I am sure that this song will be familiar to most of you and for me it certainly in one of the most played songs in the early 1970s. Until I saw it on the list from Wikipedia about the one hit wonders.. I had not realised that it was Norman Greenbaum’s only top charting hit. Thanks to worldslover234
Singer/songwriter Norman Greenbaum was born November 20, 1942, in Malden, Massachusetts. He was raised in a traditional Jewish household and went to Hebrew school. His initial interest in music was sparked by Southern blues music and the folk music that was hugely popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He performed with various bands in high school, and attended Boston University for two years, performing at local coffeehouses during that time, but eventually dropped out and moved to Los Angeles in 1965.
Norman formed the quirky psychedelic jug band Dr. West’s Medicine Show and Junk Band, which scored a minor mid-chart success with the offbeat novelty song “The Eggplant That Ate Chicago” in 1966. The group subsequently broke up and Greenbaum formed a few other short-lived acts before pursuing a solo career in 1968. Norman released his debut album “Spirit in the Sky” in 1969. The title track, with its hypnotic buzzing bass, captivating heavy guitar riff, crisp hand claps, soulful gospel chorus and funky spiritual lyrics, became an enormous hit single, peaking at #3 on the pop charts, and sold two million copies. Alas, follow-up singles “Canned Ham” and “California Earthquake” were both flops. Following the release of his 1972 album “Petaluma,” Greenbaum took a hiatus from the music scene and focused instead on his rural California dairy farm.
One of the most infectiously catchy and groovy of religious-themed one-hit wonder songs from the early 1970s, “Spirit in the Sky” has been featured on the soundtracks to such movies as Miami Blues (1990), Household Saints (1993), Wayne’s World 2 (1993), Apollo 13 (1995), Michael (1996), Contact (1997), A Simple Plan (1998), Remember the Titans (2000), Ocean’s Eleven (2001) and The Longest Yard (2005). The song has also been used in TV commercials and has popped up on episodes of various TV shows. Norman Greenbaum returned to the music business in the mid-’80s as both a music manager and a concert promoter. He lives in Petaluma, California. Thanks to IMDb Mini Biography By: woodyanders (qv’s & corrections by A. Nonymous)
Welcome to the round up of posts on the blog you might have missed this week.
We currently have a digger in the back garden, a cement filled trench awaiting blocks for a retaining wall and mounds of earth, that I am sure will be turned into a wonderfully landscaped vista by the end of the week.. that’s the plan anyway.
I had to do a complete replant of my pots this week as the ones I bought from a supermarket as good value, turned out to be duds.. I did think when I put them in that they were too dry and watered them and gave them some feed but after two weeks of TLC… most had died. Anyway… I went to my usual garden centre and paid a bit more and they are all thriving. Just goes to show sometimes bargains do not work out. It is the first year out of about 50.. that it has happened so I should count myself lucky.. All the pots are round the side of the house at the moment with equipment coming in and out and I will have fun putting them back later in the week.
We have old friends arriving Tuesday for two days. They are currently touring south and west Ireland finishing in Dublin over the weekend before coming down to us.. we are only an hour from their return ferry so handy… This is their first time in Ireland and I am looking forward to hearing how they got on..
The Posts from Your Archivesis going well. I am so enjoying browsing and reading everyone’s posts to select the four I am going to publish… I feel I am getting to know people a little better and I am discovering some hidden gems to share as you will see later in the post. If you are on the list and have not heard from me… I am just about to begin scheduling the June spots and will get in touch with dates shortly.. It looks like this series is going to run into July which is terrific.
Time to get on with the round up and as always I am very grateful for all the contributions, shares, likes and comments..
William Price King shares the music of American Jazz Pianist, Keyboardist, Composer, Band Leader and Actor Herbie Hancock.
This week in early June 1986 we drove the 7 hours to reach South Padre Island on the Gulf of Mexico.. fabulous place (those shrimp were to die for) and also I up my exercise routine (makes my knees ache just reading about it!)
Delighted to welcome guest writer, singer/songwriter guitarist Michelle Monetto the blog today who explores the concept of fame and the inclusion of ‘big names’ in memoirs to catch the public’s eye.
