There is a huge emphasis on "going green" these days. And it's long overdue. I'm glad to see it coming back in style. (For you "young types," being eco savvy seems to go in and out of fashion.)

I've been advocating canvas grocery bags, recycling, walking instead of driving, and always looking for ways to "walk lightly on the earth as its other creatures do."

But I saw a quote today that I really liked, so I thought I'd share it. Maybe even make it my new email signature:

"Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites."

William Ruckelshaus

How are you "going green?"

Oh those photo booths of yesteryear!

Dad and I recently attended the wedding reception of a good friend of Hannah's - and she had a photo booth there for the guests to get their pictures taken - and then put in a keepsake album for the bride and groom to enjoy.

I really thought said photo booths had gone the way of malt shops and bouffant hair. Apparently they are all the rage.

We really did used to use them a lot - they were a fun diversion. Something to do at the 5 and Dime.

You have to understand - we didn't have Wal-Mart or Target or digital cameras - even Polaroid cameras were for the well-to-do - or those aspiring to look well-to-do!

Joy and I were on a double date when this shot was taken. We went to some exhibit at USC - and then to Taix's French Restaurant in LA. It's not in the same location anymore - it's hardly the same restaurant either.

If I find the shot with our dates, I'll post them. It was a fun date - these boys went to high school with us - and were fairly avant garde for their time.

But that's a subject for another post.

The Little Sparrow

For FHE last night, Dad and walked down to Blockbuster and rented "La Vie En Rose."

I've wanted to see this movie for a long time. It was long and sad and somewhat depressing. But I thought it was pretty well done.

I read her "bio" and found that they had most of the facts straight. Then I read some reviews that were less than complimentary.

Upon reflection, some of the criticisms were well-deserved. But I like the "film noir" aspects - I thought they conveyed the sorrow and despair of her life quite well.

And even the reviewers conceded that the scene when she learns that her lover Marcel has died in a plane crash was shot "brilliantly."

And you just can't go wrong with Piaf's larger than life voice. Tom Moore introduced your dad to Edith Piaf - and then Dad introduced her to me.

Vive la Piaf!! (loved the scene where the 10 year old Edith sings the Marseillaise!)

"The Power of Song"

A few weeks ago, I was browsing the Calendar section in the LA Times and came across a review of "The Power of Song" which was a movie about Pete Seeger. I vaguely remember it running in the theaters, but didn't pay much attention - I really don't pay much attention to movies these days, which is good in some ways, but I probably miss some good stuff too.

Anyway, it was going to be broadcast on KCET, so I actually made a note on my calendar, and Dad and I sat down and watched it. We taped it even, because Noah wanted to watch it too. It was great! Dad and I were sitting there, so impressed with a man we knew something about
but certainly didn't know everything about - even if we are children of the 60's!

(For one thing, he finally achieved a modicum of fame in the 50's with the Weavers - they had songs on the Hit Parade and everything - and then he quit - because they were doing a cigarette commercial. The Weavers told him, "We need the money." And Pete Seeger said, "Not that much!")

But once again I digress, as I am wont to do, and I'm missing the point of this post.

The point is, Pete Seeger represents a time and a place and some key individuals in my past that have shaped me over the years - and I'm just now realizing all of this.

I spent a fruitless half hour looking for a photo that I know I have, but I can't put my hands on it. It's not a particularly good photo - as most of my old photos are not - but it's the only one I have of John Johnson, a young man I met my freshman year in college. I have no idea where he is now - and with a name like John Johnson, it might be hard to find him - and be sure you have the right one!!

Let me back up. My freshman year in college, I lived with my high school friend Joy - and 4 other girls I had not met until then. One of them, Marlene Carpenter, was from SoCal too. And she had a friend named Curtis Clayton - no relation - at least no direct relation - but we were fond of telling people alternately that we were siblings, married, cousins, or even total strangers!

(And Marlene and I were fond of telling people we were fraternal twins. In those days, everything at BYU was done alphabetically, so we were always together, we were both blond, both from SoCal, and we thought it relieved the boredom of all the lines we were compelled to stand in!!) (In which we were compelled to stand??)

Anyway, Marlene had a younger brother who was very close in age to her and Curtis and her brother were close friends, so Curtis hung out with us a lot. He lived in Stover Hall I think. And he became friendly with a boy on his floor named John Johnson, so John Johnson hung out with us a lot too.

John was from the East Coast - actually I think he was from Northern Virginia, but he liked to say East Coast, with emphasis!! And we thought he was terribly East Coast - in a good way! He wore pressed chinos, blue oxford cloth shirts open at the collar, and highly polished Bass Weejuns without socks!!

