CHRISTMAS - 2013

The family gathers for my 70th birthday.

2013 was the year I turned 70 (I know I don't look a day over 69) and we celebrated with family and friends.  Jeanne and Sharon gave me a fantastic party and I shall always cherish the memories.

        

Monty, Murphy and Molly

Molly was a feral cat who lived in the woods near our condo.  I began feeding her every day and being a very bright girl,
she soon decided there
were lots of perks to 
domestication and she moved right in, totally ignoring the hissing from Monty. 

Later in the year I took a blogging class and then created
Flying by Moonlight ( found at lindamwillson.blogspot.com) and I have loved every minute of it.  I also joined a wonderful writing group at UNF and have been inspired to write poetry.

                                                      

Flying By Moonlight

I love Christmas--the lovely carols, the decorated trees, the gaily wrapped presents, Christmas dinner with family and the late Christmas Eve service at church with candlelight and an abundance of red flowers.  I wish all of you peace and love at this joyful holiday season.

Happy Holidays!

PEEKING THROUGH DOORS

When Riverview High opened in 1958, no one knew where anything was. A small group of girls in the sixth period drama class were wandering around backstage, deciding which rooms in back of the stage would be the dressing rooms, the makeup room and the all important Green Room.  It immediately became clear that the architect knew nothing about the theatre.  This was an auditorium, not a theatre!  There weren't enough rooms for our needs and we divas were horrified.  Where were we to put on our costumes?  Were we to stand nearly naked in the hallway for all the world to see?  Clearly, we were facing an impossible situation and we began to explore the entire backstage area.  

I found a set of double doors that appeared to be locked.  Undaunted, I peeked between the massive doors and saw the naked buttocks of a teenaged boy standing on a bench about to put on his pants.  His bare bottom was conveniently at eye level.  He had apparently decided to go commando as no underwear was in sight.  I was deeply and profoundly shocked, not shocked enough to move away, but shocked nonetheless. One question loomed large in my girlish mind--would he turn around? Alas, it was not to be.  He leaned over to put his feet into his pants and in doing so, his....uh....cheeks flattened against the door a scant inch from my face.  This was too much for my fluttering heart to bear and I slowly backed away as if the door had suddenly become burning hot.  I tried to imagine a time in the distant future when I might once again be that close to a. . .

"What is wrong with you?" my friend said.  "Your face is all red."  We walked back to the stage and I quickly told the other girls what had happened.  There was an explosion of nervous giggling and I could see that the whole thing was funny, very funny.  We were all laughing.  And it was so embarrassing!  Of course it was.  But there was something else, some forbidden mystery beyond that door.  Some day I would go there. 
But not yet, not yet.

THE FOREST FAIRIES, Part 5

Rapunzel on her journey home

The Forest Fairies arrived early the next morning to rescue Rapunzel.  They stood by while she cut off her braid and nailed it to the windowsill.

"Your hair is still very beautiful," said Arabella softly. 

Rapunzel nodded and wiped away a tear.  The sisters hovered near her while Rapunzel climbed down her braid and then jumped lightly to the ground.

"I'm free," she said.  "I can go home at last and see my parents.  Lead the way, my friends, and I will gladly follow."

The journey home was long and exhausting, but at last the fairies glimpsed Rapunzel's cottage through the trees.

"There is your true home, Rapunzel.  Go, your parents are waiting for you," said Annalisa.

"Thank you, thank you; I will never forget what you have done for my parents and me.  We are friends forever!"

And Rapunzel ran up the path; the door flew open and she ran into her mother's arms while her father embraced them both. The sisters watched the joyful reunion and congratulated themselves that for once their efforts to help had not produced disaster.

"We should be home just in time for dinner," said Annalisa.

"Let us hope that Father is still awake," said Arabella and away they flew to their fairy home.

That evening when the old witch arrived at the dark tower, she saw that Rapunzel's hair had already been thrown down for her.  Eagerly, she climbed the long braid, not realizing that the tower was cold and empty and Rapunzel was long gone.

RIVERVIEW HIGH SCHOOL 1958

In 1958 we sophomores who lived in the south part of Sarasota left Sarasota High forever and entered the County's brand new high school--RIVERVIEW!  We were top dogs for two years and in 1960 we formed the first class to graduate from Riverview High.  A few years ago most of us met again to celebrate our 50th reunion.  Riverview looked very different and so of course did we (except for Rosie who looked pretty much as she did when Elvis Presley kissed her many, many years ago.)  But in 1958 the campus was fresh and new and I was so impressed.  Junior high had been a nightmare for me and I thanked God daily that it was over.  Having started school in New York when I was only five, I was always a year younger than my classmates.  To make matters worse, I was a late bloomer and emotionally immature.  So while other girls were developing breasts and social confidence, I was developing an inferiority complex.  I was short and painfully thin.  My mother wouldn't buy me a bra because she said I didn't need one which I didn't, but I was the only girl in the gym showers who didn't wear one.  I looked like a homely little boy.  Then when I was fourteen, I suddenly grew six inches in an unbelievably short time.  Unfortunately, I gained no weight and still had the flattest chest in America.  So now I resembled a tall homely boy.  I was teased and bullied which was to be expected.  Even worse, I dressed like a child.  My mother still bought my few clothes and they were always pink dresses for six-year-olds.  In brief, I was a mess in junior high.  I had pity friends and I am grateful for them even today.

