*Sybil Bruncheon's "My Merry Memoirs!"... a stroll down Memory Lane to March 4th, 2020.

LOLOLOLOL! Is it possible?!?... only 4 years ago today, George and I were stranded in the little airport in Springfield, Illinois!... so little that the desk-staff was responsible for checking you in, putting your luggage on the rolling cart to the plane, and loading it in too! And this the state capital!... of Illinois! Interestingly, the most startling thing about this business trip was that George's travel agent had mixed up Springfield, Illinois with Springfield, MISSOURI!!... which is where we were due at 9am the following morning! Thank God we had been lucky enough to go out a day early... and that it wasn't Springfield, Idaho or Maine or Arizona!

Of course, with all the packing, planning, and running every week to different events in various states from one corner of the country to the other, we only realized we were in wrong state as we taxied into town and saw all sorts of "Abraham Lincoln" stuff on signs along the way. George was chatting merrily away with the driver, but I was thinking, "I don't remember Lincoln having that much history with Missouri!... Kentucky maybe, but Missouri??"... I finally interrupted and asked George where were we supposed to be... and... well... back to the airport we went! Unfortunately, the airport basically closed at about 4 in the afternoon! Can you believe it?!.. And again, in a state capital!!

Well, after some intensive research, many, many phone calls, and a ton of feverish negotiations, we found a limo company that would drive us all the way from Springfield, Illinois to Springfield, Missouri... some 300 miles!... by limo! We hit the gorgeous St. Louis arch at dusk with the stars just beginning to come out above it!

I feel like I've lived a century since that evening and the subsequent week in cute little Springfield, Missouri. And it's astounding to me that not only was it ONLY four years ago, but also that the Covid catastrophe was only just beginning to take hold!... what with orange idiots denying it... or suggesting drinking bleach or horse dewormers... whatever.

Four years!... and who would have guessed that on our return to NYC we would suddenly be faced with decisions about leaving along with the stampeding masses and moving to the suburbs of Philadelphia? Ah well... I've always been amazed at how big and surprisingly unexpected life is! I'm so grateful that my life is not "just rushing by"!

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*Tour-ette on how easy it is to grow your orchids! (part 1)

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Sybil Bruncheon's "My Merry Memoirs"... Dagmar and her perfume bottle...

I know I've told you about my identical twin sister Dagmar and of her constant mischief and reckless life as we grew up, right?... well, around 1920, she was going through a particularly envious streak. World War I had just ended, and both America and Europe were in the process of liberating their morals and mores! Women on both sides of the Atlantic were experiencing newfound freedoms, and it showed in their fashions, their homes, and in their adventures!

Dagmar in particular, never having been very constrained to begin with, now exhibited the most scandalous behavior, much to the shock of much of our family (although our deranged mother only egged her on to greater and greater antics!). Suffice it to say that Dagmar began working her way through some of the remaining royal houses of Europe and the crossover businesses in style and fashion. Various Princes, Dukes, and Counts in assorted mini-countries and kingdoms scattered throughout Central and Eastern Europe found themselves having to lend their names to the manufacture of luxury goods to stay afloat; fine automobiles, gourmet wines and champagnes, exclusive tins of imported caviar, and exotic fragrances at the most expensive department stores. A case in point was "Mes Courgettes Violettes"... a perfume bottled by the French couturier, Fernande "Fifi" La Flouncet. She commissioned the great designer, Josef Hoffman, to create a flask that would be both unforgettable and perceived as possibly obscene by the public... and here it is, with Dagmar as the model for the dauber. She had been skinny-dipping one night in the enormous swimming pool at Madame's estate, and a photograph by Georgia O'Keefe of her jumping from the balcony of her bedroom became the inspiration for womankind's headlong plunge into modernity!

Was it MY fault that the public always assumed it was ME that had been the model for the iconic bottle? Dagmar and I were, after all, identical twins... so I'd just blush and and cast my eyes downward all-a-flutter when asked by admiring dinner companions and party-goers. Why should I spoil their fun???...

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Sybil Bruncheon's WHO'Z DAT?... Happy Birthday to Marni Nixon (February 22, 1930 – July 24, 2016)...

