It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
After I posted that post the kids and I picked up a friend of The Boy’s and brought him home to our fold to become one of the family for a couple of days – though he is really part of the family even when he isn’t here.
We also stopped and picked up groceries.
Yes. It was a very exciting day, but we needed that after our busy week last week.
What I/we’ve been Reading
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery.
I’m very much enjoying this book which is so much different than the Anne of Green Gables books. I love the main character and can’t wait to see what happens to her in the end.
When You Returned by Havelah McClat
Tracking Tilly by Janice Thompson
I put Dandelion Cottage by Carrol Watson Rankin to the side and plan to pick it back up in the fall to read with Little Miss – or actually we may start it this week because am I as writing this I remembered we finished our read aloud this week.
Return to Gone Away by Elizabeth Enright
Renee by Sandra Ardoin
Trouble Shooter by Louis L’Amour
An Assassination on the Agenda by T.E. Kinsey
What We watched/are Watching
This week I watched the original Gidget movie (1959) for my planned Summer Movie Marathon and will write about it in a future post.
I also rewatched the 2010 version of True Grit with The Boy and his friend. As usual I cried at the end. It’s such a good movie.
I am currently listening to The Cross-Country Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini.
I have also been listening to Anne Wilson’s album, Rebel.
Photos from Last Week
Now it’s your turn
Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
I am starting this blog post while sipping a cup of warm tea with local honey — Something I thought I would have to wait another month to have without feeling overheated. But luckily, the temperatures have dropped into autumn weather for a few days at least.
And of course, I have been drinking some warm tea in front of the air conditioner or fan to make it feel like fall anyhow as I have mentioned in previous posts.
I needed the warm tea to help relax me after a fairly busy week. It wasn’t the worst, but it was a lot of back-and-forth running to activities on some of the days. I was so grateful today to just lay in bed and enjoy the morning instead of rushing out the door to some activity or another.
For four out of the five days, I took Little Miss to a half-day Bible camp at a church about four minutes from our house. On Monday we had a 4H baking camp for about two hours in the evening and on Wednesday, we went swimming for 2 1/2 hours at my parents in the rain, which was actually very fun. On Thursday we took a break after camp and caught up on housework and just relaxed.
On Friday we went swimming again for another two-and-a-half hours but this time we broke up that time by getting out of the water and eating a little before we went back in again. I don’t swim a lot when I get in the pool, by the way. I mainly watch Little Miss and this week I watched her learn how to swim underwater for the first time, which was a lot of fun. She was so excited that she was able to do it and overcome her fear of having her face in the water.
Today, I am heading out to pick up groceries from Aldi and also swinging around and pick up a friend of The Boy’s. For people who are not familiar with the area I live in, “swinging around” actually means an hour-long trip for groceries and to pick up the friend. That’s one hour one way and another hour on the way back. That’s why we carve out a half a day to a full day for things like a grocery pick up because we have to figure in the driving time.
I usually try to make the grocery pick-up trips as quick as possible so that it isn’t as tiring. I actually do pick-ups now because walking around the store plus the half an hour to and from the store just seemed like a lot, especially when my autoimmune issues are acting up. Unfortunately, I never know when those issues are going to act up so the pickup is a better bet.
Circling back a bit — we had a little of a nerve-racking experience on Monday when we went to the baking class because in the middle of it, a tornado warning alert went off on all of the parents’ phones. We were all in a rather sturdy brick building and knew that running out and getting in our cars would not be safe so the class was continued to try to distract the children from the darkening sky outside.
Little Miss has been battling anxiety lately, and I am sad to say that I am certain it is my own battle that has caused her to deal with the anxiety as well. Sadly, when anxiety hits her, she sometimes becomes faint and has fainted three times in the past.
So far, she has fainted about once a year in the last three years after a fright or traumatic experience. Once she fainted after a non-venomous snake bit her and that time she hit the corner of a very hard wooden table on her way down. That required a trip to the ER because she went limp after hitting the table and couldn’t keep her eyes open or her head up. In the end she was okay and cleared by the hospital, but we kept a close eye on her (a.k.a. I woke up all night long that night and checked her breathing and shook her awake a bit to know she was okay)
About a year later, she drank some orange juice very fast and it burned her throat and she had a hard time getting a breath for a brief second. She became a little anxious and her body reacted by causing her to pass out. She came to less than 30 seconds later and was OK but frightened.
