Ponder Post: Look Again, Save Me

Two novels, Look Again (©2010) and Save Me (©2011) both by Lisa Scottoline, were packaged in one binding in a book I impulse purchased at Costco. They both had premises that intrigued me, though I preferred Look Again. Each was centered around a mother/child relationship but both turned into detective type investigative thrillers as the novel progressed.

In Look Again, journalist Ellen Gleeson comes home one day to find in her mail a flyer for abducted children – the Have You Seen Me? kind where a photo has been digitally aged to represent how a child would have changed to look since his/her loss or abduction. She is taken aback when the photo bears a striking resemblance to her adopted son. She sets out to investigate if the child in the photo is indeed the boy she legally adopted three years ago. Then she asks herself, if he is that child, what does she do? Does she turn him over to the rightful parents he has never known or does she slip away to somewhere where they can continue to live in each other's joyful company, undetected by the ongoing search? It is a dilemma that is indeed a nightmare for any parent! Before embarking on the angst associated with making such a decision, Ellen is convinced she must know the truth and only then can she face the gut-wrenching task of deciding how to deal with it. The clandestine investigative methods she used in this book are creative. The plot makes several twists and turns, some of which are scary, some heartrending; all are engaging and draw you deeply into caring about the characters. I would definitely put this novel on your to-read list.

In Save Me, mom Rose McKenna is on volunteer lunch duty in her daughter's school cafeteria when there is an explosion. Raging fire, dense smoke, and collapsing beams make for a danger-packed environment befitting any disaster movie. Most of the children have already gone out to the playground but four children remain – Rose's daughter, Melly, and three other little girls who have been teasing and bullying Melly because of a birthmark on her face. When the explosion occurs the four girls are not in the same place. Melly happened to be in bathroom, warily hiding out from her three tormenters, while the other three were still in the lunchroom being mildly reprimanded by Melly's mom before being dismissed for lunch recess. Given the chaotic situation, can Rose successfully rescue all of them? Is she biased toward saving her own daughter first? This was an intriguing confluence of circumstances that drew my interest.

This book had too many conflicts in it to be believable, almost as if the author could not decide which plot trail to pursue. Was the fire accidental, negligence, arson, or a planned cover-up? Would there be corporate crime? Would there be political coverup? Would there be bullying? Would the ever-present angst of having an unsupportive husband be key? Would there be criminal and/or civil legal charges because of Roses performance during the crisis? Would a neighborhood vendetta's materialize because of her actions, in reality optimized to make the best of a dire situation. I think there was also someone  in the book with cancer or some other disease, too. Maybe not. There were too many clashes to focus and remember them all. Which would be red herrings? I felt like the book had not been edited before being published. Although it was a page turner, I would definitely put this novel on the bottom of my to-read list to tackle when nothing better is waiting before it.

Let Me Entertain You ...

"... Let me make you smile." Remember that old song from the musical Gypsy? Frank and I perhaps show our age by the type of entertainment we seek out. Come to think of it, isn't choice of entertainment a clue for those of any age? The Golden Follies and The Music of Simon and Garfunkel are two shows we enjoyed this summer.

July 29th – Golden Follies
It is rare to see an 80+ year old on the ski slopes. Neither does one think of a Las Vegas show girl to be past mid-life. The performers we went to see in the Golden Follies were just that. Their ages ranged from 55 to 92 – yes, 92!

These Senior sensations heat up the stage with Broadway Favorites & Fabulous Places while adorned in gorgeous costumes and executing lively choreography; their high energy and showmanship make for a wildly entertaining revue.

Frank and I went to a July 29th matinee performance (of course for seniors it would be a matinee) of the Golden Follies at the Firehouse Arts Center in our neighboring town of Pleasanton.

We had front row seats so Frank could see all those high kicking legs and glitzy costumes up close.

