Blergh

Thanks for doing the 'dirty work' [having to watch a Nancy-centered episode] to make the discovery for us! It would have been somewhat illogical to have invited Mr. Edwards to the party (especially if Harriet had been the one to organize and host it). However, as AA herself reflected about her role in the episode, with the exception of the time when Nellie choked Nancy to stop her snoring while both slept in the same bed, the way they wrote the episode, it was more like Alison Arngrim herself came to visit via all the happy meets-and-greets than Nellie. I mean not just Laura inviting her to her home to meet Baby Rose and catch up but having Nels give her a warm,friendly paternal hug which he'd NEVER done with Nellie before gives credence to AA's theory. Hence, even though there didn't seem to have been any one-on-one interaction between Nellie and Mr. Edwards when both had been regulars, viewing it through that lens, it somewhat makes sense that he'd have been invited to her party since it appears that AA and the late Victor French did seem to get along on the set and she didn't report any conflicts or issues with him in her book or any interviews.

Did her folks actually name their daughter 'Peachy' or is that a nickname Ms. Keanan chose for herself to make it sound like 'peachy keen'. .[another derivative of 'hunky dory']? IMO, she seems quite the loon. .

I fully agree! She went from doing her usual stoic 'stiff upper lip' doing-her-duty deal to slowly (but very believably) finding herself less-and-less able to keep her angst over her son's uncertain fate from overwhelming her. ..until it finally DID (via the injured fox who, I can't help but think on some level she considered her own troubled son personified despite her intellectually knowing it wasn't the case). Yes, Miss Madeley showed the five [thousand] stages of . ..grief . then utter elation quite amazingly without for a moment Audrey losing her. ..Hallness! I also liked the touch of them being SO happy not just for Mrs. Hall's son having been spared but also that they were all TOGETHER that they truly couldn't have cared less about chasing down any cooked goose but instead had. ..something else. Yes, I think the BEST Christmases are those in which everyone values their loved ones rather than pinning on things being 'perfect'!

I know that the onetime Miss Bouvier had her faults and I'm not arguing that. However, since this is the History Nerds Subforum, I think it needs to be said that she DID have a sincere appreciation for history and heritage- and she worked very hard to salute the Presidents and First Ladies from the 19th century onward by retrieving what furnishings from each administration she could find/restore or contemporary furnishing from those individual administrations. She explained that she got the idea after she and President Kennedy toured (of all places) Bogota, Colombia and was very impressed at how their Presidential Palace CELEBRATED that nation's heritage so that any visitors could see it for themselves- and felt that the White House would do well to do the same for our own nation! Anyway, Mrs. Kennedy provided a very thorough live televised tour for the US American public in 1963- and even though it was in black&white, it's still quite the treat to view if anyone feels inclined to check out YouTube for it!

Thankful for that phone call! I believe that radio phone calls (e.g. phone calls bounced via radio from tower to tower over thousands of miles) were feasible even as far away from Singapore. However, it's likely that it was only due to Edward having been wounded that he would have been allowed to have had access to that communication (with the help of dozens of radio and telephone operators making the connections). Now, let's just hope that Edward can be evacuated from there before February, 1942 when the Japanese would conquer it via overland from the Malay Peninsula.

Please let's not pin everything on worst case scenarios and TRY to have some hope that things will be able to improve! Gloom and doom before the time has come will do nothing to help anything!

IIRC, FDR either dumped the then-Miss Mercer at Sara's edict then only resumed his bond with her AFTER Sara's death OR kept the trysts extra quiet and while Mr. Rutherford was dying. I believe Sara was fully aware of Missy Lehand's bond with her son by the time of her death (as Eleanor had been) but, by this time, FDR had had it drummed into his head that he could NEVER divorce Eleanor if he wanted any kind of political career. As for Miss Hickock, I'm not sure whether it was a mutually romantic bond with Mrs. Roosevelt or whether Miss Hickock alone had non-platonic feelings while Eleanor considered her a platonic friend who just happened to be a lesbian (not unknown for heteros) . HOWEVER, the point I was making is that, despite however they might have stepped out on each other and resented each other on a personal level while grudgingly stayed yoked [and I mean YOKED] just to keep from losing their potential voter base, they DID work in tandem (with her being 'his legs' as well as his eyes and ears via all her travels- and him insisting on his cabinet, staff,etc. to treat Eleanor as more than just an ornamental hostess First Lady).

