A Letter from Amanda Root

I am SO happy. Last week, I went to the mail box and came back in with a pile of packages and a small stack of mail. As Mom and Sarah are already working on my Christmas present, I wasn't allowed to open the packages, but the mail! That is another story. Usually it is junk mail which I have the fun of ripping open and then throwing in the filing receptacle (commonly called the "garbage can"). Well, this time there was a nice little white envelope that had a British stamp on it and no return address. This means a fan mail response! We opened it and it was a reply from actress Amanda Root, who played Anne in the 1995 Persuasion! Oh Boy! I was thrilled. No, I was more than thrilled . . . I was ecstatic! She was the one I had been hoping would answer, of all the people that we wrote to.

I had had to really search for her address and we had written to her in June. I wasn't even sure that she responded. We couldn't have been happier with her response. She sent us each a lovely signed photo and she wrote a note in answer to our letters which was just wonderful. She really is a wonderful actress. Although Pride and Prejudice is my favorite Jane Austen story and film, Amanda Root's Anne is my favorite film heroine. She really captures the character and the emotion of the part. The scene at the Italian concert never fails to send me sniffling in the corner of the sofa and the end where she reads the letter is so wonderful. You just have to see it!

So, right now I am working on the scrapbook page for her. She is right next to Ciaran Hinds (who played Wentworth) and they will have a spread with a bunch of Persuasion photos. Ohhhh, I couldn't be happier. God knew the perfect way to make my beginning of the year happy!

"Shout joyfully to God, all the earth . . . " - Psalm 66:1

Christmas, New Year, Auction, Lord of the Rings, Poirot, and Scrapbooks!

Our Christmas / New Year's events are all over! Now comes the time that we call "After Christmas". At least, during the year that is what we always call it. You know, "After Christmas I am going to do . . .". We had a very fun December. Sold a lot of stuff on eBay earlier in the month. This year, on New Year's Eve, we all went to the Auction house for their big auction of the year. They didn't have lots of box lots or anything. A lot of guns, a lot of glassware. But there was fun stuff to watch. It started at 10:00 in the morning and we left at 5:30 before they were quite done. They had some really nice furniture. Sarah got a sheet music cabinet that is really nice.

New Year's Day dawned grey and rainy, but warm. 57 degrees actually. Heat wave! Perfect day for our traditional movie marathon. "Trilogy Tuesday" is what we call it, no matter what the day is. We all sit and watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy all the way through. This year we started earlier than last year (We didn't even get to watch the last disc last year.). As always, the movies were wonderful. My favorite scene is the Flight to the Ford in Fellowship, however, the one that Sarah and really wait for is "Scene 56" in The Return of the King. Which is were Eomer finds Eowyn on the battlefield and she is in the Houses of Healing. We waited so long for it to come out on the extended DVD. We actually finished before 1:00am! It was very fun.



The next day, Sunday, we went to church at Providence, then we stopped and picked up a set of Scott's Stamp Catalogues from Steve. Goody, goody. That was a Chritsmas present for the family. They are 2009 and in colour! Then we went to Panera for lunch. That is always fun. When we got home, it was upstairs for me to start wrapping presents! As I had not wrapped any yet, I had a stack. Sarah needed up in the back room with me to put the finishing touches on Mom's present, so I wrapped all the presents and then put the ribbon on while she was with me. Actually, she even helped!

It was so nice, relaxed, no rush. (I have a feeling that that is "On account of, because"). Sarah and I had been working on a present since March. Mom had been wanting a felted doll since Sarah made the first ones, so we decided on a little Poirot. We finally found a box at a thrift store that was perfect! It opened the wrong direction, so I cut the velvet lining and the styrofoam insert out and re-glued them in the other direction. As well as re-padding under the velvet so that the doll would fit correctly. Then I got a gel pen and drew the Poirot logo on the top. It really looked swell! Sarah did a fantastic job on the doll and we even got a real sterling silver chain to make his watch chain! The lapel pin is a little company tag off of a chain that I had to cut up for parts. Sarah and I had sent for an autograph from David Suchet back in May and he had been kind enough to reply. However, that was before we had the box and the photos that we had sent were way too big! So, we sent a new photo the size of the box, hoping that it would get here in time. If it didn't, we decided to print a plain photo, but the effect wouldn't be the same. On December 28th, a plain number 10 envelope arrived, and Sarah recognized it right away! We couldn't have been happier that day. It was perfect! He did such a nice job signing in the space we left. Really, really nice. Mom was totally surprised and thrilled! God really blessed us in the fact that everything we needed fell together at just the right moment. The box, the lapel pin, the autograph!

