Blergh
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Posts posted by Blergh
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1 hour ago, Quof said:
Looking for advice.
I have someone coming to clean my house tomorrow. I've never done this, ever, for several reasons. I hate to pay people to do things I can do myself. I don't want people poking around in my house. And I'm sure no one would clean better than I do myself.
Because of an injury, I couldn't do a deep spring cleaning this year, so she's going to do the heavy tasks I can't do.
What do I do while she's here???? She's a friend of a friend who does it as a side gig but I hadn't met her before now. Nice lady, close to my age. It will feel really weird to just sit and watch, but the house isn't big enough that I could just disappear to another area. Do I just pretend she's not here?
One can simply explain the tasks needed to be done then tell her you're available if she has any questions about expectations then walk to the next room or pick up a book or newspaper to read while she's there. After she done,you may opt to thank her then wish her well as she makes her exit. If she starts discussing a topic you're not comfortable with ,you can gently but firmly remind her that she's there to do a task. Those are my suggestions.
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On Sunday, May 25,2025- Harrison Ruffin Tyler died at the age of 96. While reaching that milestone itself was impressive enough, as I had mentioned earlier in this thread what was really astonishing is that he was the grandson of the US President John Tyler (1790-1862) [President 1841-1845] thanks to both President Tyler and his own father having been sired very late in life! Yes, we just lost someone whose grandfather had been alive in 1790- three generations covering 235 years!
Anyway, I thought it would be worth the update!
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Happy Everest Day, everyone!
Yep, on this date in 1953, a former New Zealander beekeeper named Edmund Hillary (1919-2008) and a Nepalese Sherpa named Tenzing Norgay (1914-1986) became the first two humans confirmed to have successfully climbed Mt. Everest- the highest summit of land on Earth with a 29,031 ft. [8,849 meters] elevation. Yeah, it's lead to many others following their footsteps and tragically much loss of life as well as permanent debilitation for other- and has turned the once pristine trek into a graveyard and a junkyard.
However, these two had achieved what many had previously believed was impossible so that's something. Also, thanks to communications being somewhat sporadic in that part of the world, it wouldn't become world news until June 2,1953- the day of Elizabeth II's Coronation which helped make the day memorable.
Anyway, Happy Everest Day!
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2 hours ago, Lugal said:
It turns out that Billy Joel actually hates "We Didn't Start The Fire"
Well, I don't always pick 'em right. I also like R.E.M's 'Shiny, Happy People' and Tears for Fears 'The Way You Are'- all three songs their performers themselves didn't like but got stuck with performing due to popular demand. Oh well.
Regardless, I hope Mr. Joel recovers soon!
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Remember, Andrew Jackson adopted an orphaned Creek Native American baby he called Lyncoya (c.1811-1828)after finding the infant was found in his slaughtered mother's arms after a horrific massacre and burning of the village by US troops. That tiny act of mercy on Jackson's part by NO means erased all the xenophobic and genocidal 'tudes against Native Americans that Jackson held before or after that single credit.
'Some of my best friends are. ..' indeed! BLEAH!!!
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In addition to most of the above, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention 'We Didn't Start the Fire' (1989) as one of my fave Billy Joel hits. Yes, it mentioned virtually many historical highlights that the US experienced from c. 1949 to 1989 [although oddly skipped a few years from 1972- 1980].
Anyway, I was always impressed by Mr. Joel's ability to compose AND perform songs (and by copyrighting the lyrics in his own name, that means he's been guaranteed at least a portion of the royalties pie for his creations).
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3 hours ago, tres bien said:
If you’re someone who doesn’t think Trump’s attack on Harvard (Columbia but they folded) and soon other colleges and universities he will go after if they don’t agree to his terms to remake everything he can in his image (Kennedy Center 😟) how about this
On Friday the “administration” cut all funding for the African American Museum in Boston because “it no longer serves the interests of the United States”
Oh really
History as well as education and art are NECESSITIES not luxuries for any and all citizens of all nations! It's most infuriating that #45 is downright hostile to all the above.
