might look a little different. Behind that front door is a six-bedroom, 4,730 sq. ft. townhome. That’s a tiny bit bigger than Julia Louis-Dreyfus seemed to own. It is located in Chelsea, a five-story townhome that features four fireplaces, a garden with a fountain and a pond, plus a fully equipped chef’s kitchen. I always told my kids you should never trust anything you see on TV or the movies. True.
RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Classical singer Andrea Bocelli is 62. Actor Scott Baio is 60. Chachi Arcola on the sitcom Happy Days. Actor Catherine Oxenberg is 59. MLB manager Tommy Lasorda is 93. LA Dodgers. Actor Kathleen Nolan is 87. Kate McCoy in The Real McCoys. She was also Wendy in the musical version of Peter Pan 1954-1955 starring Mary Martin. Author Barbara Howar is 86. Singer Shaun Cassidy is 62. Remember Tiger-Beat Magazine. Singer Marilyn McCoo is 75. Saving All My Love for You.
Rocker Jerry Lee Lewis is 85. Before succeeding in music, Lewis worked as a sewing machine salesman. Only he did not sell them. He told customers that they had won the machines and all they needed to pay was $10 in tax. TV personality Bryant Gumbel is 72. Country singer Marty Stuart is 60.
Actor Drake Hogestyn is 67. John Black on the soap opera Days of Our Lives. Actor Brigitte Bardot is 86. Singer Meatloaf is 73. Singer-musician Randy Bachman is 77. Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Singer Olivia Newton-John is 72. Actress Linda Hamilton is 64. Actor Melissa Sue Anderson is 58. Singer Johnny Mathis is 83. Actor Barry Williams is 64. Actress Angie Dickinson is 87. Singer Cissy Houston is 87.
Paul Williams is 80. American composer, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is known for writing and co-writing popular songs performed by a number of acts in the 1970s, including Three Dog Night‘s “An Old Fashioned Love Song” and “Out in the Country,” Helen Reddy‘s “You and Me Against the World,” David Bowie‘s “Fill Your Heart” and the Carpenters‘ “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Rainy Days and Mondays.” Williams is also known for his musical contributions to films, including the Oscar-nominated song “Rainbow Connection” from The Muppet Movie, and writing the lyrics to the #1 chart-topping song “Evergreen,” the love theme from the Barbra Streisand film A Star Is Born, for which he won a Grammy for Song of the Year and an Academy Award for Best Original Song. He wrote the lyrics to the opening theme for the television show The Love Boat.
Mac Davis, best known for country & pop, died at 78 after heart surgery. As a songwriter, Elvis recorded his works, “Memories,” “Don’t Cry Daddy,” “In the Ghetto” and “A Little Less Conversation” – all of which became hits. There was so much more, “Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me,” Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year in 1974, the movie North Dallas Forty, and The Sting II, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Helen Reddy, singer of the 70’s feminist anthem “I Am Woman,” died at 78. The Australian singer was also known for “Delta Dawn” and “Ain’t No Way to Treat a Lady.” A film biography of Reddy’s rise from single mother in NYC to hit artist — titled “I Am Woman” — premiered last month. The film stars Tilda Cobham-Hervey as Reddy and features a new song by Reddy’s granddaughter.
Summer ends, and Autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise would have high tide always and a full moon every night. Hal Borland
Contrary to what I intended to do today, instead when I sat down at my desk, it all went straight down a rabbit hole. Oh, the things I do and the suffering I endure in order to find something interesting to tell you in this column each week. So, here it is. When buying avocados, if you flick off the little brown stem and it is brown underneath, then put it back. If it is green underneath, then it is not overly ripe, so you can put it in your basket, take it home and guac it in a few days. This tiny bit of knowledge may just change your life, because there is nothing more irritating than cutting into a $2 ‘bad’ avocado.
Those who drank Boone’s Farm as teenagers are immune to the Corona virus. Facebook Medical
It breaks my heart to have to tell you this. Missouri Governor, Mike Parson, has refused to require residents of his state to wear masks. Well, he and his wife tested positive for the coronavirus. Whether you believe in it or not, whether you think masks are some sort of intrusion on your freedom, the virus does not care. We just hit the million mark on the number of deaths from COVID. Wear your masks.
Not everyone has a forever friend. You know the kind of friends that have been a part of your life for as long as you can remember. I am blessed to have many of those forever people in my life. Terrie (high school) was on her way home from their Louisiana lake cabin and sent me a picture titled flower boat. It took a while for the picture to come through on my phone, which gave me time to wonder what in the world is a flower boat. Well, now, it was worth waiting for so picture this. An old flatbottom boat with peeling paint, stenciled and painted with Honey on the side. Honey is her ‘grandmother’ name. The boat was full of blooming red spider lilies (which, if I remember correctly, are also called Naked Ladies or a Hurricane Lily.) On the seat of the boat, set a vintage metal tackle box with the lid open, rusty with age, and what looked like succulents growing and falling over the side of the box. It was perfectly picturesque with the lake in the background. I immediately ordered me some spider lily bulbs.
American Girl Dolls have a new historical character named Courtney Moore. She was born in …1986. A historical doll born in 1986?!? I have sweaters, jeans and shoes in my closet that are older than that. How can she be historical? Let’s see if we can figure this out. Felicity and Elizabeth were based in 1774 and the American Revolution. Caroline was based as the War of 1812 began. Josefina lived on a rancho in New Mexico in 1824. Cecilé is the daughter of a wealthy and free couple of color who befriends Marie Grace, a young white girl whose family had just moved to New Orleans in 1853, just as yellow fever is spreading through the city. Kristen is a pioneer girl from Sweden who settles in Minnesota in 1854. Addy is a North Carolina slave during the Civil War in 1863. There was an orphan, a servant girl in 1904, Russian-Jewish immigrant girl in 1914 New York, Kitt from the Great Depression in 1934, Molly and Emily with the hardships of WWII in 1944, Maryellen is a polio survivor in 1954, Melody lives in an African-American community in Detroit during the civil rights movement in 1964. Julie is a child of divorce in 1974. So, I Googled, “What happened in 1986 besides Pac-Man (which in my eyes WAS particularly important!). I found AIDS, Mad Cow Disease, Phantom of the Opera, Halley’s Comet, Oprah Winfrey Show, Chernobyl, and the Space Shuttle Challenger. My special memory of that year was shoulder pads. Poor Courtney. They could have chosen 2020, the crazy year of so much and we are only 9 months in. Australian wildfires, Harry and Meghan, impeachment trial/acquittal of President, tension with Iran, death of Kobe Bryant, Iowa Caucus chaos, UK withdraws from the European Union, Harvey Weinstein, Dow plunges 2,997 points in the worst drop since 1987, Summer Olympics postponed, COVID-19 pandemic, death of George Floyd, and now it’s a brain eating amoeba, none of which make for a good doll year. 1986, it is.
If you know Charles Castleberry, you can help him celebrate the 16th year of his heart transplant. If you can, please send a card or note to him: 201A That Way, Lake Jackson, Texas 77566.
Remember the full moon is October 1st. It is called a Harvest Moon because farmers sometimes worked late into the night by the light of this moon. We are having some beautiful weather right now, such a gift. Enjoy your week and perhaps we will be able to use our water again soon. Think of this period in our lives as a time to recalibrate, re-think our existence as it was, and to have a legitimate RE-DO to all the questionable situations in our lives. Winston Churchill said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”
Lisa