Now that you mention, I have some vague memory of this brief exchange when Nellie re-appeared in her Jiffy-Pop hairdo but since I can't find the episode to watch to confirm this, it's within the realm of possibility that this could be in both our respective imaginations. If someone who's seen this episode and is able to confirm/refute this, please let us know. BTW, there were one-shot 'misunderstood' characters who Laura befriended then deliberately spooked Nellie (e.g. the Miss Lillie's shut-in widower who tried to bury the reality of her early death via music boxes).

BTW, speaking of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, it's interesting how despite the fact that they had disdain and resentment for each other on a personal level (and evidently only stayed married after loaded mother Sara spelled out that she'd end her support for HIM then only support Eleanor and the grandkids if he didn't dump his main extramarital flame and give up the idea of divorce which would have been curtains for his political ambitions back then), they WERE a dynamic political duo had respect for each other's abilities and worked in tandem for the greater good despite their personal dislike for each other (and having separate dwellings if not separate lives away from the public sphere- to say the least). Anyway, when the First Lady found out about the President's sudden death in his Georgia retreat, she summoned then-Vice-President Truman to her White House office. Vice-President Truman had served that position for 90 days and had met with the President a grand total of TWO times (and had heard zero gossip about his immediate superior's union). Anyway, despite Mrs. Roosevelt's .. complicated internal emotions re the President's death she outwardly stoically stated, "Harry, the President is dead!" to which the new President Truman gallantly replied " I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do for you?" Without missing a beat ,the ever-pragmatic Mrs. Roosevelt replied "The question is is there anything WE can do for YOU because you're the one in trouble now!" President Roosevelt's death was a shock to the entire free world and Mama can recall that was a student in her college when she heard the news and had been assigned to wait on the dean at her very formal table in the main cafeteria. Anyway, Mama said that she told the much older, formidable woman 'Mrs. B, President Roosevelt has died!'- and immediately Mrs. B. threw her shoulder cape over her head so no one else could see her cry and RAN out of the cafeteria to her own residence not to be seen by the student body for three days thereafter! This was a woman who would end prayers with 'Dear God' addressing the Almighty in the same tone one would use to talk to a pet mouse so her reaction to Mama was like having the sun set in the east!

Where are all these untold numbers of military and governmental employees who are getting terminated despite years if not decades of excellent records for not toeing all these zig-zag lines drawn in the sand (including those who aren't #45's favored pigmentation or skin shape) supposed to do to obtain employment to provide for themselves and their loved ones?! The private sector, perhaps? Well, I can vouch that private hospitals (if not other private, non-governmental enterprises) are also being pressured by this administration to disdain from hiring (and possibly keeping employed) the best qualified and most competent folks of all backgrounds instead of just only hiring those of one skin shape and pigmentation [at the expense of not hiring those better qualified who don't fit this new bill]! Talk about mega 'if it ain't broke, BREAK it!- to say nothing of massive counterproductive interference (which I thought conservatives were supposed to disdain).

Good points! It would be somewhat refreshing to depict a mature adult contented to stay single yet devoted to their de facto formed family AND making their own corner of the world a better place!

OK, but who? Remember, last year, she declined her swain's plea for them to move to a new town to become caregivers for his ailing sister in the sister's home and Mrs. Hall hasn't expressed any interest in any other suitors since then despite her now being legally free to remarry.

Between Willie's last-known same aged peer friend Albert having been given a terminal diagnosis (if not having actual died) and Harriet having nearly succeeded in guilt-tripping his intended bride Rachel to dump him JUST so Willie would go to that college of Harriet's dreams, I think it's probable he chose Mr. Edwards for that role to tick Harriet off!