About two weeks ago she broke a glass at my parents’ and cut her hand. It wasn’t a big cut but at the sight of blood, she went down again on me.
What I am amazed at is how quickly her body reacts and how quickly she will faint in a stressful situation. I’ve started calling her the fainting goat of our family.
We had another slight medical scare last week that turned out to be nothing, but I had to work through it with her by putting a cold cloth on her face and asking her to tell me three things she saw around her, what the cold felt like against her skin, and what she’d liked most about our dog, Zoom The Wonder Dog.
She calmed down quickly that day and we were able to avoid a fainting spell.
When she heard about the tornado warning on Monday, I knew that I would have to ground her and help keep her calm or I would have to pick her up off the floor. My anxiety was pretty high at that point as well, but with a lot of prayers she and I both made it through even when the lights went out in the building and the generator kicked on leaving only dim lights in the hallways.
The other children played and ran, sliding in the hallway on the linoleum floors. This distracted Little Miss and she tried some sliding as well. Ultimately, the area escaped any major damage with only a few trees down. South of us there were trees down and power out.
Little Miss’s fainting spells remind me of the girl in Anne of Green Gables who was always fainting when something scary happened. I can’t remember her name at the moment.
I know that fainting in children can be common but the first time it happened was terrifying. Now I know that she will be OK within 30 seconds so I simply hold her tell her she’s fine and that she’s going to be sitting up and fine any minute now. I do find it interesting that despite all my years of anxiety and panic attacks I have yet to pass out. I’m very glad of that as we can only have one family member at a time who faints so easily.
After such a full week I am looking forward to only having one activity on our radar next week – a second week of the beginner baking class. Hopefully there won’t be another tornado warning.
In the midst of all this running back and forth we’ve also been dealing with fleas on our pets because the flea medicine didn’t work last month. This is the second time this has happened in about a year so it is very frustrating. We heard that Dawn Dish soap can help but I was terrified of bathing the cats because – well – cats hate water. One morning, though, the youngest cat, Scout, was lazily laying on the bed so I took the opportunity and dunked her. It went better than I expected but I knew the cat we call The Beast would not be as easy.
It wasn’t. All I remember was flailing cat legs, splashing water, dark fur and me somehow narrowly missing getting any scratches or having my throat ripped out by her massive paws. In the end she was wet but not washed.
We just waited until we got the new dose of flea medicine a few days later. Unfortunately they no longer have the medicine that takes care of both ticks and fleas – saying it had been discontinued, which I highly doubt.
Treating our animals costs us close to $80 each month and the products aren’t working as well so it is very frustrating.
Busy summers and an uptick in fleas remind me why I love Autumn and Winter. For one, less fleas and for two, I can stay at home and not feel guilty for not “being outside in the lovely weather.”
I can always use chilly or bad weather as an excuse to stay home and not deal with some of the complications that come from leaving the house.
Of course, winter has its downside as well because when the weather is too bad you can’t leave your house for a long time and then come down with cabin fever.
One thing I forgot to mention above about our busy week was how on Wednesday we had a flat tire on our car and I was very down because I wanted to take Little Miss to the Bible camp. I was able to get the tire pumped up and decided to take her anyhow, planning to take the car to a mechanic afterward.
It was a hectic morning, but I had still remembered to brush my hair and didn’t think I looked the worst I’d ever looked anyhow. I stepped into the gathering to check on Little Miss at one point and a little girl, very loudly, asked Little Miss, “Is that your grandma or your mom?”
I do have some gray hairs sprouting up – more than I would like to see – but I didn’t think I looked that old.
After I went back to my car, I texted a friend who reminded me that children anywhere around the age of 5 think anyone over 25 looks old.
I also told myself that we have a lot of young grandmas here because of the high rate of teen pregnancies in the area so I’m sure that’s why the little girl wasn’t sure if I was Little Miss’s grandmother or not.
Ahem.
So that was my busy week – how was your week? Busy or sort of mundane? Let me know in the comments and join me again next week for an afternoon chat and tea.
As I am writing this I am sipping some warm peppermint tea (very light on the peppermint) with some local honey poured generously into it.
I am preparing to read a book (The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery) and then work on my book (Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree, book three in the series) and later make some dinner. After the semi-busy week we’ve had, though, I hope to not have to do too much else.