Sarah got her Secondhand Lions pull toys that I had started last December. I had really dreaded having to paint the giraffe, as there is not cartoon of the giraffe. Dad just drew it in the style of the others. Well, once I really got started he looked so nice that he quickly became my favorite and I was sorry when I was finished. He, however, is too tall to be a pull toy, so we are going to make him into a table lamp. They turned out really cute. Couldn't be happier with them. Dad's cut out jobs are so nice.



I will do a post about my scrapbooks later! Too much for this one. On an ending note, we went up to Mansfield on Monday and took a bunch of metal things to a coin store (they buy precious metals. Like recycling!). Single earrings, broken chains, Dad's old gold crown, etc. Well, Dad and I dropped Mom and Sarah off and we ran a few errands. When we got back, they had finished looking and were adding it all up. We all expected about twenty dollars. Sarah and I started looking at some of the coins, and when we saw them start ringing up on the cash register, we headed over to see the final amount. She was counting out the money on the counter and we couldn't have been more shocked when it turned out to be $138! You could have knocked us both over. Not bad for a little pile of junk lying around the house. So, our year went out with a bang! Although, I am Praying that God gives us a slightly less eventful year this year!

"Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen"

Christmas, The Keultjeses, Cuban Food and . . . Cheesy Apples!

Every year, either on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, or Boxing Day, we have the Keultjeses over for a real Cuban meal! Sarah and I can't remember not seeing them at Christmas. When we used to live around the corner from them, we always saw each other on Christmas. Sometimes we would go there, other times they would come to our house. I remember one year, when it was really snowy and the roads were bad, they piled all there presents on a sled and trudged through the snow to visit!

The Cuban dinner started when we moved here. Since we didn't see them as much and the girls were at school now, we thought that would be a nice way to celebrate. Gramma and Grampa always send a box full of yucca and plantains a few weeks before, just for the occasion. Mom and I had already made the black beans, and Mrs. Keultjes was bringing the garlic bread!

Well, this year. after selling so much on eBay and all, we decided that we wanted to enjoy our visit and not be too rushed, so we actually decorated on Christmas Day. We are going to wait and do our presents on Sunday. Sarah wasn't feeling as "Scroogie" as Mom and I were about Christmas decorations, so she and Dad put up the silver tree and decorated it with Shiny Brites. It is really nice, actually. Mom and I spent the day getting the good dishes out and finding the right amount of serving bowls and utensils that were needed for the dinner.

We decided to use our Silver Pine dishes. Mom and I love them, but don't really get a chance to use them. This time we brought out every piece we could possibly use and the table looked gorgeous! Keultjeses got here about 2:30 and dinner was about an hour later. As always, Mrs. Keultjes served at the table and the beans and everything were great! (Mom's black beans are even better than Gramma's!) Sarah and I had asked Mrs. Keultjes to bring a pan of cheesy apples for the meal. (They are simply one of the best foods that you can taste here on earth. Wow! She always made them when we were little and Sarah and I have never been able to forget them. We have tried making them, but they never seem to work like Mrs. Keultjes'. Hmmm . . . ) Happily, she told us that we should just keep them for later. Sarah and I, like the nice little hostesses, said "No. Let's share" - NOT! Actually, after they had gone back home, we all split them and ate them as a snack. They were just as wonderful as ever!

For dessert, Mom brought out her Rumtopf and brandied peaches. So they were served over pound cake and everyone really liked them. It was fun as this was the first time that we served the Rumtopf and Mom was very excited about it. Especially as it turned out so well. It was beautiful!

Remember Pearl Harbor!

"Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. . .

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. . .

With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us God."

-President Franklin Roosevelt

A Grateful "Thank You" to Deanna Durbin, Who Turns 89 Today

Singer Deanna Durbin celebrates her 89th birthday today! One of my all-time favorite singers, she has a beautiful lyric soprano voice. She appeared in her first film Every Sunday, a short which costarred the then-unknown Judy Garland, when she was only fourteen. The same year she starred in her first feature film, becoming an overnight success. Her career lasted twelve years, in which she produced 21 films and a handful of shorts. In 1949, at the age of 27, she suddenly retired and continues to live privately in France. She had a classically trained voice, usually singing opera-style songs, although she did do some pop numbers. Her films were usually a little light on plot with the accent being on the music (she described her roles as Little-Miss-Fix-It who suddenly bursts into song), although she did try her hand at serious drama later on in her career. It was actually one of her movies that got me started on opera!