OK, there was a Prairie Podcast in which AA, Mr. Butler and Miss Bob went over the Season One, Episode 4 episode 'The Return of Mr. Edwards' which introed the Pilot Movie hero as a series regular. They made the interesting points of how Isaiah's [re] introduction started with a seemingly mundane plot of Charles getting supplies in Mankato and impulsively deciding to get Caroline a present while there then while seeking out the store for said present, happening to walk by a saloon where he heard [in the street] Isaiah himself yelling at the top of his lungs to challenge any TWO bar patrons to be beat up by him. Charles immediately dove into the hornet's nest and yanked the drunk-as-a-skunk-with-nothing-to-lose Mr. Edwards OUT of there and dunked his head in a water trough to try to sober him up a little (since Charles had to say his name to get Isaiah's memory to recollect him). Yes, it seemed quite likely that had Charles not stepped in when he did, the bar patrons would have had him arrested if not beaten up or worse! It wound up that Caroline got no present- unless one counts on the delivery of their family friend to her home straight from Mankato. Anyway the three Podcast hosts remarked about what a fantastic performer Mr. French had been to have been able to believably pull off going from dark and destructive to regaining his purpose in life (being invited to Walnut Grove, getting reacquainted with an ailing Laura, spilling his guts about the early loss of his 1st wife and young daughter, meeting the interested widow Grace Snyder,etc.)- with quite a few bits of humor thrown in (in just this one episode) and I have to agree! However, while I can recall a few bits here and there of Mr. Edwards and Almanzo having exchanges (usually with either Charles or Laura being part of the exchange), I can't recall ANY with Mr. Edwards and Nellie despite the many exchanges over the years he had with all the Olesons especially Harriet! If anyone can recall any exchanges, please help set my amnesia straight. Otherwise, it's a bit odd that despite all the other interactions between the Ingallses, Olesons, and Edwardses that there would have been none between Laura's childhood hero and nemesis. Of course, I know that Mrs. Wilder didn't have them meet in her works (and historians still are debating whether Mr. Edwards was based on a RL individual, a composite or even a totally fictional creation of Mrs. Wilder) but still it would be odd that ML wouldn't have had them done so despite setting up the dynamics in which they COULD have done so!

Yes, even though the elder surviving son of President Reagan hasn't been entirely sympathetic as an adult, I would agree that his childhood with both his parents casting him adrift after their split was the pits (and sadly Miss Wyman's interactions with him afterward until her 2007 passing were sparser than President Reagan's - even though the younger Mr. Reagan would attempt to retroactively spin each of them as having been more interested in him- after their passings). The most unexpected twist re his childhood was that the ONE adult family member who actually looked out for him and kept an interest in what happened to him throughout his childhood and adulthood until dementia set in was perhaps the one with the least obligation to have done so- Edith Luckett Robbins Davis [yes, Nancy's mother- his stepgrandmother]! Perhaps the worst irony of Mrs. Reagan's life was that the one she adored and tried to emulate was her rather rejecting and cold stepfather Dr. Loyal Davis who only adopted her [and grudgingly bestowed his surname to her ]after about seven years of both her and Mrs. Davis begging and arguing for him to do so! Oh, and Mrs. Reagan's bio father Kenneth Robbins and paternal grandmother Ann Francis Robbins were still living but sent letters by her gloating about getting the Davis name [and, yes, the child born as Anne Francis Robbins had originally been named for her the older woman- and had been her only grandchild to boot]. Anyway, when Dr. Davis was dying and his older wife Edith had gotten dementia, at least one Reagan official and Patti Davis would both go on record as saying that Dr. Davis had specifically asked them to do all they could to prevent Mrs. Reagan from selling the Davises' home from under Mrs. Davis and putting her in a nursing home after his death with Dr. Davis telling the official that he was writing this directive because ' I don't trust Nancy' not to go against his wishes. Well, both failed to stand up to Mrs. Reagan and Mrs. Davis was put in a nursing home against Dr. Davis's express wishes after his death. Yep, even her original role model wound up being overwhelmed by his onetime disciple [not unlike Chancellor Otto von Bismark re Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany]- to say nothing of her own mother getting burned. On a somewhat lighter note, I came across an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show' ('Assistant Wanted, Female'-1970) in which Phyllis [Cloris Leachman] egged on Ted [Ted Knight] first from behind a closed door then openly in front of Lou &Mary for Ted to demand a raise then threaten to walk which got Lou to call Ted's bluff over Phyllis's objections- and to insist on Mary firing her newly hired assistant Phyllis[!] due to her meddling having poisoned the workplace dynamics! OK, I watched this again years later, then recalled Patti Davis claiming to have heard [as a child] Mrs. Reagan giving Mr. Reagan talking points before he was to lecture and discipline Patti at Mrs. Reagan's insistence. Anyway, I couldn't help but wonder if the scriptwriters might have somehow gotten wind re the evident dynamics of the then-California Governor Reagan's marriage and the evident power behind the throne when having Phyllis and Ted being depicted uncannily acting like Cixi, the Empress Dowager of China literally standing behind a curtain behind the imperial throne of first her own toddler son Emperor then afterward her nephew Emperor- literally putting words into the monarchs' mouths for decades. Not to mention that Cloris Leachman's speech as the character of Phyllis was not dissimilar to Mrs. Reagan's.