Moreover if and when curators, educators or artists have interpretations that aren't universally agreed with by others , it's important for them to acknowledged so others can consider said interpretations when pondering any number of issues. African- American History IS part of US American History and it's important for US Americans of ALL backgrounds to at least consider that part of our history in order to have needed information to try to change things for the better for our nation (to say nothing of being inspired by folks overcoming odds and having triumphs).
I urge every one reading this to preserve as much written and video history one has in one's possession to be able to teach the younger generations in one's circle regardless of these unwarranted and nihilistic attacks by #45 on history!
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19 hours ago, BetterButter said:
That's so horrible for Mr. Joel and his loved ones! I hope they can find a treatment that will soon alleviate if not eradicate any debilitating symptoms!
I'm not going to pretend that Mr. Joel hasn't had his faults down the decades. However, I think it needs to be recalled that in 2011, he turned down a seven-figure offer to write his autobio evidently in part. ..because his eldest daughter Alexa had been going through some tough times and he didn't to cause her any added stress. If that MO is true, I have to admire him having prioritized her best interests over even such a large windfall.
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While Mr. Wendt had been a great character performer before he got his iconic role as Norm, I think this is as good time as any to mention that [as per Prof. Wiki] he was one of nine children [and by one of his sisters was the uncle of SNL alum Jason Sudeikis] and he had been married to a performer named Bernadette Birkett since 1978 ( at least 46 years) and they were the parents of three children. It appears that he simply died in his sleep this morning (Tuesday, May 20,2025) which somehow seems fitting exit for the one known as 'Norm'!
RIP, Mr. Wendt!
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3 hours ago, debraran said:
Matthew isn't very vocal in these things and I felt lucky to see him in CT. I'd love to see him on with his brother and I wonder if he did something like that if I google Patricks's podcasts. I know Matthew suffered a lot with the fires in LA, he lost his home, his kids school burned and his wife also worked there. Very unsettling for sure. If I remember correctly did they say Kent McCray played the crazy person but uncredited?
No update on GFM Fundraiser https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-leslie-matt-rebuild-after-devastating-fire-loss
Why would I not be surprised if Mr. McCray enjoyed playing a loose cannon after all those seasons of having to be the closest thing to a voice of reason on ML's set?
On a more serious note, it's very sad that the younger Mr. Labyorteaux seems to still be trying to put the pieces of his nuclear family's life back together four months after those horrible fires. I suppose he'd have gone and done his elder brother's own Podcast first before doing the Prairie one had he felt up to it.
I hope he and his family soon recover and rebuild their home and lives (and maybe he can take strength and inspiration from the more positive aspects of Albert's character in the early part of the show- as well as getting a good laugh at how Albert's savviness seemed on the verge not just impressing his chronologically elder bestie Andy but also permanently outflanking both their fathers but for the deus ex machina appearance of the woodland kook in nearly the last possible moment.
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Yeah, ML's line was a rare nod the reality of adult Prairie life- that one had to deal with LOTS of manure on a daily basis (and it seemed Charles and Jonathan were going to have to shovel it all out from the barn floor before they could think to sleep on the very same barn floor).
I also imagine that the Labyorteaux Bros 'race game' with them wearing the street clothes beneath their 19th century wardrobe not only kept them warm in the Sierra but also likely somewhat delayed the laundry for the on-camera wardrobe.
Yeah, the Bros as well as ML and Mr. Olsen sure seemed to have had their fun with this broader than usual episode (especially since Jonathan's character rarely got much of a chance to show his humorous side). Oh, and I agree that ML was hearkening back to some of the more fun scrappy-Little Joe dominating and getting behemoth-Hoss into scrapes Bonanza episodes.
Yeah, the Podsters and the elder Mr. Labyorteaux sure had their fun recounting the plot and behind the scenes stuff for this episode. Yet, the one thing that wasn't addressed is why there was no participation from the younger Mr. Labyorteaux (who easily played the smartest character in this episode before he got spooked by the unexplained woodsman drifter).