This is the third post from author Jane Risdon and since you enjoyed the audition posts last week.. here is part two…The Auditions Part Two: Let’s Play Rock ‘n’ Roll by Zeppelin
This post by Mary Smith, illustrates that sometimes the hardest part of caring for a person who has dementia can be leaving them to have some much needed respite… even when they are never far from your thoughts.
Welcome to this week’s round up where I share the posts you might of missed, and thank you for taking the time to drop in.
It has been a busy week from a blogging perspective as the new series of Posts from Your Archives gets under way. I did wonder if the previous series which usually featured 12 or so bloggers was restricted due to natural reticence. I have noticed before that you are a shy in coming forward which is why I changed the concept this time so that I went into your archives to select four posts to share.
Boy, did that turn things on its head.. there are now 45 bloggers on the list and I am having the time of my life delving into all the archives to select posts to share. And I am finding some gems that I delighted with.. such as poetry hidden away, wonderful personal stories, travel experiences, family sagas and it just goes to show what a thoroughly talented bunch you are. It has also been great to see lots of discussions going on between everyone about the subject of the posts… loving it.
Clearly it is going to take me a little while to get through all the archives and they will appear over the next three months.. I will try to let you know dates in advance of that, but I am totally privileged to be allowed to access your archives and thank you for trusting me with that. This week’s archives coming up later in the post.
Facebook
After several attempts to delete my account (following weeks of blocked posts and nasty messages), and then receiving emails welcoming me back to Facebook…..(I do not understand the inner workings of FB Bots!) Anyway I have been back tentatively for the last month, keeping in touch with friends and sharing their posts internally, and so far so good. I am hugely grateful to those of you who have manually shared posts using the URL.. and that has worked thank you.
I am now re-installing my Facebook share button and I would be grateful if you would let me know if you get any messages if you share a post. I know that a lot of other bloggers such as The Story Reading Ape, Debby Gies and Ellen Best to name a few had exactly the same problem, and there is apparently a reason for it.. Facebook does not want their members to leave the site to go off to visit another, particularly if that site is selling stuff they are not getting a cut of!
Since Smorgasbord is not monetized in any way.. I am hoping that things are now back to normal.
It looks like we will be getting the contractors in to do the back garden this week… fingers crossed.. and we are then 95% finished on our project that began 3 years ago on this house. When I look at the before and after pictures the thought runs through my mind “What were we thinking”…..but it is now a lovely family home that we hope to hand over to someone with lots of kids who will enjoy for many years. Our original plan was to put it on the market next spring but now we will probably go ahead as soon as it is finished.
Anyway… time to get on with the posts from the week that you might have missed… thanks as always to contributors and guests who give so much time and effort to providing amazing posts.
D.G.Kaye.. Debby Gies, gives us the low down on the popular holiday destination of Puerto Rico…essential reading if you are planning to travel there.
This month Siliva Todescoserves up a quick and simple classic that is hard to resist for pasta lovers…and I am sure your families… Garlic, Olive Oil and Red Pepper spaghetti.
Two stories from me this week.. one in response to Diana Peach’sSpeculative Fiction Prompt I went a bit outside my comfort zone and went forward in time….with The Enhancement Project..
Weight loss and sleep are connected, and if you are not getting enough sleep your body will not get sufficient time to repair, regenerate and restore balance…The sleep process and the benefits of a good night’s rest.
Debby Gieswas back on Wednesday with a guest post about a topic we are reluctant to talk about… with doctors included.. our inner workings and colonoscopies. Debby shares here experiences to demystify the process and stress the need to get checked.
I look at the myths surrounding cholesteroland the importance of eating good fats from grass fed animals, including dairy to obtain sufficient Vitamin K2
And a reminder about the dangers of Carbon Monoxidepoisoning, a silent killer that almost ended my life. The statistics in the USA and the UK are not improving fast enough.
Each year, approximately20,000 peoplein the United States visit the emergency room because of carbon monoxide poisoning. While many of those people are treated and released, on average, 400 people will die from carbon monoxide poisoning in a given year.
Jacquie Biggar shares her first camping experience which seems to have been one shared by many….would have loved to have been a fly on the wall of the tent!
In Miriam Hurdle’s first post I shared her responses to a challenge that asked specific questions about life… such as ‘A piece of clothing from your younger childhood you still remember?’