OK, my neck of the woods got a shot of winter weather early Wednesday morning which made a tricky commute but otherwise wasn't too much of an issue. The city didn't pick up the garbage and recycle that I'd put out on the street that day. ..or even Thursday or Friday when everything had melted. BUT this morning Iheard garbage trucks driving through so I think this means that I've FINALLY had my garbage and recycle picked up! HOORAY!

One thing I think needs to be at least seriously considered is forgiveness. Before anyone blasts me, I'm not saying we should forgive each and every transgression of every unrepentant individual but those who have come to believe that they made a terrible mistake and want to do all they can to make up for should be at least evaluated instead of instantly and forever condemned for said mistake. I mean if a person who voted for #45 has sincerely seen the light and believes that they made a horrible earlier should at least be considered whether one wants to give the benefit of the doubt (e.g 'I know I was being greedy and selfish by overlooking zillions of atrocities he did/sanctioned and the cruelties he inflicted on innocents via slanders and tarring,etc but now I realize I made a horrible error in judgement and want to help right that wrong to the best of my ability'). Seriously, we need to unite as many folks as possible to stay strong and hold the faith so I don't believe we should sneer at any sincerely contrite folks who want to atone for their earlier horrible decisions. Now if it's strictly a selfish thing like 'Heh, heh, I thought he'd bring down my egg prices [but couldn't have cared less about all the hatred,blasphemy, bigotry, discord,etc. he'd sown and encouraged]' that would be a different ball of wax.

BTW, did anyone else wonder how big that strawberry patch victory garden was supposed to have been and had Mrs. Hall herself somehow picked ALL those baskets of berries without any stray leaves or stems clinging to the fruit? I hope they grew other fruits, vegetables and/or seasonings,too. Still, all those berries looked perfectly ripe and delicious and I think they made delicious jam despite not having added sugar due to their own fructose sweetening them.

Mrs. Reagan managed to put a thoroughly negative depiction of her daughter Patti that, as per said autobio, from Patti's literal birth [which she somehow blamed her child for having been conceived premaritally] to the book's writing there wasn't a single positive thing her daughter did in her eyes- and she even gloated at Miss Davis being [at the time] on strained terms with her younger brother Ron and half-sibs Maureen and Michael. I mean, I don't believe Miss Davis was a flawless angel but surely Mrs. Reagan could have put in something positive about her. One would have thought that Mrs. Reagan would have been honored that Miss Davis chose to use the surname Mrs. Reagan herself had been desperate to obtain prior to her stepfather's adoption of her years after her own mother Edith's remarriage but she made no mention of it. The child I felt most sorry for in all this was Maureen (1941-2001) who seemed smarter than the rest of them and had no illusions about any of them yet still clung to the desperate hope that her parents and stepmom would love her for who she was but all of them seemed to consider her virtually at the bottom of their priorities .That is until the last part of her life when Miss Wyman seemed to finally realize that she had lost so many years of what could have been a fantastic mother-daughter bond- and Mrs. Reagan came to appreciate how hard Miss Reagan worked to help put together her father's Presidential library, her hard work advocating for Alzheimer's patients & caregivers AND aided Mrs. Reagan with her father's caregiving- all when she herself was dying of cancer AND finalizing the adoption of her own daughter. I guess better late than never but it seemed it was barely any better.

