Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee

Last night I finished this remarkable book by Charles Shields. I was drawn to it when I learned that Harper Lee, or rather Nelle Harper Lee, never published another novel. To Kill a Mockingbird was her first and only published book. As a writer my curiosity was aroused. Why would anyone who wrote such a compelling work, received a Pulitzer, and sold movie rights never get published again?

Ms. Lee is an enigma. Through the years, she has granted few interviews, been very selective in her personal appearances and thoroughly guarded her private life as much as possible. There was much talk about a second novel but from the information gathered by Shields from friends and those who had any contact with her through the years, it appears she worked on one or two ideas and for whatever reason, fear of failure or failure to follow through, she never passed another manuscript on to her publisher.

Much is said about her relationship to Truman Capote. They were childhood friends and Lee, according to Shields, had a lot to do with Capote's writing of In Cold Blood.

Mockingbird is a good read and very interesting. It left me to ponder though: what would I do if my first published novel took the path of such success? I might be afraid to write another too.

California Contract Signing

Our contract for A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts made it to California. Finally! I was worried that I'd accidentally sent it by pony express and the horse ate it. Our CA girl, Terra Hangen, signed it and now it is on its way to Texas to Leslie Wilson. We are having so much fun with all of this.

Terra is a new blogger. She's a wonderful writer and does a lot of stories about gardening and nature. We both write columns for Positively Feminine.org. Check out her blog, In the Beginning.

In My Lifetime--Automobiles

I can hear the giggles now. No, I did not arrive during the horse and buggy stage and no, I wasn't around for Ford's launch of the Model T. I do remember my grandfather having an old truck that he had to crank with a bar inserted in a hole in the front of the grill in order to start it.


My memories consist mostly of design changes. Mom and Dad fluctuated between Chevys and Chryslers and they each had their own stage of "wing" designs for the rear fenders. One particular model that Dad bought for Mom had huge fenders in the back. I'm pretty sure it was a Chrysler. It was similar to the one at the right but I remember hers being light blue.


Before we were married, Bob owned a Corvair convertible much like the one in the picture. We traded it in on a Ford before moving to Maryland and planning the start of our family.


The one car I truly loved was the Mustang. I had always been a fan of the Thunderbird, which was a popular sports car in the late 60s. The later versions of it were not nearly as appealing. When the Mustang came out it replaced the Thunderbird for "sportiness. " Again over the years, the "sporty" was made a bit more family friendly and I got my opportunity to purchase a used one--an early 1980s model. I enjoyed that car and cried when we had to sell it and replace it with a van so that our five kids would fit comfortably in one vehicle.


Probably the most fun we had with a car though was the Thunderbird that talked. The kids loved it! "The door is ajar," the female voice would complain. When Bob was done with it, he passed it on to our teenage drivers and they drove it until it began falling apart. The voice never faltered even when Bob and our son, Ron, took the dashboard out to try to repair something. They never did get to the part and had to reassemble everything to take the car--and all the leftover parts in a jar to the garage for a professional to work on it.


Now we not only have cars that talk but cars that can tell us how to get there, change our music stations, keep track of all sorts of data, show movies, and generally distract us from our primary purpose--safe driving from one point to another.

Contract Signing!

It's the story of six lovely ladies who were living in six cities far apart.

All of them with aspirations and lots and lots of heart.

Til the one day when these ladies got together,

Though the internet was not as good as lunch,

They began to form a friendship and pool ideas,

Now they're a contracted writers bunch!!

Known as the Word Quilters, Trish Berg, Brenda Nixon, Terra Hangen, Leslie Wilson and myself under the leadership of Cathy Messecar will be publishing a book called "A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts" with Leafwood Publishers in October of 2008. The three Ohio WQs signed the contract at a coffee house in Loudenville this morning.

The six of us met online through a writers forum and formed a group to encourage each other in our careers. Along the way, we found an idea for a collabrative book and have been working on it for a year now. I feel privileged to be the only member who has met all five of the others face-to-face. Three of us are from Ohio, one from California and two from Texas.

