MATILDA

Oh yeah.... In the low 50s here last night, but hot during the day with a gusty breeze... belay that... that's my personal stats... the weather's okay, too... Barkeep...

kIT KIT BO BICK BANANA FANNA FO BICK FI FIE MO MIC (((KIT!))) (sometimes a little non-traditional b-day songage is good...) X M

Forever Young...many happy happy returns, Wack. X M

Shellbert! Happy Day...every day! X M

Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water... ...so glad there's something so urgent to focus the collective G force on...where's my tights and cape? :)-->

Now we're talkin'... You know how many memories...good, growing up times, that are entwined in those years... Yes, Steve Kunkel...just a kid then...song writin' git pickin' "like a butterfly" Kunkel-pie. I remember a Gary Belcher, but I thought there was a Mike, too...the kidlier bro. I used to drive 150 miles just to fellowship in Antioch...took PFAL at Antioch High, tho I was well out of h.s. (tending bar in Chicago now that I think of it...how ironic). I want you to know that I OWN 294...lol...used to know virtually all the toll guards back then. Digression...just this past weekend I was visiting home (Chicago) and riding on 294...still glad to see the Mooncotch's house as I passed by, s.i.t. for the lot of us... Ok...soooo well remember the Antioch crib...before and after...Gerald never was a fright to me...we worked together closely back then finding the Limb HQ etc...lotsa stories there. Like Hap's remembering Bo cleaning...that's how I remember Gerald, right in there doing along with barking. I don't think that I was all that stupid or naive...he was a leader, a teacher, and an all round mench then, trusted him........whatever all else transpired after those earliest years in IL, I cannot attest to, but early on, it was a working machine and there was great stuff happening, regardless of ours, theirs, or the bad guydevil bobo's underminings. There were bona-fide signs, miracles, and wonders...and I don't type those things lightly...lol. Daaaavid Petitt...come oooon down....lol...double dog dare ya to have me tell you a favorite Petitt tale... X M p.s. oh yes...and sews da Topic Cop don't get his panties in a twist...my sister lives in the Champaign area...there...that should cover us for awhile.

what the heck is a private topic and when did I get one...lol?

Well, now....here is a real blast from the past! Peoria was the first Illinois thing that I went to...'72...met VPW for the first time...Ted and Mardel wailed... I took PFAL in Antioch, John Desmond ran my class. Pencil thin, pin-striped suit, long light brown hair, quick wit, fun guy...we drank beer. I think of him fondly and am still grateful for much born of that time. Ernie Dahl, Sammy Magro, the Lollies, Kunkel, Walter Porter, and the inimitable David Petitt...lol...lotsa stories there. Becky Belcher and her little bro, Mike...the first "Way Home..." Then came Gerald...lotsa stories there, too...lol. No complaints from that early decade...much healing, hoping, and happiness actually. Mr. B (Orbin Banks) is still in Illinois...he has been a prosperous businessman and married to Terri for about a million years...saw him (after 25+ yrs.) at my bro-in-law's funeral a couple years ago. We had a very very sweet reunion. If I could keep time in a bottle.... I have no regrets about that whole time...still remember the miracles of our youth (and the miracle that we survived that youth...lol) X M

Zbee, oh yeah? meet me in the parking lot, toots... double dog dare ya

Over 20 years ago, the first cat insinuated her way into our lives. It was a bitter cold February when this little pathetic meemur was near frozen on my city sill...tuna was cheap that week, so I invited her in. She chose us and stayed with us, understanding perfectly the one proviso for habitation...no scratching the furniture. Named her Hupodema...a greek bastardization loosely translated as "underfoot"...but it didn't fit her...she became Jasper for a day or two...then her real ministry became evident one day when I looked out the window and saw her and a number of toms --ahem--catting about. She was a feline slut-o-rama...but gentle and sweet. She became forever known as MOMCAT...lotsa kitties. Now our granddaddy cat is CHICAGO...he hadda bro (WHITE SOX) but he is buried in the backyard. ...he died first...whole 'nother story...lol. We also have ALAYWA and ZEAL...all three are gray tabbies...

