2020 so far ...to 1920s and 30s

While I was still in Georgia before the Holidays I visited again the historic antebellum mansion Bulloch Hall as it was decorated for Christmas.  I took many pictures and was going to write a post in early January, but as you'll see below, something happened and I could not.  January started well, though.  On Thursday, January 2, 2020, my daughter, son-in-law and I went to a movie matinee to see the modern but faithful adaption of "Little Women" directed by Greta Gerwig.  I had read Louisa May Alcott's classic book, translated into French and titled "Petites Femmes" or "Les 4 Filles du Docteur Marsh" when I was eleven years old.  I did not remember it very much.  We all enjoyed this period drama, so beautifully acted.  (below photos from the film, courtesy Sony Pictures and LA Times.)

 Later I watched a PBS documentary on the 350 years old Orchard House (the home of the Alcott family in Concord, Massachusetts.)  It was full of interesting history and information.  Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) wrote her two-part novel in this house in 1868 and 1869.  Her book was successful from the start.  It was translated into 50 languages and has never been out of print.  The virtual tour of the well-maintained house, with its original furnishings, was quite moving.  I have gathered several postcards of the house and its interior.  (Please click on collage to enlarge.)

While looking at vintage postcards of Concord, Massachusetts, I came upon one featuring Ephraim Wales Bull - so had to find out who he was.  It turns out he was a farmer in Concord, also in the 1800s, and a neighbor of the Alcott family.  Around 1849 Ephraim planted seeds from the wild vine Vitiz labrusca.  After evaluating more than 22,000 seedlings he decided on the ideal one and called it "Concord Grape."  The Concord Grape won first place in 1853 in a Boston agricultural exhibition and was introduced commercially in 1854.  I had no idea.  In the fall if I can find fresh Concord grapes I always buy them as I like their sweet but slightly acid taste.  The Concord grape is popular for jellies, juice and more.  Poor Ephraim Wales Bull (1806-1895) never obtained any money for his grape discovery.  On his grave it reads "He sowed.  Others reaped."

On the following day, Friday 3, 2020, my daughter and I went to Nashville's first "Salute to Vienna" New Year Viennese style celebration.  Maestro Bernhard Schneider, from Vienna, conducted the Strauss Symphony of America as well as dancers from the National Ballet of Hungary, Ballroom Dancers, a soprano and a tenor.  The program included waltzes, polkas, with The Blue Danube towards the end.  The lyrics of the classic "Auld Land Syne" were printed in the back of the program so the audience could sing along.

This concert was performed at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in downtown Nashville.  I had never seen it before and thought it was an old building.  But no, construction had begun in 2003 and the building formally opened in 2006.  It is named in honor of Kenneth Schermerhorn, the late maestro of the Nashville Symphony.  It has a neo-classical style with modern acoustic features and has won several design awards.  Coming out of the dark parking area, the brightly lit symphony building looked imposing.  Once inside I was surprised to see spectators seated behing the orchestra, under the large custom-built organ.  It is a special choral loft that can be available during non-choral performances.

This Salute to Vienna concert had been touring the US close to New Year for many years.  There are performances in major cities, but in the South, only some cities in Florida and for the first time in Nashville.  The concert included mostly Johann Strauss, Jr. (Austrian, 1825-1899) waltzes but also a couple from Franz Lehar's.  I knew all of them and I'll tell you why below.  It certainly was a delightful evening with lovely music, songs and dances.  A great start to the New Year.  I just took a few photos with my iPhone.

My mother loved dancing when she was young, in the 1930s.  She had spent some time in Juan-les-Pins and told me that she used to go dancing almost every evening.  It was the "jazz age" period and people like author Scott F. Fitzgerald lived there as well and had made this French Riviera resort town quite fashionable and in vogue.  Mother particularly enjoyed dancing the tango and the waltz.  Unfortunately my father was badly injured and handicapped in WW2.  But if on the radio a Strauss waltz was played she would stop everything and have me dance with her - even if I was in the middle of playing or doing my homework.  By 6 years of age I could dance the waltz, the tango, fox-trot, polka, Charleston and more.  This is why I knew all the waltzes and polkas played during the concert.  Below is my mother (on the right) with my grandmother, mother (on the right) with a friend and in a small ID photo.  She had red hair and pale turquoise eyes.