Mom found a a tape of her film, Because of Him, at the library one day. We had never heard of her, so she got it to try. Well, we tried it and the film wasn't good (we actually didn't even finish it) but I fell in love with her rendition of the classic song "Danny Boy". So, back to the library we trundled and this time got two more. The next one we tried was It Started with Eve, which costars Charles Laughton. It was hilarious and even Dad liked it, although she actually doesn't sing much. The second was First Love, which I fell in love with. For the finale, she sings Puccini's "One Fine Day" (with a wonderful English translation) from the opera Madame Butterfly. I was really interested. Back to the library again, this time for For the Love of Mary. A fantastically funny film, this is still one of our family favorites (it was also her final film before she retired). Here she sings "Largo al Factotum" from The Barber of Seville and I really, really liked it. So, I got a recording of the entire opera. I started listening to it, but it was slightly daunting and it went back to the library unfinished.



However, it doesn't stop there. The next one was His Butler's Sister, which has her singing "Nessun Dorma" at the climactic ending. I was really smitten. This was too beautiful to ignore! We went back to the library and got two cds, The Three Tenors 1994 Concert and The Ultimate Opera Divas Album. Driving home we listened to the Three Tenors, and I was amazed that Mom could tell who was singing by just listening - not even looking at the disc booklet! They all sounded the same to me, I certainly couldn't tell! I liked it, but I was really interested in hearing "One Fine Day", which was so far my favorite opera song (still is one of my favorites). So, that week while I was cleaning our room, I listened to the Divas cd. "One Fine Day" was beautiful and, feeling adventurous, I decided to start at the beginning and listen to the whole disc. When it came to "Casta Diva", I couldn't believe it. A minute into it and I knew that I had never heard anything quite like that! Looking at the disc case, I found out that it was somebody named Joan Sutherland singing the number. Never heard of her, but . . . WOW! I practically wore the disc out listening to it. When I played it for Mom, she didn't seem half impressed and she told me that Joan Sutherland had been around and she had seen her on TV and everything. I wasn't so easily persuaded that she was something to be shrugged at. So . . . (if you can't guess what came next, you haven't been paying enough attention! )

. . . Back to the LIBRARY! This time for the classic complete recording of Turandot, which features the legendary teaming of Dame Joan, Pavarotti, Montserrat Caballe, and Nicolai Ghiaurov. Still a beginner at the entire opera thing, I sat one evening and listened to the entire opera, waiting to hear "Nessun Dorma". (Imagine . . .I even sat through the entire Act 3! Annoying thing.) Well, it certainly fulfilled all my expectations. That cd set was actually the very first opera item that I purchased.

Ever since, Dame Joan has been one of my favorite opera singers. I have bunches of her records and cds, and several years ago I wrote her a letter and she was kind enough to send back a very wonderful personalized autographed photo. That was the second autograph I ever asked for. The first was . . . Deanna Durbin.

Now, I am an opera nut (and can tell the difference between the Three Tenors myself!), overwhelming the family with opera movies, music, books and magazines. So, "thank you" Deanna Durbin for opening a whole new world of music to,at least one little girl fifty years later!

Crazy Black Friday

For the first time ever, we decided to go shopping on the day after Thanksgiving! We got up at 5:00 in the morning to get to JoAnn's when they opened. Flannel was on a HUGE sale ($1.29 a yard!) and we are out of baby presents. We were there four hours the first time, two of which were at the counter getting fabric cut. We ended up filling a shopping cart with the cut pieces of fabric! Then we went to Panera for breakfast/lunch which was a nice break from standing on the concrete floors. Then back to JoAnn's for the second round, resulting in two more bags of fabric. We found some really, really cute designs - sweet peas, moons, and Scandinavian pine trees. :o)

We didn't end up leaving until after 2:00. After that we did Meijer's, GFS, Lowes, and PetSmart. Needless to say, by the time we got home after we were really tired. Mom and Sarah counted the pieces and it turns out we got 94 different pieces of flannel! Our sofa is piled high with bags of beautiful flannel. Now comes the really fun part . . . matching all the pieces up and making them into blankets!

Books, records, and eBay

I haven't written a new post in ages! Life has been really busy around here. Feels nice to be getting back to "normal" life (although, it could be debated about what "normal" in our family really means ). Dad finished stacking all the firewood this week and the winter weather has already settled in (not snow, just grey and cold).

