Monday, January 22, 2018

Through a headache Darkly

Late... very dark and with only a cat to talk to... and that a complaining one. You are old, Mother Sylvia, the other old woman said / and yet you continuously stand on your head / do you think at your age that is bright? I loved Lewis Carroll and his lovely rhymes, and have used them as a basis for many of mine. Oh, good lord, I made the mistake of hitting the photo booth... I guess it is best never to use Skype... Poor Jackie... I rail at him for not combing his hair and not getting out of his nightshirt all day... and I do the same. I had forgotten to comb my hair, and it is far, far longer and more untidy than his! Today, after watching '60 Minutes' with all the lovely people who used to do it back again... I wanted someone to talk to about all of them... all dead and gone long since. Dreadful old Mike Wallace who used to scream at people. I remember him in Chicago when he was still the kid yelling "When did you hit your wife, senator?" and other charming phrases. I even remember when he had a program with his wife... oh, what was her name... a blonde... of course. All the rest were my darling friends every Sunday... Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, Bob Simon (my favorite) and funny Andy Rooney. So far they haven't been replaced. The new talking heads are good... but oh, they are not those great men. And now I shall make a little confession... I SO MISS Charlie Rose... I can't imagine him doing anything bad enough to take him away!! Where will he go... what will he do? Will he ever return? I do miss him so much. And on those notes, I was amazed to find that if I have the strength to stay up and listen to him, James Comey is almost a good replacement for Craig Ferguson, whom I thought would never be replaced... and whom I thought should be the one to replace old what's is name... oh.. Letterman, whom I never could stand... as I adored Craig. He was such fun I stayed up. Comey is a rather ugly, fat, little man, but he is kind (something Carson & Letterman never were) and a really good interviewer, letting the people talk and not topping them, as some of the interviewers do... even Colbert, whom I like, tends to do that... of course he can top drumpf!! Then of course there was 'Victoria' tonight. I love this series... the BBC has it all over our TV series makers. I actually cried tonight... I had a terrible time after I had Whitney... went into a rotten depression and she cried all the time as I was trying to nurse and couldn't, so she was hungry constantly... so I made bottles, but she wanted to be held and rocked and fed... I will never forget the saint next door who was the oldest of 10 or so, and hearing both Whitney and me crying every night, came over and taught me how to be a mother. My mother couldn't do it... she had nurses and mother's helpers and the works during all her pregnancies, so only saw dry, fed children (of course, she nursed us... she said she could have nurses triplets) for a short time each day. Then when we settled in Memphis, she had our Mammy Mary to care for us. When I think back to those days in Memphis, Mary was more of a mother than Jessie. Losing her was like losing a mother and I still tend to tear up when I think of her, but then 'I'm a sentimental sap, that's all / what's the use of trying not to fall / so turn me loose, you cooked my goose / 'cause you took advantage of me... another of my favorite tunes from way, way, way back when. I believe it was an early Bing Crosby tune... sung before my time, but taught to me by Ned Travis, a San Francisco guy, and a great jazz drummer, who knew Bing and many other musicians out here. Another confession... I really miss driving my dear little blue Chevette all over the Chicago area when I was designing things for the homebound handicapped at Easter Seal... and singing all the old songs at the top of my lungs as I drove. No one could hear me, or criticize my voice as Whitney always did. Well, I'm off to bed now, so I shall sing myself to sleep and if Sylvia doesn't like it, she can go in and eat the food she wouldn't finish tonight!