Vickles, I'll intercept this one, and Oldiesman will probably concur...TWI 1, aka The Way, was latest 60s, early 70s especially, lasting awhile...altho the corset started to strangle the Body all along little by little, I think. In 1972, I was delighted, grateful, humbled, and thrilled to see the Bible live (a first for me) and to live and learn with others on the same quest. I was 20....... ...now I'm not...lol... ...but I am grateful for the faithfulness of God and the grace He so liberally doled out...enuf to wallow in for years...lol...now I'm still grateful, and relearning every day. It's okay not to know that you know that you know everything...lol...it truly is a second, by minute, by hour, by day thing... Viva la PDSTRO! X M

Hi V, Still grappling, grappling, still, I see... I surely cannot change any part of my years with The Way...they were formative in that I lived thru them, grew, prospered, and blossomed...in spite of myself and whatever the organization and its attendant pneumanazis mutated into over the years...God's mercy and grace are boundless...but this has all been waydalized as well as visited and revisted here in the Cafe. Like (((ex10))) and mine (((Zeester))) and my where the heck have you been(((Cat)))pal...I had a thinking, discerning brain in the thick of TWI. I was very much thrilled with knowing (and getting to know) about God and Jesus Christ (and am probably more fresh faced now than I was in 1972, in many ways). My "experience" was overall very good -spasmatic sphincterage was present in the early daze and the later daze- but it was never their drum I was marching to...at least not since '86 or so, when I officially pulled the bumper sticker off the car. It was ouchless...miss many of the people, tho. ...so oh blah dee oh blah dah...it's been a roller coaster ride, but I'm strapped in and ready to continue on. Have to, til I'm done... I hope all who hurt can somehow be comforted, and healed, and enjoy the great company of friends old and new along their way...and that their voices can swirl together in laughter, song, and a heartful cognizance that this God and Jesus thing is for real. Slainte! X M

Selfish Matilda that I is...Come, help me celebrate my kidlet's 7th b-day by remembering the mania of that stellar day...Enjoy! I sure am...still. X M ****************HAPPY HOLLY-DAZE************* Oh, Mama! At 44, I felt I had successfully made the transition into middle age; I was reading books on estrogen and I had even managed to reintroduce glass products into my home. Fisher-Price was a distant memory. So, when I found myself pregnant a few years ago, I was-as they say-stunned. How did this happen one might ask? Beats me. The last eventful thing I remember in the bedroom was a foot massage. But am I glad about the radical changes in my life these past seven years? You betcha. My joy is full. My cup(s) ranneth over... When I think back to that gestating craziness, I'm still amazed and ever thankful. It was the year of the pregnant entertainer-Roseanne, Madonna, Streep, and moi. With no fewer than three different shows and 50 performances under my belt, my baby was already an (in utero) show-biz vet by the end of that summer. I stayed off the stage during the fall, but things got crazy again after Thanksgiving when our Christmas show went into (re)production. The show was booked throught the 22nd of December. The baby was due the 23rd. No problem--or so I thought. Thursday, 12/12/96 6:15 a.m.: Maureen wakes up, realizes her water has broken. "That's ok, I can still do the morning show in the city..." 6:25 a.m.: Maureen goes into the kitchen to make breakfast for everyone. Niagra Falls! Instinctively, she grabs a couple of large mixing bowls from the cabinet and catches all the amniotic fluid. Why? Because she just washed that floor at the night before and isn't planning on doing it again an time soon. "That's ok, I can still do the 10 a.m. show..." 6:40 a.m.: Maureen informs slumbering lump in bedroom of situation. "...but it's ok, I'm going to still do the morning show..." 6:40 a.m. and 20 seconds: Maureen is chastised and strongly advised to call the doctor for instructions. "...Yes, I'm sure it broke. I've got two full mixing bowls to prove it...it doesn't mean I'm in labor yet.. I feel fine. I can still do the show." 6:45 a.m.: Maureen fends off pantomime assault from now awakened Keystone cop and phones up the doctor's office. 7 a.m.: Nurse returns call. "Yes, yes...I'm sure it broke. How? Because my Tupperware will never be the same..oh, never mind...Be there in an hour? Well...how abut-oh, say-noon or so-- Yikes! Gary! Where did you come from? "--Ok. OK. Hello? Yes, I'll be tehre at 8:30..." 7:15 a.m.-8:15 a.m.: Maureen is amazed at just how smoothly things are progressing. The family laundry is current, the costumes have been picked up from the cleaners, paychecks have been written, groceries are stored in, the van is raod ready for the next five out-of-town shows, and, of course, all the brass and the A/C ducts in the house are clean and tarnish free. All the really important things. Even the hospital bag is packed and ready to go, complete with a new nursing bra. Sing with me... I am woman, hear me roar, "I've got breasts too big to ignore..." 8:20 a.m.: Maureen kisses Gary and the boys goodbye as they leave to make their (formerly our 9 o'clock call at the Quincy Music Theatre. She climbs into the pickup truck and dutifully drives to the hospital. "I am woman, see me drive "To birth a kid at 45..." 9 a.m.: Maureen is examined, admitted and finally shuttled to labor and delivery where she is hooked up to the IV, heart monitor and Richter scale thing. The drip begins. 1 p.m.: No baby yet. Gary returns with the boys, ostnsibly to offer encouragement. Daddy tenderly kisses Maureen's forehead while the boys give her a thumbs up. That finished, they go to eat in the hospital cafeteria. 5:30 p.m.: Gary collect the kids and leaves for the evening call at the theatre. Still no baby. Sheesh. 6 p.m.: Transition time. White-knuckle labor begins and progresses until- "I am woman, here's the plan, Call the ep-i-dur-al man..." You know, I really hate Helen Reddy. I was surprised when the nurse told me I didn't have much futher to go. The doctor said the baby would be there long before Gary came back again. Boy, did I ever want to believe her. But, as it turned out, Gary did get back. He must have left the theatre before the applause...it was now 11 p.m. and all was, well,...still, no baby. I was really glad he was there to help see me through the last 59 minutes. They were tough, he was great. And then, just when the new day was about to clock in, at just a minute before midnight...ta da! Holly Marie McCarthy Wilson made her debut, strong, beautiful, and healthy. Awesome... "Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is His reward." Psalm 127:3 Happy Birthday, Holly-Dolly!