For the last two weeks I have been working on putting all of our newly acquired books away on the shelves upstairs. While I was at it, I decided to go through them as I went and get rid of any doubles or titles that we no longer wanted. So far I have made it through adult fiction, adult bios, and presidents. We did manage to weed three boxes full - to help make room for the seven boxes of new ones! (Somehow the math seems wrong here???) Books are always so fun. I could work at them all day, every day.

Sarah and I have also been working on cleaning out the attic over the TV room. There is way too much stuff up there and we have been wanting to get rid of some of the plastic toys that we had kept. So, right now, Mom is hot and heavy working on listing the better stuff on eBay.

At the beginning of the month, Sarah and I did a massive weeding job on the record collections. It is very sad not to be able to keep them all, because you really don't see them around much anymore. However, we just don't have enough room and it was getting quite out of hand. So we sorted through every single 78 and got rid of about half of them ( that means close to 700). I also went through our LPs, but we are going to do a better sort-through together.

All in all, we have handled lots of records, books, and other stuff in the past month! The cats are not sure what to do with all of the stuff around the house. Although, Monika and Iveta did have a grand time exploring the walk-in closet while we were cleaning up there!

Joan Sutherland Dies

I just found out that last night, legendary opera soprano Joan Sutherland died at her home in Switzerland. She was 83 years old. What a talent. It was actually Joan Sutherland who really cemented my love for opera. The first thing I heard her sing was "Casta Diva" and I remember thinking that I had never heard anyone sing that high before. I was totally enthralled. I must have listened to that song twenty times that day. There is nobody like her.

A few years ago, I wrote a letter to her and she was kind enough to send back a beautiful black and white photo of her in the Mad Scene, signed and personalized. I was SO thrilled! It is in my Deanna binder until I start making my opera scrapbook, where it will get a front page to properly exhibit it!

Her autobiography A Prima Donna's Progress was fantastic. We actually found it by accident one day at the Mansfield library and I loved it. So Mom and Dad bought a copy of it for me for Christmas that year and it has it's own special place on the shelf in our bedroom. A lot of people didn't like it because it has lots of stuff about her career and doesn't dish any dirt, but it was fantastic for me! She has lots of funny stories about different performances.

God really blessed her with a remarkable talent and thankfully we can still enjoy that talent through CDs and DVDs. Who can forget her wonderful Mad Scene or her marvelous recording of Turandot? What a talent, what a gift.

Dame Joan Sutherland
November 7, 1926 - October 10, 2010

Goodby Little Joe

We lost Little Joe this morning. He was a very cute cat and we were very blessed to have him for four and a half years. We got him as a kitten on December 22, 2005 (the same day that we got Beatrice). Last week he had all his teeth out because of a serious condition, but he didn't recover from the surgery and this morning Dad had to take him to the vet so that he could go to sleep. No matter how many we lose, it is always hard to say goodbye.

Time is Flying AKA "The Business of Life"

I haven't posted in ages! Life is so busy around here. On August 14th, Sarah fell on the pavement and broke her arm. We went to the Galion ER and they put a splint on it. She has a radial head facture. So, the following Tuesday, we trundled down to Dr. Dawson and he got to look at it. Turns out that he is a National specialist on that particular fracture. He did his college work about it and even helped design the implant for when it is shattered. He actually took the splint off. He said that the elbow is the least forgiving thing to regain complete range of motion. Although, if you have to break something, this is the break to have as it is very straightforward. Exercise is the key, though, to regaining complete motion. Well, her three week check-up on Tuesday and he said that the break was healing up very well and that she can use it for whatever (with caution of course). So she has another appointment in three months.

In the meantime, she has been felting a gnome for Alex. We are flying down there on October 2 to see Leilani. They are going to have her baptism the Sunday that we are there, so we are really, really thrilled! More about this topic later . . .

Life has been crowded with assorted doctor's appointments in the past three weeks. Sarah's arm, Mom and Sarah's follow-up with Doctor Kerbs (which went really well this time), Lydys, dentist. One fun thing is that I got to go to a massage therapist up in Mansfield. I have had four already and boy, are they wonderful. She is really working on my shoulders and neck. It is definitely something that I want to continue even after the insurance settlement.

The Tomato Show started yesterday. We got 24 entries total, eight of which were ours. We are considering closing the division down after this year. We barely filled the two quilt racks and two tables. Attendance seems down on the whole though. Even in the midway it is not very crowded. Not very fun when we are practically the only ones entering, and nobody is even enjoying looking at the things. So, we'll see.