The Sweetest Thing...To The Moon And Back

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, one of my husband's co-workers brought tiny moon pies to work with small American flags taped to them.  Now I ask you, isn't that just the sweetest thing? (Moon Pies...you may read about them just here. They really are a "southern" thing!)

Now, the 50th anniversary of the moon landing... there was a very good documentary on our local PBS station.  It combined real videos and audio tapes of the Apollo 11 mission along with new film of actors portraying the men who went to the moon- Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.   This was very well done and I really liked it.  It was called "8 Days To The Moon and Back".  (I missed the first 30 minutes or so, but I find that I often still enjoy a show and don't mind missing the first part. I am an editor!)

Remember the film "Apollo 13"? I really like that film a great deal. You should keep that in mind as you are watching the footage of what went on in Apollo 11.  Good book alert: "Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13" by Jim Lovell.  After you read it, you will be filled with admiration for Jim Lovell (who is now 91 years old).   Also, I might add that Tom Hanks did such a great job in his portrayal of Jim Lovell.   If you read that book, you will see what I mean!

As I was watching the documentary on the moon landing, it reminded me of another book that I told you about last year...a book that I sent to my father-in-law and he thinks it is one of the best books he has ever read...  "The Wright Brothers" by David McCullough.  (Just think, men were sent to the moon in 1969 and the first successful airplane was invented in 1903.  Pretty incredible, that 20th century, wasn't it?) 

When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, he carried with him in tribute to the brothers,  a small piece of the muslin from the wing of the first airplane flown by Orville and Wilbur Wright. Now that was a very nice touch, don't you think? 



                    We Came In Peace For All Mankind.

Never will forget watching Neil Armstrong stepping onto the moon and saying those words, "One small step for man...One giant leap for mankind".  (Yes, I know supposedly he said "A Man" but really, it sounds better the way we know it, so if that somehow was not transmitted properly, perhaps it was for the best.  I really am an editor at heart!)

Summer 2019-Georgia Peaches/Dansby Swanson

Georgia is known as the Peach state.  And yes, I know that California and South Carolina both grow more peaches but we are still called that! Now because of that, there are quite a few signs with companies that have "Peach" in their names so they will have drawings of a peach. Unfortunately, they sometimes look more like giant "bums" as they say in England! ("Behinds" as we had to say in the South as we were growing up.) Why, sometimes our car tags will have a peach as a background...and I do wonder if anyone ever looks carefully at these things. Am I the only one who sees this resemblance?  I find this amusing!

Those peaches, by the way, were delicious and yes, they were grown in Georgia! 

I tried my best to get a photo of Dansby Swanson flying around the bases...very often he will lose his batting helmet!  I treasure the memory of my Dad calling me in England while I was there in 2016 and telling me that I had missed Dansby Swanson hit his inside the park homerun!  And if you don't know what that means...a batter hits the ball and he RACES around the bases so quickly that he makes it home before anyone can throw the ball to homeplate! It very rarely happens and my Dad just couldn't believe that they didn't mention it on the TV in England!

I found it for you.  Dansby Swanson! Isn't he a cutie? By the way, very often a player can be from anywhere in the country (or Canada or Australia even!) but in this case, Dansby Swanson is a Georgia boy, through and through! 

I simply have dozens of things that I want to post about...so I am sorry that I can't think well enough to get my thoughts together.  

Hope you are all having a nice summer.  Stay cool!

Sally Goodin Song for Uncle Joe

One of my earliest memories is going to the little store overlooking Tallulah Gorge.  I went there recently and went back to this same shop. (I took a photo of the gorge looking down from this point and if you remember my earlier post,  we hiked further into the gorge which is on the other side.) 

We went a few days ago close to this same area for a memorial service for my uncle.  He very often would have nicknames for his nieces and nephews and most likely for any other children that he knew!  He was very funny and had a very gentle, teasing manner about him. One of the names that he liked to use was "Sally Goodin.".  Can you believe it, I just thought to put that into a search engine and I had no idea that it was a song! And then, to think that John Denver even mentions it in his "Thank God, I'm A Country Boy Song"!  (Remember this line..."I'd play Sally Goodin all day if I could but the Lord and my wife wouldn't take it very good.) 


 Looky here, I managed to find a version that you can sing along with!

Seeing this wooden box where you could return your empty glass coke bottles brings back memories. (And never mind it says "Pepsi", we always called any dark soda drink a "coke". We just did!)   

Now, just give me some boiled peanuts and I will be happy!
What, you have never had boiled peanuts!  That will have to be for another post!  My uncle deserves a better tribute than Sally Goodin and boiled peanuts but knowing him, this might not be too far off the mark. He did love to laugh.

Charlie "Clutch" Culberson

Charlie Culberson plays professional baseball for the Atlanta Braves. Not only is he a Georgia native, but he is also just the nicest guy! This was even commented on yesterday after a game saving play by Charlie...that even though he is appreciated for his baseball skills but that he has been instrumental in building team spirit with his positive attitude!   He is what is known as a "utility" player that is, a player who can play several different positions.  Charlie has been a pinch hitter, an outfielder, and even a pitcher! And this past Sunday, in a very close game, in the 9th inning, he made a spectacular throw to home plate...afterwards, some of the announcers said it was one of the best plays they had seen all year. (If he had not gotten that man out at homeplate...well, we don't even have to think about that, he got him OUT!) 

