ehBeth, have a safe trip!
Sending warm holiday greetings to all wildclickers traveling to visit loved ones.
Merry Christmas All ~
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Finally, the telephone company here is installing new cables. They actually cut the old one yesterday by mistake. It is just now back on line.
Wow...!!!
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Cables, you got cables? Lucky dog - I'm too far off the road for cables. Boo hoo.
Clicked.
G'day wildclickers!
A neat Christmas Story:
We have all heard this song both as children and as adults but did you
know how this song came about? Here is Rudolph's story:
In 1938, as the Great Depression wound down and even as the prospect
of
better times loomed on the horizon, Bob May was looking toward another
bleak Christmas. As advertising copywriter for Montgomery Wards,
living
on a meager salary, May was on the brink of bankruptcy and exhaustion.
After fighting cancer for two long years, his wife, Evelyn, was losing
the battle. Staring into each other's eyes, they both knew she
wouldn't
last long. Their daughter knew something was wrong too.
On a cold December night, after visiting her bedridden, emaciated
mother, their four-year-old, Barbara, climbed up into her father's
lap.
"Why isn't my mommy just like everybody else's mommy?" she solemnly
asked.
In their drafty, two-room Chicago apartment, with the cold north wind
rattling the windows, Bob May held his daughter in his arms and
struggled to answer the child's simple question. He recalled the pain
he had always felt growing up because he had been considered
different.
May had been a small, thin, child, constantly picked on by other
children, called "Sissy" and other names he didn't want to remember.
But Bob wanted his daughter to somehow understand that being different
didn't mean you had to be ashamed. The copywriter made up a story
about
a reindeer with a large, bright red nose. And as little Barbara
listened, May described in story form not only the pain felt by those
who were different but also the joy that can be found when someone
discovers his special place in the world.
The tale was a big hit with Barbara, and thereafter she demanded that
her father tell it to her each night. With every new telling the plot
grew more elaborate, and the reindeer, Rudolph, became less a
fictional
character and more a member of the May family.
Unable to purchase a gift for Barbara that Christmas, Bob decided to
carefully craft his story about Rudolph into a homemade book, drawing
on
his own abilities as an artist for the pictures. Many evenings after
his wife and daughter had gone to sleep, Bob carefully worked to
finish
his unique present. But tragedy struck the May family before
Christmas
could arrive...Evelyn lost her battle with cancer.
Though the last few pages of the gift book were stained with tears,
Bob would not give up on Rudolph. He knew that his daughter needed the
uplifting story now more than ever. He prayed for the strength to
finish the project. His efforts were rewarded when a thrilled Barbara
found a completed copy of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer waiting for
her
on Christmas morning.
Though he hardly felt like celebrating a few days later Bob was forced
to attend a Montgomery Ward's employee party. His co-workers in the
ad
department asked May to share his children's story that night. Though
he didn't feel like it, he took his book and, at the appointed moment,
climbed before the crowd and read the story. After the scores of
holiday revelers laughed, they stood and gave May and his children's
tale a thunderous ovation! They all loved Rudolph and wanted copies
of
their own!
The head of the company felt that Wards could benefit from Bob's
gift to his daughter. For a modest sum, Stewell Avery, the chairman
of
the board of Montgomery Wards, bought all rights from the
cash-strapped
and debt-ridden B. May. Avery then had tens of thousands of copies of
Rudolph printed and shipped to Wards stores across the nation in time
for Christmas 1939. The response was so positive that for the next
six
years, each child who visited a Santa in a company store got a copy of
May's book.
By 1946 Wards had given away six million copies of Rudolph and Stewell
Avery was being besieged by offers from every major publishing house
wanting to print a new version of the story. In one of the most
generous decisions ever made by the head of a large company, the CEO
gave all rights back to Bob May. A year later the mass-market release
of the book made the Wards copywriter a rich man.
With the book a best-seller, numerous toy and product deals were soon
cut and May's entire life revolved around a story he had told to
comfort
a worried daughter. Remarried, and with a growing family, Bob
couldn't
imagine anything else that could improve his wonderful life. Then his
brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, decided to adapt the story into a song.
Marks, who had written music for a number of major recording stars,
hoped that the "Voice of Christmas", Bing Crosby, would record the
song
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." When Crosby passed on it, Marks
offered the song to others, including cowboy star Gene Autry.
Gene took Mark's demo home and played it for his wife, Ina. As they
listened, Autry scoffed that there were
already too many songs about reindeer. Ina thought differently. When
she heard the line "they wouldn't let poor Rudolph play in any
reindeer
games," it broke her heart. She insisted that her husband cut the
song.
Gene Autry's "Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer" streaked to number one on
the charts. It would soon become the second best-selling Christmas
song
of all time, just behind "White Christmas."
