This Was a Real Nice Clambake

Hello,

 I dug for clams once, my first and only time, so why in the world am I naming my memoir THIS WAS A REAL NICE CLAMBAKE?

 Because once I wrote of it, I had Rodgers and Hammerstein's lyrics from Carousel (1958) stuck in my head until I gave it as the title.

  "This was a real nice clam bake

We're mighty glad we came

 The vittles we et

 We're good; you bet

 The company was the same

 Our hearts are warm, our bellies are full

 And we are feeling prime

 This was a really nice clambake

 And we all had a real good time."

 

--Public domain: "Published in the United States between 1928 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice."

There are strict rules about using song lyrics, but to my surprise, this song came up public domain. So, I'm printing the lyrics because they pretty much sum up my life. And after being around the college performance of Carousel, in which my husband sang, those words were right on top of my brain.

 I wrote this memoir while drunk. Maybe that explains that while in an altered state, anything can come up. And you know about the brain, it zigzags all over the place, one thing leads to another and sometimes you go, “Huh? Where did that come from?” However, I was not drunk on alcohol or any other mood-altering substances. I was drunk with inspiration. 

 It's Natalie Goldberg's fault. 

 In Old Friends from Far Away, Goldberg said a memoir doesn't have to be an old person's story; I was born in, went to school… Boring. It's for those moments that take our breath away--like on that hot day, you stopped the car by a creek, stripped off your pantyhose, waded into the stream fresh off an ice flow, and felt alive. (Guys, take off your socks, and who wears pantyhose anymore?)

 

I put the above copy on Facebook. I joined this week; after doing the famed stalling to sign on the bottom-line bit, I decided if my publisher is on it, I ought to be. So, you can find me at https://www.facebook.com/Fuzzy7Feathers

 

I keep talking about my memoir, for it has been the object of my attention for a couple of months now. Before those last two months, I hadn’t planned on writing a memoir—I didn’t want anyone adding up the years, but finally, I threw discretion to the wind and felt it was something I had to do.

 

I think everyone ought to write one, to take stock of one’s life and decide what you want to keep and what you want to throw away.

 

It can even be like “Morning Pages,” where you write out all the crap, gripe on paper, then stop telling the same old sad story over and over. For you know the saying, “Neurons that fire together wire together,” meaning you will fix them in your brain.

 

Free up your brain to be ready for the next adventure.

 

Ta Da!

 

Live long, be happy, read my Memoir/autobiography/travel/adventure/special interest book when it comes out.

 

 

Just Between You and Me

 

 “Sing of good things, not bad.”*

—” Sing” by Joe Raposo, written for Sesame Street, performed by many.

 

 

* I’d quote the entire song if copyrights would allow. Songs are picky.  

 

 

Tell me PLEASE why this media slogan: “If it bleeds it Leads.”

 

This became a battle cry for newspapers back in the ’70s trying to up their ratings. Now, not only are we used to it, but writers, journalists, and pundits must up the ante to get our attention. As time goes by, adrenal hits need more potent thrills, shocks, controversy, to get the same shock value.

 

I must admit my adrenals like the log ride at Splash Mountain in Disneyland. It’s 10 on the terror scale of 10, said my 11-year-old Grandson when we visited the Park in January.

 

You sit in a log, used to be with your partner’s legs around you, now you have your own seat. You travel through calm waters, gentle music fills the air, suddenly, you stop. You look down. A 50-foot waterfall is raging beneath you, and you are looking straight down.

 

Holy Moley, I was scared out of my wits the first time I sat on that precipice—about 20 rides ago. (We used to live in Southern California, thus the frequent Disneyland visits.) Now I’m a veteran, but it still gives my adrenals a jolt. Amid screams, we are dropped over the edge and plunge into the water below. Drenched and laughing, we float among the strains of “Zippidy-do-da,” to the exit dock, and get out on noodle legs and say, “Let’s do that again.”

 

We like thrills, but the idea of slamming the world’s ills into our faces daily is not healthy.

 

We’re worn out.

 

Gone are the days of tuning into the media to find local and national issues.

 

Deborah Scani Psy D, says that if you are depressed, watching the news is a risky pursuit.

 

Sadly, once a glorious, needed, and respected profession, journalists, instead of getting to the story first, and getting the facts right, are now forced to look for the spectacular, the stirring, and the controversial.

FEAR is the teaser to get you to read the article or watch the presentation. Secondly, we watch or read with the HOPE that a solution will be forthcoming.

 

How often does that happen?

 

And why in the world, in a land that touts “Free Speech” are voices, news, articles being censored?

 

I’m really into this, for my daughter is a caregiver. Her client watches the news on the hour, or maybe continually. Daughter Dear tries to do something else during that time, but the lady will draw her in, “Come here. Will you look at that!”

 

Daughter Dear is worn out.

 

The lady remembers that there is a Virus/Danger “Out there,” but she doesn’t remember that she just watched it. (Poor dears—both of them)

Once upon a time—true story: I’ve written of this before, but I have new readers, so please forgive me if you’re read this before.

 

I was cursing up I-5 from San Jose, California, aiming for Oregon. Gabe, my Rottweiler, was asleep in the back seat, the radio was on. 

When I was in the San Francisco vicinity, I was startled by an “All Good News Radio Program.”

 

They had clips of motivational speakers followed by a story about a teacher who saw a kid in the playground do a good deed. She wrote out, “Good for you,” on a slip of paper, and gave it to the kid. The news soon spread about the “Good for you” slip of paper, and all the students wanted one.  

 

The teacher said that a piece of paper couldn’t blow across the playground without a kid running after it to pick it up.

 

I think the slips of paper graduated into tee-shirts.

 

We are good people, and we like being rewarded for our actions.

 

Happiness can spread.

 

Oh, speaking of good stuff, yesterday I saw that a chocolate factory in Switzerland had an explosion and covered the city in cocoa powder.

 

Got a good slogan for a tee-shirt?

 

I’ll print it and sell it.

 

If you would be so kind as to look into my store with its new name and new focus.

 

"On the road, on the trail, on the couch."

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

 Keep checking in I’m adding new products daily. (Take a peek at my "ribbit" sink strainer, too cute for words.)

 

https://jewellshappytrails.com

 

(Can you believe I got Jewell's Happy Trails as a domain?) 

 

Thanks,

Jo, Joyce, Jewell

 

 

P.S. A shout out to a reader in the UK;

https://munster.co.uk (GPS tracker)

 

My mother should have had this tracking device when I was a kid, for I rode my horse into the forest, and she never knew where I was. She worried that I would take a fall and be lost. “Stay by the road,” she said. “Then,” I countered, “if I fell off, someone would run over me.” 

 

We both survived my horse forays.

 

This device can be used on cars (get a 40% reduction on Ins.,) dogs, cats, bicycles, motorcycles, humans. I should have had one attached to our propane tank that ran off.

 

Thanks, UK

 

*Bad?” I’ve heard if you are an aficionado of country songs, listen long enough and they will cure you or your ills.