After my father died in 1974 I went back to visit mother every year after Christmas to be with her about 10 days around New Year.  She always had bought some tickets to a musical, tango or Viennese waltzes spectacle, operetta or play in a theatre for the two of us to attend.  Then when she became stricken with Parkinson's disease and could not go out she would send for a ticket for me by checking her weekly magazine "Pariscope" that listed all the shows in the capital (and being in the center of Paris there were always a multitude of them.)  When I arrived in Paris she would tell me what kind of show I was going to attend.  She would wait for my return from the show to listen with excitement for my descriptions and impressions.  She did get a tremendous vicarious enjoyment from it.

As you can see I have started the new years with songs and dances for a very long time.  It was nice that my daughter invited me to watch the Salute to Vienna to continue the tradition.  As my readers know I have been traveling monthly to Georgia to clear out our house there.  Last August I became very tired and short of breath.  It got worse and worse.  I just thought I was aging and kept going on.  But by Sunday January 5, 2020, I could not walk across a room without catching my breath and had to sit down.  When I finally went to see my doctor he diagnosed Atrial Fibrillation (Afib) which is an iregular heart beat.  Because my heart had been running so high for so long I also developed acute heart failure.  Bother - now I can't go back to GA for a while.  I'm taking a bunch of pills daily and am scheduled for a battery of tests: breathing, stress, MRI, and more and will have to wear a heart monitor for a while until they understand where the heart failure comes from.  I can barely walk so have been spending time reading, and listening to music.  A friend sent me links to black and white old movies from the 1930s that I can watch on my iPad.  I'm trying to watch upbeat movies with dancing and songs.  I just watched a couple of old Bob Hope and Bing Crosby films and also "Dancing Feet."  It is a 1936 American comedy with a lot of dancing.  Here are a couple of pics from this film.

Then I found music from that era on my iPad as well; the type of music famous in the 1920s and 1930s, a time known as the Roaring Twenties and the Jazz Age.  I even found a second-hand CD on line featuring "The Great British Dance Bands" from those years.  Right now, I prefer to listen to the music from that period - a time of flappers, Art Deco and jazz, instead of turning on the TV and watching more shootings, the terrible epidemic from the Coronavirus or endless political talks.

One of the songs I like was played by Mrs. Jack Hylton and Her Band.  I found it also on youTube.  It is called "Got to dance my way to heaven."  You can listen to it below.

She had a very good and successful band in the UK in the 1930s and sold many records through the Woolworth's stores.  I remember when I was in London as a teenager - there was a Woolworth's close
to my host family house.  I had not seen those Woolworth's stores in Paris and I thought they were "smashing."  I also remember going to change my Francs into Pound Sterling at the Foreign Exchange booth in Victoria Station.  Then I'd go to Piccadilly Circus and have tea at Fortnum and Mason, or if money was tight, I'd have a cup of tea at Lyon's Corner House.

As I sat listening to that music it seemed kind of familiar to my ear.  It was before my time though as I started traveling to London in 1953 when I was 13 years old.  But still.  Then, in my mind's eye I could see myself in the late 1950s studying my English on the weekends for my Cambridge exam while staying at my pen friend's home.  Wasn't that the music playing in the background?  Did I imagine it?  So I telephoned my British pen-pal (I have known her since 1953) who is now retired in Florida and asked her.  No, she could not remember ...but then... she said "you are right! Mum had an old Gramophone radiogram and she used to play her old 78 records of big bands from the 30s while doing her house cleaning." Her mother, Gladys, just like my mother, had loved dancing in the 1930s.  My friend added "but you did not like that type of music then, you liked Dixieland jazz and Fats Domino!"  Tastes change, just like in fashion, and mine can change in ...what? over 65 years?  Well, here you are, I started 2020 with music and am still listening, even if the melodies are from the 1920s and 30s.  I explained my health issues to my friend.  She told me, and insisted "you are not sick - you just have a "condition."  She is British and speaks proper English, so she must be right - I just have a condition, a heart condition.  I feel better already!  Wish I could dance ...

Note to Naomi's readers - This post took several days to write.  Next post, I'll write about my latest conversation with Naomi.

My immigrant Story in The Guardian (and a Celebration)

As time permits I read about the news on the web and from a variety of newspapers as those shown in the collage above.  I don't read them daily but as often as I can.  In April and May I read stories on The Guardian in the Opinion section.  They were pieces written by immigrants to the US.  Below are some stories taken from my computer screen.