Does My Turn (1989) by Nancy Reagan count? Even in her own autobiography in trying to defend/explain away her actions, Mrs. Reagan thought nothing of sharing for public record with the whole world that her pet name for the President was 'Ronnie' while his for her was. ..'Mommie' -despite her being a foot shorter and thirteen years his junior! Hoo boy!

I have to admit that I liked that one moment of Mrs. Pumphrey's temporarily regaining her former flightiness (going back to ascribing stuff far beyond Tricki's actual knowledge,etc.) when she said that Tricki was willing to do his part to sacrifice for the war effort. Still, I agree that it was good to see her actually jump in to help the overwhelmed Mrs. Hall (and Helen) when she could have left in an angry huff (and would have had the right to have done so)- and extra points for having her actually winding up having been helpful instead of the trope of being a well-intended but causing more problems via her input!

I've been trying to find out where to apply for a transfer back to 1979 for the last few years!

As long I'm doing Hapsburg trivia. Here's one, the last Austrian Emperor Karl I( 1887-1922) succeeded his great-uncle Franz-Josef in 1916. The sad irony Karl had been the son he'd Franz-Josef had never had. .even marrying a bona fide Catholic princess in 1911 (albeit of a deposed domain), Zita of Bourbon-Parma (1892-1989) and the two had were devoted to each AND eager to do their duty which brought comfort to the old Emperor in his twilight years somewhat adopting them and their growing family (yes, Carl and Zita proved quite fertile). Anyway, Carl succeeded as Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary in 1916 but, alas, the Great War was too big for him to stop (though he and Zita tried but were reviled for it at the time). .and Karl wound up being forced to give up his powers. However, Karl very carefully just released everyone else from their obligations to him but did NOT technically abdicate in 1918. After a disastrous attempt to (re)claim the throne of Hungary, they were exiled to the Portuguese island off the coast of Africa called Madeira where Karl caught a cold after shopping for a present for one of his sons which turned into bronchitis and pneumonia and, despite the efforts of Zita personally nursing him [and the others who'd gotten ill], Karl had two heart attacks and died declaring his love for Zita. Zita who was heavily pregnant with their 8th child turned to their eldest son Otto (1912-2011) and told him that 'Your father is sleeping the eternal sleep, YOU are now the Emperor!' and bowed to him! This would also be the last time her children would see her in anything but completely black dresses. After many decades of adventures (including being on Hitler's literal death list due to trying to stir up NAZI opponents in Austria) and, Otto von Hapsburg wound up giving up his claim to the Austrian throne and would become a member of the European Parliament in addition to raising a family and helping to support his aging mother. It should be noted that even when the budget didn't cover food or clothing, Zita had somehow made sure her children were all well-educated and she would be rewarded with a comfortable old age in Switzerland while becoming a great-grandmother of a multitude before her death. She'd be buried in Vienna along with the other Hapsburg rulers and consorts with her heart entombed next to Emperor Karl's after 67 years of widowhood! As for Otto, he would inherit his mother's longevity in addition to having adaptability to make the most of his talents in a changing world before his own death at 98 in Germany. In 1972, Emperor Karl's casket was open before witnesses and his 60-year-old son was among the group that saw that his remains were perfectly preserved which led Herr von Hapsburg to observe that he got to see his father as a young man once more in his own old age! Anyway, had the Austro-Hungarian Empire not flown apart and he'd never renounced his own claim, Otto have beaten Elizabeth II of Great Britain and Louis XIV of France's records with an 89-year long reign after his father Karl's death.

Long-short is that, thanks to one great-grandparent who emigrated here but kept in touch with a sib in the Old Country, I have kin who are just one nation's width away from the Ukraine. I wish I felt better about their security and those of their fellow compatriots and others in their neck of the woods after #45 decided to blame the victim for getting ambushed. Why does that not surprise me, though?

OK, I know it's almost over in the US, but I'm going to stick my neck out to wish everyone in the US a Happy Presidents' Day - and everyone can individually decide WHICH US President/s to celebrate the life/ves and achievements of and which to ignore due to not believing they merit the same accolades as the good ones. I leave it everyone's individual imaginations. ..