It was great fun this morning and we look forward to this great adventure together. (Left to right bottom picture: Brenda, Me, Trish)

YEAH!!!

Let it snow!

Normally I would not be in favor of the "let it snow" campaign but it is Christmas and more importantly our little 2 1/2 year old Floridian will have the opportunity to see his first REAL snow. All he knows is a Miami version of snow--shaved ice blown into a big pile in the middle of a city park for the kids to play on until it melts. This is usually accompanied by breakfast with Santa.

Of course playing on that snow in a pair of shorts and short-sleeved Tee is a little different than having to don boots and jackets and scarves and going out in 30 degree weather. He may not like that so much. He told his mommy the other day when the temperature dropped to 58 degrees that it was "too cold" to go outside.

But I know we all would enjoy a Currier and Ives Christmas scene--even if we have to watch it from inside the house. No matter. What is truly important is that our family will all be together--migrating home from the south and west to the Robbins' nest for our celebration of Jesus' birth.

May you have a blessed Christmas--snow or no snow!

In My Lifetime--Christmas

In a world where things are always changing and progress happens in the blink of an eye, there is one constant that brings most of us all together again--Christmas. The things of Christmas have changed over the years though. Take trees for instance.


Growing up, there was always a live tree. I don't know that artificial was even available in those early years. The bulbs were multi-colored and hot to the touch and silver tinsel was a must. Then came the years of the aluminum tree. The silvered branches changed color as a disc with four basic colors, red, green, purple, and yellow, rotated in front of a spot light that shone on the tree. Mom refused to have one. I'm grateful.


There was one year when she succumbed to the flocking. I don't know how she talked Dad into it because I seem to recall him wrinkling up his nose every time he looked at it. Maybe she sold him on the idea because it was supposed to preserve the tree longer.


Of course the more popular artificial trees became, the more outrageous they got. Pink and purple and white. Each year we passed on the lastest fad and stayed true to the real smell, the real feel, and the real mess of needles to clean up.


Mom gave in to the artificial world when the trees became a little more realistic looking and my brother and I were gone. That way she could get us to come home and put up the tree early. Mom was not above a guilt trip. "I don't think we'll have a tree this year," always brought us home to decorate.

Bob and I started out with real trees. Our first, which was probably the most perfect we had, stretched our budget at $5. This year we had to shop for a new artificial tree since we lost ours in a flood last year. We thought we'd wait until the sales after Christmas and this year get a real tree--until we looked at the prices. A nice tree around here goes for at least $70. We bided our time and found an early sale on artificial. Now there are no fire worries, no needles to clean up, and our decorating is done and ready for the kids to come home.


While out shopping, we saw aluminum trees trying to make a comeback and artificial ones that were flocked. It made me think of all the changes over the years and the one thing that has remained constant. The reason for the season--Jesus.

Amazing Grace

Three days of our overland trip in China were spent cruising on the Yangtze River between Chongqing and Yichang through the Three Gorges area. Before going to China, I had prayed for God to show me moments that would reveal his presence. I knew we would traveling in countries steeped in Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, and Communism. I longed for His assurance that He was still at work there as well.


The Three Gorges area was beautiful even though we saw most of it through a misty and, at times, rainy fog. At the place where the Daning River empties into the Yangtze, we left our riverboat to board a smaller catamaran for an excursion up the Daning through the Lesser Gorges. Along the way we saw dramatic cliffs rising from the river, lush vegetation, terraced farmlands that reached to the mountaintops, and an occasional pack of monkeys scurrying through the bush or along the shore where they were feeding on corn dumped most likely by the tourist boats.


Because of the dam project near Yichang, the Gorges area is being flooded gradually. The final flood stage will be reached in 2009. Already many towns have disappeared beneath the 150 meters of water that has filled the Yangtze and its tributaries. The population is being relocated to new apartment buildings along the hilltops near the river. The younger generation is happy to have the new lodging. The older generation is very sad to leave their generational farms and homes. It is all for the need of a fresh water source for China as well as hydroelectric power for a county whose industrial progress and modernization is moving too fast for the old systems to keep up.


