Meeting "Erin Walton"

Growing up as a child in the seventies and teen in the eighties some of my favorite shows were Gilligan’s Island, Little House on the Prairie, Good Times, Magnum P.I., Growing Pains, Dallas, and The Waltons.  What can I say, I have an eclectic taste when it comes to entertainment.

Last night, Ren and I took a couple friends and headed to a church in Warren County, Kentucky to hear Mary McDonough speak about her new book Lessons from the Mountain: What I learned from Erin Walton. I am well on my way into reading the book and so far, so good.

It was a very pleasurable evening and it was fun to listen to Ms. McDonough give a lot of behind the scenes details on what it was like to work on one of my favorite shows as a child.  Ren, who has dreamed since she was four or five to one day be an actress, really soaked in this part of the evening, too, even though she has only seen part of an episode or two of the show (she being much more a LHOTP fan).  I think she was more enamored by the fact she was able to meet a celebrity.  

 

Ren with her signed book.

   

Describing what it was like growing up Walton.

 Mary with some of her fans.  This one woman brought her husband and three daughters and EACH of them had their own copy of the book.  Now that's a fan!  The girl seated in the blue dress to the left is Ms. McDonough's daughter, who is the spitting image of her mom.

  

Ren watching as her book was signed.

 Ren was thrilled..."She ripped my book.  That's so cool!"

So sorry Ren, My Bad!! Mary McDonough "Erin"

So, given last night’s fun, let me list here a few of my favorites connected to the show.

1.

My two favorite episodes were “The Burnout” (which Mary said last night was her  favorite episode to film) and “The Ghost Story” (you know me, I love anything scary).

2.

My favorite characters on the show were the grandparents.  

3.

I love the performance Ellen Corby gave on an episode of The Andy Griffith Show entitled “Barney’s First Car”...totally opposite from her role as Grandma Esther Walton.

4.

My favorite of the Walton children was Jason.

5.

With only one sister myself, I always thought it would be great to grow up with a bunch of brothers and sisters.  My mother and father would probably disagree.

6.

John Walton always reminds me of my own father just a little when he is shown sitting at the Walton kitchen table in a work shirt and wearing his glasses while figuring out a lumber project.  I have seen Daddy do this many times at our kitchen table when working up a bid for some construction project.

7.

The real Walton’s Mountain is a little place called Schuyler, Virginia (pronounced “Skyler”) and was the childhood home to the show’s writer and narrator Earl Hamner, Jr.  John, Ren, and I took a little side trip there in 2003 on the way home from D.C.

 

 Ren and I with "Erin"

Blast from the Past

Mom and I at the K-mart, circa 1981, during what must have surely been a “blue light special” on Kodak Colorburst Instant cameras.

Ren Van de Kamp

Ren presenting a project in one of her classes this year. Doesn't she look so Breeish in that apron?

If you know me personally you know that I was quite the spoiled child growing up. And if you don’t know me personally but have read even a few of my posts, you are probably clued in by now, as well.

Before I continue let me clarify what I mean and what I don’t mean by spoiled. The kind of spoiling my parents did was not with $$$. Unlike many kids today (including a certain lad of five I know) who feel entitled to something each and every time their dear mom or dad has to drop by some market for a gallon of milk, I wasn’t treated to toys or candy every time we went walked through the doors of the Big K or TG&Y. By the way, I realize I have clearly dated myself with the stores mentioned above. If you are younger than 30 you are probably thinking, “What the heck is a TG&Y? Some kind of yogurt shop?”.

I was spoiled another way. Because hers was a hard childhood, my mom wanted to make sure mine was easy. And it was! (In my mind I just sounded like Forrest Gump saying that.) She did absolutely everything for me. I rarely, if ever, made a bed or dusted or helped with cooking. My closets and drawers were magical places where pairs of socks and jeans routinely replaced themselves. I cannot recall even one time that I was without several clean changes of clothes. Come to think of it, I don’t even think I ever saw the bottom of any drawer in my dresser. And the same held true for towels. Never did I have to use an old, damp towel. Not only were there always plenty on hand, they were IRONED.

I did help with the dishes once. I was about 16 and my father was unhappy that I never offered to help out and seemed unappreciative of all my mom’s hard work. So, he was determined one evening that I would wash the supper dishes. As I recall, he even stood over me (or close by) with a certain leather strap, aka The Belt, in hand. Swallowing hard and bravely forcing my hand into the DIRTY DISH WATER, I pulled up what I thought to be the rag and there, draped over my dainty, clearly not-meant-for-manual-labor fingers, was a slimy tomato slice. I have been told that my eyes rolled back in my head and I passed out on the spot! If you want a clearer mental picture of how this would have looked just watch/remember the scene in Stand By Me where Gordie finds the leech. I was never again asked or made to do the dishes.

Yes, I led a charmed life. And it was fabulous! But then I went and got hitched. And for a while, I was found to be somewhat lacking in the domestication department.

Luckily for Ren, I am not as loving and caring a woman as my mother was. She cleans her own room and bathroom, helps with laundry, and is not afraid to fix something to eat should hunger pains strike.

