Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris - remembering Paul Gallico

 When I saw the title of the new movie version of this book, I knew it had to be a typo. The book was published - in 1958 - under the title, Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris.  I just learned - from Goodreads - that in Britain, the title was Flowers for Mrs. Harris. Notice that the British title did not drop the "H" from Mrs. Harris' name. I wonder if that bowdlerized spelling was considered a slur. Hmmm.

The author was Paul Gallico. I read all of the Mrs. Harris books. For a hardworking charwoman, she got around. She even went to Parliament.

I moved on to Gallico's less humorous works.  His first foray into authorship was as a "smart-alecky" movie reviewer. Then he became a sports writer. After asking if he could spar with Jack Dempsey, (he lasted two minutes), he wrote about the bout and his fortune as a sports writer was made.

Gallico was a storyteller at heart and in the late '30s he sold a piece of fiction to the movies, quit his sports writing job and moved to Europe to write fiction.

He made his mark with the novel The Snow Goose, the story of the friendship between a reclusive artist and the young girl who brings a wounded snow goose to the artist for healing. Every year the snow goose returns to the marsh where the artist lives. 

I read Gallico's books as a teen and all I could remember of this book was the returning goose and the boats rescuing soldiers at Dunkirk. The ending is bittersweet. I LOVED it. (I was young.)

Gallico wrote novels that will be familiar to movie goers - Thomasina, for instance. His Love of Seven Dolls (warning: this is a dated and sometimes troubling story) became the movie Lili  and was the inspiration for the musical Carnival. He wrote The Poseidon Adventure as well.

The 2022 movie version of Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris follows the 1992 movie that starred Angela Lansbury.

Looking into Gallico's work - 41 books, 20 or so movies - I realized I barely scratched the surface with Mrs. Harris, Thomasina and the The Snow Goose. I may have to find a few "sentimental" books by Paul Gallico.

Question of the day! What kid snacks did you eat?

My brothers and sisters and I were "free range" kids. Most kids in the 50s, 60s and 70s were. One of our favorite "ranges" was the corner store where Mom sent us with bottles to hand in for pennies or nickels. That was the recycling program of the time!

We took those nickels and pressed our fingers against the glass case where tri-colored coconut candies, candy necklaces, gumdrops, chocolate drops, wax lips, Necco wafers, chewy fruit slices, lay out on trays. "2 for 1c" or "1 for 1 c", (my keyboard no longer has the slashed "c" symbol that stood for a penny), OR, be still my greedy little soul, "3 for 1c" - at those prices, empty bottles bought us a paper bag of treasure!

Then we moved, much too far to walk to a corner store, too far from any store. So, we foraged for our snacks. Mulberries, wild raspberries, honeysuckle, - spring and summer was a veritable smorgasbord of stuff. Once, we even savored "onion" grass - wild onions with baby bulbs at the end. Once was enough for that snack.

In the Fall we ate the wild pears. So grainy! But still sweet enough for us to enjoy. In the winter, we ate crackers spread with jelly. On Bridge Club nights and the days after, we had pretzels, chips and candy! Popcorn! Oh, we loved popping corn on the stove. And Dad made us a treat he called a Black Cow - root beer and milk - yum! And Mom made an eggless, milkless chocolate cake that we adored. I still make it. Some people call it Wacky cake or Depression cake. I call it delicious.

I loved the fruit slices -Chuckles! - that came 4 or 5 to a pack - gummy candies liberally covered in sugar. I even liked the licorice slice that was always included. Next to that I loved the wild raspberries that will ripen soon.

 So the question of the day is this: What was your favorite kid snack? 

https://cdiannezweig.blogspot.com/2010/11/1950s-retro-candy-from-hometown.html

 

 

Question of the day! Doing without.

For Christians, it's Holy Week, the last week of the 40 day season of Lent. 