I hope you have been having a good week.
I’m glad you are here for the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot and I hope you will check out the most clicked post, my highlighted posts, and then link a couple of your own posts and click on some other posts this week.
Without further ado, our most clicked link for this week:
I’m so glad you are here and taking part in our weekly link-up of family-friendly, fun, educational, interesting, crafty, fashionable, and whatever else posts. I hope you’ll tell your followers about our post (feel free to copy and paste the graphic) and visit the blogs in the link-up. I know I have met some very fun bloggers that way!
Now it is your turn to link up your favorite posts. They can be fashion, lifestyle, DIY, food, etc. All we ask is that they be family-friendly. You can link up posts from last week or even from years ago. We are always looking for additional hosts so let us know if you want to help out and we are also looking for more links from fashion bloggers so let your fashion bloggers know!
Also, please take the time to visit the other blogs on the link-up and meet some new bloggers!
Today’s prompt is: Ten Things I Loved About [Insert Book Title Here] (Pick any book and tell us ten things you loved about it!) (submitted by Cathy @ WhatCathyReadNext)
For this prompt, I chose to write about Little Women, which I read for the first time at the end of last year into this year. I stretched out the reading of this book – savoring it – because I loved it so much. I can’t believe it took me so long to read it. I fell in love with every character and I feel like this is a book I may not read over and over but will read excerpts of each year – probably in the winter like I did this time.
Anyhow, without further ado. . .
Top Ten Things I Loved about Little Women.
1. I love how realistically Louisa Mae Alcott wrote about the roles and lives of women in that time period, but she also didn’t entirely adhere to this historical fact because she also wrote of the girls as rebellious to those strict “standards” for women. The young March women were bold and strong-willed and didn’t let what society said they had to be stop them from being what they wanted to be.
2. I love Marmee. Just everything about her. I loved how she was maternal and brave and cared for others. I loved how she was strong but didn’t mind showing the girls she was scared when her husband was in the military hospital. I loved that she didn’t mind telling Jo that she too had struggled with her tongue and being snappy and hurting people’s feelings, yet didn’t try to tell Jo that Jo needed to change. Alcott’s decision to write about her admittance of her own struggles with temper and her reasons for those struggles was so ahead of its time. Talking about feelings and motivations for why a person acted the way they did wasn’t really something touched on by many books of this time, as far as I’ve seen.
3. I love how the book is not a traditional romance or really a romance at all – yet it is at the same time. Readers may think the story is marching (no pun intended) to a certain conclusion with two certain people ending up together but Alcott turns it all on its head and leaves us pondering what we think about who does end up with our beloved Teddy.
4. Finding a category to place this book in can be very hard at times. There are elements of romance, but then also just sweet stories, and then women’s fiction with Jo’s story and thoughts about what it means to become a young woman and a writer and what love means to her. I love that the book can’t be easily categorized. It makes it even more endearing.
5. I love the faith of the characters and how even though they have faith, they also aren’t afraid to question it and admit when God seems so far away.
“Yes, it is. She doesn’t know us, she doesn’t even talk about the flocks of green doves, as she calls the vine leaves on the wall. She doesn’t look like my Beth, and there’s nobody to help us bear it. Mother and Father both gone, and God seems so far away I can’t find Him.”
As the tears streamed fast down poor Jo’s cheeks, she stretched out her hand in a helpless sort of way, as if groping in the dark, and Laurie took it in his, whispering as well as he could with a lump in his throat, “I’m here. Hold on to me, Jo, dear!”
She could not speak, but she did “hold on,” and the warm grasp of the friendly human hand comforted her sore heart, and seemed to lead her nearer to the Divine arm which alone could uphold her in her trouble.
6. I love how each chapter of the book is like its own story which means I could read a chapter or two a night of the book and stretch out the enjoyment of stepping into that world night after night.
7. I love how Beth was both childlike and deep at the same time. So many of the things she said – much like Jo and Marmee – were amazingly profound and thought-provoking in such a simple, sweet way.
“You must take my place, Jo, and be everything to Father and Mother when I’m gone. They will turn to you, don’t fail them, and if it’s hard to work alone, remember that I don’t forget you, and that you’ll be happier in doing that than writing splendid books or seeing all the world, for love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.”