The performers were amazing, executing precision, high-energy, synchronized dance numbers to rousing Broadway show tunes for the first half and travel songs for the second half. We heard That's Entertainment, Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat, A Chorus Line, Luck Be A Lady and later Viva Las Vegas, New York New York, and Chicago. The performers, the majority a decade or more older than me, put my energy level and stamina to shame. Their bodies were far from shabby, too.

We enjoyed the show and milling about in the lobby afterward was a hoot. The audience emerged from the theatre into a sea of orange-red plumed and beaded head-dresses bobbing higher than the crowd.

Frank posed with one of the stars from the show. It was a carefree, lively evening. If the troupe performs near where you live, their show is worth seeing.

Aug 12th – Simon and Garfunkel

In keeping with an age appropriate theme for us, two weeks later, Frank and I had tickets to a concert featuring the music of Simon and Garfunkel. Again this stage production was also held at our Firehouse Arts Center, a 6.0 mile 13 minute drive from our house.

I'd researched the performers and read some reviews of the pair before the show, but Frank had not. He was surprised to learn the duo was not two guys but rather a man and a woman performer. Their harmony was excellent and they did an amazingly good job of replicated the characteristic sound of Simon and Garfunkel. Near the end of the performance they did one or two songs of their own writing. These songs had the same softness and characteristic melodic tones of Simon and Garfunkel's work. I actually bought a CD as we left.

Sprinkled in with the songs they sung, Kelli and Swearingen filled in some history of Simon and Garfunkel. One anecdotal story they told was about the song Mrs. Robinson from the Dustin Hoffman / Ann Bancroft movie The Graduate. Apparently there was a deadline for the musical numbers for the film and the lyrics had not yet been completed, hence the Doo--doo-doo-doo, Doo--doo-do-doo and the Dih--di-di-di, Dih--di-di-di fill-ins for words in some of the verses. I am not convinced of the veracity of the story but it was fun to imagine even if stretching the truth a bit.

I realized I had never seen the classic movie The Graduate so I bought an old copy off Amazon. The movie was incredibly weird, yet funny at the same time. Seeing such a young Dustin Hoffman was a reminder of how much we all change with age. I guess I am now one step closer to a well-rounded viewing experience in classic films. And yes, indeed there were the verses of Doo--doo-doo-doo, Doo--doo-doo-doo and the Dih--di-di-di, Dih--di-di-di. Fun! We were entertained.

The Hawk Will Never Die

On Saturday, August 5th, Frank and I had a visit from old friends Bill and Mary from the Philadelphia area. Frank and Bill shared their undergraduate college years together at St. Joseph's University which is a private, coeducational Roman Catholic Jesuit university located in the Philadelphia suburb of Merion Station on the historic Philadelphia Main Line. 

The school mascot of SJU is the famous Hawk, which never stops flapping its wings while in costume. Voted Sports Illustrated's Mascot of the Century, The Hawk is the most famous mascot in all of college basketball. By flapping for the entire duration of any SJU contest, this display of endurance is proof that "The Hawk Will Never Die!".

Frank and I were hosting a celebrity in our midst that day. Bill had been the SJU hawk from 1968 to 1970. Frank remembers that he had a part in encouraging Bill to try out for the role of the Hawk. As a gift Bill and Mary brought us a copy of the recently published book Hawk Tales.

Bill and Mary were coming to San Francisco to accompany their nephew, so our house was a side trip. They arrived around 11:00 am and left about 10:00 pm, tiredly but a bit reluctantly. We enjoyed every minute reminiscing about college days, but even more, merely exchanging views about life. Lunch was at our house but we went out to dinner at a downtown Livermore Italian restaurant Frank and I frequent. It was a good choice because the food and historic family photos on the brick walls reflected the feel of old Philadelphia.

I do find it unique when you can get together with acquaintances you have not seen in years and you still have the same priorities and opinions: you are able to pick up, almost seamlessly, from where you left off. We calculated that we had last seen them seventeen years ago. We laughed about that frequency being just like locusts! One episode we recalled was Frank, Bill, and our son Dan, then about elementary school age, waiting in line to board a roller coaster at the Santa Cruz boardwalk. Dan met the height requirement; however, watching it while waiting his turn, Dan puked in anticipation. The attraction attendant refunded him his ticket money in exchange for Dan agreeing to not get on the ride.