One of the traditions of Lent is to "give something up", do without something for all 40 days. I have always been totally dismal at this practice. So, here is the question of the day:

Did you ever "give something up" for a purpose? If so, what did (do) you usually give up?

Most major religions fast, or do without, sometime during their liturgical year. In some traditions, religious or cultural, fasting is part of coming of age, preparing for a major life change, or an effort to ensure a desired outcome in one's life. (A vigil before a battle, for instance, or fasting before a major exam, or giving up something during pregnancy.) Liturgically, fasting encourages atonement, empathy, and an appreciation of what the faster usually has. Fasting is considered a form of prayer.

Because I went to a parish school, announcing what we intended to "give up" during Lent was often a classroom activity.  I always gave up candy. Then I did a little mental bartering.  I went from ALL candy to CHOCOLATE candy to SNICKERS. What a cheater! When did I ever have access to Snickers bars?

By the time we entered the middle grades, we added activities to our fasting. "I won't play solitaire during Lent." "I won't borrow my sister's perfume during Lent." "I will not call my little brother a baby during Lent." OR instead of giving something up, we added things. "I will do my chores before Mom reminds me." I will take flowers to my grandmother every week." I will put half my allowance in the collection plate every Sunday."

The worst thing about announcing our "give ups" was that classmates could call us out.  And they did.

This year, I didn't give anything up. But I have decided to TRY really hard to avoid screen games during Holy Week. (This includes the morning word games I get in my email.) Will I make it? I can but try.

Tell me...

Did (Do) you ever give up something for a purpose? If so, what did (do) you usually give up?

The Librarian Always Rings Twice by Marty Wingate

The Librarian Always Rings Twice  by Marty Wingate, 2022

 

Hayley Burke returns as curator of the First Edition Society  and things are not going well. Charles Henry Dill, the only living relative of Lady Georgiana Fowling, the First Editions Society's founder, has wormed his way into being hired to assist Hayley. His only interest is to find a way to get more money from his aunts' estate.

When John Aubrey arrives at the First Edition Society's first open-to-the-public afternoon and announces that he is Lady Georgiana's grandson, it sends people who knew the late Lady Georgiana into eddies of suspicion. Lady Georgiana had no children as far as anyone knew.

There you have the set-up. Someone connected to John Aubrey is murdered. The open afternoons bring in all sorts of people, most dedicated to the Golden Age of Mystery and the authors thereof - Christie, Sayers, Wentworth, Marsh, Allingham - just to name a few. But some visitors may not be what they seem.

 

I finished this book last night. Today, I want to go back into the world of Bath, England and the library of the First Edition Society and the canals that crisscross the countryside and the narrow boats and a new character that exudes an almost fairy tale charm.  

Wingate populates each of her mysteries with several characters that may or may not be the culprit. Some we hope to see again. Most we'd just as soon avoid. This book was a poser. The mystery of the murder was not nearly as consuming as the mystery of who or what John Aubrey was. 

Also, now I have to read Daphne Du Maurier's Frenchman's Creek.  The Librarian Always Rings Twice is a charming book filled with charming people. Read it.

Making Stuff. Question of the day

When I get moody, I make stuff - muffins, slippers, origami frogs. My hands are busy. My brain is engaged and the moodiness turns from blue to bright - or brighter, at least.

 I have always looked at things and wondered. "How could I use this to make something new?"

One Easter, (I was about 8 years old) I gathered cones from one of our evergreens. It was Spring so the cones were long and tight. I decided that I could use them to make bunny figures. So I taped them together with cellophane tape- a long one for the body, wrapped in white copybook paper, and shorter cones for the legs. Then I taped on paper ears. I cringe to think of them now because they were not pretty at all. BUT I liked them.

I set them out in the living room, hoping that the Easter Bunny might take them away and share them with other children.  

They were still in the living room when I woke up on Easter morning. 

Nope! This bunny did not want my pine cone rabbits.