8. I love the subtly of the life lessons in this book. Those life lessons come in some of the profound statements that the characters, like Beth, says, but especially through the actions of the characters. How Marmee takes food to others and cares for them when they are at their lowest. How all the girls grasp onto life and hold on tight so they can enjoy as much of it as possible. How Mr. March helps his neighbors. How Beth cares for the young children who are sick, resulting in her own sickness and later her death.
9. I love how we are able to follow the young women from childhood to adulthood. I loved being able to see them grow and progress and stretch along the way.
10. I love Mr. Laurence and his love for Beth, but all the girls and how that love opens up parts of him that he had shut off long ago.
Is there a book that you could list ten things you love about it? If so, which book is it?
I was partly feeling guilty because I like to visit with them.
I was partly feeling guilty because Little Miss and I should have been in the pool together on a very hot afternoon.
I was partly feeling guilty because my teenage son really was hoping to have the house to himself for the afternoon.
But, through all the guilt I felt relief at not having to go anywhere or do anything.
We’d been going somewhere or doing something for a few days in a row and a day of quiet was very much needed.
So I spent the afternoon and evening watching simple life YouTubers and reading very light books and cutting up sweet watermelon and cherries for a yummy fruit salad.
Later in the day I wrote a little bit in Gladwynn Grant Shakes The Family Tree and planned out my blogging week.
Then I worked on my homemade reading journal, planning out my autumn reads, even though I have plenty of time to plan for that since we still have another month and a half of summer.
I won’t lie and say it was all sweet and relaxing since I cried a little over the state of our country as a whole and battled anxiety over worrying over family members part of the time.
But I also made chocolate chip cookies, ate a ton of very fresh, delicious watermelon, sprayed my animals down with a homemade flea concoction since the name brand one didn’t work – once again – this month.
And of course, I started the day with an online sermon.
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
Yesterday my husband and I celebrated 22 years of marriage. We went to dinner at a nearby restaurant and watched a movie together after shipping off the kids and dog to the grandparents.
It was a nice, quiet, relaxing day and very welcome.
I rambled about our trip to the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon in my post yesterday if you want to read about that.
What I/we’ve been Reading
The Dandelion Cottage by Carol Watson Rankin
Version 1.0.0
Return to Gone Away by Elizabeth Enright (a read aloud with Little Miss).
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
When You Returned by Havelah Mclat
Live and Let Chai by Bree Baker (I wanted to like this much more than I did. Not the worst but pretty much like a previous book I read by the author under her real name).
Reneeby Sandra Ardoin
Clueless at the Coffee Stationby Bee Littlefield
Little Menby Louisa Mae Alcott
The husband is reading the latest installment in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series by Anthony Horowitz.
Also, for those who wanted to know, he did enjoy the Patrick Stewart biography.
The boy is in between books because he finished his last read which was an audio version of a Warhammer book.
What We watched/are Watching
Just a Few Acres Farm
There is something so relaxing about just watching Farmer Pete work on his farm or dig holes in his field or feed the cows. When my brain is spinning or I just feel off-kilter, I turn on Pete and just remember the simple things of life.
Last night the kids and I watched Monty Python’s Search for The Holy Grail because we needed a laugh.
The husband and I watched Breakheart Pass with Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland (Bronson’s wife) after our anniversary dinner. I didn’t think it was very romantic but then I got wrapped up in it and needed to know what happened. I’m going to make him watch a romantic comedy with me later in the week.
During the week I watched this YouTube channel because it is also relaxing: Under A Tin Roof.
What I’m Writing
We had a busy week so I did not write as much as I wanted to but I did work on Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree a little bit.
Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
About the time this post goes live, I’ll probably be out to dinner with The Husband for our 22nd wedding anniversary. Or we will be home watching a movie together or something else relaxing.
At least that’s how I hope the day will go after a somewhat, but not really, busy week.
And hot week. Did I ever mention how much I hate the heat? I’m sure I haven’t mentioned that yet here on the blog, have I?
Not like 18 times in the last week? Nah. I haven’t. I’m sure.
Yes, I do have a case of sarcasticitis and have had that for years.
Anyhow, we did our best to cool off at the pool at my parents that Dad has worked so hard to keep clean and running, but it was so hot and Dad had added a heater to the pool, so a couple of times the water was super warm and not as refreshing as we expected. Luckily on one of those days the sun went behind the clouds, allowing the water to cool off some.