Bill was a physics major also. A true nerd like Frank, he loves his present job as a science technician setting up all the demos for the physics lectures at the University of Pennsylvania. He and Mary have a passion for collecting and Mary described to me their home display of a huge congregation of Solar Dancers, well lit with the appropriate overhead lighting of course. I did not know what these were, so Mary Googled them for me and the following photo has a good sampling. These little couple inch high figures jiggle and sway when a bit of the sun falls on the mini-solar panel at their feet.

They are very inexpensive, on the order of $1, so Bill buys one for each student and at the beginning of each term. He hands them out, telling the students that there is a whole lot of physics in these itty bitty cuties. In a few week they should be able to explain it to him: solar cells, magnets, oscillators, LEDs, electronic circuits, etc. For other nerds out there here is a good link to a tear down of solar powered toys.

We were so avidly visiting that we forgot to take any photos. Their nephew took these at the San Francisco airport when they were heading home. Bill emailed them to us shortly after they returned home.

Bill and Mary made point of taking a photo near a typewriter display that was being featured at the airport.

We have an antique typewriter we purchased so the coincidence was at least worthy of note. I guess we both like collecting and old things as well as old friends. 'Twas a truly fun day, a "blast from the past" as it were. The Hawk will never die, nor will old friendships.

North Carolina July Visit

Blogging and Bananas

What do blogging and bananas have in common, other than alliteration? I have always been a fan of humorist Erma Bombeck. A particular story of hers has always stuck with me. One day Erma realized she was never eating bananas at the ripeness that she liked for them. She would buy fresh bananas at the grocery store. Once home however, so as not to be wasteful, she would eat the ones she had that were going to go bad first. By the time she had consumed those, the ones she'd just bought were a bit overripe for her taste. It eventually occurred to her that if she could be wasteful, just once, the vicious cycle would be broken. Why do I relate this story?

This is my third – and final – post about my OK/NC trip last month, July 6th - July 19th. I got behind in my blogging (see why in my post for 8/15/17) and since I am committed to obsessed with posting in the chronological order of my life, I have a list of post topics waiting to be presented that become less fresh in my memory and staler by the day as I instead use my time to detail the tales of this trip. Erma Bombeck could not throw out that banana. I am incapable of omitted a trip blog. So let me forge on ahead, finish this post, and then develop a catch up scheme for my other draft topics waiting in the wings, fading in my mind, withering away in their increasing irrelevance.

Saturday, July 15th - drive to Dean's

Maxine and I began our drive westward to her son Dean's home near Charlotte about 10:00 am. It is typically about a 3 hour drive but we were in no hurry and planned to stop at a fabric store I had read about on the internet.

Maxine commented about how when she and her husband Bob drove, he rarely wanted to stop en route. About midway to Dean's I saw a billboard advertising an antique store in Asheboro. We decided to detour a bit and take a peek at the store and its neighbors.  We found the downtown area of Asheboro to be quaint, steeped in history. 

The store was inviting and quite large. Its owners describe it as
Collector's Antique Mall is 35,000 square feet with almost 100 dealers. We have an array of antiques and collectibles, ranging from toys to primitives to fine wood furniture, as well as mid-century housewares, books, linens, costume and fine jewelry, and other vintage goodies. We also have a wide selection of North Carolina pottery, with collectible works from antique and some modern artisans.

We did enjoy browsing for a little while, but the day was oppressively hot. After ducking briefly into a few more non-air conditioned shops, we had had enough antiquing and wanted to get back on the road to Dean's – except we were turned around and could not agree on which direction to head to do that. We stumbled upon a McDonald's during our wandering and decided that a gourmet meal would fill our tummies and clear our minds. We ate and asked directions and were soon on our way. Maxine assured me that our longer-that intended off-road adventure had satisfied her curiosity of the area. We made no purchases but perhaps our sisterly bond had been strengthened. Then again, perhaps not...