Then I noticed this caption: "Tell us how you got here ... We want to hear from the broadest possible range of people.  Young or old, from near or far ..." you can read the rest in my picture of my computer screen below.  Click on pictures to enlarge.

The immigrant stories on the newspaper were from people who had had a difficult life in their home country, such as the story of May 31, 2016, of a young man living in a refugee camp of 30,000.  Many of the immigrants to the US did not speak English well, such as Rossana Perez, story of April 5, 2016, who immigrated to the US from El Salvador when her husband was kidnapped.  Most people in the US now believe that immigrants are coming from third world countries only, are uneducated and a drain to the country.  At the end of May I decided to send my 200-word story to the Guardian to show that I came as an immigrant from an industrialized country - Paris is certain cosmopolitan.  It was not an escape, it was a choice.  I also spoke fluent English; please see my post "A New Year Party to Remember" about a party in London where I also mention my trips to England. Since a teenager, I had taken the ferry from Dieppe, France to Newhaven, England, almost a dozen times.  Below are old postcards of Dieppe harbor station.

The Opinion Editor replied that she was interested in my story and to send her a 600-800 words piece with some pictures, by the following Friday.  I wrote the story and sent her several pictures, which I'll show below.  I sent some from the time when I arrived in the US when I was young - my senior face is not as fetching!  I did not have a digital camera then and it was not easy finding old photos.  The caption under my photo on the newspaper story reads "I still remember when my hometown was liberated and Mother and I walked on the Champs-Elysees."  I was just a kid then and I did not think a picture of me as a child was appropriate for my immigrant story.  Photo below was taken around Christmas in San Francisco with my pet cockatiel Diego.

For several days I looked for my story in the Guardian but did not see it.  I thought that the newspaper must receive a tremendous amount of stories - what were the odds that mine would be published?  The Guardian is an English newspaper founded in 1821.  It has become one of the most visited news site in the world.  So I was quite surprised last Tuesday, June 14, 2016, to see my picture and story in the newspaper.  Below is a photo around another Christmas but with my pet parakeet Dimitri.

My piece had been slightly edited.  While reading some of the comments to my story I realized that the newspaper had used, in the heading, a sentence that was not in the printed story, but in my email to the newspaper.  When I sent my email containing my essay I told the Editor that I did not know if it would be of interest to readers since I had not been a destitute immigrant, uneducated and terrorized in Paris.  Even though I think it is wonderful that the US accepts immigrants (well, not that many anymore from Muslim countries) not all immigrants are refugees fleeing torture and certain death in their country.  I wrote that I did have a glamorous job in Paris, an apartment, a car and that, actually coming to the US had hurt me financially since I had a higher salary at my job in Paris than in San Francisco.  It did not matter to me because I had not come "for a better life" or in pursuit of the mighty dollar.  I had come to travel, for adventure.  Financial gain had not been my purpose.  This statement was not in my story so the heading sentence was confusing to readers.  I wish instead they had used "I came for travel and adventure."  But maybe happy stories are not as interesting to readers.  Below are two more photos I sent, taken in San Francisco around 1967 or 68, one with a little neighbor.

 Growing up in Paris, our apartment building was in a "Cité " made up of apartment buildings around a closed courtyard.  On the right side of the courtyard was the Metro Goldwyn Meyer studio in France (MGM-Paris.)  There, they showed films to distributors, repaired them, dubbed them, etc.  My little friends and I would play in the yard listening to the (loud) sound of westerns, horses, etc., coming from the always open studio window.  The boys in our group were the cowboys and my girl friend and I were the Indian maidens.  I got to really dislike cowboys (our boy playmates were rough) and decided that when I grew up I would go to the Indian country.  I came to the US to visit the country, learn the culture, visit Native American areas and listen to jazz, live.  I had a large collection of Blue Note jazz vinyl albums.  My favorite jazz artist was Thelonious Monk.  Money was never in the equation as I said above.  Below is the courtyard in Paris where I played as a child (located near the Sacre-Coeur of Montmartre.)

While traveling across the west I was very excited to visit the Blackfeet Nation in Browning, Montana.  I was a bit sad that most of the reservations I visited did not look very prosperous.  Still now it is a treat for me to visit the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians at their Reservation near the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina.  I wrote several posts about it, such as Cherokee Indian Market and Festival of Native People.  By now I have visited 48 US states (not Delaware and New Hampshire) as well as the US territory of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean region (as well as Mexico and Canada.)

