HARPER LEE

Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

aunt beatrice known as aunt bea

 

JANE SHERMAN BELOIT WISCONSIN FAMOUS DANCER LEGS

Jane Sherman    ATTENTION SHARED FROM WIKIPEDIA   

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jane Sherman (June 14, 1908 – March 16, 2010) was an American writer, performer, composer, and one-time dancer and member of the Rockettes the famed in-house dance troupe of Radio City Music Hall. She was a former member and authority of Denishawn, the eclectic company, founded by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn in 1915. She performed with companies ranging from modern-dance groups to the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.

Sherman was born in Beloit, Wisconsin on June 14, 1908 to Horace Humphrey Sherman, an advertising writer, and Florentine St. Clair, an opera singer. The family moved to New York City in 1921, where Jane began studying dancing, after she saw a St. Denisprogram that included “Brahms Waltz and Liebesträume”, a solo that inspired her to study at the New York Denishawn School.

From 1927 to 1928, she joined the Ziegfeld Follies and toured with the troupe, and later returned to modern dance as a member of theHumphrey-Weidman Company in 1928. She also appeared in Broadway revues and was a Rockette in 1934 and 1935.

After her dance career ended, she became a fiction editor at Seventeen magazine in the 1940s.

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In 1940, Jane Sherman married Ned Lehac, a high school science teacher who was also a composer and lyricist for revues, contributing material to 14 shows from 1930 to 1942. In the 1990s they moved together to the Lillian Booth Actors Home, run by theActors Fund, where he died in 1999, aged 99.

In 2003, Jane began publishing poems, gathering them into little books, some of which commented on aging. In a poem from her self-published book “Songs of Senescence”.

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On March 16, 2010, Sherman died at the age of 101.   My dad would tell me stories about her when we watched the Rockettes on TV

He use to love the Jackie Gleason dancers in the kaleidoscope  performance. My sister Julie and I would follow the routines on the floor when we were kids. The next Jane Sherman he would say. 

THOUGHTS WHILE SHAVING MY LEGS

i first shave in Pagosa Springs Colorado. We my mom and all of us kids were on our annual summer  trek to every state west of the Mississippi. Her summer work load included putting on each state final pageant Miss Utah Teenager, Miss California Teenager , Miss Idaho Teenager etc through every state. She also made stops along the way to tryout possible Texas Cowgirls and Harlem Queens for my parents upcoming barnstorm seasons for their professional women's basketball teams that toured playing against men.

I stayed behind with some of my other siblings in Pagosa with our cousins. The movie The Cowboys was being filmed with John Wayne and Bruce Dern in town. The annual carnival, rodeo, horseback riding, fishing and my cousin Bobby's band jams kept us busy.Camping out with stories of the 3 legged geysers that ran the mountains scared us in the tent each night in the back yard, we fell for it every time. I was in my earliest teen year. My mom had always taught me that wearing makeup was not necessary if you had good skin I have never put foundation on my face. She also taught me that once I shaved my legs I had to shave for eternity.

It was a coming of age summer for me .  I asked my cousin Bobby for his razor which he obliged to once, and then took me to the five and dime to get my own after he cut himself shaving from the demise I tolled on his blade. My theory was that dancers had silky legs like Jane and the Rockettes and the Gleason dancer's. Later learning that tights were worn to give them the glow and lift. There was no turning back. Shaving  I was full of cuts , cotton balls and band aids for some time to come. I moved on to Nair and shaved for decades more. As an adult living in the Midwest sub zero winters shaving took a back seat to avoid stingy legs in the winter covered in pants or tights. Date nights, events that required nylons were the only reason to shave. The old joke amongst women of once you have kids who has time to sleep let alone shave is a reality sorry men. Many husbands got use to the reality that shaving meant getting ready for some action. My legs were scarred form mini bike wipe outs, horse back riding accidents, and general tomboy activities.  I have a feeling Jane's legs never had such scars. That she had lady legs her entire life . But hen again straight razors were the only shaving devices available at the turn of the century, so maybe not.

LADY THERE IS AN IGUANA ON YOUR HEAD

This is a photo from 2005, the pal on my head is Sampson he will celebrate his 10th birthday soon. Sampson is one of three iguanas that came into my life. He is sweet very docile eats fruits and veggies loves to bask in the sun and sit in trees , swim in the bathtub with the shower running and take an occasional ride in the car on the dash. Here are some photos of his habitat and him in his favorite spot in the house watching the snow fall. He is much larger than the photo above, he was about 5 inches long when we first brought him home.

Needless to say he knows  I LOVE HIM.

This is a calf that lived on my mom's cousins land in Texakana where our family cemetary is. I went to visit the cousins let her climb in the backseat of the car to walk the land with is. She would also make her way into the house. They passed a few years later and I wonder what happened to the girl, wish I could have brought her home,but the rented van held my husband 4 young children myself and luggage for a two week visit to Arkansas for the Holder family reunion, I will email my cousin and ask if she is still around.

This is my girl Katie ) Katanya.

I renamed her her given name was China she was born on the 4th of July 2006. I was working as a vet technician when she came in with broken legs and hips. She went throgh multiple surgeries and then the owner abandoned her . I brought her home at 4 months knowing dogs were not allowed in our condo complex we were asked to move I bought a house to keep her, She has problems with her legs does not  trust many people she is sweet to me . Needless to say I LOVE HER. She loves peanut butter walks to the park carrots and green beans and has her own chaise lounge. She loves to travel she is my traveling companion on road trips and has seen many hotel rooms and visited lakes streams and forests in many states .