One of our favorite shows to watch together is Desperate Housewives and a favorite thing to do while watching is to laugh about which character(s) we are most alike. Ren loves Gabby’s style but has said she would one day like to be like Bree, minus the dysfunctional family. Seems, according to my daughter, I am a mixture of Susan (who doesn’t cook) and Lynette (easily exasperated with her husband and offspring) and, give it a year or two, Ms. McCluskey.

Have a great weekend, everyone. I am Tyla and I am in the market for a housekeeper. Just kidding. But it would be awesome if I had someone to do my floors. I can pay in peanuts, with cashews thrown in for those willing to do baseboards.

Happy Halloween...To All the Lovely Bad Ones

Me in the 4th grade - where I first learned about an orphant named Annie.

LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE

by: James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916)

INSCRIBED WITH ALL FAITH AND AFFECTION

To all the little children: -- The happy ones; and sad ones;
The sober and the silent ones; the boisterous and glad ones;
The good ones -- Yes, the good ones, too; and all the lovely bad ones.

LITTLE Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,
An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away,
An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an' sweep,
An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-an'-keep;
An' all us other childern, when the supper-things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun
A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about,
An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

Wunst they wuz a little boy wouldn't say his prayers,--
An' when he went to bed at night, away up-stairs,
His Mammy heerd him holler, an' his Daddy heerd him bawl,
An' when they turn't the kivvers down, he wuzn't there at all!
An' they seeked him in the rafter-room, an' cubby-hole, an' press,
An' seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an' ever'-wheres, I guess;
But all they ever found wuz thist his pants an' roundabout:--
An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

An' one time a little girl 'ud allus laugh an' grin,
An' make fun of ever' one, an' all her blood-an'-kin;
An' wunst, when they was "company," an' ole folks wuz there,
She mocked 'em an' shocked 'em, an' said she didn't care!
An' thist as she kicked her heels, an' turn't to run an' hide,
They wuz two great big Black Things a-standin' by her side,
An' they snatched her through the ceilin' 'fore she knowed what she's about!
An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

An' little Orphant Annie says, when the blaze is blue,
An' the lamp-wick sputters, an' the wind goes woo-oo!
An' you hear the crickets quit, an' the moon is gray,
An' the lightnin'-bugs in dew is all squenched away,--
You better mind yer parunts, an' yer teachurs fond an' dear,
An' churish them 'at loves you, an' dry the orphant's tear,
An' he'p the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about,
Er the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

Happy Halloween, to each of you!

Buttercups

My newly-planted buttercups. Ahhh!

Since childhood I have been in love with buttercups. It has been told in my family that I once picked every single buttercup in and around my grandparents' yard to give to my grandmother, Momma Beatrice, as a gift. I do remember that it seemed the hillside on their property was full of them. I just thought they were beautiful. I cannot say whether or not I got into trouble for this particular endowment effort.

The buttercups of which I am particularly fond, the solid yellow, trumpet-shaped beauties that pop out of the ground to let us know that spring is on its way, are actually a variation of the daffodil. Scientifically, I have learned that true buttercups are in the genus Ranunculus and bear little resemblance (other than in color) to my most beloved perrenial. I guess it must just be a southern, or at least a northern-middle Tennessee, thing that we call ours "buttercups", as well.

You would think that somewhere on the 150 acres around me I might be able to spot some. No such luck. So, on my last trip to Wally-world I bought two pots. Now, I can look out from my back porch and see them in the little wooded area in our backyard. This appeases me some, but what I really want are the old-fashioned ones growing wild along the road or in a field where surely a house must have once stood. There. I have talked myself into it. I will now pressure John into driving down back country roads with a shovel and bucket so that he can get me some of these little handfuls of happiness. Wouldn't it be swell if he could even get some from my Pa Vernon's old homeplace?

If Meg Ryan's character in You've Got Mail was correct in her thought that daisies are the friendliest flower, then buttercups are surely the sunniest.

The Easter That Wasn't

I love Easter. It is among one of my favorite holidays. I am sure I did not like it so much when I was small though, as it meant a new Easter dress for church.

I HATED shopping for clothes anytime, but shopping for a new, itchy Easter dress was particularly loathsome. I do remember a time my mother, worn out from dealing with me over the issue, made my sister take me and we ended up in a fight in a JC Penney's dressing room in Bowling Green. I wish I could remember what dress I wore that year and whether or not it was worth all the turmoil.

One itchy, non-Easter dress I do remember was pale green with long sleeves when I was about 4. Oh, how I would cry when it came time to wear it. Luckily, Ren is not as bad as I am about trying on clothes. She can be quite the clothes-horse. She definitely gets this trait from her Aunt Sissy.

One of the great things about Easter has always been getting together for lunch with everyone from my father's side of the family. A Heath Easter always includes great food, games, and an egg hunt. This was to be my second year to host. And the weather was perfect. Unfortunately, the health of many was not. For the first time since we started getting together on Easter we had to cancel. This actually worked out well for me as I, too, ended up getting sick at church. My Easter was spent laying in bed running a fever while listening to my immediate family in my kitchen enjoying the food they had made for the lunch. No ham, dressed eggs, or broccoli casserole for me. I didn't even get to see my little boy participate in the egg hunt at church, except in a few pictures John took.

I'm already looking forward to next year to make up for the things I missed out on this year.