Perseids Meteor Showers

Did you catch any falling stars during the Perseids meteor showers earlier this week? Perhaps - if you are a night owl and younger than I am. It's been a long time since I put down a blanket, laid back and watched for the annual show. But there is this:

Nocturne II By W.S. Merwin

August arrives in the dark

we are not even asleep and it is here
with a gust of rain rustling before it
how can it be so late all at once
somewhere the Perseids are falling
toward us already at a speed that would
burn us alive if we could believe it
but in the stillness after the rain ends
nothing is to be heard but the drops falling
one at a time from the tips of the leaves
into the night and I lie in the dark
listening to what I remember
while the night flies on with us into itself

The Details You Learn From Reading

There was a little girl,

Who had a little curl,

Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good

She was very very good,

But when she was bad she was horrid.

My mother used to recite as well as sing this little poem to my sister and me. She could have changed it to boy if she wasn't concerned about it rhyming, as both my brothers had curlier hair than Betty and I. 

The amazing, to me, fact is that this wasn't just a little ditty made up in the 30's or 40's, it was a poem written by none other than Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. And I didn't know that, would probably have never known that, had it not been for the book I am currently reading. 

Being able to read, enjoying doing so, unimaginable what my life would have been without those.

From KRNT to KCCI - A 70th Anniversary Celebration

From the time I moved to Des Moines in 1968 until moving back to SW Iowa in 1995, I was a staunch Channel 8 viewer. So this week I have been enjoying the "Where Are They Now?" clips of former KCCI staffers as they come back to help celebrate the station's 70th anniversary. 

This morning I watched part of Eric Hanson's "This is Iowa" 60-minute special featuring clips from the past and interviews from then and now. 

Dolph Pulliam hasn't changed much but I did not recognize Mary Brubaker in this picture. I attended many Drake basketball games in '68-'69 where Pulliam helped lead his team to the Final Four. Later I watched him as a broadcaster on KCCI.

I also watched The Mary Brubaker show where she interviewed local and national celebrities and featured medical, political, home improvement, and fashion news as well as cooking segments.

I was once a very nervous guest on her show but for the life of me I can't remember why. I certainly was not any kind of celebrity and I wasn't a good cook with some new recipe. I vaguely remember wearing a jumpsuit on the program. They were popular at the time and I had sewn several for myself. Or was it for a makeover or a new hairdo? Maybe some day I will recall the reason. In the meantime, I'm going to watch the rest of Eric Hanson's special.