This was all explained quite well by the local guide on our excursion up the Daning. On our return trip, she told of some of the customs and traditions of the area and sang a folk song in her language. Then she asked the 100 English-speaking guests to sing to her a song she had heard in English, Amazing Grace. A hundred voices rang out in the middle of one of the most beautiful places in China. It was the biggest "God moment" of my trip.


His grace is truly amazing.

In My Lifetime--Viet Nam Perspective

It's been a month since I've posted--a very busy month. We were traveling in Asia. A land tour as well as a cruise that took us through China and on to Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, and VietNam. Surprisingly, our favorite two stops were in Viet Nam.

Perhaps our interest was peaked most in Nam since we lived through the Viet Nam war era. I remember holding our breath through the draft lottery that would determine our future. Bob's number was high enough to make it possible to ensure he would finish school and we could continue with our plans for the future.

I recall the nightly reports that more than any other war brought home the sacrifices we were making. Then there were the protests, the draft card burnings on campus, and the young men who fled to Canada to avoid the draft. Viet Nam was certainly devisive in those years.

Our two stops in Viet Nam were quite different. The trip to Ho Chi Minh city gave us a glimpse of history--remembering the pullout of Saigon, the mass evacuation by helicopter, the war headquarters. Our other excursioin took us into the countryside where we met more closely the people of Viet Nam. Our hearts were touched by their lives as they shared customs, lifestyle, and traditions with us.

But what will stay with me are the words spoken so profoundly by one of our guides. "When people say Viet Nam they mean a war but Viet Nam is a country." Yes, a beautiful country with some very beautiful people.

A Glimpse of Heaven?

Okay, I've hesitated to post this lest I appear a little, well, kooky. (That was a good term in a little earlier time of my life).

I was visiting a church this past Sunday that loves to sing the old hymns as well as some of the snappy new choruses. We were singing "Victory In Jesus." The words truly began to sink in around the second verse: "He made the lame to walk. . .blind to see. . .come and heal my broken spirit. . .and somehow Jesus came. . ." But it was the third verse that transported me.

"I heard about a mansion. . ." Time seemed to slow a bit.
"He has built for me in glory. . ." Something clicked in my head.
"And I heard about the streets of gold. . ." I was suddenly imagining gold bricks making a street like the old cobbled streets I've seen in Europe.
". . .beyond the crystal sea. . ." And here, time seemed to stop. In my mind, I had a clear picture of a body of water unlike what I had ever seen before. It wasn't the green of Lake Erie, or the deep blue of the Pacific or even the inviting turquoise of the Caribbean. It was clear, sparkling and pure--like fine crystal.

Have I lost you yet?

It was comforting and while I've never cared for the melody of the hymn, the words this time gave me a glimpse of heaven that sent goosebumps up my arms with the beautiful scene.

Jesus said he was Living Water when he met the woman at the well. I think somehow that crystal sea--so pure and clean--would be just that, Living Water.

In My Lifetime--Required Reading

I'm a little out of touch with what is required reading today in schools since my children are now having children. (The sixth grandchild arrived last night!!) But here are some of the books I remember having to read:

Dick and Jane books (That's what I cut my reading "teeth" on)
Silas Marner (I think that was ninth grade)
1984 (I think they label this one history now instead of futuristic fantasy)
Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer (Through the years Mark Twain has been honored and banned)
Animal Farm
Lord of the Flies (Wonder if they based the new reality series on this?)
Catch 22 (This one may have been in college but I did take advanced Lit in high school)
To Kill a Mocking Bird (I'm reading about Harper Lee now--interesting)

Of course there was also Frost, Whitman, Dickinson, and ee cummings. I liked ee. I thought it was neat not to use capital letters.

Through the years authors have come and gone. Their popularity soaring and diminishing. Still there are those who keep on: Doctorow for one.

Today I wonder how long Grisham, King, Patterson, Brown, and the other "moderns" will hang on to their popularity? I think King might last a while because he's more unique--kind of like a Poe.

Well, so much for my meanderings this morning. What books do you remember as required reading in school?