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For those who voted for #45 but say that they don't support/agree with ALL of #45's policies or actions:
I'm afraid you all are somewhat out of luck.
I mean, virtually every previous President of the United States had been willing to accept if not like dissenting views if not considered the fact that the United States of America being a representative republic means that it functions most efficiently if other views or ideas by Justices, Senators, Representatives, Governors, State Representatives,Mayors, Councils and citizens from all political parties and backgrounds are considered by the Executive Branch if not implemented with the competency and intelligence of others valued above personal egos to work in tandem in order to benefit as much of the citizenry as possible (yes, I know there were some exceptions down the centuries but none so blatant as #45)
However , #45 seems to feel that any disagreement much less dissent of even a minute portion of his mandates are personal affronts to him if not deserving to be punished by the system. Moreover, #45 made no secret of this philosophy from even before the First Term was over much less in the most recent campaign.
Well, as Big Bird put it 'everyone makes mistakes' and I hope the supporters of #45 who aren't willing to worship #45 over all else are willing to admit that and use that to help make changes for the better for themselves and others.
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While IMO Charles was a far more dimensional and even likable foil than the departed Frank on M*A*S*H, in keeping with the spirit of this SubForum ,I can think of one moment when I actually sympathized with the otherwise despicable character.
Frank asks Trapper why he[Trapper] had been initially nice to him but then joined Hawkeye ,etc. re dumping on him. Trapper snapped ,"It saves time."but did acknowledge that he HAD been nice to Frank way back when.
As I said ,I normally had zero sympathy for Frank. However, I can think of times from grade school ,etc. when I had thought another person had wanted to have been my friend due to their initial civility towards me -only to feel extra burned when that person joined the openly snotty in dumping on me .Hence, Frank got my empathy for that moment though Trapper just validated my belief he was a creep.
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7 hours ago, jason88cubs said:
i actually wrote a story of them meeting once. i think its on here
Interesting.
However,considering that the shows were roughly 60 years apart from each other ,it's likely that Carrie, Cassandra and Grace would have been about Grandma Esther Walton's age but maybe one could imagine the Ingalls sisters having been lifelong pen pals via church of Grandma's who showed up taking a train/bus trip to Virginia.
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On 5/11/2025 at 3:50 PM, Anduin said:
Pro wrestler Sabu passes away. He was 60 and had recently retired. I'm not that familiar with a lot of his stuff, but when I saw him in ECW it was fresh and crazy. It was a style that doesn't lend itself to a long and healthy career, and he injured himself many times. I gather he was in a lot of pain in his later years. But he's at peace now.
Oddly enough, the wrestler billed as Sabu was born in December, 1964 while the movie performer billed as Sabu died in December, 1963 at age 39!
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15 hours ago, debraran said:
I missed that re Katherine and Alison jacket. Can you just elaborate a little? She was such a method actress. ; )
Yes I meant to mention Patrick has brought up his mentor in Merle many times and I'm glad he had him. He noted how his acting got better in time and they both got more comfortable with each other.
Miss Beadle was a good teacher but I think out of all of them, Caroline hit it out of the park in her short rein. She might have helped Willie find his sweet spot too back then if given more time ; ) He was smart but a mischievous kid. She also did the Stone Soup episode but that wasn't as focused on her.
I also wish some of the haters of MSA could hear her now on podcasts and with Alison and Dean and realize they are mature adults now and let past insults go.
OK, long-short was when Alice showed Harriet the proof that Nellie had cheated via the answers in the jacket lining while it was in the script for Harriet to verbally yell at Nellie while chasing her across the street AND beating her with said jacket, Miss MacGregor was supposed to just hit AA with the rolled up cloth to make a noise but do minimal harm. However, as per AA, Miss MacGregor did indeed whack AA with the metal buttons projecting the full force so AA's screams were REAL since she actually DID get hurt.
I think Caroline likely could have given Willie that boost to enjoy education instead of treat it as a joke. Of course, Eliza Jane was OK but a bit high-strung while Etta Plum seemed to have had all the personality of a turnip [with zero hints of any kind of offtask life before or after her arrival in Walnut Grove]. Yes, Miss Beadle was the best while Alice was only marginally better than Mr. Applewood (in that she didn't personally physically abuse the students).
