Remembering Pam

Posting is sad today...   but when I came to post, I discovered a December post draft that I had never finished, published... it made me smile.   So at least I got that posted prior to this entry....

And on to today....

I loved Pam Patterson.   I loved her writing on our departed meeting ground, Pearlsoup.  I visited the PS nearly every day online in 2003-2005. PS was a writer's website that saw a good deal of of my poetry when I had revived my voice and was writing nearly every day.... some of my editorial and joke posts, and way too much of my comments and personal opinions!   It may be that latter part of the comments and opinions that bonded a few of us together, so that when the website went dark, we were still able to email and to follow each other's blogs.

Pam and I got together for the first time with her sister Kelly and a writing friend of mine that I had met in a Yahoo group, the delightful Marion.  We were all living in the south and spent a girls weekend at a beautiful cottage on the river in Louisiana in 2008.  I flew to Dallas and Pam and I drove there, meeting Kelly, who had driven in from Arkansas and picked up Marion along the way.  The weekend was a delight.

 

 

Pam was a special poet...not afraid to pursue dark and lonely thoughts in some poems, along with witty repartee in others. 

Pam had a love for family, for her dogs...a penchant for decorating her beautiful home, and a compelling need to clean that house like a whirling dervish!  Having been a devoted caretaker for her two grandsons while her daughter worked, Pam  incredibly, late in life, found a career teaching/aiding special needs children in the Dallas school system.  I last saw her on a visit to Dallas in 2009.  I got to see Bear Bear, too, on that trip, my favorite of her pack of "furkids".  Bear Bear passed on in 2010, but Pam continued to run with her pack of "furkids".  I think her pup Spanky replaced Bear Bear in the pack. 

Last pic that Pam sent to me, shows her in her classroom, with a student... a real illustration of how devoted she was to the career that came along late in life:

As her life got busier, Pam's time to devote to blogging became less and less.  So, while I could continue to follow Ms. Marion's active blog and to live text and stay in touch weekly, with Kelly, I did not have as much interface as in the past.  We reduced to following each other on Twitter, although I got an amazing email from Pam just a few months ago. 