And there you have it! Rudolph does have his own story. :-)
Happy Holidays to you and your family!
Drat. Maybe there is a way to figure this out yet.
Today...I wish you a day of ordinary miracles-
A fresh pot of coffee you didn't have to make yourself.
An unexpected phone call from an old friend.
Green stoplights on your way to work or shop.
I wish you a day of little things to rejoice in...
The fastest line at the grocery store.
A good sing along song on the radio.
Your keys right where you look.
I wish you a day of happiness and perfection-little bite-size pieces of perfection that give you the funny feeling that the Lord is smiling on you,
holding you so gently because you are someone special and rare.
I wish You a day of Peace, Happiness and Joy.
They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them.
Send this phrase to the people you'll never forget ..
It's a short message to let them know that you'll never forget them.
Wishing you the very best
Well, the pictures didn't post, but it is the sentiment that is the main thing. Happy Holidays, everyone.
Beautiful sentiments, Sumac, thank you!
Great story, Stradee. I loved Rudolph when I was a kid and cried to think he didn't get to play with the other reindeer. (Why were they so mean?) I still have my book -- we have a pretty large collection of Christmas books that have accumulated over the years. It's got both Rudolph the red-nosed Reindeer and Rudolph Shines Again (where he loses he red nose for a while).
Danon... I hope that all your cables stay connected!
Wishing everybody could stop over and have some fudge and a couple of Gingerbread Dog cookies with me.
Click!
Wonderful image, Piff. I could not locate any URL associated with what I wanted to post, so just tried copying and pasting, and words are all the came through.
I'll have one of those doggie cookies with you.
Sumac and Piffka, lovely sentiments, thank you.
Piffka, save some Christmas cookies ~ we'll be right there!
Peace ~ Love ~ Joy ~ Happiness ~ To All
Merry Christmas Eve Eve!!
We can stretch it out can't we?
Nice story Stradee, I'm copying it for Patti to read.
Thank you sumac, I imagined some really pretty pictures there.
Clicked.
Our Secret
Unknown Artist
I had to post some pretty picture.
Danon, I was so glad to receive the story from a dear friend. I had no idea about the author of Rudolf! A wonderful Christmas story. Glad you and Pattie liked the story.
Piffka, I don't know why people say mean things to each other. Why the book was written should be required reading in all schools.
Sumac, you did it! Great picture! <are you the artist?>
Gotta question. Yesterday when I clicked a website, my computer shut off! Then received a window that said "serious error" and then the netscape "send report" window. Clicked the Certificate link at the report site, for a warning window in case the 'crash' link appears again. I've got firewall protection, Norton aniti-virus, and also a spyware program. The computer seems to be running ok, except downloads are very slow. Could it be the traffick on the web for the holidays, or something else. Cleared cache, and also defrag maintenance. Off-line programs working great! Any ideas?
Not me. As I said, unknown.
oops, have a dial connection to the internet. Generally the dial speed doesn't affect the downloads. Today the connection speed fairly high though.
Stradee, I have the same prob here - with my dial-up connection. Depending on the time of day traffic causes a slowdown.......
The guys that broke the telephone line here a couple of days ago are apparently laying fiber cable. That's a good thing.
sumac,
Nice picture!! Looks like someone is going into the fireplace and maybe up the chimney?? That's for the kinder to do. grin For me down is better. lol
Here is a photo that I got while flying a job in Oakland, CA. It belongs to the company I flew for - and is copyrighted - but you all may see it. It's an original photo of the camera plane that filmed the movie "Hell's Angels" produced by Howard Hughes. The picture was taken in the thirties and is at the airport in Oakland. It is the very same airfield that Amelia Earhart took off from on her illfated around the world trip and was my base of operations for my flying job. I hate to call it a job - it was all too much fun.
![[img]http://www.directupload.net/images/041224/r7O35EFE.jpg]([img]http://www.directupload.net/images/041224/r7O35EFE.jpg)
[/IMG]
Danon, thanks for the info. Whew, thought my computer was ailin'!
In the bay area, BART was added a new station near where the family home located, and someone sawed through all the telephone cables. They finally got the new cable installed, but some folks were without internet and telephone for over a week! yikes!
I've noticed the transfers a lot faster now. Hadn't happened previously, so I thought it might be because of the crash. Plus, Christmas and all - makes sense.
Glad yer cable working Dan <grin>
Danon, awsome photo!
The B-17 was one of the first bombers to make the War Bond tour during WW2. The Angels completed 48 combat missions and the fuselage was signed by air and ground crews of the squadren prior to leaving the U.S.
Boeing B-17F-25-BO "Hells Angels"
Before signatures were written on the front of the plane
After signatures <1943> of the original Hell's Angels