In My Lifetime--Typewriters to PCs

Contrary to what some in my family may think, I did not start writing with a chisel and stone. I used an electric Royal typewriter that I purchased with S&H green stamps (redemption stamps should be another post). It came with a ribbon that had white-out on it and I didn't have to mess with a bottle of liquid that always managed to dry out and get white crumbs around the top. It was cool (language--another post).

A few years prior to this, my husband had scavaged computer parts from a dump behind his place of work and began assembling a computer in our basement. The computer took up most of the half-basement we had in our split-level house. It had huge tape drives and lots of flashing lights when it "thought." We oohed and aahed as the giant printer he purchased printed out a 30" wide Snoopy.

It was about then that the punch cards popularly used for programing a computer became obsolete and my mother and I took boxes of them we inherited and made Christmas wreaths out of them.

Then along came the Texas Instruments home computer, the TI-99. It was used mainly for games but it was the first step in smaller computers and was about the size of a small musical keyboard.

Next the Tandy came into our home. A Radio Shack special that eventually became totally obsolete and anything you did on it was pretty much worthless because it wouldn't transfer to the new IBM models that followed. The Tandy taught me about word processing. It also taught me to back up my work. I remember losing two hours worth of data entry one day to a komikaze squirrel who knocked out a transformer and caused a blackout.

From those early models, PCs lept forward with technology. The computers got smaller in size, bigger in memory, and faster in "thinking."

Today, the computer that took up half of our basement can fit into the palm of your hand and do the work of a dozen of those computers or more. And the white-out ribbon I was so excited about has been replaced by cut and paste in my word processing program that does about everything but create the words--oh wait! It does insert the right spelling and even suggests how I could say it better. It also automatically backs up. I no longer fear komikaze squirrels.

In My Lifetime--Game Shows

I watched Wheel of Fortune last night and saw Vanna in dazzling evening gown lightly touch the puzzle board and set the letters in motion, popping up for the first round. She's come a long way in 25 years. So far that I'm surprised she still has a job. The puzzle board is so automated that except for "window dressing," she really isn't necessary. Any one else remember when she had to actually turn the letters around?

Game/quiz shows have been consistently popular as long as I can remember. They were also a point of cotroversy back in the late 50s when it was discovered that some shows were feeding answers to contestants they wanted to continue on. The $64,000 Question was one that was investigated.

Lots of game shows have come and gone. Some I watched were: Password, Hollywood Squares, The Dating Game, Let's Make a Deal, $10,000 Pyramid, Family Feud, and Jeopardy (back when Art Fleming was host, too).

Perhaps the greatest of these (in my opinion) and the longest lasting is The Price Is Right. It's been going since 1972 and looks to continue even after Bob Barker's retirement. I remember watching Barker on Truth or Consequences before TPIR.

Certainly game shows have truly changed in the amount of money people can win. Inflation perhaps? Deal Or No Deal this week was trying to give away a million bucks. They were trying so hard, they had four suitcases with a cool mil in them.

So, why the popularity? Is it the fantasy of winning big? The challenge of knowing the answers (Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?)? Whatever the reason we all love to watch. . .and dream.

Celebrity Look Alikes

For years I have had to listen to people say how much my husband looks like Ted Kennedy. That was good before the years of drinking and overeating caught up with Teddy. Now Bob looks much better than Ted. When my daughter-in-law found this site and ran their pictures for celebrity look-alikes I thought it might be fun. My son came out with Mel Gibson and Brad Pitt on his list. Hmmm. How accurate is this technology?

Here's mine. I'm surprised that I have two Japanese ladies and an Indian in my portfolio.

In My Lifetime--Phones

When I was a child, it took a bit of dexterity and a strong finger to make a phone call. I grew up with rotary phones. You put your finger in the appropriate hole and turned the dial all the way to the little metal stopper to enter the appropriate number. When you didn't know a number, you dialed the operator and a real live person asked, "May I help you?"

Next came the push-button phone. This was a lot of fun at first because you could actually play a little song with the different tones the buttons made. Technically, I know that led to all sorts of other things--like the dreaded "press one for this and press two for that," etc.