Here is the link to my immigrant story on The Guardian: 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/14/immigrant-coming-america-hurt-me-financially
I hope you will read it.

Having my immigrant story published this week was like a gift, in a way, since our 49th wedding anniversary is today, Friday June 17.  My dear readers may recall that I published a post in 2012 on our 1967 wedding in San Francisco and I included some wedding photos - click here to see the post again.  I wish that next year, in June 2017, we may be able to travel to San Francisco for our 50th wedding anniversary, but with my husband's illness, it is uncertain.  Today, to celebrate, we had lunch at a small Colombian restaurant called Kiosco.  First, we were served a garbanzo salad then my husband had Bandeja Paisa/Grilled Steak, Chorizo, Pork Grinds, Maduros, Avocado, Rice and Beans w/an egg ($15) and I had Cerdo en Salsa de Pimienta/12 oz Pork Loin Smothered in Black Pepper Gravy with Rice and Beans ($10.50.)  The food was good with generous portions.  For dessert my husband had the Tres Leches Cake, and I had the Coffee Flan ($5.50 ea.)  The restaurant is located near the Square in Marietta, next to the historic 1860 Murray House.

Before we left for lunch it had been quite warm - 93 F or almost 34 C.  But then a severe thunderstorm passed by and it cooled the temperature to 75 F or 23 C.  We sat on our back porch for a while.  Trees have grown so much in our backyard that it has become a green oasis.  We cannot see anyone around our house.  These is some color though because we placed our house plants outside about a month or so ago and they have come alive with new growth and flowers.  Even our Christmas cactus is blooming.

Looking up I realized that we had a mimosa tree now.  I had never noticed it among all the pines.  In France, a mimosa is a small shrub with bright yellow flowers with a delicious fragrance.  The Latin name is Acacia Delbata.  It was introduced in France in 1867 from Australia and now the shrub is growing wild in the French Riviera region.

The mimosa flower is so popular in France that several Provencal towns celebrate it yearly in spring with festivals and parades.  A medieval village is even called "Bornes les Mimosas."  It is one of the most florally decorated towns of France with its streets lined with flowers.

My mimosa tree is not the same; it is an Alizia julibrissin in Latin, also called a Persian Silk Tree.  The flowers look like they are made of pink silky threads above a white or yellow base.  I believe it is growing wild in the South and is invasive; there are many of these trees along our road.  We did not plant this mimosa tree, it just came up.  As I was looking up at the tree I saw a little butterfly hoping from flower to flower.

Before lunch my husband went to read in the front yard which is the only area with a little sun.  He planted herbs and flowers there in several pots.  There are some wild periwinkles among the weeds, too.

As I was taking his picture I could see something bright yellow in the distance.  It was a sunflower plant growing on the hill that had been clear cut of trees last January by the Water Commission (for an upcoming water main.) 

The sunflower plant had grown well out of the wood chips left from the cut trees.  It looked pretty and happy.  So I'll end this post with this happy flower.  After a week of hate, terror and grief in Orlando, Florida and in Britain, it may give us hope that some kindness and love may still grow around us just like this little plant did out of a bleak hill.

Five years of blogging ... already

Last Sunday, March 30, 2014, was the fifth year anniversary of my blog.  I published my first post on March 30th, 2009.  First, I had written an Introduction then the post which was called "Rancho Los Cerritos."  This post was short, just two paragraphs and one collage.  I received 4 comments on this first post.  Rancho Los Cerritos was close to our daughter's condo.  Here are some more photos I took that day and did not publish.  (Click on collage twice to enlarge.)

At the time I wrote that I wished my two little grandsons could read about my past and now I have 4 grand children!  Now I also publish more pictures in my posts.  Unfortunately I have noticed that many of my pictures have been copied without my consent, some are even being sold as computer screen backdrops, and so I try to mark some with my name.  I really enjoy working with my photos, and that is this love of pictures, painting and postcards which partly started me in blogland.  This past year we visited our eldest daughter, who had moved from Long Beach, California, to Memphis, Tennessee.  We accompanied her to Jackson, Mississippi, on a business trip.  There we visited the house of Pulitzer Prize author Eudora Welty (1909-2001.)  Ms. Welty lived in this house for close to 80 years.  I'll have a post on it in the future, but for now I wish to show you some of Eudora's quotations which echo my feelings.