Yes, it was good to see not just DB but also AA herself learn to like MSA for herself as an adult instead of hanging onto childhood and teen misunderstandings about her (I definitely think their French fan mutual friend encouraged them to make peace). Although I don't claim to have any inside track, it seems that the only two regulars who don't appear to havequite let go of old differences with her are Radames Pera (though he seemed somewhat sympathetic to her not having the happiest homelife as a teen) and MG herself ( I'll leave it at that).
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2 hours ago, debraran said:
I've been waiting for certain episodes with the podcasts but they aren't always the ones I want to hear about. The Cheaters wasn't a top 10 of mine but they did it this week. Pam was hot talking about how HORRIBLE Mrs Garvey was as a teacher, rude, embarrassing the kids posting grades, etc. Patrick is always logical and talked about how he didn't think his dad hit him, (he would have killed him being so big) and I think they joked about it. He said I'm sure he told me to tell my ma he did which is why it was the barn and not his room. ; )
He didn't talk so much about the episode but did mention how small the school actually was and he could feel Laura's breath if she was in back of him. He joked what was the big deal staying back, you were all together in one room, did you have to move up or down a seat? lol
I actually liked the Melissa Sue Anderson one more below and how nice Alison and Dean were to her.
Melissa Sue on podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgvCT6SdzyE
I have to agree with Miss Bob about how unfair Alice virtually to the point of cruelty was as a teacher to Andy. I mean, just because it's poles apart from openly favoring one's child over all the others (like Cory Matthews would re his daughter Riley in Girl Meets World even letting her call him 'Dad' in class), doesn't mean that these weren't also the marks of a rotten teacher!
I got amused at AA having her fun re the whole bogusness of Nellie having been able to legibly write (and read) ALL the cheat notes for all those tests inside her jacket lining- and leave it to her to actually have made it part of her stand-up!
I also thought it was poignant how the elder Mr. Labyorteaux recalled how with his own father's health failing, he viewed Merlin Olesen's onset support as 'a lighthouse' while somewhat taking for granted the late Miss Parady's cordiality on set (since his own mother was still in good health and thus didn't need a 'mother figure')
Yeah, I agree that Jonathan would have likely pulverized the much smaller Andy had he actually 'whipped' him in the barn. However, he might have just swatted his own hand with the belt directly next to Andy's ear which would have spared his son from physical harm BUT startled him and caused temporary ringing of the ears that he wouldn't have forgotten nor wanted to chance having repeated! Just as much of a theory as Mr. Labyorteaux's. LOL
I was a bit surprised at how AA barely touched upon Miss MacGregor actually injuring her via beating her with the sharp metal jacket buttons instead of just swatting her with the cloth. I'd heard her go into more detail before about it. However, perhaps she just thought that she'd gone over that enough times as it was. Of course, that was significant in the whole Harriet-Nellie dynamic in that Harriet showed she DID have her limits- namely she wasn't going to tolerate being humiliated by 'her Nellie'! Then, too, I think Nellie was also telling the truth when she vainly tried to deflect the punishment by saying 'You said you wanted me to be just like YOU!'
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2 hours ago, debraran said:
I agree, I like the fill they do at parties and because I've seen them so many times before, I like to watch Katherine adlib and make dramatic motions, talk about the food etc.
I also found it odd watching it now vs many decades ago, that Mary married Adam without ever asking him when he became blind, what age, born that way etc. It seemed odd she was so out in the cold with that. He knew about her. I personally would have asked about it as soon as they decided to teach together or when she knew he was.
I joke with Carrie her contract said "paid by the word" but it does seem with extras they mute them even in the school, so I wonder if there is something to that.