so blah blah blah...I had a great day...shirked off all my domestic responsibilities only becuz my faithful husband sanctioned it....he made dinner, did the dishes and kissed me on the forehead when I went out out to carouse with my bartending compadres...a necessary concession... on the sweeter side of family came my middle son bearing a bowlful of (what he perceived to be) my favorite candies, my littlest baby giving carte blanche to all the hugs and kisses I could dole out, and my husband presenting me with tickets to a Peter, Paul, and Mary concert...sweet....and then, my newly turned 21 year old got to watch me sling drinks to the Minnesota Twins here in training..now I am a hero...sheesh... Holler when the trump sounds, will ya? Life is good...today is today and I am content. X M

Happy T Day! Hope all is well your way and that your day is fun! X M

Hey Babies!! Thank you for the kind sentiments and happy b-day wishes. Hope you all are doing terrifically and enjoying the holidaze season...as for me and my house...well, I do so look forward to the whole Christ coming back event...you'll know me by my smile...hope we can drink Jameson's there... XXX M

Rottie, That recipe was covered in the slang portion of the original class...

To my favorite argyle... A very merry yet birthday to you...and love to all the Js. Singing a new song...still. X M [This message was edited by MATILDA on September 15, 2003 at 8:30.]

Tip the canoe, here's deja vu... ahem...I, the Matilda, met the skinny boy songsters back when the earth was still cooling... here's how long ago that was...S & G were "appearing" at the Montgomery Wards store located in Chicago's Evergreen Plaza (the first "enclosed shopping experience" aka mall)circa 1966... the boyz were at the head of a long line of adulating girls...some thought they were part of Paul Revere and the Raiders...lol. Their first album was just released and being hawked there...pick up the album and the short or tall would autograph it. I had no dough for the album, but knew all the songs...sang them in a southside coffeehouse...but when I got up to them, we sang two lines of harmony together and they signed my Winston cigarette. It was cool (not the cigarette, the whole groovy happening...lol) It was my last cigarette, smoked it on the way home. Oh yes, I do remember being stalked by the Wendy Ward finishing school rep...lol...I guess I was sight, a barefoot blonde toting a carpetbag full of paints and a disdain for all things "Carnaby Street."

I saw a rainbow in the sky was red and green and yeller until an agrument ensued between two other fellers; was there one or two or three? did they reflect my shadow? were their refractions just for me? or more prismatic laddos? I thought I better check my books to see if my brain worked right and then I thought, oh what the hell... I'll trust to know what I like The beauty of the arky hues all in their proper order were not hampered by my woeful lack of knowing what I oughter so til He comes or til I go my awe at Nature's high signs will be free from heady "gotta knows" and the value placed on my time. (hic) Barkeep...another round for my colorful friends... X M good thing I'm not God...there'd be a flood every other weekend

not only do I appreciate the colors... .....but the trails........and the flashbacks............

WHEW...I ran out of Ipecac...this stuff should do in case of emergency...

I am extending no birthday wishes, belated or or on time. Nope, not me. Not I. Hell would have to freeze over or, at the very least, when porky porcine take to the air... oh... Happy B-day, then. X M

1. On The Beach 2. Threads 3. Jaws Alien was watched with my cardigan sweater over my head...lol. My husband got annoyed when I asked him who "gets it." He insisted it would spoil the movie for me...hardly. It was a time saver...I could quit praying for those in harm's way...lolololol. Oh yes...and the creepiest part of that film, the most detestable for the flesh-crawling willies that were inflickted on one such dainty as moi? Why, the globs of monster phlegm dripping from the unhinged jaw, of course..........lo shonta, man. [This message was edited by MATILDA on February 26, 2003 at 17:36.]