He was kind of short, and had a complexion problem, but he was clever, witty, smart, a great conversationalist - and he could dance! (I groan now to think that his height and complexion problem were even an issue, but we were only 18 years old - and not very savvy!)

Let me explain about The Cannon Center Stomps which were held on Saturday nights. We spent all day Saturday getting ready so we would look absolutely fetching for these weekly events. (So we could go into the semi-darkness and get hot and sweaty dancing our heads off!)

And it wasn't like today's studied casual look - we wore skirts and sweaters and button down shirts and hose and cute shoes. And we had to rat and tease our hair into stylish bouffants to boot!

It was at the Cannon Center Stomps that I first heard the Beatles - and "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" - which is a really great tune for "stomping" BTW.

I loved dancing with John - and he would gallantly dance with all of us - and taught us some great moves too.

But John taught me much more - about music. He was very into folk music and knew all the greats - and except for Bob Dylan, I'd never heard of any of them. We would go up to the listening center on the 5th floor of the library and he'd tell me all about the songs and the artists.

I'm not sure I understood all the politics - but I loved the songs and the singers. And the love of those songs has continued - albeit at a somewhat subliminal level at times.

And listening to Pete Seeger "brought it all back" as they say. So I ordered the CD of his 1963 Carnegie Hall concert and have been playing it pretty much non-stop - all Terrill family members know of my predilection for listening to something I like over and over and over and over - and not getting tired of it. (I'm the same way about hard boiled eggs and light bulb cookies - I never get tired of them either!!)

The most interesting thing to me is that now, after 40 years, I know so much more about the songs - and am amazed that a young kid like John Johnson was that aware at age 18. It's taken me a lifetime of living through the Vietnam War, the peace marches, the Civil Rights movement, reading books and seeing movies and just living to figure a lot of it out.

In my sophomore year, I had a History class with John - and another friend of his, D. Todd Christopherson, who you may recognize as a general authority. (Todd went with me to a Preference Ball that year, so I like to say that I've dated a General Authority!) The three of us sat at the back and talked a lot - it was a European history class full of History majors headed for Law School - Todd included - but we weren't real focused on the class.

And all of this, with nary a photo to document any of it, because I watched a documentary on Pete Seeger - called "The Power of Song" - and I highly recommend it to any and all of you!

School Daze

When I was substitute teaching, I made the comment to a friend that I didn't even remember having a sub in school - except for one time in 5th grade when our teacher had to leave early every day for a period of weeks. The vice-principal - whose name I can't remember but I can picture him clearly in my mind - came each day for the last hour and closed the blinds, turned off the lights, and read us "Wind In the Willows."

The book didn't seem as charming and compelling when I perused it as an adult. Or when I tried to interest my own children in it. But I loved it in 5th grade. Maybe it was the dim room and the vice-principal's very dramatic voice and intonations.

But I digress. My friend said, when I made my comment, "Oh Barbara, don't you remember how we used to make that one sub cry?"

I was flabbergasted. I had no memory of it at all.

And so when I observe middle school students daily, I wonder if my memory is very selective.

For example, my room was moved from the main hall to the edge of the lunch area. I hate this location - I truly do - hate's not even a strong enough word - I despise it!

Why? Because when I come back from lunch each day, I have to step over a trail of tossed baby carrots (why the cafeteria gives little bags of carrots to students is beyond me - all they do is throw them at one another), smashed plastic containers of salad, rivers of chocolate milk and half-eaten hamburgers, burritos and pizza slices.

These kids just leave or toss food on the walk way in front of my room. I really don't remember kids doing that with food. But maybe I never went in the lunch area where kids did that.

And so many kids just don't do their work. You say, "Do you have your homework?" And they say, "No." And you say, "Why?" And they say, "Because I didn't do it." End of conversation. At least a third of my students say that on a daily basis. We use all kinds of behavior modification techniques - I randomly give treats to those who do their homework. Or punishment to those who don't. Nothing changes.

My friends all did their homework - maybe I just didn't hang around the kids who didn't do it. I don't remember teachers asking for it either though - maybe I just tuned out when the teacher harassed those slackers who hadn't done their work.

(Which reminds me of a story I've told many times about a 2nd grade teacher Harry F. had. I thought she was terrible - we were new to Monrovia so I didn't feel brave enough to go complain so I worked in his classroom all the time to be sure he wasn't ever the victim of her wrath! A few years later I was in Ralph's and ran into someone who also knew her and we talked about how the district had put her in an "office job" since she wouldn't retire. We went on about how bad she was. Later Harry said to me, "I liked Mrs. Atwater." And I said, "But she yelled and screamed at kids in class." And he said, "Only the ones who deserved it!")

