November, 2023
It’s November! At the end of this month, I will be 78 years old. I don’t know how that happened so fast, and I resent the heck out of it. However, at least I remain on this side of the sod. Well, I’ll remain on this side after I’m dead too, because Robin and Gilbert (my younger daughter and her hubby) have told me they’ll keep my ashes in a box on their mantel in between their late beloved dachshunds (Gilbert had two wiener dogs when Robin met him, so I knew he’d be the perfect man for her). It just astonishes me that two weeks ago I was 36 years old, dancing, laughing, running, doing aerobics and having fun, and now I’m crippled and going to be 78 this month. How do these things happen?
However, October turned out to be a pretty darned good month, except for traveling from Roswell to Southern California. Mind you, once I got to So CA, I had a wonderful time, but the flying was insane. American Airlines asked me to give them my opinion on how well they did, and I’m kind of torn. I mean, everybody was nice and friendly, etc., but the arrangements sucked rotten eggs. When I booked my trip in March of this year, there was a flight from Roswell to Phoenix to Burbank. However, a month or two later I got a notification from American that my flight would go from Roswell to Dallas/Fort Worth to Burbank (and home again the same way in reverse). I called American because I was peeved and said I didn’t want to pay the extra fare to go east to Dallas when my ultimate destination was Burbank, and they told me I didn’t have to pay the cost of the trip to Dallas because they made the change.
Harrumph. Although I was relieved about the money, of which I currently have none, the travel itself was agonizing. I had to get up at 3:30 a.m. on October 17 in order to catch my 6:15 flight out of Roswell to Dallas (where I didn’t want to go in the first place). Then I had to hang around Dallas until a flight went to Burbank. There Robin picked me up, and we finally made it to her home in the San Fernando Valley by about 2:00 p.m.
The flight home on October 27 was worse. Reverse the path I took to get to CA, and then sit in the Dallas airport for 5 hours because of delays. I finally got home at 2:30 a.m. Saturday, October 28. I still haven’t completely recovered, dagnabbit (I’m kind of proud of the words I come up with to take the place of swear words). Oh, and that reminds me of the time I accidently called upon Siri via my iPhone. I didn’t know I’d done it until I dropped something, said, “Dammit,” and Siri said, “That’s not very nice.” Being scolded by one’s iPhone is weird.
I managed to go to my 60th high-school reunion in spite of everything. Look at all of us old folks! I had a lot more fun than I expected to. My fellow flute-playing friend, Janet Goldberg, and her husband Joel were kind enough to pick me up and take me to the reunion, which was held at Mijares Restaurant (103 years old this year) in Pasadena. I had to use my walker, which meant I took up more space than anyone else there even though I’m only about 4’10”. I used to be almost 5’3”, but that was in the good old days, two weeks ago when I was 36. I’m the small person in the front row at the right end of the first photo:
Robin and I also went up to Kern County, where my older daughter Anni and her husband Razmik, live. We had so much fun! Riki (younger grandson) joined us. Any time we get together, music happens. Anni and Riki are both classical guitarists, and Robin is a singer. I used to be a singer, but I’m a croaker these days. I had such a good time, and I wish I could afford to move back to California. Oh well… Because of transportation problems, I was unable to get to Pasadena and drive around my old stomping grounds and take pictures, but maybe a sack of money will fall at my feet one of these days, and I’ll be able to visit California again in 2024. With my luck the sack of money will contain gold ingots and would land on my head and kill me. Sigh.
Here’s a pic of Robin and Gilbert’s gardening efforts. They grow lots of peppers and tomatoes. They’re also growing green beans, eggplant, peas, lettuce and I can’t think of what else. They grow pretty much anything that can be grown.
And here are a few photos of Anni and Razmik’s building and gardening efforts. Anni is a crocheter and a knitter, too, and she makes absolutely everything you can imagine with yarn. Razmik makes fabulously gorgeous lamps.
This is a gourd Anni grew and painted. She got the seeds from Robin, who got them from Roswell Seed Company, which has been in business for 135 years.