EAU DE TOILETTE IT IS ALL IN THE DELIVERY

I remember Doc as a senior  fellow, probably before he was. It was his demeanor. He wore a  fedora and suit on most days he came to our home. The others he was suited up for magic.  Doc wore many hats. He was a full time magician earning his living that way. He  once drove one of my dads sports  teams for a very short few weeks as he would not take directions from women and often got lost.  My dad booked him at fairs and fundraisers . He was too rubber chickeny  and did not make the standard my dad had for the halftime acts he sent on the road with his professional sports teams.

I never knew his real name. Doc was a familiar name in my childhood.  I kept all of the characters straight when they called on the phone and asked for Dempsey with  a test. I would ask magic Doc? boxing Doc? or basketball Doc?  Finding out if it was Doc the magician, Doc Jack Kearns the world champ boxing manager or Doc Hallisey that played basketball for my dad on the House of David  and the All American Indians. My oldest brother Dennis was also given the nickname Doc he was the voice I knew and he would ask for Dad not Mr. Dempsey, Phone calls were placed by dialing 0 and reciting Emerson and digits or Sherwood and digits or what ever designated name was given to a particular jurisdiction. Long distance calls were placed as Operator I would like to place a long distance call to blank."  My questioning was racking up the cost of the phone call. Necessary to me none the less.

The Doc with magic up his sleeves came to the stop on our rented house stoop  one August day. My post where I ate creme cheese and strawberry sandwiches supplied by my dad to catch the ongoing traffic of people coming to see him. His office was in our basement ( he had offices in various locations giving them up at times especially summers so he would be home more at the request of my mom as roads for barnstorming were a little less travelled for him in the summer unless he was out with a baseball team traveling the country). I would catch the athletes and entertainers before they got to the door bell. With a half dozen children someone was always in nap mode and it was my effort  to save my mom.

I had the "wait here" hand motion  down as the gate keeper. I would tip toe through the living room , kitchen, dining room, down the basement stairs wait for my dad to get off the phone and announce the athlete or entertainer waiting on the stoop requesting to see him.

On this day when I tip toed back up the stairs Doc the magician was seated on the living room couch with a glass of sweet southern tea my mom had served him. In my view he broke the code. I asked ' how did he get in here?" My mom had gone out to hang laundry and he approached her about entertaining at my  upcoming birthday party. "Mr. Doc brought an early gift for you Erin that was very kind thank him for the gift" He handed a tiny package wrapped in beautiful gold foil with a pink bow on it to me. He motioned me over ."Go ahead open it it is for you now so you can wear it at your birthday party.

 Doc got the gig that day  I got a scolding.

There was a tiny bottle inside with a stopper. The box and bottle inscribed with Parfum Eau de toilette  I later learned is a lightly scented  french perfume.

(Toilet waters are usually named after a principal ingredient; some being Geranium Water, Lavender Water, Lilac Water, Violet Water, Spirit of Myrcia and 'eau de Bretfeld'.Because of this "toilet water" is sometimes referred to as "flower water.".)

So what would be unusual with me thinking that it was water to be poured down the toilet to scent it. When I came out of the bathroom and  proudly announced "thank you I poured it down the toilet." My mom was humiliated and Doc was dismayed he paid for an extravagant gift on his salary that went down the toilet.  Must I say I was six.


The show must go on , he returned to entertain my birthday guests cutting a women in two, pulling flowers out of his sleeve , and making a nickel disappear  with the same vigor as I had pouring his gift down the commode.

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WARNING COUPON PROSECUTION "YOU SAY WHHAT....?!"

I have always been a dabbling once in awhile coupon shopper. With the coupon craze " Extreme Couponing" on TLC, and  an income reduction I took notice. I took advantage of subsribing to the Chicago Tribune    13 bucks for 13 weeks when approached by a contractor in my local  Menards  ( Wisconsin's version of Home Depot). Hundreds of coupons are located in Wed Th Sun additions, so  I clip and catalog by  produce, canned goods, frozen, toiletries etc, in individual envelopes , and finally into an accordian  carrier.

I take the contraption to my grocery store for my first effort, I enter the check out the checker says are you all ready  to start ? as if we are preparing for the marathon  coupon shopping exposed on Extreme Couponing . My face flush red I state oh I am not one of those crazy hoarder couponer's . I used 4 coupons. The next trip I used more I saved 22.00. The truth is I do not understand the ins and outs how shoppers on the tv program send 300 or 600 or 1800 dollars  across the conveyer belt and with coupons end up with a total bill of 10 bucks or zero. The show never reveals the secret step by stop. So I watch the reality series each new episode hoping for one more tip or instruction, One tip was collect the coupons laying in the store or tapped on the shelves (some of these couponers on the show go to extremes as dumpster dumping newspapers, or driving around taking newspapers still delivered to foreclosed on houses !!YOU SAY WHAT!!!! .

By gathering vendors coupons from my store I got a free gallon of milk by purchasing a frozen pizza, 2 bucks off 12 pack rootbeer when buying charcoal, steak sauce for 50 cents all things I would by and another 32.00 in discounts. I return to shop yesterday  big sins WARNING WARNING WARNING WE WILL PROSECUTE TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE  LAW IF YOU TAKE A COUPON AND DO NOT PURCAHSE THE ITEM THE SAME DAY TAKING COUPONS IS THEFT"
!!!YOU SAY WHAT!!! All coupons say no cash value, and maybe my grocery list is aleady made and I don't  need Miracle Whip today but will next week.

My thought while shaving my legs the stores don't pay for those coupons and the vendors remburse the stores for the value of the coupon used. Is this an over reaction because more people are using coupons with the rising cost of groceries or was the managment that made this decision suffering from loss of sleep, ora fight with a spouse could they possibly mean this ? I only hope the police are called on me for picking up a coupon and saving it for a future grocery shopping day when i need the product. If this were to occur I would call the local news so you all would know. What would you do if a coupon officer approached you? Really now would they really come if called?