Beetley Pete.. Pete Johnson with a thought provoking memory of meeting a man blind from birth who explained how he perceived images we take so much for granted.
Debby Gies shares the stunning photos of her grandmother who competed in the Miss Toronto 1926 pageant, and also other photos that show that the good looks run in the family.
The Story Reading Ape.. Chris Graham is well known for his guest posts and in this series I am sharing four from his archives.. this week his guest is Michelle Clements James who puts forward the perspective of a reader.. important for all writers to understand.. after all, readers are our customers.
Fantasy author Charles E. Yallowitz on the subject of standing out from the crowd.. and being labeled ‘odd’.. and why there is no ‘normal’ to be judged by. Something to think about…
Jane Risdon who has been in the music industry for many years, shares an audition in Hollywood that had its moments!! Part one here with more to follow.
I remember hearing this song when I was about ten or eleven years old, and I definitely remember seeing the Hollywood version of The Singing Nun with Debbie Reynolds.. here is some of the story behind this one hit wonder. I also have another connection to the singer, as she was a nun at a convent in Waterloo in Belgium where I lived from 1996 to 1998.
Jeanne-Paule Maire “Jeannine” Deckers was born in 1933 in Belgium and was to become famous as the singing nun Sœur Sourire (“Sister Smile”). Her Belgian French song ‘Dominique’ topped the Billboard Hot 100 and other charts in 1963, the only Belgian song to make it to #1 in the USA to this day.
She was educated in a Catholic school in Brussels and was an avid Girl Guide. She bought her first guitar to play at Guide evening events. After high school she obtained a diploma for teaching sculpture which she did between 1954 and 1959. During this time she considered becoming a nun, and at age 26 she entered the Missionary Dominican Sisters of Our Lady of Fichermont and became ‘Sister Luc-Gabrielle’.
While at the convent, She would write and sing and perform her songs for her fellow nuns and visitors and the mother superior encouraged her to record an album that visitors and those who attended the covent on retreat could buy. It was recorded by Philips records in Brussels and the single ‘Dominique’ was released and became an international hit. Her album also sold nearly 2 million copies.
Live performances were requested and taking the stage name of Sœur Sourire (“Sister Smile”), she gave several live concerts and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.
Behind the scenes however, Sister Luc-Gabrielle found it difficult to maintain the public persona, and when her songs reflected this, her mother superior would censor the lyrics. She was sent to the University of Louvain to take theology courses and more cracks appeared in her religious commitment.
This was compounded by the fact her second album ‘Her Joys’ failed to chart and most of her earnings from the first album were taken by Philips and her producer and the rest was automatically went to her religious order.
Resorting back to her original name of Deckers, she left the convent in 1966 but still followed the disciplines of the convent, maintaining a simple lifestyle. The record company required that she give up her professional names including the one most had known her by, ‘The Singing Nun’.
She tried to continue her career under the new ‘Luc Dominique’ and also began to write more critical songs regarding the Catholic church lack of progress in some areas, including contraception. This led to the Catholic superiors in Montreal cancelling her concert, which was followed by several other major venues, leading to the decimation of her tour.
She went on to release the album ‘I Am Not a Star in Heaven’ and developed religious songs and songs for children. With her musical career failing she began teaching disabled children in Wavre, eventually opening her own school for autistic children. Her mental health deteriorated and eventually she suffered a nervous breakdown.
In 1973 she became involved with a more progressive arm of the church and enjoyed a brief resurgence of her career, writing songs for the movement and a return to the stage in Pittsburgh. She released another album in 1979 but unfortunately the tax office in Belgium came after her for thousands in back taxes on the royalties paid to Philips records and her former convent. An agreement was reached with the convent who provided her with funds provided she did not disparage them in public.. She received nothing from the record label who had received the bulk of the proceeds.
By 1982 the school for autistic children, run in partnership with Annie Pecher failed and she tried to make a living giving music and religious lessons to children.
Sadly, as life became more financially difficult, she and Annie commited suicide in March 1985, requesting that they be buried together, which they were in Brabant where they had died. The inscription on their tombstone reads J’ai vu voler son âme/ A travers les nuages” (English: “I saw her soul fly through the clouds”).
Such a shame as “Jeannine” Deckers was clearly a talented singer/songwriter and I hope that on some level she took pride in the song that so many enjoyed.