Little Miss and I were very excited that The Boy joined us one day. It was fun to see him like a kid again – just enjoying himself in the pool. I love to swim in the pool and look out at the view from my parents’ house on the hill.
I do realize how lucky we are to have that view.
On Thursday, we traveled to the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon at the suggestion and invitation of my brother.
The Pennsylvania Grand Canyon is, of course, not the “real” Grand Canyon but it does offer a beautiful view and nice hiking trails.
The canyon is also called Pine Creek Gorge and begins in a town called Asonia along Route 6 in Pennsylvania and travels 47 miles. Two overlooks – one in Leonard Harrison State Park and another in Colton Point State Park – offer the best views of the Canyon, according to the Visit Potter and Tioga County website.
We visited Leonard Harrison State Park, which is the easiest place to see the view from.
They have remodeled the visitors center there, adding a gift shop and very small conservation center.
The parking area was widened and a roundabout added to allow for drop offs from busses and for disabled people, but the building itself wasn’t that overwhelming to me – even though it is nice.
The new gift shop is quite small, but many of the items offered there are produced locally. There is a small area that focuses on conservation and hopefully they will eventually expand that. Little Miss enjoyed handling the turtle shell and seeing the spine of it and then telling me all about how a turtle’s spine is actually attached to the shell itself. She then told me that one of the pelts there is a coyote, but I believe one was a raccoon and the other was a red fox.
I took a photo of an ad they had on display in the conservation area after the expression of the one little girl in the photo caused me to burst into laughter.
Not only does she look like she’s completely over hiking but she actually looks sort of like I did as a kid and that’s how I always looked when I had to hike. I don’t know if I had the heart issues as a kid that I was diagnosed with as a teenager (it was a rapid heartbeat and I have it from time to time now but it is much better) but I hated hiking. I did get tired out easily but I also found it terribly boring. I have never been someone who enjoys hikes so not only does that kid’s expression remind me of myself then but it reminds me of myself now.
And, for the record, I didn’t like to hike even when I was a skinny kid and teen!
Another really cool new addition to the overlook is a viewfinder that allows people who are colorblind to see the fall foliage. Yes, the view from there in the fall is mind blowing. I would like to go there again this fall even though the drive was two hours because of a detour we had to take thanks to a bridge that was damaged by an oversized load.
My son will be 18 this year and I think he was about 8 or 9 when I was at the overlook last.
He and my dad have been there since then because they went biking there on trails that are at the bottom of the canyon.
The site was designated a national landmark in 1968 and in addition to the overlook there are walking trails to waterfalls, or overlooks, bike trails, and camping sites.
When I was a teenager, we visited there with my uncle who was deathly afraid of heights and he refused to look at the view. He really missed out but I can’t blame him. He did stand back a bit and look out some so he didn’t totally close his eyes or anything.
My husband isn’t a huge fan of heights but he could handle this since there are sturdy railings in front of it.
Before we went to the canyon, my brother took us to this cute country store in – well, the country.
The Stony Fork County Store is a Mennonite-run store with amazing deli meats and subs and a great selection of foods sourced from Pennsylvania and other places. My brother purchased subs, drinks, and chips for us and I grabbed some fresh cantaloupe, ginger snap cookies, and candy for Little Miss. I tried not to look too long in the store because I know I would have purchased even more homemade goodies.
The store was actually built in 1883 as a store, hotel and residence. From 1930 to 1980 it was operated by one family and now it is operated by a Mennonite family who recently expanded it.
We took the food up to the canyon and ate it at a picnic table inside the main gate.
After we left the canyon we stopped by the park in town and visited the Wynken, Blynken, and Nod fountain, which is a statue and fountain built and installed in the park in Wellsboro in 1938 in memory of a woman named Elizabeth Cameron Bailey by her husband Fred Bailey.
The statue is a recreation of the original sculpture designed by Mabel Landrum Torrey that is located in Denver, Colorado. Torrey designed the sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago, but donated the original one to the mayor of Denver, who liked it so much that he commissioned a marble one and in 1918 it was installed in the children’s of Washington Park in that city. The sculpture was inspired by the poem by Eugene Field who wrote more than 500 poems for children.