Yes, though it helped that Harriet's ontask persona had been established prior to her being among other party guests! IOW, it was easy to imagine Harriet gesturing, making an odd remark that would carry above the party din,etc. Whereas, the audience knew nothing about any of the students' personalities (including Adam's and Mary's ) prior to this. The only fulltime student who had stood out was that one girl reading aloud a heartfelt plea for their school handyman to get better in 'The Man Inside' but I have no idea whether she was among the group who departed Winoka.
Even without vision, it's hard to imagine folks NOT in any way vocally reacting to virtually all the episodes' travails, antic and banter! But I guess ML just didn't want to chance these others distracting from the action and/or paying them for speaking parts instead of background parts.
Good point about it odd that Mary had never seemed to have asked Adam about his background prior to agreeing to join his new school much less marrying him. While one might possibly give her the doubt's benefit that they could have discussed some of these topics between times that they were depicted on the show, the whole business about HOW Adam had lost his eyesight as a boy seemed to have been a complete surprise until he fessed it to her after his extreme meltdown (and how NONE of the students didn't seemed to have heard his very loud sobbing, panting and cringing at the mortal dread of crossing that water- much less react to it was a bit bogus).
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Two of the odder 'hanging threads' of English history have to do with Eadward the Exile (c. 1016-1057) and his only marital son Edgar Aethling (1052-fl. 1125?).
Right about the time of Eadward's own birth, England got invaded by the Danish king Canute which resulted in the defeat and death of his own father Edmund Ironside when he was just months old. Canute sent Eadward and his evident brother Edmund to the court of King Olof in Sweden with the instruction to have these infant heirs slaughtered so there'd be no impediment to his own conquest of England. However, Olaf had had been an ally of their paternal grandfather Aethelred the Unready and refused to kill them. It appears Eadward and his brother somehow survived infancy and early childhood before reappearing in (of all places) Kiev in their early teens working as mercenaries with Eadward befriending the exiled heir to Hungary Prince Andrew recruited them to help retake his throne in Budapest. There, he'd be granted an estate and would marry a Hungarian noblewoman named Agatha and the two would become parents to at least two daughters (Margaret and Christina) and one son (Edgar AEtheling). In 1057, Eadward's childless half-uncle Eadward the Confessor decided to name the exiled Saxon prince as the heir to the English throne. By this point the Eadward of our story was about 41 but he decided to return to the land of his birth that he'd left as an infant and brought his nuclear family with him (his brother Edmund appears to have likely already died but that's not entirely clear). While one may wonder if the one called Eadward the Exile knew ANY Anglo-Saxon English while having evidently learned Swedish, Kievian, and Magyar during his lifelong exile, his grasp (or lack thereof) of his mother tongue is unclear. However, literally within DAYS of his return to England in 1057 for reasons unclear Eadward the Exile DIED. Graciously, his namesake half-nephew King Eadward the Confessor allowed his entire Hungarian-born family to remain in England with the intention of making his only surviving son Edgar AEthling as his eventual heir.
It also should be mentioned that even though Eadward had been spirited away when he was only months old and there was nothing close to facial recognition, DNA tests,etc., not even his bitterest foes seemed to ever claim that he was NOT the exiled heir to the English throne despite spending virtually his entire life away from anyone who might have seen him as a newborn. His daughter Margaret's own daughter Edith (Matilda) would eventually marry William's son Henry I and ALL the Anglo-Saxon lineage in the current British Royal family is based upon the descent from this rather . ..tumultuous progenitor.
Well, 1066 happened and almost immediately Eadward the Confessor's brother-in-law Harald Godwinson made his claim and got the council's permission but Duke William of Normandy invaded and killed Harold then claimed the English throne for himself! All this prompted Edgar's mother Agatha to flee with her children to Scotland where his elder sister Margaret would catch the eye of Malcolm III and become Queen Consort (then after her death be known as St. Margaret) while Christina became a nun. Edgar held onto London and seemed to tried to press his luck against William but the latter's forces proved too strong and Edgar would be captured by William but then seemed to have either been released or even escaped for he would soon attempt another rebellion on his behalf in 1069. Edgar would flee to Scotland and seek the protection of his brother-in-law but then would be compelled to go into permanent exile (though he would particpate in the First Crusade and enter Jerusalem itself in 1102 then returned to Europe to try to make trouble for William's heirs in Normandy. It appears he would live to at least 1125 and perhaps lived past 100 as late as 1167 but this is also unclear.