Thank you for dropping in and I hope you will tune in again next week for William Price King and Herbie Hancock.
Welcome to the round up of posts that you might have missed this week on Smorgasbord.
A quiet week on the home front, with a couple of days of sunshine and more today, so I will be out in the garden for much of the day…not so much making hay as getting rid of the rust in my joints! David has been working to level off the back garden which was left as a weedy slope, and once the workmen have completed the pathway and resurfaced the back patio, we shall have a lovely spot to eat out which gets the sun in the summer until 10.00pm. Also another step to getting the house ready to go on the market next spring.
I have also managed to find dry enough days to finish by pot plants. We then had three days of torrential rain and I am afraid some of the younger plants drowned.. you have to be hardy around here!
As always thank you for your support during the week and to the contributors who continue to share such wonderful articles.
I am so thrilled by the amazing response to the new Posts from the Archives series with over 40 bloggers allowing me access to their archives, to select four posts to share with everyone. This means I will be doing a lot of reading of posts, which is wonderful and it means that we have about three months worth of posts. Apologies if you have just gone on the list, but I will respond to you and get in touch when I have selected your posts… The first of those later in the post..
Now for the posts from the week……
This week William Price King shares the life and some of the work of jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer Miles Davis
In this series we look at cooking and your diet from a different perspective. Usually we emphasize the health benefits of food and how they can be incorporated into your diet. But, what happens if you do NOT include them in your diet.
We wanted to share with you what happens if your body is deprived of individual nutrients over an extended period of time.
Carol Taylor takes the ingredients that contain good sources of the nutrient and creates dishes that the whole family will love..this week Vitamin B6.. and delicious Chicken and prune tagine, tofu and honey bites and spicy sweet potato balls.
I trot this post our once a year as a reminder that you are being watched… even when you are not in front of your computer screen. It is not only thieves and vagabonds you need to worry about who might have designs on your empty house, but also trying to claim on your health insurance for some unfortunate mishap that took place while you were having fun in the sun.
My review of the anthology to raise funds for cancer research compiled by Stevie Turner : Understanding: An Anthology of true and significant life events
This week’s carrot ranch flash fiction challenge In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story about sisu. It’s a Finnish concept of enduring strength, the ability to consistently overcome. Sisu – DNA.
Here is the first of the posts I have selected from the archives of D.G. Kaye, Debby Gies. Every month on the last Friday, those who participate in a global We Are The World Blogfest, (#WATWB) share inspiring stories of random acts of kindness, or projects that are making a difference to people around the world.
Children’s author and travel writer Darlene Foster is a regular visitor to the blog and has shared some amazing posts. The first post that I selected was from 2013…about a wonderful organisation in Canada that raises funding for the Children’s Hospital.
Author Christine Campbell has given me permission to browse her extensive archives dating back to March 2013… and the first post I have selected is from May 2013… and is about crafting, and in particular those delicate handkerchiefs that have been usurped by the paper tissue in many of our homes…
The next contributor to the series is fantasy author Charles E. Yallowitz who has a wonderful blog where you can find stories, thoughts on life, book related posts and poetry. This week a poem on the journey of an Indie author.
I am delighted to share the first post from the archives of D.Averywho is the author of three short story and poetry collections. I have selected a wonderful serial that I am going to share over the four posts from D’s archives
This is the first post of four from author Jane Risdon… Jane loves to go on a ‘jolly’ for those of you who are unfamiliar with the expression… It is taking a road trip and having fun.. basically. The first post from her archives of 2016 is an example of that.
My next guest in the new series of Posts from Your Archives is author Mary Smith.. I have two blogs to select the four posts from and the first is from her blog My Dad’s A Goldfish, where Mary shares here experiences caring for her father as his dementia worsened. In this post however, she shares the tragedy of the dementia of a school friend who she has remained in contact with, who developed the disease at a much earlier age. Very poignant…
I have often highlighted the inconsistencies of medical studies and the profound and sometimes downright dangerous statements made that vilify or extol the virtues of either a food or medication. This was the case in 2012 when a Professor, labeled one of the UK’s leading experts stated that everyone over the age of 50 should be prescribed statins to reduce their cholesterol levels. In this post I look at the latest research into Statins and their long term impact on our health.