Surely a trip to a fabric store would be uplifting and encouraging. I had read about Mary Jo's Cloth Store on the internet, the description stating:
Massive fabric store since 1951 with drapery, notions & supplies, plus a sewing center with classes. 

An article in the Charlotte Observer reported:

Mary Jo Cloninger started with a $500 loan and a few scraps of cloth in the back of a barber shop and spun it into a world-famous destination for fabric and sewing that drew customers to Gastonia from all over the Southeast... Cloninger started the store in 1951 when she was 19 and newly married. She had limited education and had never learned to read above a third-grade level. In her 30s, she learned she had dyslexia. But her knowledge of sewing and what customers needed helped her turn the store into an empire, with a mail-order business that filled orders from around the world.

Surely Maxine and I had to stop and visit such a unique fabric haven and slice of sewing history.

The store was large, I will give it that. Its wares however, were not to my liking. There was a heavy emphasis on bridal and upholstery fabrics and, in my opinion, not enough focus on quilting cottons. My purchases were sparse – only a small Christmas tree pattern and an end-of bolt remnant of a novelty runner/jogger print. This small quantity was certainly not much for having traveled about 3000 miles from California to get there. I fear Mary Jo's Cloth Store had better press than products. I was glad, though, that I could check the box on having visited this iconic fabric store of the United States. 

Before arriving at Dean's, I'd asked Maxine to make a brief stop at Walmart's so I could pick up a few gifts for her granddaughters, my great nieces. I did that in short order and we left the store, dodging raindrops on our mad dash to the car in the parking lot. Come to think of it, parts of our journey Saturday had been plagued with periodic downpours of torrential rain. After having been on the road for close to six hours, double our expected time, we finally reached Dean's and had a chance to kick off our shoes and relax... aaahh ... in air-conditioned comfort. Dean, his wife Nishaan, and daughters Camilla and Carmen arrived later that evening from their day's outing.

  

Sunday, July 16th – games with kids, reunion with cousin

One of the novelty toys I'd picked up at Walmart were two ribbon streamers for rhythmic dance. The girls loved them; they were a big hit. It was fun to watch them leaping about singing and dancing and waving those wands with the long strip of pink or red satin at the end.

We also did some quiet, indoor play with Camilla and Carmen. They are experts at the card game UNO.

I must admit, it has been several years since I played UNO. As I browsed Amazon to get a photo of the game I was amazed at how many versions there are out there: UNO Hot Wheels, UNO Ghostbusters, UNO Emoji, UNO Super Mario, UNO Despicable Me, UNO DC Super Heroes, even an UNO Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade edition. The version we played was UNO the Simpsons and I had a bit of a learning curve to catch on to what the stylized cards stood for. But I got it without too much difficulty and playing was fun.

Late morning my cousin Bruce and his wife Debbie arrived for a reunion visit. Bruce is one year younger than I am and I had not seen him in decades. When he walked in the door I said, "Bruce, I could walk right by you on the street and not recognize you". But as soon as he spoke and I observed his mannerisms it was like I had seen him just yesterday. We sat and talked, went out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant, and then came back to catch up some more on our kids and our lives since we'd last been together. We played Martian Dice and had a really good visit.

Debbie had baked and brought crescent shaped cookies covered in powder sugar from the Christmas recipe our Aunt Gert had used when we were children. They were excellent and just biting into them brought back a flood of memories.

Bruce and Debbie left late afternoon and Maxine and I were prepared to drive back as well. Dean and Nishaan convinced us to stay overnight instead. Since we had stayed, Nishaan, Maxine, and I were able to make a quick jaunt out to a local vintage home decor shop while Dean took the girls to the pool.

Here we are, two sisters just hanging out looking at "stuff". 