But Riverview ushered in a new era.  I bought a bra with my babysitting money and stuffed it with tissue.  It was the smallest bra in the world and it supported nothing, but at least now I had bra straps.  I shaved my skinny legs regularly and wore cheap lipstick.  Best of all, I now had many friends.  While I was never, ever to be part of the In Crowd, its members now began to talk to me.  I was their confidante.  The boys never thought of me romantically (much to my sorrow), but they liked me.  Some of them shared their thoughts and feelings with me.  I was funny and the kids laughed, but in a good way.  I still had no figure, but I had joined the club at last.

THE FOREST FAIRIES, Part 4

Rapunzel in her dark tower

Annalisa and Arabella flew by the Dark Tower several times and saw Rapunzel sitting in the window gazing at the night sky.  How she must long to be free!  They must approach her at once and set forth their simple, but spectacular plan.  The fairy sisters flew right up to Rapunzel and asked if they could speak to her inside.  Having never seen fairies before, Rapunzel was taken aback, but she was thrilled to have any sort of company at all.  She bid them come in and and the fairies hovered in the air as was their wont.

Annalisa - "The old woman who visits you is not your real mother, Rapunzel.  No, she is a witch who stole you from your genuine parents when you were but an infant!  There was some silly argument over root vegetables--or something like that."

Arabella - "We have found your parents, dear Rapunzel, and they were overjoyed to hear you were alive and well.  They desperately want you to come home so that you can be a family!"

Rapunzel was stunned to hear this news.  "But how can I escape this prison?  There is no door."

"We have a plan," the sisters cried.  "You have only to braid your hair, cut off the braid and nail it to the window!  Then you can climb down your braid and we will guide you to your parents!"

Rapunzel turned pale.  "Cut off my hair?  But I........"

"It will grow back, you silly girl," said Arabella.  "Of course, it will and even thicker than before."

"Now we must fly home to dinner and you must get ready for the old witch's visit.  We will be here in the morning to guide you home.   It will be a long journey, so sleep well!" said Annalisa.

Rapunzel watched the fairies fly away and she knew in her heart that she would not sleep a wink.

NIGHT MUST FALL

                               

At the end of my sophomore year at Sarasota High, my drama teacher, Paul McClure, decided to direct Night Must Fall which had been a huge theatrical success.  The play had atmosphere, mystery and fantastic parts for actors. He knew he was fortunate enough to have exactly the right cast in his group of graduating seniors.  Ellen Geer, who was to have a career spanning fifty years, was given the meatiest role.  The leading 
role, a charming, manipulative young man
who manages to worm his way into the affections of a wealthy old widow, her young, bored companion and Dora, her maid, was played by the school's finest actor, the charismatic Terry Shank.  Dora, the none-too-bright servant girl, is pregnant, the result of a brief liaison with our leading man who has a way with words.  Since I was in awe of the entire cast and had that "deer caught in the headlights" expression, I was perfect for the frightened Dora, who probably knew as much about sex as I did, which is to say, very little.  Rehearsals were grueling and all too brief, but we all knew that something extraordinary was happening, one of those rare times in the theatre when everything comes together in exactly the right way--when something magical is born and every person in the audience feels it.  The young cast bonded in a way I have never experienced since.

We gave two performances at the Palmtree Playhouse. an Equity theatre we were able to rent as their season was over.  We had a large, responsive audience the first night who must have spread the word as the next performance was completely sold out.  During our final scene that last night I realized that there was no sound in the theatre but the actors' voices; the audience was spellbound, completely caught up in what was happening onstage.  I suddenly realized that I didn't want this experience to end.   But of course it did.  The audience streamed backstage but no one quite knew how to express their powerful and unexpected feelings.

There was a party afterwards.  And as I looked around at the faces of these actors who had become my friends, I realized that they were far more important to me than I was to them.  They would all graduate in a few days and I would probably never see them again.  I started to cry and couldn't stop.

And I never did see any of them again.

THE FOREST FAIRIES, Part 3

Arabella and Annalisa

                                                                               

 Queen of the Fairies

Mother," the twin fairies cried, "We have devised a plan to rescue Rapunzel.  We will find a handsome prince and....."

"No more handsome princes!  Remember the problems you had with the prince and Sleeping Beauty.  You could have just left the palace door open, but no, you told the poor man to climb up the vines to her room--"

"It was romantic climbing up the brambles--"

"And they were covered with thorns!  Why do you think they called her Briar Rose?  And his wounds became infected!  I had to give you that magic salve to cure him.  And worst of all, when the prince entered her bedroom, Briar Rose was covered with cobwebs!!  She had been sleeping for one hundred years and everything was covered with them.  He had to peel them from her face before he could see her beauty!  I am surprised the prince didn't just faint dead away what with his wounds and all those cobwebs...."

"Mama, stop!" cried Arabella.  "They fell in love in spite of the cobwebs and they are married now and Briar Rose is having a baby!"

"Oh, no!  Another disastrous christening I suppose.  They better invite all the fairies this time or my cousin Repellante will put a spell on the baby...."

"Mama, please, we promise not to involve a prince this time," said Annalisa.   "We are going to fly into Rapunzel's dark tower and advise her to cut off her thick braid, nail it to the window and climb down to freedom! We have located her parents and they were overjoyed to learn that their dear daughter was coming home to them at last!"

"Well, all right then.  I'm flying home now.  Your father and I like to have a glass of raspberry wine before dinner.  Now, Girls, don't be late!"  And she flew into the sky muttering something about Rapunzel would probably break her ankle during her descent and then......But the sisters heard no more as they flew off in the opposite direction.  They had time to tell dear Rapunzel of their plan as their parents always had several glasses of raspberry wine before dinner.  They hoped Papa would not fall asleep again during the soup course; it always made Mama very cross.