And kids routinely are out of school for a week or even two weeks at a time - to go to Europe or Arizona or Mexico or Disneyland - you name it. They are out random days too - for all kinds of strange reasons. (I know I will incur the wrath myself of some parents who do this - I used to do it myself, but think differently about it now that I am on the other end.)

Nobody did that when I went to school. But maybe the rich kids I didn't hang around with did.

I guess I'm saying that maybe things haven't really changed all that much. Maybe school has always been like it is now. Maybe I'm just more aware. Maybe I'm just looking at it from another perspective.

And that is probably the truth. For example, I used to keep Bonny home from school to babysit sometimes. She always assured me that she wasn't missing anything important at school and I was usually desperate. Now, I regard kids who are absent for any reason as a pain in the neck!! It is the biggest hassle to put together make-up work for absent students - and my classes are small. It must be a real headache for general ed teachers who see 150 students a day.

And it is so discouraging to see a student who is failing or getting a D just because he or she doesn't do their homework. It makes me want to do away with homework and just grade kids on what they do in school! (But the truth is, we don't have kids long enough each day to teach them all they need to know - they have to do some of it on their own.)

But I can't think of any good excuse for throwing food around. I have complained about it a lot - now I think I am going to take pictures of it and send them to OSHA or something.

That might do the trick!

More Wedding Belles!!

So this was my roommate Marlene's wedding in September of 1965 I think. (At least it's the lineup of the lovely bridesmaids.)

She was from Los Alamitos - a place I'm actually familiar with now but had never heard of then! I remember the ride out to the reception in Krenz's car with Joy, of course. It was hot and most cars didn't have A/C, and his certainly didn't!

And Marlene had had knee surgery and had a huge cast under her dress! And they had their reception the night before the wedding - so they could just take off for their honeymoon after the wedding!

The headgear is pretty fetching - it was very au courant! I'm just a born fashionista I guess!

Where do all the years go?

There was a bridal shower for Michelle Moore a week ago - she is getting married this Saturday. Here is a shot of Sue, Bonnie and Jennifer. Sue gave the shower.

And I should have had Jennifer in this shot, because these are girls who were "mine" - at least I was their Young Women leader at some point - Sayde, Michelle and Melissa. (P.S. Jennifer had her baby on Friday!!)

And here's a shot of the "old ladies" - me with Denys Lytton, Donna H. and Helen M. We are all definitely older - and we were older than anyone else there! (What does that say??)

Got a phone call yesterday that Jean Henderson died. Harry and Bonny probably remember her as the crossing guard at Clifton. She did that for many years. She told me often that Harry showed up every day - late! (And he never got reprimanded for it - his homeroom teacher was Mr. Kelly - he either didn't notice or didn't care - or both!

I can't put my hands on a photo of her - she was 89 and did die peacefully. But it's the passing of a time and place. And there have been so many lately in our ward.

Just reflecting on life and how it changes - and then changes some more. And I wanted to post the photos from the shower.

Next year we will have been here in Monrovia for 30 years! I've never been anywhere else for than long!

More sorrow to report

We got a call Sunday about the untimely death of a former ward member - Celeste Coleman - she was Phoebe's age, and one of my Beehives.

This was at a sewing activity we had - we made shorts and modeled them at a Homemaking Night Fashion Show. I think Phoebe has the photos from that event.

We finished things up at the church. These photos are from 1989 I think.

I have just been dealing with so much death - not family - except for my Aunt Audrey - but people whose lives are connected to ours.

I am reminded of a comment Carolyn Maxwell made - her daughter died after giving birth to her 7th child, her best friend died of cancer 2 years after marrying a high school sweetheart in a fairy tale 2nd marriage, and her toddler granddaughter was accidently run over by a truck.

She said, "I told the Lord, enough!"

There are lessons in all these tragedies - and I'm sure they will become apparent over time.

But for now they are sorrowful and sometimes oppressive to reflect upon.

I believe in blogging!!

I was delighted to discover a comment on my post about my friend Janice - from her daughter!!

I am feeling that the photos from that era are very deficient - blurry, unidentified. But Lisa has some very sharp and clear memories of that time period. I hope she will comment more - I don't even remember exactly how old she was at the time - she was in school, I remember that.

I am pretty sure that these two photos are of her and her brothers - I don't recognize the couch, so it must be someone else's house.

And this photo is Bonny and Harry in the window seat of the kitchen in the old rock house in Centerville. I spent many an hour in that window seat talking on the phone with Alice or my mom or one of my friends - like Janice!

I like this photo - when I look at it, I see some of Porter, some of Baby Harry, some of Ara and some of Annika.

And of course, a lot of Bonny and Harry!

I must be getting old - I love to reminisce about the past! Isn't that what old people do??