After dinner all five of us piled in the car to go out for ice cream. Carmen did not want to be in the picture so I told her I would hide her. She still smiled though as did her sister Camilla, happy to be out with their Grandma. 

Monday, July 17th - return to Maxine's

Maxine and I left in the morning. The drive back from Charlotte to Cary did not take us as long since we did not make as many stops. We got in just after lunchtime and ate at an IHOP before going to Maxine's house. We stopped by the lawyer to sign some papers regarding our dad's estate and then Maxine took me shopping at Steinmart. I often admire the sparkly tops she wears and I bought some for myself.

We were able to catch up with my nephew Eric for dinner after he finished his work day. He had just dyed his hair blond on an impulse and this surprised his mom, my sister. With his black horn rimmed glasses and new hair style, I told him he looked like Drew Carey.

Tuesday, July 18th and Wednesday, July 19th - restful and uneventful

Maxine had a doctors appointment, routine but it took up a good portion of the day, so I just relaxed at her place, did a bit of packing, talked with her husband Bob, and browsed through some of her many knitting books. Dinner and some TV in the evening pretty much rounded out the trip. I was flying back home to California the next day. I had been gone two weeks and, although I had packed in a lot and enjoyed myself, I was ready to go home.

And in Conclusion...

I started this post with bananas so I should come full circle and end it that way. Doing so also allows me to slip in a couple of cool photos of some educational signs we saw at the Science Museum in Oklahoma City.

"Knock, Knock."     "Who's there?"      "Banana, banana, banana!"

"Knock, Knock."     "Who's there?"      "Banana, banana, banana!"

"Knock, Knock."     "Who's there?"      "Banana, banana, banana!"

"Knock, Knock."    "Who's there?"
"Orange you glad I didn't say Banana, banana, banana!?"

With this three-part travel post completed, I can now allow myself to address those other bananas, I mean topics, poised in line to be pontificated upon.

Oklahoma City July Visit – Part 2

Wednesday, July 12th – music spectacular
The night after Maxine's arrival in Oklahoma City was planned to be Girls' Night Out. Robin, Autumn, Maxine, and I had tickets to see a Disney "musical spectacular" titled When You Wish.  The show has a loose plot of a young girl's journey through her imagination and storybook as she interacts with and sings beside a myriad of Disney characters. It is presented by Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma the state’s leading professional theatre company and we saw it performed at the grand, 2,477-seat Civic Center Music Hall in downtown Oklahoma City. Here are  my  sister, my daughter and my granddaughter posed outside before we went in.

Autumn wanted to wear makeup for the occasion so once we went in and before we were seated, her mom applied eye make up, much to Autumn's delight.

I took a selfie of Maxine and me. We were not so inspired as to don eye makeup. We wore glasses instead.

Here are mother and daughter seated and waiting for the show to begin.

The stage was very reminiscent of It's A Small World at theDisney parks.

The pink and purple lighting emitted a very fairy tale vibe, quite is keeping with a little girl's tastes.

The "music spectacular" was more than a "musical". It was heavily music laden, leaning more toward concert than play but with an abundance of impressive dance numbers, acrobatics, and flying. There were many, many familiar and beloved songs. The movie sources were listed in the program in alphabetical order. The performance order of the songs was different. 

There were probably only about two musical numbers I was not familiar with. I copied a complete list of about three dozen songs from the site  http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/When_You_Wish_(musical). 

We enjoyed the show immensely! We asked a member of the audience to capture our smiles as we were leaving the theatre.

The Civic Center Music Hall is an impressive, classic-looking building, especially when lit up at night.

Autumn was exceedingly fascinated by the shooting blue water fountains out in front. We joked that those plumes of water impressed her more than the show itself.

Thursday July 13th – Science Museum

Elliott, Robin's cat, tried to show us how a day of relaxation is accomplished; but, I guess we did not pay close enough attention.

Isaiah is of the opinion that proper recreation involves a sword fight. At first Aunt Maxine was cringing in a cowardly pose.

But then she whirled around and fought back!

