When I was very young we lived on Fort Meyer, Virginia. We lived there from 1953-1955, so I was in the neighborhood of 5-7.

The Mickey Mouse Club started in 1955 (I had to look that up) and everyone knew when the first episode would be.

I don't remember exactly what I had done, but I had done something to get myself banned from tv and wasn't going to be able see that important first episode. So I went over to a friend's house to watch it :)

His mom asked me why I wasn't watching it at home, and being essentially a good (but obviously not too bright ;) ) kid, I told her.

Well, I didn't get to watch it there, either.

My Dad's Diner Joke #2

Another of my dad's favorite jokes was about the man in the diner eating a bowl of soup until he noticed a fly in it.

He motioned the waiter over and asked him "What's this fly doing in my soup?".

The waiter looked down, thought a moment and said "The backstroke".

:)

My Dad's Diner Joke #1

One of my dad's favorite jokes was about the man in the diner who had to use the "facilities" just as his soup arrived.

He grabbed a napkin and wrote on it "I spit in this soup", then put the napkin right next to the bowl. He hoped this would keep anyone else from taking and eating it.

When he returned he found someone had written: "So did I".

:)

Lerris

When I was in 6th grade I picked up and read a book up in the school library called Citizen of the Galaxy, by Robert Heinlein. I loved it, and that started a lifelong love not only of Science Fiction, but of Robert Heinlein. Over the years I have found my life has been influenced by the ideas he developed in his many novels. He was definitely my favorite author.

In college I found The Hobbit and read it and the rest of the series, including The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkein. I loved these books as well.

One day a number of years ago I read, on the internet somewhere, a reference to a character named Lerris. I was intrigued enough by the description to do some research and I found out that he was the protagonist of a book called The Magic of Recluse, by L.E. Modesitt. That book was the first in a series called The Saga of Recluse, which has now grown to 15 books.

I now own every book of Mr. Modesitt's that is available in paperback (it's too hard to stuff a hardback book in my back pocket) and read most of them more than once. Some of them I've carted around and read enough times that I have had to replace my original copy with a new one.

I met him (Modesitt) last night :)

There is a Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention in town (Spokane, WA) this weekend on the campus of Gonzaga University, called SpoCon 2009. Mr. Modesitt is the "Guest of Honor". He and four other authors had a book signing event last night at Auntie's Book Store, a local independant. This event was scheduled at the last minute, and wasn't even mentioned in the morning "Local Events" segment on NPR. But a friend who knows I am a Modesitt fan found out about it and told me.

I got to spend a few minutes with Lee (I don't know what to call him now that I have met him, but he goes by Lee) and then he got busy signing and talking. So I spent almost two hours talking to his lovely wife Carol, an opera singer and famous in her own right, and the inspiration for her husband's Spellsong Cycle series.

I think I found out about as much about Lee from her as I would have from him, and had a delightful time doing it. She, by the way, is scheduled to sit on several panels during the convention, including one titled "How to feed an artist". Since he writes 12-15 hours a day, 7 days a week, I would think that would be a very approprite discussion.

Did I mention that he took Heinlein's place as my favorite author?

Lee Modesitt is the only living person, other than LDS church leaders, that I would go out of my way to meet. The two others that would have fit that description are Robert Heinlein, of course, and J.R.R. Tolkein, both of which have passed away.

Marjorie

Fraggle Rock was one of the kids' favorite tv shows. Okay, I confess, it was one of my favorite tv shows. At any rate, one of the characters was Marjorie.

Marjorie was the trash heap and the font of all wisdom. Any time someone needed the answer to a perplexing question, they asked her.

We had this odd corner where the house, the fence and the patio met and over time it gathered this and that.

We called it Marjorie, of course.

The "it" Word

Breanna (age 5 last February 28th) just called from Boise. She announced proudly that she can now read the "it" word. :) She can write it, too!

David Was Skinny

David was so skinny that he was in danger when a stiff wind blew. Anyone who has seen the Disney movie Dumbo will understand.

One day when he was about 5 he came in after a hard day of playing outside. His legs below his shorts were all bruised up, as happens with little boys.

Mildred took one look and said "David, your legs!". He looked down at them and said "Yeah, they're fat, aren't they".