Born Margaret Nixon McEathron, and known professionally as Marni Nixon. She was an American soprano and ghost singer for featured actresses in musical films. She was the singing voice of many leading actresses and stars on the soundtracks of several musicals, including Deborah Kerr in THE KING AND I, Natalie Wood in WEST SIDE STORY, and Audrey Hepburn in MY FAIR LADY, although her roles were concealed from audiences when the films were released. Several of the songs she dubbed appeared on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs list.

Besides her voice work in films, Nixon's career included roles of her own in film, television, opera and musicals on Broadway and elsewhere throughout the United States, performances in concerts with major symphony orchestras, and recordings.

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February 15th...

(Harold Arlen – 2/15/1905, Galileo Galilei – 2/15/1564, Mummie – 2/15/??, John Adams – 2/15/1947 , Chris Farley – 2/15/1964, Susan B. Anthony – 2/15/1820, Cesar Romero – 2/15/1907, Claire Bloom – 2/15/1931, John Barrymore – 2/15/1882, Cyrus McCormick – 2/15/1809, Gale Sondegaard – 2/15/1899/, Kevin McCarthy – 2/15/1914, Harvey Korman – 2/15/1927) 

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*Tour-ette from our cozy, little circle on a blizzardy Tuesday before Valentines Day! 2/13/2024

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Sybil Bruncheon’s Strange But True Histories: On this day, January 24th, 1972...

… a Japanese soldier, Shoichi Yokoi, was discovered in Guam, having spent 28 years hiding in the jungle thinking World War II was still going on.

On this same date: I knew a very nice older lady, Myrtle Narnelstein, who hid out for three years in the Fine Lingerie & Ladies' Support Garments department at Saks waiting for an incorrectly advertised sale...... she lived undiscovered and quite comfortably in the various Home Furnishings areas. I envied her her secret life hidden away from the insanity of the outside world. And in addition to the quiet once the great store closed up each evening, she threw the best little soirées in different departments for her mannequin friends and the expensive stuffed animals from the children’s toy boutique... mostly Steiff Teddy Bears… and a Gund dromedary and a velveteen rabbit. She ate nothing but delicacies; fine cakes and cookies, caviar and rare preserves, jams, and jellies, imported chocolates, pates, and petit fours, crème de glaces, followed by the best champagnes and dessert wines in the Gourmet-Gifts Shop …

Sadly, her constant and completely unbalanced diet of luxury foods resulted in her putting on over 267 lbs, which of course eventually “blew her cover”. She was finally caught stuck in the store's escalator, and the whole sordid truth was revealed. The store management was furious, not just because she had pulled it all off and escaped the eyes of security personnel… No! She was so large that they had to jack-hammer the West 58th Street walls down to fork-lift her out of the 3rd floor. The Limoges China department and Little Miss Petites Shoppe were completely demolished…

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*Tour-ette on chasing the mid-Winter blues away! 1/17/2024

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*Tour-ette on the first snowy day of the New Year! YAY!! 1/16/2024

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From Sybil Bruncheon's (Not So) Merry Memoirs:

I wish there was a less grim aftermath for Christmas.... I always dread this part of the celebrations. When the trees first start appearing at the street-corner lots lit by strings of bare light bulbs draped mock-gayly between street lamps and parking signs. Salesmen/tree choppers manning their vans and coffee thermoses through the night while their trees of all sizes and varieties lean against each other, stacked and bound with twine til they're examined, and either chosen or rejected for purchase. Little spruces perhaps only a year or two old resting against grand firs of maybe 30 years.... all of them cut down for the ultimate sin; being beautiful.

I know "they're grown for harvesting"..... I know "they're recycled" or "used for mulching".... but I have always, always been haunted by the Hans Christian Andersen story of "The Fir-Tree"... and the end of the story. My parents gayly read the fairy tale to me on Christmas eve, and then that last paragraph... I remember that I was convulsed (literally!), and inconsolable... and they were stunned at my reaction. They never looked at me the same way again... because I was no longer a simple child... with a child's simple sensibilities.

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