Thursday Thoughts # 65
from Strong Conviction by Trevor Scott
"Her dark hair, which had been smooth and perfectly combed at their last meeting, was tangled as if right out of the Phyllis Diller school of hair design."
Phyllis Diller
from Still Life With Murder by PB Ryan
" They call this place Falconwood. The Hewitts spend about six weeks here every summer, usually mid-July to the end of August. I wonder why they're still here."
"Six weeks? This castle is for one family to live in for six weeks?"
"The Hewitts call it a cottage," he said, "but it's got over twenty rooms. The boathouse is larger than most people's homes."
cottage
Nell stared at the mansion as they neared it, at the scores of warmly lit windows, picturing the two-roomed hovel she had shared with her entire family for the first eleven years of her life.
"Their main house is in Boston on a Brahmin enclave they call Colonnade Row - that's a section of Tremont Street built up with mansions that make Falconwood look like a gardener's shed."
gardener's shed
mansion
Today's Thoughts:
Phyllis Diller. The queen of electrocuted hair. I remember seeing her on TV when I was a little kid and wondering why she hadn't combed her hair before coming before the camera. When I saw her show again the next week and the weeks following, I realised the hair must be her trademark. It didn't always look bad, but even now, all these years later, whenever I see someone with frizzed out short hair, I think of Phyllis Diller. I wonder how many others do the same?
I remember the jokes made in high school, how easy it would be to get the same hairstyle without going anywhere near a salon. Simply wet your hair, then plug your fingers into a live socket. Bingo, Phyllis Diller hairdo. I don't recall anyone who was actually game enough to try it though. Thank goodness.
Phyllis Diller
In last Saturday's paper, I read an article about William Shatner, who is coming to Australia for a national tour some time in October.
Hey, that's today! October first.
Gosh it's almost Christmas....(*~*)
Anyway, let me quote directly from the article:
" William Shatner turned 84 last March, but says he has no plans to slow down as he prepares for a national tour of Australia.
" I hate to sound Pollyanna, but what could be better than going to a wonderful country like Australia and being catered to the way I am?" he says. "I don't touch the luggage, I don't touch the cars, people usher me to the theatre and then I talk on stage for an hour and a half, people applaud and then they buy me a good dinner. Why would I ever retire?"
Well, when you put it that way....of course why retire?
There's more; the article goes on to say how much he enjoys what he does, loves the ritual of show day, he has fun doing the stage routine and finds it relaxing.
Which reminds me of The Rolling Stones. A great rock band, all members in their seventies (I believe), still touring, still recording, still loving every minute of what they do.
And that's the most important thing about working.
Whether you're a rich and famous rock star; a rich and famous TV and movie star who also does stand up comedy; or if you're a nobody working in a shoe factory.
If you love what you are doing, it isn't work. It's fun.
I loved the shoe factory job and if that factory hadn't closed operations and moved overseas, I'd be there still.
Back to the mansion. The summer home the owners call a cottage because their city home is so much larger.
I love big homes.
Not mansions, they'd take forever to keep clean each day, but homes with enough space to walk around in, enough space to store all your stuff and a spare room for visitors to stay overnight if their other option is a hotel.
That's if you like them enough to face them over breakfast.
I see the mansions of people like Madonna, Johnny Depp, Jim Parsons and wonder why on earth they need twenty bedrooms, twenty bathrooms, three swimming pools, four kitchens, forty acres of gardens.
Just because they can?
Whatever it is they have, it just seems to be much too much.
Have a big enough house for parties and overnight guests, yes; but the rest is overkill as far as I'm concerned.
A home that doesn't cost the earth to heat in winter and cool in summer, cosy, comfortable furnishings, a place that doesn't need security guards and three miles of driveway. That's good enough for me.
"Her dark hair, which had been smooth and perfectly combed at their last meeting, was tangled as if right out of the Phyllis Diller school of hair design."
from Still Life With Murder by PB Ryan
" They call this place Falconwood. The Hewitts spend about six weeks here every summer, usually mid-July to the end of August. I wonder why they're still here."
"Six weeks? This castle is for one family to live in for six weeks?"