Anni and Razmik built their house from the foundation up, and it’s darling. They’re still adding to it. That’s a philodendron plant growing along the ceiling there. When I lived in Pasadena, I went to a nursery where a shelf of philodendron plants had a sign about their growth and care: GROWS IN DARK. CAN’T KILL WITH STICK. Cracked me up.
Razmik makes all these gorgeous lampshades using polymer clay. I wish he could find a local market for them, because they’re extremely fragile and would cost a fortune to ship anywhere.
Whenever Anni, Robin, Riki (younger grandson) and I get together, music ensues. I can’t figure out how to post their rendition of “Tears in Heaven” to YouTube, but if you want to see it, go to my Facebook page and scroll down to October 25. In order, the musicians are Anni, Robin and Riki on guitar and lead vocals. Both Anni and Riki are classical guitarists, and Robin’s a singer. I used to sing, but now I kind of croak. One more depressing thing about old age, I reckon.
Okay, time to talk about wieners! Not my dogs, but the winners of books. Bam-Bam is on a special diet because he’s old (about 15 or 16 – he was a rescue, so I don’t know precisely how hold he is) and is having liver problems. I honestly don’t know what I’ll do when Bammie goes. I mean, I’ll be SEVENTY-EIGHT YEARS OLD! I can’t keep rescuing billions of dachshunds, especially now that I have to use a cane or a walker. If I’d known what I was doing to ruin my body when I was doing it, I… wouldn’t have done anything different. I loved to sing and dance and run. Sometimes genetics suck rotten eggs too. Oh. I see I’ve veered from the subject of book winners.
Winners of the audiobook edition of Angels Adrift, read by the multi-talented Denice Stradling, are: Barb Williams, Sandra Miller and Mj Joswiak.
If you didn’t win but would like to purchase a copy of Angels Adrift in audio, here’s the link:
Buy it! Audible
When I returned to Roswell (sob!) my carton of Hollywood Angels had arrived. Therefore, if you’d like to maybe win a e-copy or a paperback copy of Hollywood Angels, send me your name. If you prefer the paperback, be sure to include you snail-mail address. If you want an e-copy, tell me what kind of device you use (Kindle, Apple, Nook or whatever). Just send me an email to alice@aliceduncan.net . If you want to actually buy a copy, here’s the cover and where to get it:
I have turned Daisy’s 19th adventure. Library Spirits will be published sometime in 2024. Here’s a link if you’d like to pre-order it:
Mercy Allcutt’s next book, Celluloid Angels, is also available for pre-order. I’m already writing this one, and so far it’s not giving me too much trouble. There’s plenty of time for that, but I hope it refrains. For the record, Chloe’s had her baby. Someone on the Daisy Daze Page said it was about time, since she’d been pregnant for four years! Here’s the Amazon link:
Please remember that if you enjoy a book, it would be extremely kind of you to leave a review (or even a number) on Amazon, GoodReads, Barnes & Noble or wherever else books can be reviewed. I’d appreciate it. Thank you.
If you’re on Facebook, join Daisy Daze! We have fun there. I even ask people for plotting advice. There’s a good reason for this: I suck at plotting. I’ll also tell folks about what’s happening in the book I’m currently writing. There’s good reason for this, too: I’m blabby. The Daisy Daze Facebook page was founded by Iris Evans and Leon Fundenberger, both of whom like Daisy and Mercy. Daisy Daze is a great place for Daisy Gumm Majesty (now Daisy Gumm Majesty Rotondo) and Mercy Allcutt fans to hang out, as well as anyone who is interested in the “Roaring Twenties.” We post everything from photos of old Pasadena, CA, and old Los Angeles, CA, to fashions to silent stars to pretty much everything else relating to the 1920s. Daisy Daze is fun, it’s educational and if you’d like to be a member, check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/905100189878318/
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Here’s a link to my author page at ePublishingWorks: Alice Duncan Author Page (ebookdiscovery.com)
Thank you!