Fred and Elizabeth Bailey were Wellsboro natives who moved to Colorado after marrying in 1892. They spent their married life in Denver where Fred became a senator and a major stockholder in Cripple Creek gold mines as well as the Brown Palace Hotel. After Elizabeth died, Fred commissioned a bronze replica of Torrey’s sculpture to be installed on the green in Wellsboro.
It was dedicated in 1938 and Torrey was in attendance.
Now the sculpture and fountain are the centerpiece of the town and a wonderful place to simply sit and listen to the water and enjoy the park.
I sat and enjoyed the fountain for a few minutes while the rest of the family walked to the old-fashioned candy store on Main Street.
After they visited there, we stopped by the town library, where my brother works as a staff member (mainly cataloguing books). It was my brother’s day off so he didn’t actually go with us, preferring to stay away until he actually had to go to work.
The Husband picked up a cozy mystery for me from the books on sale out front and then we headed over to my brother’s to give my sister-in-law a quick hug before heading home.
She wasn’t able to go to the canyon with us because she needed to sleep for her job as a county 911 dispatcher.
Our drive home was wet as the dark clouds that had threatened rain all day opened up and finally drenched the area with much needed rain. It continued to rain for most of the night, which may be why our weather was a little cooler yesterday.
That cooler weather helped when we met a local homeschooling family at a park along a creek in the town my husband works in. We met them to get in preparation for a homeschooling co-op we plan to join this upcoming school year.
Little Miss had a blast exploring the creek and it was fun to see children being children without devices or a TV.
Tomorrow we will probably visit my parents, go swimming, and make some s’mores.
How was your week last week? Do anything exciting or interesting? Let me know in the comments.
We took a break last week, partly because of the holiday but we are back this week with some most clicked and some highlights.
I hope you all had a lovely Fourth of July, if you are in the U.S., or just a nice Thursday if you aren’t.
We have been dealing with very warm temperatures yet again, which has sent us either to hug our air conditioner or to the pool at my parents house. Today is supposed to be cooler after soaking rains we received yesterday from Hurricane Beryl.
How was the weather been where you are?
I’m so glad you are here and taking part in our weekly link-up of family-friendly, fun, educational, interesting, crafty, fashionable, and whatever else posts. I hope you’ll tell your followers about our post (feel free to copy and paste the graphic) and visit the blogs in the link-up. I know I have met some very fun bloggers that way!
Let’s get on to our most clicked posts for this week:
I originally picked this out to showcase on the fourth, but it’s okay. It works this week too. I thought this would be a perfect one to share for the Fourth with all the lovely patriotic decorations, but it’s still a nice one to show!
Now it is your turn to link up your favorite posts. They can be fashion, lifestyle, DIY, food, etc. All we ask is that they be family-friendly. You can link up posts from last week or even from years ago. We are always looking for additional hosts so let us know if you want to help out and we are also looking for more links from fashion bloggers so let your fashion bloggers know!
Also, please take the time to visit the other blogs on the link-up and meet some new bloggers!
I have been watching The Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries from the 1970s on YouTube recently. (It is also streaming on Peacock but I have the cheap version of Peacock and hate the commercials). This goes along with my renewed interest in the original Nancy Drew Mysteries books.
The show was, of course, based on the serial mystery books of the same name.
My husband and I watched one of these episodes on Peacock a few months ago and we giggled through most of it. When it was suggested to me on YouTube one day I decided to watch it for a laugh, and there is definitely laughable material, but then I became addicted and have been working my way through each episode.
For the first two seasons, the series is split into one episode focusing on The Hardy Boys and the next one focused on The Nancy Drew Mysteries. In the third season it was only called The Hardy Boys after the Nancy Drew character was dropped. By then, Pamela Sue Martin (who my husband had a bit of a crush on) had left the show because they had reduced the role of Nancy Drew. She was replaced by Janet Louise Johnson.
The show was canceled halfway through season three.
I was disappointed when I read that they phased Nancy out of the series, but I suppose it was typical at the time to have shows that focused on male heartthrobs instead of female ones. I am glad to know the show totally failed and was canceled with just the men on it, though. *wink*
The young adult detectives didn’t solve mysteries together until the second season when they traveled to Transylvania to rescue Frank and Joe Hardy’s Dad Fenton Hardy.
(An aside here – what was the issue with books back then killing off the mothers? Both Frank and Joe Hardy and Nancy Drew didn’t have mothers, but instead had housekeepers who were like mothers to them. I think the creator of both Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys – Ed Stratemyer – had some mother issues.)
