The month of January is speeding by, despite our collective weariness with these dull and dreary days of late. It’s the middle of the week already and February is in sight.
I told myself that I wasn’t going to write another blog post bemoaning the weather for a while, but, in mid-Winter, the weather often sets the tone for everyone’s day, including mine.
Fog made me fretful on Sunday. I waited patiently for that very dense fog to lift, then went outside at 1:00 p.m. and still couldn’t see the main drag, nor the cross street, so I thought better of going on a Sunday stroll.
That murkiness continued into Monday, and Tuesday was drizzly, so, I held out a wee bit of hope that Wednesday would give me some walking time.
And, it did.
But, first things first … once daylight arrived, the car had to go out for a spin before I could go on my walk.
Unfortunately, today was a work day, so that limited enjoying a leisurely walk.
So, I was running the car in the driveway, sitting aimlessly, but with an eye to the sky, where a pale sun filtered through the clouds. “Well – how nice” I thought. Perhaps it will erase this gray and gloomy panorama that has been present the past few days.
One particularly strong ray of sunshine momentarily pierced the window, making a mini prism, so I reached for the sunglasses before backing out of the driveway. I was 100% sure the sun was not that strong, and, sure enough, that big orb seemed reluctant to hang out for too long. Within a few minutes, it quickly hid behind the clouds and never appeared again before I got home.
After taking the car out, I was left with precious little time for a walk, so I went over to Ford Park and did a few laps around the grounds … that would have to do for today.
Reluctantly I headed home, and, as I came up the walk, a flurry of activity sprung from my neighbor’s bushes and trees. It was a blur of birds, since all the sparrows in the City apparently were scoping out the door wall, waiting for Marge to emerge, birdseed or bread in hand, to provide their breakfast. But, apparently they were lost in thought because, after I turned the corner, they suddenly saw me and instantly the whole gang flew up at once, taking new positions on higher branches.
Really? I wanted to tell them not to fear ME, of all people, a nature lover – especially of birds.
As I fumbled with bulky gloves to retrieve my keys, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that, one by one, those sparrows returned to their original posts, the prospect of fresh seeds or treats, outweighing their fear of the big, bad stranger. They were darting in and out of the bushes, and along the cyclone fence, warbling and chirping noisily. Momentarily, I got caught up in the noise, and the sight, of those animated of brown bodies and stubby tails, evoking memories of my little Buddy, and I found myself hurrying into the house to avoid the sting of incredible sadness that had begun to settle in.
A few hours later, a different kind of sadness permeated my thoughts when I switched on the news and heard about the grave condition, then sudden death of actress Mary Tyler Moore.
Throughout the afternoon and evening, the news casts and social media have been filled with sound bites of the themes to her two T.V. series and some memorable lines from those shows, especially “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”.
That soon got me reflecting on her role in my life many years ago. Just like other young women in the 70s, I considered her a role model – a career woman with an exciting job at a TV station where she helped produce the evening news. Collectively, as young women, we admired her exuberance, spunk (as Mr. Grant termed it), loyal friends and co-workers, business wardrobe, even her wheels – but most of all, we were impressed with her independence. We rejoiced as that single woman with the big-time career sent her beret airborne in the theme song. I recall, as a college student majoring in journalism, sitting in front of the television mesmerized, wishing “if only that could be me” and buoyed by the theme song’s line “you’re going to make it after all!”
Now, all we can do is fondly remember the character who is the answer to the query “who can turn the world on with her smile?” Well, that character was Mary Richards. Tonight, a legion of women feel a smidge of sadness about their idol a/k/a Mary Tyler Moore.
Last weekend, we witnessed a sea of pink caps donned by many of the half-million women who attended the Women’s March on Washington. Tonight we recall one knitted beret tossed into the air by Mary Tyler Moore. To generations of both men and women, these actions will never became “old hat”, so, a big thank you ladies for being you!
[Image by ArtsyBee from Pixabay]
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Mary Tyler Moore helped many young woman realize their dreams by being a ‘roll model’.
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Yes, she did Marge – it sure is hard to believe that her show was forty years ago!
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Miss Linda………………..I do like Miss ArtsyBee’s pic…………………………I hardly watched TV and didn’t get to enjoy Mary Tyler Moore’s memories
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She was an inspiration to many young woman.
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Yes, she was Marge – for today’s young women not so much, but back in the 70s, very much so.
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I watched TV in those days, but have not had the TV on 7 years, and for about 3 years before that, only sporadically. I don’t miss TV at all Ann Marie – the television shows that were on in the 60s, 70s and even the 80s were enjoyable, and there were great made for TV movies and mini series as well. We did not get a VCR until 1989, so you had to stay up late to watch them — if two favorites were on at the same time, you had to watch one in reruns in the Summer.
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Lovely post! Yep, I never missed a single episode of MTM. She was beyond great! Gotta give a ton of credit, too, to her extremely talented colleagues, Ed Asner, Gavin MacLeod, Ted Knight, Valerie Harper, Georgia Engel, Betty White, Cloris Leachman, and more. What a fabulous group… not to mention the writers, directors, etc. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065314
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Thanks Ellie. Yes they were a great ensemble … so believable that it was a real newsroom and I loved their personas. I was sorry to see that series end.
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Me too! I’m pretty sure I shed a tear.
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Me too – and and I watched many highlights from the series on YouTube that evening, including the last show when they had the group hug – brought a tear to my eye. For all my tough talk sometimes, I’m just a sentimental softie about a lot of things.