Anyway, those two were the the last of the known marital Anglo-Saxon male line of monarchs.
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OK, while I liked the main arcs of 'Blind Journey' ( Into of Hester-Sue, Long hike with camping out, Hester-Sue letting some of her initial guard down with Joe Kagan, Harriet being comic relief re hiking and crossing the raging torrent, Adam having to deal with unresolved issues via said raging torrent,etc)., there was one glaring problem with it IMO:
Apart from Samson himself, NONE of the blind students verbally reacted ..to anything! I mean, yes Adam and Mary's original group were shown fake-cheerfully singing that song while walking out of the Winoka city limits [while Mary clearly sang sullenly] but that was the very last peep heard from ANY of them! No dialogue with them meeting and greeting Hester-Sue's students (nor vice versa), no chit-chatting as they were walking or camping, no verbal reactions to them sleeping outside in a pouring downfall or even crossing the any of the rivers much less to any of Harriet's antics,etc.
I understand that the focus was supposed to have been on the main characters, the new regular Hester-Sue and Samson instead of the audience being distracted by any convos from these seemingly nameless blind students stoically walking,etc. this great distance.
However , I don't think it would have destroyed much less distracted from the focus if there had just been 'background' dialogue that could be heard by the audience but with no distinct words annunciated (e.g. the stage trick of repeating 'peas and carrots'. .or even just going 'blah-blah-blah').
As it was, it just sounded as though the combined student body (Samson excepted) had all been rendered mute once they sang that farewell song back in Winoka!
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While her father Theodore Roosevelt was a dynamic force of nature (despite having had childhood asthma), her mother Alice Hathaway Lee was someone with such a cheerful disposition that her nickname was 'Sunshine' and they wed when he was 22 and she was nineteen back in 1881.
However, when their firstborn daughter was born, in February,1884 the young Mrs. Roosevelt was in the throes of a fatal kidney condition called Bright's Disease while her mother-in-law 'Mittie' was dying of typhoid. Poor Theodore had raced to the family's Manhattan home after getting an alarming telegram in Albany and was greeted by his highstrung younger brother Elliot (Eleanor Roosevelt's future father) with the words ' This house is CURSED!' when he opened the door!
While Theodore kept running between floors to tend to his dying wife and mother, someone brought the newborn girl to her mother's side and asked her if she was disappointed in having borne a girl to which Alice replied' No,I LOVE my daughter!'. Alas, despite this, she'd die at age 22 just two days after the birth. Although her namesake daughter proved healthy from the start, that blessing proved to be little if any solace to her griefstricken widower who ASAP went out to the Dakotas to become a cowboy to try to forget the pain- leaving his motherless infant with his older sister Anna 'Bye'. Of course, what no one expected was, despite having just lost her own mother and being left alone with her brother's infant, Bye immediately bonded with the infant who had been officially named Alice Lee Roosevelt but was called 'Baby Lee' in the nuclear family since Theodore didn't want to hear Alice's name repeated. When little 'Baby Lee' was just short of three-years-old Theodore would be remarried to his onetime flame Edith Carow and the latter would insist that her new stepdaughter come live with them so they could be a family. What no one counted on was that both 'Aunt Bye' and 'Baby Lee' both were upset at being parted- many decades later Mrs. Longworth would go so far as to say that Aunt Bye was the ONLY one she had cared about! While Edith did her best to be patient and fair, that wasn't entirely a comfort the girl. Oh, and as soon as Edith bore Alice's first half-sib, Theodore, Jr., immediately the family would tag her as 'Sister'. .and this would remain her name with her becoming 'Aunt Sister' to her future nieces and nephews! Yes, Theodore wanted to make sure not to have to hear the name 'Alice' in his own household as much as possible despite the remarriage (and despite his firstborn carrying her late mother's name). Mrs. Longworth would say that from as far back as she could remember to President Roosevelt's death when she was 37, he never once discussed her tragic mother with her.' Do you hear me not even ONCE!'
