Tag Archives: janet b

The Real McCoys

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I don’t know about the rest of you, but this pandemic has certainly stressed me out a bit. When I get stressed out, I generally do one of two things. I either channel surf, or I eat a lot of potato chips. I have found that it’s harder to eat potato chips when you have a remote control in your hand, so that’s a good thing. I also discovered that even with 200+ channels, I couldn’t really find anything that made me totally forget my worries. One day my husband and I were talking about TV shows we remembered watching when we were kids. I mentioned The Real McCoys (1957-1963), but to be perfectly honest, the only thing I remembered about it was that Walter Brennan starred in it. Right there I knew it had to be good because Walter Brennan (1894-1974) was an amazing actor. He won three Academy Awards for Come and Get It (1936), Kentucky (1938), and The Westerner (1940).

My curiosity was piqued. I really wanted to know what this show was about. I looked in Evergreen Indiana, and lo and behold, someone had Season One. I had it transited to my library, checked it out, and took it home to watch it. Who knew Walter Brennan was so incredibly funny? I’ve never laughed this much with any other TV show.

The show is about the McCoy family who inherit a farm in California. Walter Brennan plays Grampa Amos, Richard Crenna is his grandson Luke, and Kathy Nolan plays Luke’s wife, Kate. This is your typical “fish out of water” comedy about a backwoods family from West Virginia who try to fit in in California. Grampa Amos is an old codger with a wheezy voice who is constantly meddling in other people’s affairs. He makes some of the most outrageous, sexist comments that would normally tick me off, but since he always does the right thing in the end, it just ends up being really funny.

For example, Kate decides to earn a little extra money for the family by altering women’s dresses. Grampa Amos convinces Luke that no McCoy man has ever allowed his woman to earn money because McCoy men take care of their women. However, Grampa Amos stands up for Kate when the local tailor threatens her. In another episode, Grampa is told that he is too old to be a volunteer fireman, but when a barn catches fire, the people in the community realize just how much they need his expertise. Every episode was funny, but also had an insightful moral theme. This was truly one of the best TV shows I’ve ever watched. I suspect it was the precursor for other “fish out of water” TV comedies from the 1960’s like The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971), Green Acres (1965-1971), and Petticoat Junction (1963-1970). So if you need a really good laugh, and who doesn’t right now, check out Season One of The Real McCoys.

Are we there yet?

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We’ve all been there.  You’re going to the beach for a nice, relaxing week-long vacation.  The only problem is we live in the Midwest and the beach is several hours away by car.  How do you keep the kids occupied without driving you crazy by constantly asking, “Are we there yet?”

I recently cataloged a new children’s book titled Sleuth & Solve by Victor Escandell.  It features 20 mind-twisting mysteries that can be solved using either logic or imagination.  The author included instructions to turn each mystery into a game.  One person will be the Investigation Director and will read the mystery to the other players.

Here’s one example using imagination:

“Marco lives and works in his home by the sea where he has lived alone for many years.  His life is very routine, and each night before going to bed he turns on the light.  But one night Marco is so tired that he forgets to turn on the light.  When he wakes in the morning, he hears terrible news.  Marco is distraught, and then runs straight to the police to confess his guilt.  Why is Marco at fault?”

The answer is under a flap that only the Investigation Director can see.  Now the other players have an opportunity to ask questions that require a yes or no answer, and they continue to do this until someone comes up with the correct answer.

Younger children will enjoy any one of Walter Wick’s and Jean Marzollo’s I Spy books.  They have at least a dozen different books, but I Spy Treasure Hunt is one of my personal favorites.  Marzollo has written rhymes which provide clues, and Wick has created detailed miniature villages which provide answers.  Children can be captivated for hours looking at these delightful pictures.

What an awesome way to engage the entire family!  Playing a game like this is going to make the hours in the car fly by, and you’ll be running in the surf and soaking up the sun before you know it.

The Magic of Christmas

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I have been an avid cross-stitcher for decades.   In 1987, when my son was born, I vowed to cross-stitch a unique and special Christmas ornament for him every year.  That promise lasted one year.  Fast forward thirty years and I vowed to do the same for my grandson.  So far, I have kept that promise.

The first two ornaments I made him were cute, but were lacking a certain Je ne sais quoi.  I wanted something that was really charming and special.  I scoured the internet, and while I found a lot of patterns, none of them seemed to have the oomph I was looking for.  Then I searched Evergreen Indiana and found a book titled The Magic of Christmas in Cross-Stitch (Atglen, PA : Schiffer Publishing, 2018).  This book has the cutest, most adorable Christmas cross-stitch charts I have ever seen.  Whether you’re looking for a cherubic child writing a letter to Santa, or angelic children building a snowman, this book seems to have it all.  Last year I cross-stitched two little mice sitting under a mushroom wrapping presents.  When I showed it to a friend, she said it was “beyond adorable.”

This year my grandson will get Santa stuffing his bag full of presents.  My hardest decision now is which delightful design will I cross-stitch next.

My precious little grandson is only two years old and doesn’t yet appreciate that I’m doing this for him, but someday, he’ll hold up these ornaments and say “My Mēmo loves me.”  And you know what?  He’ll be right!

Review: Above the Bay of Angels

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Above the Bay of Angels
by Rhys Bowen
4 stars

Isabella Waverly is a servant girl in London, and is afraid she’ll be doing this the rest of her life.  Then, on her one afternoon off, she observes a young woman get hit by an omnibus.  As the woman is dying, she thrusts an envelope into Bella’s hands.  It is a job interview for a cook at Buckingham Palace.  Bella knows how to cook, and feels that this might be her only opportunity to escape her current situation.  She gets the job and assumes Helen Barton’s rightful position.  All is going well–she is learning a lot and enjoys cooking for Queen Victoria.  She is chosen to accompany the queen to France for the summer, and can hardly believe her good fortune until she is blackmailed by Helen’s brother and a member of the queen’s royal party dies from possible food poisoning.  Since she cooked the last meal, she is under suspicion of murder.  How could one little lie possibly get her into this much trouble?

Read alikes

An Appetite for Violets by Martine Bailey

Death Below Stairs by Jennifer Ashley

A Death of No Importance by Mariah Fredericks

 

Review: Summer Hours at the Robbers Library

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Summer Hours at the Robbers Library
by Sue Halpern
5 stars

Sunny is a fifteen-year-old girl who was caught stealing a dictionary at a bookstore.  She is sentenced to 12-weeks community service at the Riverton Public Library.    You would think a teen-ager would be upset by this, but Sunny is actually quite excited.  She’ll get to spend time with people other than her hippie parents who don’t believe in formal education, and she’ll be around the books and knowledge she craves.

Kit is a librarian at the Riverton Public Library.  She likes working there because it’s peaceful—until Sunny comes along.  Kit is put in charge of Sunny and they begin a cautious relationship that grows and then encompasses some of the other patrons of the library.   But everyone has secrets.  Will Sunny discover these secrets before the end of summer?

I really loved this book.  Yes, I’m a librarian and I like anything that has to do with libraries and reading, but this book was so much more than that.  We can tell from the start that Kit was trapped in an unhappy marriage, and she’s no longer in the marriage.  The author expertly drops little tidbits all through the book that explains what happened in her marriage that makes the reader want to continue reading.  I was rooting for both Kit and Sunny right from the start because they’re both smart, strong women.  I think it’s the sign of a well-written book that, days later, I am still thinking about these characters.

Read-alikes:

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

The Library at the Edge of the World by Felicity Hayes-McCoy

By the Book by Julia Sonneborn