Even if you don't know one thing about baseball, you should still appreciate this...

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"Coming through in a clutch", don't you love that expression?  It means "to do something when things have become very difficult".  In basketball, they have just shortened it to "clutch", and it means the same thing...to perform well under high pressure situations".
(If you know how to drive a manual car, you will know how to operate the clutch.  If you do it the right way, you move forward...do it wrong and you stall. I have no idea if this is where the expression comes from, but this is what came to my mind.)

Tonight, the HOMERUN Derby is going on...and one of the Atlanta Braves, Ronald Acuna, Jr. is participating...and he is only 21 years old! Isn't that great?  

Tomorrow is the All Star Game and we will have three Atlanta Braves on the National League team!

And you all thought I wouldn't have any more sports news for you. How wrong can you be?  

And remember, keep your eye on the ball!

P.S. My son is a sportswriter.  I wonder where he got that from?

Coco Gauff On To The Next Round At Wimbledon!

Remember me telling y'all I like Wimbledon?  I so much wanted to see the match today with the 15 year old Coco Gauff  and Polona Hercog!  At work today, I would look at my phone from time to time and check the live scores at the Wimbledon website.  Oh dear, she was not doing well at the beginning but... I was cheering her on by phone, you know I was!  Come on, you can do it...don't be discouraged. Keep calm and keep playing!  What a comeback! (I only know this from the numbers that I saw on the Wimbledon website, but I know enough about tennis to understand what an effort it would have been to regroup and to make that comeback.)  Coco Gauff won her match and will advance to the next round!  I am home now watching the match on TV. (You know I recorded it.) I just paused it, so I can type this for you!

It is quite funny to know the outcome and listen to what the announcers are saying...they didn't have much hope for Coco Gauff to win.  Let me just say, THAT is what is so great about sports. You NEVER know!  And I am so doggone pleased that Coco won, you would think I knew her personally or else won a great deal of money on a sports bet! (Neither one is true, I just felt like she could do it and she did.) 

Cori "Coco" Gauff was born in Atlanta, Georgia! I bet she knows this view at Stone Mountain! Her father played basketball at Georgia State University.  (She lives in Florida now but I am sure she visits Georgia.)  

What do y'all think?  Isn't she amazing?  I am cheering for her, even if I have to do it by looking at my phone!

Update:  I have now watched that long match!  So happy I recorded it! At the end, Coco stayed and signed autographs. Did anyone notice the Chelsea pensioners that she spoke with and signed autographs for? That made me very happy to see that! And her parents posed for photos long after the match was over! My kind of people!

Also, in the match...it is my belief that the bird that landed on the court brought her luck.  You can believe it or not, but y'all know I love birds and I think that it is so.
It was a black and white bird and I wonder if any of my British friends can tell me what it was? Looking at photos, I think it might be a pied wagtail. It was a sweet little thing.



Update: Coco lost today (July 8th) but she did so incredibly well! Look forward to seeing her play at Wimbledon next year!

The Girl Who Wore Freedom

When our American World War II veterans visit Normandy, do you know that they are treated like rock stars? It's true, even young people rush up to them and embrace them. However, this is something that not too many Americans know or appreciate.  On the recent anniversary of the D-Day landing (which was the 75th.) There were lots of photos on TV,  Facebook and Instagram of the vets with the French people, big smiles all around.  (Sadly, our WWII vets are fewer and fewer. Why have WE as Americans not shown our appreciation?  Don't mean to grumble too much but it took a very long time to get that memorial in Washington D.C. for World War II vets. It opened in 2004 and many of the World War II vets that I know had already passed away.)  There is a documentary that has been filmed that I would very much like to see, it is called "The Girl Who Wore Freedom", it tells the story of the Normandy Invasion from the perspective of the French.  It expresses the gratitude to the Americans who liberated them.   I found a wonderful video... it is in French but if you enlarge it, you will be able to read the subtitles in English! 

During the month of June in honor of the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the movie channel TCM (Turner Classic Movies) showed 75 films relating to World War II.  I recorded several of them and will watch them later. (Of course, I have seen them before but they are worth watching again.  One of them, I have written about before, "The Gallant Hours" with Jimmy Cagney. An excellent movie!)  


Jimmy Cagney...he played George M. Cohan in the wonderful film "Yankee Doodle Dandy".  If you have never seen that movie, please promise that you will! It is one of my favorites!
George M. Cohan wrote many songs, one of them..."You're A Grand Old Flag".  You must know I know every single word, right?
("Where there's never a boast or a brag"...insert rueful smile here.)

Happy 4th of July to everyone!  It is Independence day in America!

Blue Bayou

For some reason, I started singing the song "Blue Bayou" this week.  I must need a vacation.  The song was written by the great songwriter/singer Roy Orbison.   He had it on his 1963 album "In Dreams".  It was an even bigger hit for Linda Rondstadt in 1977. You know I can sing along with her and sound just like her! (In MY Dreams!) 

Sadly, Roy Orbison died in 1988 and Linda Ronstadt has Parkinson's disease and is now unable to sing. We still have Roy Orbison's songs to enjoy and we also have recordings of Linda Ronstadt's amazing voice.  Hope you like this song too. Will you keep singing it like me? Let me know!

I was able to get away in June for a few nights and really enjoyed the hike into this gorge.  Wish I could write a song about it!