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That sums MTM up perfectly! What a role model. I don’t think younger women today realize what it was like for women entering the workforce in the 70’s…..the business suits and professional attire…..they just take it all for granted. That glass ceiling was real and was shattered, but not without a lot of effort. Sometimes when I look at what women wear to work now I think my god are you dressed for a bar or an evening out? If you want to be taken seriously at work then dress properly. Their role models seem to be the Kim Kardashians of the world….it seems like a regression of sorts.
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It is very sad how women dress today and then cry about not being treated like a professional. The ad agency was like that way back in the 70s … at least for the Creative Department, it was jeans and tops for everyone unless the art directors and copy writers had to meet the client, then they were expected to go in business attire. I left there and went to a very stodgy law firm where the attorneys had to be in three-piece suits and could not go to the convenience store on the first floor of the building to get a pack of gum without having a suit jacket on. We were not allowed to wear any pants and the runner/mail clerk had to have a white shirt and tie on at all times. They were overly strict but it was nice and professional. My second law firm where I worked the dress code was very relaxed and I was overdressed but I loved going to work dressed up – one thing about working at home that bothers me is seeing clothes and accessories going unused as I loved going shopping with my mom for clothes/accessories. MTM was such a great role model and that show was such a success – I was sorry when it was taken off. I see women in the Summertime with barely any clothes on and back in the day people complained about girls wearing mini skirts!
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Nothing wrong with jeans and tops if they are work casual…..but I can’t handle all the bare sexy stuff. I hate when they show those red carpet dresses with all the cut-outs – leaving nothing to the imagination. I miss wearing my work clothes too – I did a retirement blog on 20 Pairs of Black Pants last spring – now when I do shop the clothes are so ugly I don’t mind leaving without having bought anything! My mother and I were great shoppers too – we miss all the malls and department stores that have closed – Eatons and Sears – I did a blog on Sears RIP too….at least you still have some department stores.
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When you get a chance will you share your blog on 20 Pairs of Black Pants Joan? I can identify. My New Year’s resolution for 2017 was to go through every closet, upstairs and downstairs, every drawer to look over all my stuff. I never wore a great deal of them and yes it upsets me seeing things that will never be worn again. My mom used to order things from catalogs as well for me – accessories and jewelry – many scarves and pins for various holidays. Outfits for Christmas like vests or tops or jackets. I often wonder if I made a mistake not returning to work full time after my mom passed away. We enjoyed going to malls, and the outlet malls, and got a portable wheelchair for my mom so she did not have to walk as much. After that she was game to go anywhere – it had been getting too difficult to get out for her. But, in perusing stuff in the closet, I found at least 20, if not more, pair of black pants – I recalled that in the Fall of 2008, my mom and I were at Macy’s (which is like an Eatons or Simpsons) and they had dress pants on sale. I am tall (5 ‘ 9″) and I tried on pair after pair of pants and they were long enough and by then I was wearing more loafer-type shoes so the length was perfect. I found at least 20 pair of pants, mostly black, many in shades of brown pants … it was not funny, but I recall my mom saying the sales were so wonderful it would be crazy to pass them up and I’d have enough pants for the rest of my working days … little did we know that six months later my working days on site would be over for good. I used to like J.L. Hudsons and we shopped there for years, then they changed the name to Marshall Fields and they catered to a really young crowd and we didn’t like what their buyers would get as to dress clothes. Then it became Macy’s and the quality improved again. I am like you and don’t like the bare sexy stuff nor those tops with the cut-out sleeves at the shoulders. I don’t like that look at all, nor the dresses they wear to awards. I have always been old fashioned. When we could wear anything at the ad agency, and also after my boss and I left the law firm and it was just the two of us, was when I began to get more casual things for work that I could not have gotten before, like capris for Summer with nice tops – nothing bare, etc. At the ad agency, and that was the late 70s, it was anything goes. It was pretty incredible what people wore sometimes.
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Here are links to 20 pairs of black pants….and Sears RIP….and if you are really motivated to clean out closets last January I blogged on that too! Do you mind if I ask when your mother passed away? I know I am fortunate that my mother is still alive and well and living in her own home at 92yrs, (with some help from me), as very few of my friends still have their mothers. https://thehomeplaceweb.com/2018/03/08/twenty-pairs-of-black-pants/
This one is about the demise of department stores: https://thehomeplaceweb.com/2018/03/01/sears-r-i-p/
Decluttering/cleaning house: https://thehomeplaceweb.com/2018/01/07/decluttering-101-out-with-the-old/
I have a search engine on my home page and also on the left hand side of the blog page if these links don’t work let me know.
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Thank you for the links Joan and I am going to read them when I am online later – I forgot you had a search engine as I looked up the Christmas post you had done in the past when you mentioned it in a current post. I kept writing my good friend/neighbor Marge Aubin, who has since passed away, every time I found more pants. I was almost embarrassed to keep finding them, but they were all on sale and finding pants to fit well has always been a challenge. I used to buy tall sizes but that required wearing higher heels and no longer wanted to do that. I looked in Marge/my Facebook conversations as I was going to send you the conversation for fun as I kept saying “you’ll never guess what” but I searched for pants, and black pants and there were many occurrences where “black” was picked up or “pants” was picked up … she thought it was funny. I once saw a woman wearing melon-colored capris and I thought to myself “I have melon-colored capris – where are they?” I had them dry cleaned as they were a cotton blend and not as much polyester as other pants so to look crisp had them drycleaned. I found them and wrote a blog about the melon-colored pants. They were an odd but nice color and were on sale at the end of the season. So Marge read the post and and said to me “when will we see these pants Linda?” My mom passed away on January 31, 2010 … sometimes it seems like yesterday and sometimes like longer ago.
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