 

My parents just told me that the Easter Bunny probably had too much stuff to hand out already. My Dad was not very kind about it. I think he suggested that I toss my pine cone bunnies in the trash. Ouch.

I was not as crushed as I thought I would be. Even at that young age, I knew the difference between a fun idea and a successful follow-through of that same idea. My idea may have been fun but I failed in its execution.  

Sometimes, just making something is its own reward. We don't always need praise. We don't even need success. Nothing is wasted if it teaches us something or cheers us up.

So Question of the day: Have you ever made something that did not work out as planned? 

I made these bracelets. They worked out, I think.

 

Enthusiasm - Question of the Day?

 The license plate read ELMO! and hanging from the antenna was a little red muppet's face. It made me smile. I thought of how we all have enthusiasms - favorites - throughout our lives.

A friend's email address used to contain the letters "grdnr". Gee, I wonder what her enthusiam was.

My email address begins with the word "book."  Want to guess what one of my enthusiasms is?

Here are some things that catch my eye no matter when or where I see them. 

-Peeps - the JustBorn kind. I don't think they are very tasty but I love their plump shapes.

-Clouds - I get a little crazy about clouds. I have to keep my eyes down some days.

-Sparkly things - I am part crow, I guess. If I see a sparkly thing on a walk, I must stop and pick it up.

-Books - well, duh! and talking about books here are some more enthusiasms - or favorites.

-Seymour - the character in the Walter Wick books. I made a little Seymour character for us to play with one year.

-Elephant and Piggie - I know I am not alone in gravitating towards these characters in  Mo Willems' fabulous series.

-Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore and Piglet, et al. - The Ernest Shepard version. I am warming to Disney's bowdlerization of Milne's characters but, oh, I love the original Hundred Acre Woods.

So here is your question of the day. Do you have an enthusiasm, a favorite, a character or activity that you love?

Did you have one when you were younger? (Okay, two questions. You can handle it.)

In my teens, I collected little plaster elephants. I carried them in my purse to school and to work. No bigger than walnuts, they came in different colors. I had to have one of each. I have not thought of them in years. Then, I saw a car that announced that a grown-up still loved a little red muppet and I realized how much joy we can get from small enthusiasms.

Spring! Question of the day!

 Today we left our jackets at home and ventured out in our shirt sleeves! Spring doesn't arrive until Sunday morning but it beckoned to us with clear skies and balmy temperatures. The snow that fell on Saturday is G-O-N-E - GONE! 

So today's Question of the Day - or evening - is... what sight, sound or activity tells you that Spring has come?

Youngsters look forward to Spring sports - baseball, tennis, soccer - and games - pick up games of basketball, kickball, stickball, kick-the-can, capture the flag.

Gardeners look forward to snowdrops and crocuses and a chance to get out there and DIG!

Bird watchers look for migrating birds to return and nesting activity to begin. 

Last night, I am POSITIVE that someone in our neighborhood was out back grilling supper!

When I was a kid, duck eggs were an early sign of Spring.

 

My father walked to Mass most mornings in Lent and he walked home before we headed off to school.

One Spring, my brother and I took Dad's piety as a challenge so many mornings we walked with him - in to church, home again - and THEN - we walked with the younger kids back to school, which was right next to church.

At that time, the creek by our house was crowded with domesticated ducks. And those ducks laid their eggs just about anywhere. On the way home from church, my Dad urged us to find as many duck eggs as we could. Seriously.

The younger kids heard about this, and one day, as we walked home from school, my younger brother spied a duck egg in the creek. Splash! School shoes and uniform pants on, he jumped into the creek and came out holding a clean white egg.  He was so proud of himself.

Dad told us that eggs in the creek were off limits after that. His obsession for duck eggs only lasted that one Spring. My brothers and sisters still talk about duck eggs in our cakes and casseroles.

Spring is here - or soon to be. Birds will nest and lay eggs in hidden places. I will look in the grass and under the bushes as I walk by the creek looking in vain... for duck eggs.