Welcome to the posts you might have missed during the last 8 days… a little later than usual as I have been taking advantage of the wonderful weather over Easter and have been away from the screen for most of each day.
The two Easter parades have been great fun for me to put together and I am thrilled with the wonderful behatted guests who have participated. A little music, dancing, funnies and genuinely lovely people who are all very supportive of me and the blog.
It is not too late to pop in and add the link to your latest post and your Amazon Link.
How many of these guests or their representatives do you recognise?
This week in the R’s of Life I look at the billions of dollars spent in regulated and non-regulated cosmetic surgeries and procedures in an effort to look young.
Thank you very much for dropping in through the week and today, I hope that you had a peaceful Easter and that the tragic events in Sri Lanka did not touch your lives. Sally
Welcome to the round up of posts on Smorgasbord this week of posts that you might have missed.
One thing that you probably have not missed, since Easter Eggs have been in the stores since January is that next weekend is the religious festival and also a time for families to get together and celebrate the extended holiday weekend.
As you know I do like to throw a party occasionally and this Easter I have decided to hold a traditional parade.. well two to be exact as they will be posted on Saturday and Monday. To be in the parade you need to send me a photo… several already have so I only have a handful of places left on the floats...All the details are in the post and it is easy to enter…..
The time for the Blogger’s Bash in June has come around very quickly and as part of the event is the annual blog awards. There are some amazing bloggers included in the categories as there are every year. Very honoured to have been nominated along with so many from our community. Now it is your opportunity to vote for your favourites.
As always I am very grateful for your support and delighted to hear from you every week. Also my thanks to Paul Andruss and Carol Taylor this week for their input which is appreciated…
And here are the posts from the week….
With Easter next week I thought that you would enjoy this five part short story over the two weekends from Paul Andruss, first published in January 2018… Set in Ireland in the 1930s it follows the life of a young man with a mysterious past who lives in The House by the Sea.
Colleen Chesebro is on hiatus as she house hunts but she asked that we continued to share our poetry.. Here is my weekly contribution… and etheree ‘Age Defying’
This week L.T. Garvin shares her memories of her best friend in Junior High School and their aspirations to enter the talent contest with the classic Proud Mary by Ike and Tina Turner….keep on rolling and enjoy.
Welcome to the third post from the archives of Donna W. Hill and this week Donna shares the workings of a canal and the period of transition between water levels as an analogy for the times in our life when we are in limbo between events. In this case the treatment for her guide dog’s chronic disease.
The last in the present series from the archives of Norah Colvin which is actually reflections on learning by her daughter Bec, and written when she was 26 in 2013
Author Stevie Turner asked 18 authors questions about significant life events that would inform and inspire… and over the week or so I will be featuring the contributors. The anthology’s proceeds are being donated to Cancer Research, and at 99p/99c it is very good value.
I have records on my various playlists that were single hits for an individual artist or group but they were never followed up by another chart success. I also wonder what happened to the artist. So I am going to track some of them down and find out more…..starting with the 1950s – I am taking them from the list kindly supplied by Wikipedia
Monster Mash – Bobby Pickett 1960s
Robert George Pickettborn in 1938 was known as Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett and was a singer, songwriter, actor and comedian… In 1962 he co-wrote ‘Monster Mash’ with Leonard Capizzi. It was a spoof on the dance crazes of the time including the Twist and the Mashed Potato. Horror stars Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi were impersonated by Bobby Pickett. Unfortunately it was not considered to be a hit by the various record labels that were approached but it was heard by Gary S. Paxton, a record producer who agreed to produce it on his Garpax Records.
The single sold over 1 million and was #1 in the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in1962 as performed by Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett and the Crypt-Kicker 5. It entered the charts again in 1970 and in 1973 at #10. It then went into the UK charts in 1973 at #3 and sold another million copies.
For a one hit wonder for Bobby Pickett, it certainly was a gift that kept giving.
As far as his career was concerned he continued to write and perform other monster themed songs and an album and in 1985, he even released ‘Monster Rap’.
Bobby Pickett also wrote musicals including ‘Frankenstein Unbound’. In 1995 the co-writers of Disney’s ‘Toy Story’, Joel Cohen and Alex Sokolow, produced a movie of the musical called ‘Frankenstein Sings’ but it was later released as ‘Monster Mash: The Movie’.