More's the pity that I did not take more time.   That I didn't let her know how much I cared.

~~~~~~~~~~

Pam passed away after a short bout with a terrible illness on February 24.  My heart breaks at having not called her in her final weeks.  But I know she knows I was thinking about her.  I always will.

The Long and Snowy Road... RIP Virgil

God bless... my uncle Virgil, who passed away on December 1.  I made the pilgrimage to Minnesota in the winter, as befits the niece of a great and unforgettable man.

I had 3 days and 4 nights with family.  It was restorative.  And Jon's homemade stout was memorable.  For the first time in a long time, I saw people I went to high school with.  One of my best friends, who I have stayed in touch with first by letter and then by email... and have not seen in some 35 years was there, and we had the opportunity to talk and catch up.

Funerals, particularly for our cherished elders (Virge was 91), can be life-affirming; and so I have found it with my family.  I went past my father's home...hand built, with my dad doing about 90% of the labor, and was encouraged by the beautiful condition of the yard and buildings that the lady who purchased it from us in 1987, had maintained.

Of course, all that is well does not end well.  Starting at midnight on the eve before I left, my brother's city got 13 inches of snow.  We braved about 7 inches when we decided to try and get me 75 miles to the Mpls airport.  It took 3 hours, and there were 14 cars off the road.  Once in the Hubert Humphrey terminal, I learned that SW had 0 planes on the ground, and that it was likely I would be there for 24 hours (and brave the onslaught of the Chicago Bear fans, defeated by the Vikings, and then defeated when they tried to fly back to Chicago that night...hundreds of them). 

When the snow stopped around 8 p.m. in Mpls, I got a text that my 2nd plane, in Milwaukee, had been delayed out by 6 hours.  I checked, and sure enough I could get the only flight of the day that left to Milwaukee.  There was another 2 hour wait in Milwaukee, but we were airborne at last, and I arrived to ghost city Tampa airport at 3:45 a.m.  It took another hour to discover they'd lost my bag, file a report, and then hang around until a misbegotten taxi made the loop and picked me up.

Home again, home again, sans possessions, at 4:45 a.m.  Sigh.  Minnesota in the winter.  Not good.

RIP Donna Summer.....

RIP Donna Summer!

Caught her show quite by accident in 1998 in a street concert at Disney downtown.  She was in top form.  I was with a couple of gay friends who were completely in thrall to all the tunes.  We sang, we danced, we got three encores!

After a successful career in Europe, Summer started as a back up singer for Three Dog Night in the states.  She moved on and up when the disco craze started in the 70's.  I polled friends for the most remembered "Big Song" and got:

MacArthur Park      Love to Love You Baby      Last Dance    She Works Hard For the Money

For my money, my favorite was the wistful... "On the Radio".  Below.  Enjoy.  

RIP Andy Rooney

A talented curmudgeon, Andy Rooney had cynical flair. He was a favorite of my deceased and dear Dad, who said he hadn't enjoyed anyone on TV so much since Eric Sevaraid left the air.

Rooney started with Arthur Godfrey and Garry Moore, so he and my dad went way back. They were born the same year, 1919. Rooney died at 92 on November 5, just shortly after he left the air. One of my very favorite Rooney quotes:

" I didn't get old on purpose, it just happened. If you're lucky, it could happen to you. "

RIP, Andy.

RIP - Steve Jobs; Visionary, Great Man of Two Centuries

How sad to find out Steve Jobs succumbed to cancer.

Certainly a candidate for the greatest man of the 21st Century, Jobs and his ideas (he holds 313 patents) changed the world. How amazing his developments have been... from the original Apple/Mac in the 20th century to Pixar, the Ipod, Iphone, and Ipad in this.

Such genius does not come along very often. Rest in Peace.

Sad in Tampa - RIP Lee Roy Selmon

Having suffered a stroke on Friday, Lee Roy Selmon, ":Mr. Football" of Tampa Bay seemed to be recovering, but suddenly died today. Tampa Bay mourns. Although quarterback Doug Williams, fullback Mike Alstott, Linebacker Derrick Brooks and the slightly unsavory Warren Sapp are all big in Buccaneer history, no one quite captured the nature of Tampa Bay like their first ever draft pick, in 1976. He was an All American with his brothers at Oklahoma, and lived through the difficulty of the winless year that was the Buc's first... only to be elected as NFC Defensive player of 1979, when the Bucs went to the division championships. He retired after 9 years, with 6 Pro Bowls.... and got elected to the Hall of Fame in 1995.

Selmon was a pioneer in bringing Division I football to our local "suitcase" school, USF, as the athletic director. USF beat Notre Dame last night, and every player wore #63...Selomon's number with the Bucs. After his pro career, Lee Roy stayed in Tampa and raised his family... his son, Lee Roy Jr. went to high school with my daughter. Lee Roy was only a few months younger than I, and is commemorated in local landmarks; the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway here, and the restaurant chain he started: "Lee Roy Selmon's Barbeque".

A truly great and gracious man, he will be missed.

RIP Amy

This generation's Janis Joplin... life was too much for her in the same way as Janis. Watching her pre-recorded videos pales in comparison to these live performances -- her life force is so much stronger on stage.


A very sad day.

RIP .... Clarence Clemons

Saw him twice with Springsteen... the last time in 1991. The world's lost a great musician.

Tribute to Harmon Killebrew

My Dad was a fierce baseball fan. He had two jobs (he also built our house single-handedly during the years of 1958-1960) plus an acre of law in Minnesota's summers, and a long driveway to plow in the winters. Most times, he couldn't see the Twins on TV, but he always had the game on the radio.

Our backyard was the site of sometimes 2-3 softball games every day in the summers. All of us fought to be Harmon Killebrew, because naturally, we had to be one of our heroes in our sandlot games. Harmon Killebrew, quiet, talented, reliable, the very embodiment of Midwestern values, was our hero.

It was with great regret that I learned of his passing today.

Rest in peace, Harmon.

Just One of Many Causes - RIP Ted Kennedy

“Every education bill, every labor bill that has been taken up by the US Senate—Ted Kennedy has spent hours on the floor of the US Senate passionately and articulately promoting the right cause of action whether or not his position was popular at the time or shared by the majority of his colleagues. There has been no more faithful champion of the poor, of working families, of all those who depend on essential government services and the positive roll that the government can and should play, than Senator Edward Kennedy.”

Ed McElroy, American Federation of Teachers
Convention, Boston July 21, 2006

I am so freakin' sad

Another senseless, inhumane death in Tampa. What monsters walk among us?

This particular case (baby of a 17 year old girl thrown to the cement walk by her boyfriend, then kidnapped and thrown out the window of his car on a busy interstate)is unspeakable. Florida's death penalty seems, somehow, fitting some days.

quid

Tribute

A Tribute to Jack Kemp - I didn't always agree with him politically, but I respected him as a player, a politician, a statesman:

“Pro football gave me a good perspective. When I entered the political arena, I had already been booed, cheered, cut, sold, traded and hung in effigy"...

“We will not rest, ... until there's a quality education -- public, private, parochial, charter, magnet or whatever -- for every child living in the United States of America, every family in America."

"There are no limits to our future if we don't put limits on our people."

RIP - One of the world's greatest

NO MATTER WHETHER ACTOR, PRODUCER OF REALLY FINE FOODSTUFFS THAT ARE, FOR THE MOST PART, ORGANICALLY GROWN, OR ELEGANT GENTLEMAN. NO MATTER WHAT PART OF HIS LIFETIME YOU CHOOSE, THE WORLD WILL MISS PAUL NEWMAN.

ONE OF MY FAVORITE NEWMAN QUOTES: "People stay married because they want to, not because the doors are locked."

FAVORITE NEWMAN FILM: It's a tie..."Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "The Verdict"