"The Hewitts call it a cottage," he said, "but it's got over twenty rooms. The boathouse is larger than most people's homes."
Nell stared at the mansion as they neared it, at the scores of warmly lit windows, picturing the two-roomed hovel she had shared with her entire family for the first eleven years of her life.
"Their main house is in Boston on a Brahmin enclave they call Colonnade Row - that's a section of Tremont Street built up with mansions that make Falconwood look like a gardener's shed."
Today's Thoughts:
Phyllis Diller. The queen of electrocuted hair. I remember seeing her on TV when I was a little kid and wondering why she hadn't combed her hair before coming before the camera. When I saw her show again the next week and the weeks following, I realised the hair must be her trademark. It didn't always look bad, but even now, all these years later, whenever I see someone with frizzed out short hair, I think of Phyllis Diller. I wonder how many others do the same?
I remember the jokes made in high school, how easy it would be to get the same hairstyle without going anywhere near a salon. Simply wet your hair, then plug your fingers into a live socket. Bingo, Phyllis Diller hairdo. I don't recall anyone who was actually game enough to try it though. Thank goodness.
In last Saturday's paper, I read an article about William Shatner, who is coming to Australia for a national tour some time in October.
Hey, that's today! October first.
Gosh it's almost Christmas....(*~*)
Anyway, let me quote directly from the article:
" William Shatner turned 84 last March, but says he has no plans to slow down as he prepares for a national tour of Australia.
" I hate to sound Pollyanna, but what could be better than going to a wonderful country like Australia and being catered to the way I am?" he says. "I don't touch the luggage, I don't touch the cars, people usher me to the theatre and then I talk on stage for an hour and a half, people applaud and then they buy me a good dinner. Why would I ever retire?"
Well, when you put it that way....of course why retire?
There's more; the article goes on to say how much he enjoys what he does, loves the ritual of show day, he has fun doing the stage routine and finds it relaxing.
Which reminds me of The Rolling Stones. A great rock band, all members in their seventies (I believe), still touring, still recording, still loving every minute of what they do.
And that's the most important thing about working.
Whether you're a rich and famous rock star; a rich and famous TV and movie star who also does stand up comedy; or if you're a nobody working in a shoe factory.
If you love what you are doing, it isn't work. It's fun.
I loved the shoe factory job and if that factory hadn't closed operations and moved overseas, I'd be there still.
Back to the mansion. The summer home the owners call a cottage because their city home is so much larger.
I love big homes.
Not mansions, they'd take forever to keep clean each day, but homes with enough space to walk around in, enough space to store all your stuff and a spare room for visitors to stay overnight if their other option is a hotel.
That's if you like them enough to face them over breakfast.
I see the mansions of people like Madonna, Johnny Depp, Jim Parsons and wonder why on earth they need twenty bedrooms, twenty bathrooms, three swimming pools, four kitchens, forty acres of gardens.
Just because they can?
Whatever it is they have, it just seems to be much too much.
Have a big enough house for parties and overnight guests, yes; but the rest is overkill as far as I'm concerned.
A home that doesn't cost the earth to heat in winter and cool in summer, cosy, comfortable furnishings, a place that doesn't need security guards and three miles of driveway. That's good enough for me.
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Hey....in Australia it's my birthday already. Does this mean I can have cake now?
ReplyDeleteOf course you can have cake Delores, What flavour would you like? And a very happy birthday to you, today and tomorrow.
DeleteI really don't understand the mansion thing. Or the need to have multiple homes. A home is somewhere to live, not to visit.
ReplyDeleteI need a kitchen a bedroom a nice bathroom and a man cave, and one guest room. Everything else is a waste.
ReplyDeleteSpace to store your stuff? Well, you know what will happen then. Stuff will expand until all space is used.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that the rich and famous have no need to show off as we know they are rich and famous, so why the need for monster sized houses? At least our monarch inherited her thousands of rooms and did not buy them
Too many rooms! Have no idea why other than to say, 'i have 20 rooms', or is it for show, maybe be cause they were brought up that way, know no other way!
ReplyDeleteWas never a fan of Phyllis, not the same sense of humour as i have.
The Rolling Stones, amazing how well they have done and stayed together...they certainly must love what they do..