In 2005, Bobby Pickett published his autobiography ‘Monster Mash: Half Dead in Hollywood.
If you wonder what happened to the artist of your favourite one hit wonder, then let me know their name in the comments and I will see what I can find out…..
Thanks for tuning in… next week William Price King is back with another jazz instrumentalist…
Welcome to the round up of posts that you might have missed this week on Smorgasbord.
Some stand out moments from the week that I would like to make a special mention about.
The first was the nomination for the blog for the Versatile Blogger Award by Brigid Gallagher which I was very honoured to receive. I know that many bloggers are now award free. I quite understand, as when you are at full tilt, it is tough to take the time to respond to an award and also to draw up a list of willing nominees.
However… even after six years, I still get a kick out of awards and I have met so many wonderful bloggers through other people’s nominees, that it is well worth the effort. And also it is an opportunity to showcase newer bloggers who are still finding their feet or deserve to have some promotion.
Anyway.. this was my response with 7 more secrets about me…..and some nominees who are terrific bloggers.
The second highlight is the release of Understanding: An Anthology of True and Significant Life Events… Compiled and contributed to by Stevie Turner and 18 other authors including myself and quite a few of our blogging community.
The proceeds from this anthology will be going to Cancer Research and it is a very worthy cause.
Over the next week I will be posing a number of author profiles of those who have contributed and I hope that you will follow those authors and also support their work in this collection.
About the anthology
The following authors and bloggers kindly answered questions posed by Stevie Turner regarding significant life experiences they had undergone. These events include sexual abuse, a near death experience, alcoholism, being diagnosed with cancer, depression, losing weight, getting married, being a mother to many children, being the daughter of a narcissistic mother, and many more!
In this first post I share the authors who have contributed with a profile on Stevie Turner, D.G. Kaye and in the coming two weeks will feature the other authors in separate posts.
This week William Price King shares the life and music of the legendary Glenn Miller whose music is still loved over 70 years since his untimely death during the Second World War.
In the second part of her posts on Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, D.G. Kaye shares the fundamentals that you need to know about renting, shopping, tipping, exchanging your cash, dining and how to drink safe water.
This week my guest is author Ann Chiappetta who shares where she would love to live in the world, the animal she would most like to talk to and her favourite season.
This week in the R’s of Life, I look at the true cost of retail therapy and the waste associated with our drive to own the latest and the most fashionable. And also the mountains of food that goes uneaten in most of our countries when millions are starving.
This week I share the abundance of food that you can enjoy as you lose weight… starving the body is not an option, and cutting out food groups is counter productive.
Donna W. Hill is a breast cancer survivor and in this week’s inspiring post she shares her motivation and also encounters with butterflies and knitting.
This week Norah Colvinshares all things berry.. which resulted in a lot of discussion about what is a berry and what is not, and how to get hold of our favourites…
A new contributor this week and the first post from the archives of Susanne Swanson who shares her return to her kindergarten school, celebrating its 100th anniversary.
Welcome to the weekly round up of posts you might have missed this week. As always my thanks to those who are regular contributors and guest writers. Some wonderful posts on family, music, food and life in general.
Guest writers.
I began this blog magazine to share content with as wide a range of interest as possible. That includes showcasing other writers and if you would like a guest writing spot you can share posts that you have already written and would like to showcase again to a new audience here on Smorgasbord. It can be on any topic but I do have some younger readership so it does need to be family friendly.. Get in touch on Sally.cronin@moyhill.com with four links to your posts and I will come back to you with any further information that I need to create your post.
If you would like to see previous posts then just type in Guest Writer in the search box to the right of the blog title at the top of the page and it will bring them all up for you.
Posts from Your Archives
There will be details on a new series of Posts from Your Archives with a different theme after Easter. The family posts have been wonderful and thanks to all those who have shared their posts. These posts are different from the guest posts as they have a specific theme.
Both of these series offer you the chance to showcase your writing but also your books with any recent reviews..
Tribute to a writing companion…my office chair and Cathaoireacha…
I have been using the same chair that we bought in Carrefour supermarket in Spain for 15 years. It is leather with stainless steel arms and trim and was the most comfortable chair I have ever used for writing. I would swivel it around to watch television as well in our office and when we first arrived in Ireland three years ago, I was parted from it for six months. I noticed the difference.