This past weekend, we stopped at an AT&T store and took a look at the new IPhone by Apple. There are not even any buttons to push on this phone! It's all done by touch and in addition to it being a phone, it connects with the internet, plays personal music choices, displays a map for the directionally challenged, checks e-mail, does the laundry, cleans house . . . well, maybe not those last two--yet.

It's all about connecting nowadays and staying connected. If only we were as eager to stay connected to God.

Living Vicariously

We are often accused of doing this through our children and while my writing friend, Trish Berg is young enough to be one of my children, I'm living vicariously through her exciting week. Yesterday she had ABC news show up at her doorstep to tape "a day in the life of" segment about blogging moms.

Trish is author of The Great American Supper Swap and an upcoming book Rattled, Surviving Your Baby's First Year Without Losing Your Cool. She's a worker bee and deserves these moments in the limelight. More so because she is giving the glory to God.

Speaking of limelight (an old term for spotlight). . .I am committing to a more regular posting schedule for my blog. I keep waiting for life to slow down a bit but it ain't gonna happen. My theme for a while will be "In My Lifetime" as a tribute to my reaching six decades in this walk on earth. I remember all the good stories of my parents and grandfather recalling the "good old days." A lot of those days have been greatly improved and I am amazed at what has been developed in just the short span of my life. So, for posterity, we'll explore the changes in telephones in my next post. And no, I do not go back to the Alexander Graham Bell era!

Survivor China

This is too funny not to share.

We have been planning a trip to China and I have not been all that excited about it. Sure I love seeing other cultures and visiting ancient places of history but I am put off by the prospect of crowded cities and then the extreme: squat toilets in the "backwoods" areas.

I complained so much that we changed our original plans and have hooked up with a cruise company to do the land tour as a precruise expedition. There's a better chance of not getting bad food, getting lost where we absolutely know zilch about the language, and of course, perhaps finding Western style toilets.

This afternoon I was watching CBS as I ate my lunch and what to my amazement should appear but a commercial for the new season of Survivor---Survivor: China!!

I figure if that survivor gets a million bucks for surviving that trip, I should certainly get some kind of compensation. Hmmmm.

Madeleine McCann--still missing

I received an email message this morning that is circling the globe by now I'm sure. It contained identifying information about little Madeleine McCann who was taken from her parents while vacationing in Portugal. I lost one of my kids for 30 minutes one day due to a mix up in school bus schedules. I cannot imagine the ongoing pain of this family or any other whose child is abducted.

The email message was about an unusual identifying mark in Madeleines pupil. Should she be seen anywhere by someone who is aware of this, the hope is that they will contact authorities immediately.

There is a website for Madeleine with all sorts of contact information on it if you are interested.

Cruising the Hawaiian Islands

At last! Finished assembling pictures and information for my page on Hawaii. Now to work on a page for the Tahitian Princess and our trip will be well-documented.

Aloha!

Cruising the Hawaiian Islands

Cruising French Polynesia

We were gone a good part of June on a long trip/cruise to the islands of French Polynesia (Tahiti) and Hawaii. I've been busily working on getting the trip report up on my website. So far I have finished the FP page and am almost done with the page for Hawaii. It's tough narrowing down all the pictures to just a few and then getting them all to fit on the page but, if you're curious, take a look!

Cruising French Polynesia

Neighborhood Gang

This morning I discovered that we have a gang in our neighborhood. There were at least six of them moving from yard to yard, being very boisterous. They were wearing their colors--black and yellow. I knew there was something going on like this. I could see the evidence in my own yard--the thistle in the feeder kept disappearing at an alarming rate.

The goldfinches are a welcome sign of summer. Their bright yellow bodies are the first signal that spring is here as they shed their drab winter gray. This morning though was the first time I realized they traveled in a group. They were flitting from tree to tree nosily chattering and just looking to get into trouble--I'm sure of it.

I wondered if it would have been half as interesting and amusing had I been walking with an MP3 player and earphones stuck in my ears. Seems like we have so many things that can keep us from being involved with our world. I enjoyed their happy chatter and the twitter of the less active songbirds of the morning. The neighborhood gangs harmonize pretty well.