Perhaps, it was not feeling as though she quite belonged in her own family or her having inherited her father's rebellious streak or just her own impishness would spur Alice's rebellious streak from early childhood to the end of her long life. No First Daughter before her had been anywhere near as rambunctious as she proved from the start of her father's Presidency! She liked to tell the tale about how he caught her smoking [tobacco] shortly after their move in the White House and he attempted to reign her in by declaring that 'no daughter of mine was going to smoke cigarettes UNDER my roof!'. .so she immediately climbed ONTO the White House roof and puffed away!
She also had no qualms about interrupting official meetings giving unsolicited advice about how to run things which prompted one attendee to ask President Roosevelt if he could control his teenaged daughter to which TR would famously reply, ' I can do one of two things: I can be President of the United States or I can control Alice Roosevelt. I cannot possibly do BOTH!'
When she was 22, she'd marry the 36-year-old Congressman Nicholas Longworth from Ohio in 1906 but almost immediately their marriage hit the skids- mainly because Congressman Longworth supported the new President Howard Taft while Alice staunchly sided with TR in their growing political rift. The new Mrs. Longworth also had no use for First Lady Nellie Taft after the latter told her that if she wanted to visit the White House, she was welcome to buy a ticket! The First World War took its toll on the Roosevelt family with Alice's youngest brother Kermit[!] having died in combat in France after being reckless in an airplane dogfight against German flyers in 1918. President Roosevelt's health had already been wrecked thanks to his contracting malaria and wounding a leg in a disastrous Amazon River expedition he and some of his sons barely made it home from in 1913. However, the news of his youngest son's death proved to be too much and the first President Roosevelt would die in January, 1919- not two months after the Armistace.
Meanwhile the Longworths stayed grimly wed despite both of them stepping out on each other on a regular basis but it seems that neither was willing to file for divorce which would have been the end of Congressman Longworth's political career (and Alice seems to have shrugged off gossip but evidently didn't want to chance being totally frozen out which would have been a likely result of divorce back then). Anyway, after nineteen years of marriage, Alice gave birth to a daughter she named Paulina (pronounced 'Pau-LINE-ah' rhyming with Carolina) shortly after her own 41st birthday in 1925. However, she had been conducting an affair with a married Idaho Senator named William Borah for some time and at one point seemed to hint that she thought of naming her daughter 'Deborah' and even toyed with calling her the somewhat double-meaning name of 'Aurora Borah Alice' but decided against them. Surprisingly both Senator Borah's wronged wife Mary McConnell Borah (1865-1970) as well as Congressman Longworth seemed seemed to like Paulina from the start with Congressman Longworth embracing his role as legal father with gusto doting on her from birth- and actually being more attentive to her than Alice was who had no problems hiring nursemaids to take care of her. Alice and Senator Borah would refer to each other in correspondence as 'PFP' and 'PMP' - Paulina's female parent and Paulina's male parent though they knew they couldn't openly admit her true parentage. Nicholas would become the Speaker of the House before suddenly dying at age 52 in 1931 which devastated his legal daughter Paulina and somewhat threw Alice for a loop when she found out that he had far less income than he had led her to believe. Mrs. Longworth didn't stay a sitting duck soon writing a memoir and appearing in magazine advertisements so to keep a steady albeit frugal income - and she would be able to stay in their Embassy Row townhouse the rest of her life.
Alas, Paulina never got over the blow of losing the man who (despite his failings as a husband to her mother ) HAD been a doting father to her and would become a rather shy, awkward girl with a noticeable stutter that seemed to worsen in Alice's presence. She would marry Alexander 'Sandy' Sturm the founder of Sturm and Rutger Firearms when she was nineteen then the two would welcome a daughter of their own Joanna in 1946. Sadly, Sandy would die in 1951 at the age of 28 of hepatitis leaving Paulina a widow at age 26 though she would try to carry on for their daughter's sake thereafter. Horrifically, though, Paulina would be found dead after a sleeping pill overdose at age 31 in 1957 by the 10-year-old Joanna herself!