In the first season, Nancy does most of her sleuthing with her friends Ned Nickerson and George Fayne but in the joint episode, her friend Bess Martin joins her. I’ll write about that episode in the future, but for now, I’ll share about one of the first episodes I watched called The Mystery of Pirates Cove. It was definitely cringy but mainly because there was a professor who was probably in his 40s hitting on Nancy, who I think was supposed to be in her late teens or early 20s.
When that man said he was going to be heading back to the lighthouse later that night and he hoped he wouldn’t be alone – and then gave Nancy a “If you know what I mean, darling,” look – I literally shuddered. It was just gross.
When we go back to the house, Nancy’s dad, Carson Drew, keeps in character with who he is in the books because he is completely unbothered by his daughter being hit on by a man his own age. This is proven by how he shrugs Nancy’s friend Ned off with a, “Of course she can go spend the night with that man in his lighthouse in the middle of nowhere to see if they can record ghost activity.”
Ned is like, (in so many words) “I don’t think you get it, sir. That man doesn’t just want to capture ghosts. He’s got a thing for Nancy.”
Carson, played by William Schallert — a character actor who later portrayed every bad guy imaginable on various crime shows — laughs Ned off and the scene ends with him lighting his pipe, taking a puff and saying, “She’s going to have fun. Yes, she is.”
I’m sorry, but what in the ever-living-male-dominated-television-industry-of-the-1970s was that?
So very awkward.
The mystery was seriously contrived and see-through, of course, but something about the show keeps me watching. I can’t look away – the same way I can’t look away from a car accident when I drive by.
Nancy’s sidekick for the show is George and the actress who plays her (Jean Rasey) makes the most hilarious faces. She’s always looking disturbed or frightened and, to me, seems to be the voice of reason, urging Nancy to be careful or slow down or suggesting they leave a situation instead of getting deeper in.
For her part, Nancy seems slightly arrogant in this series, always rolling her eyes or brushing George off. She always seems to know best or more and wants George to know it. I suppose the idea is to show that Nancy is bold and determined to solve the case, no matter what, but sometimes I just find her dismissive. She dismisses everyone, though – from family to friends and especially to poor Ned Nickerson, who was her boyfriend in the books.
There were a lot of now big name actors on the show back in the day, I’ve noticed, including Marc Harmon and Melanie Griffith.
While researching for this post, I found an interview with Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson from last year when the show turned 46.
According to the article in Entertainment Weekly, “Stevenson went on to appear in a series of TV hits including Falcon Crest, Baywatch, Melrose Place, and most recently, Netflix’s Greenhouse Academy. Cassidy, meanwhile, has built a successful career as a TV writer and producer, creating several series (including American Gothic and Invasion) and serving as an executive producer on NBC’s hit medical drama New Amsterdam.”
Back in the day, though, Cassidy was a pop singer and his song Do-Ron-Ron-Ron debut on the show, where he frequently performed to help along the plot. It’s an absolutely pointless song, by the way. I saw the episode with it and was completely bewildered by how it became popular.
Here are the lyrics, in case you’d like to memorize them:
I met her on a Monday and my heart stood still Da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron ron Someboy told me that her name was Jill Da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron ron
Yes, my heart stood still Yes, her name was Jill And when I walked her home da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron ron
I knew what she was thinkin’ when she caught my eye Da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron ron I looked so quiet but my oh my Da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron ron
Yes, she caught my eye Yes, but my oh my And when I walked her home da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron ron
Well, I picked her up at seven and she looked so fine Da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron ron Someday soon I’m gonna make her mine Da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron ron
Yes, she looked so fine Yes, I’ll make her mine And when I walked her home da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron ron Yeah, yeah, yeah da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron ron (repeat & fade)
(It was originally sung by a band called The Crystals and it was a woman talking about a man.)
And here is Shaun singing it on the show:
After leaving the show, Pamela Sue Martin, portrayed Fallon Carrington Colby on Dynasty from 1981 to 1984. She chose to leave Dynasty and her role was later recast. After that she did sporadic television appearances.
Did you ever watch the show – either back when it was on, if you’re old enough (for the record, I am not) or in reruns?
I have thoughts on some other episodes of the series that I’ll share in later posts.