During my last few years at work I was transferred to a different department in a large building with no windows.  I would come about half an hour before work and drink a cup of coffee while looking at pictures on my computer.  I found a site showing a new photo daily - and this would start my day with a beautiful image.  The site had many different sections, such as landscape, animals, flowers, cities, etc.  They could be downloaded.  The site was called Webshots.  It still exists but has been sold.  Here are some of the pictures I watched, in 2006.

Looking for French pictures on the computer during lunch I had found a site by a man called Jean, who had a "Blog" called "Le Blog de Jean Couleurs."  (I think he stopped the blog in 2010.)  He published one picture on each post usually with little or no text.  Below are some of the pictures I saw on his blog in early 2006.  I printed the photo of the garden gate and placed in on the file cabinet facing my computer so I could look at it and imagine that I would walk through that door into a romantic garden.

At about that time, April 2006, I read an article in the New York Times, under Retirement, about "Elderbloggers."  You can read it here.  That is when I started to look at blogs.  In the fall of 2006 my daughter had also started a family blog.  When we visited her in Long Beach in March 2009 to celebrate my birthday, she persuaded me to start my own blog and helped me create one.  We called it "Recollections of a Vagabonde."  By May 2009, I had three followers already, who still read my blog today.  I thank them heartily for having been reading my posts for these last five years.  Thank you Elaine of Arctic View ,  Friko of Friko's World and Djan of Djan-ity .  I appreciate your friendship.  Now I won't show pictures taken these last five years, as this post would last 10 pages or more, but I have picked some photos from this last year of blogging, since March 2013.  Some of these images were in posts, some not yet.  These below are from last spring.

After a long winter spring flowers are always an exciting sight.

This past year I was able to photograph a variety of subjects, including animals.  In March 2013 I took a picture of our new little kitten, Mitsuko, a Korat female, who was about 2 months old then.

During the course of the year I was able to photograph more animals.  Don't forget to click on pictures to see better.

In May 2013 we welcomed our latest grandchild, a little girl (after 3 grandsons.)  I had been busy knitting baby blankets.

Then when we came back to Georgia we drove to New Echota, the former capital of the Cherokee Nation and attended the service commemorating the 175th anniversary of the Cherokee Trail of Tears.

In 2013 we visited three of my favorite cities - San Francisco, New Orleans and New York.  In June it was San Francisco (I still have several posts coming relating to that visit.)

We also visited some interesting museums and exhibitions during the year.

We ate some delicious meals.  I made up a new cake recipe - an upside down fresh fig cake.

This last year of blogging I took so many pictures again that it is hard to choose which ones to show here - birds, or cats, or interesting shots or scenery - the selection is large indeed.

We rode the train they call The City of New Orleans and loved it - more posts on New Orleans will be coming up.

In New Orleans, Memphis and other towns, we stopped to listen to musicians.

We also stopped to look at flowers and read meaningful quotations.

Our warmest day might have been in Key West, Florida or the Bahamas.

Our coldest was in New York City - but it was warm in the Public Library.

It was cold one day only for us in New York, and then the weather was temperate for the rest of our stay.

This last blogging year saw much activities and beautiful images.  I still have many photos that are not downloaded.  It has been a pleasure to share my pictures here on my blog.  I thought that once I retired I would not meet many people, but with this blog I have met and become friends with many talented, kind and interesting people from all over the USA and many parts of the world.  Some I have met in person such as Naomi in Hollywood, California of the blog Here in the Hills and others several times, such as Frances in New York of the blog City Views, Country Dreams .  We even went all the way to Oslo, Norway, to attend a Blog Gathering!  I know that I now look at the world with a keener eye, looking for the right picture and trying to absorb all the information so I can share it on my blog - the picture can be of an attractive person, or appealing color combination.

The picture can be of a glamorous bird or just an old pot in a window,

or it can be a photo taken from the wall of a local historic railway station,

or just a gorgeous sunset on the Mississippi River.

My life has certainly been enriched by this blog.  I have learned so much from all the creative bloggers I read.  I wish to say a heartfelt "Thank You" and "Merci" to all my readers.  I appreciate that they have taken some of their precious time to leave a comment and I also appreciate the readers who just look at my pictures.  These five years of blogging have gone by very quickly and I'm looking forward to many more.