This would prove a crushing blow to Alice who wanted to do all she could for her only surviving descendant's sake. She would fight for and win custody of Joanna from her paternal relatives and amazingly the two of them would forge a close bond the rest of Alice's life- despite her insisting Joanna calling her 'Mrs. L.' instead of 'Grandma'! Anyway, shortly before her own death at 96, she fessed up Joanna's late mother's true paternity but Joanna just shrugged it off telling her that she had long heard it from others (and she had never known either her bio or legal maternal grandfathers anyway). So in 1980, the last of Theodore Roosevelt's children died and she had been quite the character in the Washington scene for 80 years giving parties and charming as well as dissing folks to the end! She famously had a seat cushion with the words 'If you can't say anything nice about someone, sit next to ME!'
As for Joanna Sturm, although she has shared her memories of 'Mrs. L.' with many biographers down the years, she appears to have opted for a life away from the spotlight since her grandmother's death. However, she herself seemed to have inherited some of her grandmother's unconventionality via her opting to never marry but herself bearing a daughter at age 41 in 1987 whom she named . .Alice Roosevelt Sturm!
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With the election of the new Pope Leo XIV not only had the first Pope who born in US to US-born parents, but his late mother Mildred Martinez Provost had been a Louisiana Creole with descent from Spaniards, French. and Afro-Haitians- AND was a librarian to boot! I don't pretend to know what the other Cardinals' MO was in the Conclave before they lit the telltale white smoke but I'd like to think that they were showing the world that they wanted to pick the individual they believed to be the best and be fairminded to someone with an unconventional background AND they appreciate someone raised to value literacy and education!
BTW, the FIRST Pope Leo actually was able to talk (of all people) Attila the Hun from attacking Rome so I think it's likely that the former Mr. Provost might have chosen the name to show his willingness to stand his ground and protect innocents against those who would want to overrun things.
Yeah, I don't think I have to stretch my imagination far re believing that anti-woke hysterics in certain offices and in the media having fits just over the man's genealogy.
I know better than to pin all hopes on any individual mortal instantly vanquishing all dragons forever but, at least for now, I'm enjoying this historic election of a Hispanic, African-American US-American to the Papacy!
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20 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:
Ha! Thanks for elaborating, it's been too long since I've seen that episode!
Sue Ann Nivens was a gold standard of how to make an entertaining unlikable character: don't "woobify" them, just let them be deliciously horrible while suffering the consequences every once in a while!
And as long as we're talking about Sue-Ann, one of her best moments was when Mary was dating a divorced dad with a preteen son who stayed an utter pill to Mary. OK, while I would have usually had sympathy and tried to cut the kid some slack due to his parents' split,etc., he was needlessly sarcastic to Mary and snotty to his guilty dad so I was more than happy when Sue-Ann called him out. Sue-Ann asked him if he'd like some milk and cookies and he snarled that he was too old for those. So Sue-Ann replied (in a don't [mess] with me tone)," How about some Fritos and a beer?"
I mean, since Mary was still desperately trying to win over with her usual niceness, it was quite apt for Sue-Ann to let him have it with her usual. ..witchiness.
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Milestone Moments: All The Celebrity Vitals
in Everything Else TV
"You touched your NOSE!"- no one else could have given that line as much gusto as the now-departed Miss Swit( and this had to do with an extended argument in the OR with Charles).
Yes, she definitely transformed what had been a straw-woman cardboard villian role into a cathartic icon! Oh, and among other things I liked how Col. Potter's father-daughter bond with Margaret evolved in no small part due to the burgeoning RL friendship Miss Swit had with Harry Morgan (1915-2011).
BTW, her own RL mother had been named Nellie Kassack Szwed with whom she'd spend holidays with their RL friend Jamie Farr's own family until Mrs. Szwed's 2011 passing . .. at age 105 [!] . And yes, Miss Swit had been of Polish heritage!
RIP, Miss Swit!