After the morning sword duel, four adults and two kids set out for the Oklahoma Science Museum. A 2:1 adult to kid ratio was very useful in a place this large and fascinating. It was Frank and my first time there and we were very impressed. We definitely want to return and explore it some more.

There is a huge hands-on area for kids of all ages off to the lower right section of the map as soon as you enter.

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It is called Curio City and there was tons to absorb your time and attention there.

There are several signs inspirational signs at its entrance. Autumn could not quite get her legs up as high as this guy but she tried! She did better at striking the pose than I did getting a photo of her striking the pose.

I liked this quote.

Maxine liked the pencils. They are kind of cool so I think she has a "point". (groan)

Mundane, yes, but these huge boards of hardware tickled my fancy - and that of many of the visitors. I actually had to wait a while for crowds to clear to get an unobstructed photo. Interesting twanging sounds emanate from those spring stoppers when you thwacked them. From their bedraggled look I bet they have been thwacked many a time. I have a huge collection of keys that I do not know what they are for. I wonder if this museum will take them off my hands as a donation.

This mirror was a favorite of Maxine and mine. Look how strikingly slender we are!

After lunch Grandpa took Isaiah to see the trains and he positively, absolutely, unequivocally, loved them. Frank was in seventh heaven watching Isaiah's unbridled enthusiasm as he jumped up and down pointing and squealing "Trains! Trains!"

Which is better... up close, or perched high on Grandpa's shoulders? Is it sooo hard to decide!

There was a free form play area to stack, roll, or juggle large plastic containers. Autumn stacked, making tall towers, soon enlisting several nearby playmates to help her.

There is a difference between boys and girls. Isaiah worked alone. Isaiah destroyed.

Robin and I invented our own game of toss and catch. We all spent a fair amount of time having fun in this area.

There was a dedicated area where Frank and I could experience our first Segway ride. I was initially tentative, concentrating very hard.

But then I relaxed and had a ball! I am not so sure if the staff member was of the same opinion when I ran over her toe at the end of my ride.

Frank soon got the hang of it also.

We had some pretty tired kiddos at the end of the day, and some pretty tired adults, too, but it had all been worth it. Once home, in the evening,  Robin, Jeremy, Maxine, Frank and I all played a game of Sushi-Go before retiring for the night. Tomorrow would be a travel day.

Friday, July 14th – leaving

Midmorning, Frank, Maxine, and I left Robin and Jeremy's house – Frank to head back to California, and me to accompany Maxine back to North Carolina to visit her brood. First we took the requisite posed group shots to prove we had all been together. Maxine and I sat together with Isaiah and Autumn.

By the time Frank and I sat down with Isaiah and Autumn we had lost their attention to the TV. Oh, well, at least we all look happy even though not similarly focused.

About to put on her travel shoes, we had a good laugh at Maxine having a My Little Pony sticker stuck to the underside of her big toe. Depending on your point of view, that is one of the perks or perils of dwelling in a home with the co-existence of small children.

Frank's flight was to leave a couple hours after Maxine and mine so he dropped us off at the Southwest terminal and returned the rental car. After he'd taken shuttle back to the airport and gone through security, he figured he look for us and spend some time with us at our gate. Lo and behold, what a coincidence! His flight to Californian via Las Vegas was the very next one out of the same gate as our flight to North Carolina via Houston. 

After Maxine and I had boarded our flight, I laughed as I looked beneath the airline seats in front of us, down by our feet. I guess neither of us are the type for a matched set of classic black luggage. What a hodgepodge and colorful array of handbags and carryons we sported! We looked like caravan of gypsies prepared to make a trek across the countryside.

This was my first time in the Houston airport. Apparently their management is a belts and suspenders collection of personalities. They apparently wanted to be certain they were meeting the needs of a population of diverse heights. I do not think I have ever seen five water fountains in a row like that.

We reached our gate and waited for our next flight to North Carolina. The gypsies were on the move again. The remaining third of my OK/NC travel adventures was about to begin.