Rain Over

Where I lived, didn't have a whole bunch of it-yet enough to get a good soak. Even looks like the sun is trying to make one more stand today.

And it's 5:21 pm as I script this, so the sun will be for just a short while. I am so glad, that in a few months the sun will stick around longer than 6pm.

Today was one of those eye open kinda days. First I spent time at a car dealership, which I do loathe, yet the guy I worked with was nice. Plus I didn't feel that smarmy car dealer yuck. Alas, he did laugh at my want to put just 20 bucks down--hey, he asked. I didn't leave there with a new car, or in my case, I already have a 2006 HHR, which is my Pumpkin, and I wanted a newer HHR--in this case, BlueBerry. Upside down, I would so be--I may have to hold off for a couple more months--like my birthday--which is April...the BEST month of the year-more to put down. Stay tuned.

Also, the rain made me jot more notes of the writing project I put myself on. Excites me. Two novellas, with three short stories each. Christian based. One novella, historical fiction back in olden, olden times, where the Bible is being my main guide and Jesus appears a time or two. The second novella is set in modern day. The beauty of it, one story is finished as I work on a second, and have notes for the others. Pretty psyched.

Folks have asked WHERE this Christian interest came from. Trust me, it was NEVER on my to-do list. I thought being a star writer of future Penthouse Fantasy magazines would be ticket out from Iowa. Well, that never happened, plus I never did submit anything to them. Anyway, the feeling hit around the beginning of 2006. Actually read a piece I was working on to my writers' group. Not quite done, yet I wanted their feedback. It winded me so to read it and I kinda flubbed over words than normal. Thought I was just nervous---I was, since I'd never written anything like this. Well, two days later I landed in the hospital for three weeks. Yea, for the whole mitral valve replacement surgery thing. Yea, talk about detour.

And to sell my homemade pies. The idea of being able to make this finally happen is on paper. Not quite one of Oprah's favorite things, yet I hope a handful of folks would be interested. Goal is to ship for arrival by Valentine's Day weekend. All transactions would be done thru Pay Pal. I feel good about this too.

So yep, an eye opening kinda day. Sun still tries to show itself, while I now feel some of my bubblegum inner self trying to emerge. So we'll let Bobby Sherman tell " Little Woman" to come on down from her cloud and leave her world behind...

Naw. I'm busy.

Missed March 19, 1971 being Friday

Too busy oogling the wisteria in my present day backyard and forgot another memory of this day.
However, on this Saturday 2009, when I don't have any strawberries for my oatmeal, I still gotta smile. See, back on March 19, 1971 I thought I'd pretty much died and gone to heaven. And on that day after Saturday 1971, I remember asking my best friend if she felt the same. And no, I didn't have the house filled with A & W onions or gallons of ice cream.

Great thought tho.

Nope. All bubblegummers, tweens (we didn't have that word then, but I'm sure they floated too), teenyboppers floated on clouds. THE two kings of Tiger Beat Magazine-dom were together! On one show! Bobby Sherman guest starred on The Partridge Family starring David Cassidy! This was way before vcr's. So we all had our tape recorders in front of our non 42-inch plasma or LCD TVs, to capture this momentous occasions.

Bobby looked so cute in that purple shirt --and oh my!--that choker! David was just cute period! As we swooned, and ran our tongue over our braces, we wondered if we would ever grow up to be girls Bobby and David would ever like. Could we? Would they?

After 38 years, I still wonder.

In the meantime, let's cue up a little "Stephanie" from that infamous episode. OK. I admit, I substituted my name instead. Anybody else do the same? :)

January 8, 1935 Was A Tuesday

Elvis Presley made his entrance on the world's stage--well, just Tupelo, Mississippi then. Today is his 74th birthday and the entire world remembers Elvis being on their stage. Granted, I wasn't a big Elvis fan. I may have been the wrong demographic. Alas, I saw those movies, and was jealous of some of those girls. I think my hormones started to pop in and out, because I did think Elvis was cute..for an older guy!

Elvis came through Iowa a few times, and I never ventured to a concert. He even performed in Des Moines on June 23, 1977--just two months shy of his passing. I remember my chums and couldn't decide if we should see him. After all he was so OLD! You talk about a big regret there!

In the Summer of '68, I vacationed in Los Angeles. Thoughts of the Davy Jones, lead singer of The Monkees and Sajid Khan, an actor that India gifted us with, laced my mind. Wouldn't it be something if I saw either one of my hearthrobs on the day my cousins had me in the back seat, as we sprang for a quarter or so for a map of the movie stars' homes? I know we drove around and honestly, I don't remember much. No Davy Jones or Sajid Khan, so who cared?

But then, as we drove through Beverly Hills, I noticed a beige Chevy with a Tennessee plate. It peaked my interest because, the car looked exactly like my parents' car back in Iowa. Except ours was blue. Plus what was a car with Tennessee plates doing in Beverly Hills? As we drove closer to the side of the Chevy, and I pondered this in my 10 year old brain, my cousin, Sue started to scream: "It's ELVIS! It's ELVIS!" Her husband, I remember kinda slowed down and tried to look out Sue's as he tried to not wreck any thing in Beverly Hills. When Sue screamed I looked up.

Sure enough! Elvis was behind the wheel of the Chevy. He smiled as he held an ice cream cone! My cousin instructed me to wave. Sue waved so hard and fast, I thought she might fly from the window. All the time she giggled like some teenybopper. But then Sue was only about 20 at the time. I waved at Elvis. Then I fell over in the seat, ELVIS! A REAL movie star!! I sprung back up, and we were still even with him. I stretched to see Priscilla on the passenger side. I want to say Elvis raised his ice cone to us. Just with the biggest smile on his face. He then accelerated and we just drove in silence. ELVIS! To relive that moment again, I'm sure we may have tried to get him to stop for a picture. What a memory that would've been.

Later on that Autumn, I was clueless about Elvis and and any comeback TV special. Thoughts of Davy Jones and Sajid Khan may have been back on my mind, or the newbie on the block, Bobby Sherman. As years ticked by, especially after Elvis passed. I saw bits and pieces of the show, and eventually the entire '68 Special. Saw how good and happy Elvis looked, draped in all black--that he was ready to take on the world. Maybe no more of those same kinda plot movies. And I'm sure, maybe not one Vegas jumpsuit was in Elvis' sight. When I feasted my eyes and ears as I watched Elvis perform this song on the '68 Special, I witnessed real passion when someone truly uses the gift God gave them.

Happy Birthday, Elvis. I'm sorry I missed your aquaintance.