William! He loves what he does too at his age its know doubt an easy job for him to handle..
I have 10 rooms and if you count the front porch that's 11 but we spend most of the day in the garden rooms, 4 of them as my garden is all divided up with fences and gates, keeps Drummy out sometimes the cats just go where they like.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean I worked in three factories in my life and enjoyed everyone of them , great friendships were formed, but about 10 different offices and all were not so happy places.
Merle.................
Hmmm, I've had my share of Phyllis Diller hair moments - teased up and wild, almost to the point of hers - with a streak of pink or red in the front :D
ReplyDeleteAnd, my attempts at sixties "beehive dos" ended up more like birds nests - which continue to this day.
My hair is the most recalcitrant part of me, and refuses to be brushed into submission, lol.
Good on Shatner. Why not continue when you are treated so well wherever you go?
I agree, “if you love what you are doing, it isn't work. It's fun.”
Musicians don’t really retire, they continue to play for as long as they can – music is in the very fibres of their being.
I aspire to a tiny home. I’ve always loved Thoreau’s book ‘Walden’, and to me, a wee cosy one or two bedroom cottage is my perfect dream.
I’m doing what I can to eliminate stuff from my life – except for my studio. I’ll always need to create, so a small outside studio would be nice too.
The thought of rattling around in a mansion leaves me cold.
Delores; happy birthday! are you 21 now? :D
ReplyDeleteCake? there was one here, but I ate it, didn't realise it was for you :(
Elephant's Child; I used to want a mansion, when I had all the kids still at home with all their visiting friends, but I also wanted the income to be able to afford it. Now I've let all that go. I understand having a second place to holiday in, but a shack on the beach is enough, a second mansion is ridiculous. So much space to be sitting empty for 10 months of the year.
joeh; I've got everything you want except the guest room. Wanna swap houses?
Andrew; that's the problem with stuff, the expansion thing. Wonder if Liz ever thought about renting out some of those extra rooms? She could boost the British economy by taking in tourists, they always want a good look at the palace anyway.
Margaret-whiteangel; the only reason I can think of to boast of having 20 bedrooms is if I was offering space to visiting family or blogger friends. Apart from that, the thought of the laundry and vacuuming makes me feel slightly ill.
Merle; I have four rooms and one of those does double duty, it's a bathroom/laundry. I could count the back porch, but it isn't useable as a room, not even for sitting in. It's storage space and often filled with the stink of cigarettes, (some of them the illegal sort), from other flats nearby.
Vicki; I never bothered with styling my hair, don't have a clue how. It's either short and fluffy or long and pony-tailed.
Music and acting, both are in the very fibres of their being. The only real differences is a lot of actors get shunted aside in favour of the younger set, who often can't act, they just look pretty on camera.
You want a tiny home? Have mine. It's four rooms and a cramped-with-stored-stuff back porch.
I've never read Walden, I'll have to check and see if it's on my kindle.
I don't like the idea of rattling around in a big empty mansion either. I love being alone, but in a cosier environment.
Homes - ours is too big for my liking, but we bought it so that our son would have a good large area downstairs to drum in. We soundproofed it, so he can drum to his hearts content.
DeleteYour small house?
Swap ya :)
Ummm...........ahhh, I really don't want to pack up and move again so soon, I've only been here four years....(*~*)
DeleteI have no desire for a big house; I have no need for a big house. But, each to their own...
ReplyDeleteEven if I won a large amount in Lotto, there is no way I'd buy a large home. A small cabin would suit me just fine. I don't need a mansion on a hill (or elsewhere) or crystal chandeliers. :)
I'm too much a peasant for mansions and such... on the other hand, I've friends who find them perfectly comfortable.
ReplyDeleteTo each their own.
Lee; if I won a large amount in Lotto years ago when the kids were still home that would be an entirely different matter, but now, even if I won, I would buy just a two bedroom home with a bit of yard space for Angel. Preferably near the beach. The kids would share my "windfall" and they can build what they like.
ReplyDeleteJacquelineand...I'm probably too much a peasant too, there's nothing glamorous or sophisticated about me. I'm not one of the hoity-toity set, I'm riff-raff.