Last week as I swivelled to pick up a file at the end of my desk, the chair tossed me unceremoniously onto the floor where I lay in a bemused heap. The handyman (in house) inspected the chair from every angle and we realised that one of the five stainless steel feet on the pedestal was being held up in pain and was an inch above the floor. Further investigations revealed a stress fracture and it was not reparable.
Going online to look for a similar style of chair, in leather was a bit of a shocker. Looked like it was going to be 400 Euro which is good value if I could get another 15 years out of it but still worth checking around.
When we first moved here David had bought some second hand office furniture from a warehouse in Wicklow and following a phone call we headed up there yesterday to inspect the stock. What a great guy… and it was a treasure trove in his warehouse with furniture stacked to the rafters including leather office swivel chairs. We spend 15 minutes moving things about and of course I spotted just the chair I wanted right at the back under a bunch of other ones.. David dug it out and I sat in it.. more fancy than my old one with more padding and leather arms, deep seat and back and perfect. Easily a 500 euro chair..
We called the owner over and prepared to negotiate..especially when he said it was from a bank office clearance and was the CEO’s chair…..you can imagine our surprise when he offered it to us for 70 Euro… wow.. no negotiating needed.
And as a bonus. We mentioned the demise of my stalwart writing companion… and lo and behold he had a five leg pedestal that fits all the models and he gave that to us for free.
David has now repaired the old chair and he is going to use from now on to replace the wooden one currently doing the job. I love my new chair as it has a bit more padding which is a bonus for my butt… and very happy that an old friend is not going to end up on the scrap heap. Here they are together… family.
I am married to a man who thankfully believes in buying second hand… I was too…. and whilst it is lovely to have shiny new stuff….at the end of the day a little bit of wear and tear and a fantastic bargain is as satisfying as spending six time more on a new item.
Recycling is so important and as the landfills continue to grow into mountains of household goods that have been usurped by new items, it is well worth donating them to charity shops or passed on to people like this guy who provides a wonderful service. Thanks to Pat Harvey who also sells a multitude of other products for the home.. Wicklow Hygiene Products Ltd..so if you live in the area.. he’s your man!
On the subject of family and cathaoireacha…chairs
When David and I came over to Ireland in early November 1980 to meet his family (we met and married in 6 weeks) I was given a warm welcome. When presented with a glass of wine.. which was often.. I would wish everyone ‘cheers’. Eventually I asked what the Irish was for ‘cheers’ as as one they announced that it was ‘Kaheeraka’ (phonetically). For many years afterwards when in Ireland or in the company of Irish acquaintances, I would raise my glass and say ‘Kaheeraka’.. only discover that I had been hazed.. and what I was really saying was Cathaoireacha..’Chairs’. Gotta love family…. all in good fun….No wonder himself is laughing in this photograph taken that weekend…..
My guest today, Julia Benally shares what she did grab when she had two minutes to get out of her house, why it would be wise not to cross her freshly mopped floors, a very disconcerting Christmas holiday, her favourite children’s song and a rather bouncy mis-purchase…
One of life’s certainties is that at some point you are going to be rejected personally or professionally. It can happen at any age and because it is a certainty, it does pay to prepare for it, or if unexpected have some strategies to cope with it.
With any project plan you need to have a start point and and end point…measurement is the key to identify progress and also to create significant events that warrant celebration.
This is the second post from the archives of educator and storyteller Norah Colvin and this week Norah shares her own experiences of telling real stories about family to young children, not just their immediate family but passing on living history about those relatives we have met but the younger generation may not have.
Miriam Hurdle shares two post in one with a letter that she wrote to her daughter and then she shares a very special post where Mercy shares the words that she associates with her mother, and the strengths she has inherited from her.
Welcome to the third of the guest posts from author L.T. Garvin and this week a short story of the difficult transitional years between child and adulthood, commonly called the ‘Teens’. The story is infused with its author’s personal experiences.
Thank you for dropping in today and for your support throughout the week. If you would like to be part of Smorgasbord Blog Magazine as a guest then please get in touch… either with posts from your archives on the subject of family… or as a guest writer on a variety of subjects. Sally.cronin@moyhill.com
