Hey it’s going to a good cause… right?

The other morning on the TODAY show, they were interviewing some of the kids from The Brady Bunch (Barry Williams who played Greg is now 70 years old) and I couldn’t help but stop what I was doing to watch. 

They were helping raise money for the charity No Kid Hungry with a contest:  for the price of a $25 ticket, you’ll be entered into a drawing.  Five winners will be selected, and those winners (and their guests) will be flown to Los Angeles for a tour of the Brady Bunch house recreated by HGTV, followed by brunch with the Bradys in the house. 

What’s on the menu?  Pork chops and applesauce, of course.  Hotel accomodations and meals are included in the prize.

I know a lot of bad things are happening in the world right now, this country included (more like this country ESPECIALLY); but as someone who grew up with this show, I’d love the chance to see that house in person.

Having lunch on the premises with the kids, including Eve Plumb (who played middle daughter Jan)?  That’s the icing on this groovy cake.

I’ve shared this story too many times to count, but will just once more; the night this show premiered in September 1969, I watched it with my family on our new Zenith Colormatic console tv.  Afterwards our mom said to Dad “What I want to know is, who do they think is going to watch this #%^&?” 

Dad pointed down at the floor, us 3 boys and 2 girls and said “Them.” 

(A few years later when Mom gave birth to our sister Courtney, we’d be just like those Bradys, kids-wise.  Three boys, three girls.)

If you don’t already know, five years ago the owner of the real home (used for filming exterior shots on the show) passed and her son put the house up for sale.  Several celebrities stepped up with offers, but HGTV got the house for 3.5 million dollars.

They spent an additional 2 million dollars ripping out the interior and recreating an exact duplicate of the Brady house, right down to the vintage… everything.  It was a summer-long series on HGTV, and the most-watched HGTV show in the history of the channel.Say what you will, but I dig this pad just as much now as I did 50 years ago; if they handed me the keys to the house, I wouldn’t change a thing here!

After the renovation series ended, HGTV put the house on their website where you could study every square inch of the interior if you so desired.  I’m sure many of those obsessive fans did just that and hey, do you know I spent over 3 hours on there and could find only one clock in the entire house?  A small alarm clock on Alice’s nightstand in her bedroom off the service porch.  Isn’t that crazy?  The one clock I mean… cough

I guess I should include the website where you can buy your own tickets, click here.  I’d say good luck, but you know I wouldn’t mean it. 

 

 

Hopes and prayers, that’s all I’ve got right now—a whole book of ‘em

Not that long ago, I asked my friend Diana (a devout Christian) if it was acceptable to say a prayer for oneself.

It sounded a little selfish to me, but I’d been living with the pain & inflammation from this long covid disorder for over 10 months now, and was feeling pretty desperate for some real relief.

She assured me it was perfectly acceptable to ask God for an end to the suffering.

That night as I lay in bed, I said aloud “God if you’re listening….”  I suddenly felt silly, talking to the chief deity in the darkness.  What would I say?  I rolled over and went to sleep.

The next day—honestly, not the next week or month, the next day—I went downstairs to get my mail and took a quick glance in the adjoining parcel room where the ‘Free Table’ is. 

(It’s a table where tenants in my apartment building leave canned goods, old romance novels, candles, anything & everything.)  And that day, the only item there was this brown leather book, “Prayers for Men”.

Of course it was just a coincidence.  But when you’re searching for words to say to God and then THIS turns up the next day… at least it gave me something else to think about.

That’s what I’ve been doing these last couple of days, a lot of thinking.  Between the long covid which has been making life miserable since January and now the results of this presidential election… I’ve never felt so defeated.  I’ve been feeling like a stranger in my own body, today I feel like a stranger in my own country. 

I’m not going to share what I think of Trump, I did enough of that several years ago.  Nothing he says or does surprises me.  I’m just dumbfounded how so many people chose to overlook so much and vote the man to be our president again.

If I do say any prayers in the days ahead, they won’t be just for me.

This morning I got up, came out here into my livingroom and turned on the tv.  No news.  Not today, not tomorrow.  I’m taking a break from all that for awhile.  I put on FreeVee, Amazon’s free streaming service where I’ve been watching The Waltons. 

(The show ran for 9 seasons, from 1972-1981; I’ve been watching one episode a day this past year.)  I’m currently in the final season.  It’s the year 1944, where even up on Walton’s Mountain they’ve felt the effects of World War II in Europe. 

John Boy is somewhere in France, his brother Jason is fighting Nazis in Germany.  But as awful as things were in the world then, much like now, at least our country felt like a beacon of hope.

63? I don’t feel a day over 62 (not a whole day, that is)

I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to everyone and say thank you for all the good birthday wishes.  Today I officially turned 63 years old.  I’m a little bummed that I can’t be doing what I did last year, celebrating my birthday at the senior center at their big annual Halloween party, but I’m still waiting to make a full recovery from this long covid.

I’m not complaining though, things could be worse.  My dad died 24 years ago at age 63, after a long battle with cancer.  I remember someone at the office expressing their sympathy and saying at least he lived a good, long life.  I wasn’t buying it then, I’m certainly not buying it now.  I feel like I’m just getting started. 

Anyway, I really am grateful for the people in my life.  Family and old classmates and the very kind people who visit my blog.  And of course, the ornery group of characters below, the folks at that senior center I’m always going on about.   This really made my day.

Happy Halloween, Everybody.