Pencil

One of my favorite movies is You’ve Got Mail (1998) with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. The story has been done before. You may have seen In the Good Old Summer Time (1949) with Judy Garland and Van Johnson, or The Shop Around the Corner (1940) with Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan. It was also an adorable Broadway musical called She Loves Me (1963) by the same composer and lyricist who gave us Fiddler on the Roof. I think it was originally an Hungarian play named Parfumerie. It’s about two penpals who are unaware that they know each other - and hate each others’ guts. Here’s the quote that made me think of it today: “Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.”

Star Struck

When I was a girl my family lived in southern California. From time to time we took trips to the beach to walk in the sand and watch the waves. On one occasion we encountered Walter Matthau and his family doing the same thing. At the time I barely knew who he was. I guess you can’t swing a dead cat in southern California without hitting a famous actor. But Utah has her share of film celebrities, too. Robbie Benson, Tony Danza, Edward Herrman, Buddy Hackett, Cheech Marin and of course Robert Redford all have or had homes in Utah. Yorkshire lays claim to a few stars, too. Judi Dench is from York and Ben Kingsley is from Scarborough. Sean Bean (Boromir from Lord of the Rings) hails from Sheffield. Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter) was raised in Leeds. Patrick Stewart has a summer home in Grassington. I’ve been to all these places, but I’ve never run into any of them.

Rail Fence Flags

On this day in 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote the poem, Defence of Fort McHenry. It described the bombardment of Fort McHenry by ships of the British Royal Navy in Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812. His poem was set to the tune of a popular British drinking song. The Star-Spangled Banner, as it is more commonly known, was adopted as the national anthem of the United States of America in 1931. Before that, other songs served as official American hymns, including Hail, Columbia and My Country ‘Tis of Thee. I’d be happy to see our national anthem replaced by America the Beautiful. Not only because Star-Spangled Banner, with its one and a half octave range, is nearly impossible to sing well. I just think “amber waves of grain” and “purple mountains majesty” describe my feelings about my country better than “rockets’ red glare” and “bombs bursting in air.”

Roman Stripes

September 13, 122 AD construction began on Hadrian’s Wall. Roughly 10 feet wide and 20 feet high, the wall stretched 80 miles from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. Fortified gates along the wall permitted trade with the north and a tax on goods passing through. We visited one of these, Housestead’s Fort, two years ago. It’s in a remote area, which probably explains why so much of it is still there. A parking lot, gift shop, café and restrooms are at the base of a hill, and the fort is half an hour away (at Heather’s pace) up a steep, winding path. Of course the moment we got to the ruins at the top of the hill, Heather needed the facilities back at the bottom. When Romans invaded England, they brought what they thought of as civilization here: running water, wide straight roads, sub-floor heating and public toilets. But when they left so much of that went with them.

Somewhere My Love

Elizabeth Barrett was possibly the most beloved of Victorian poets. The eldest of a dozen children (eleven of whom lived to become adults), Elizabeth was raised in a wealthy but strictly ordered household. She was a well-known poet and a spinster of thirty-eight when Robert Browning began to write to her. “I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett,” he gushed. She must have liked what she read because she wrote back. They kept their relationship a secret, knowing her father would not approve. In fact, he disowned every one of his children who married. On this day in 1846, Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning eloped. If you think you’re not familiar with her work, think again: “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach . . . And if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.”

Patriot Star

On September 11 2001 I was focused on getting my two youngest kids to high school on time. I was halfway there when my oldest son called and asked if I’d been listening to the news. “Someone crashed a plane into a skyscraper in New York,” he said. I told him it had happened before. In 1945 a B-25 bomber flew into the Empire State Building in thick fog. But this was different. I turned on the radio to hear newscasters wonder how a pilot could not see the twin towers on such a clear day. Then the unthinkable happened. A second passenger jet hit the other tower. The rest of the day and most of the next week we huddled around television sets. We wondered if more attacks were coming. We wondered what kind of minds could have orchestrated such horror, and if they would ever be caught. Do you remember where you were ten years ago tomorrow?

Rocky Road to California

California became the 31st state on September 9 1850. It doesn’t much matter now that it entered the Union as a free state, but it sure mattered in 1850. Most people who’ve never been to California think the whole state is like L.A. They couldn’t be more wrong. There are at least 85 whole countries in the world that are smaller than California. California has more dairy cattle than Wisconsin. 300,000 tons of grapes grow in California every year. The biggest almond processing plant in the world is the Blue Diamond plant in Sacramento. If you laid a year’s worth of California strawberries end to end, you could circle the earth 15 times. Did you know the highest and lowest points in the continental United States are both in California? Mount Whitney tops out at 14,495 feet above sea level, and Bad Water in Death Valley is 282 feet below.