An Aversion to Shiny, New Things by Sherry Harris

LUCY BURDETTE: Is there anything more fun than an absolutely brand new, first-time-out-of-the-box, debut author? No, we don't think so either. And so we are delighted to introduce our friend Sherry Harris, whose book TAGGED FOR DEATH came out a week ago.

SHERRY HARRIS: Thank you, Jungle Reds, for having me today. When I moved to New England, Hallie, Hank, and Lucy

were running the New England chapter of Sisters in Crime. I’ve been in their classes, benefitted from their generosity, and am one of the attendees of the 2009 Seascape which produced an amazing number of published authors, many of the attendees became good friends.

Like my protagonist Sarah Winston, I love to shop at garage sales, flea markets, and antique stores. When I pondered what I should write about for today, I started poking around my house. I realized 95 percent of what’s in here is second hand. I think the only new things are the electronics (because no one wants an antique computer or phone), mattresses (you can come stay without worry), and a couch with matching chairs (which considering I bought them in 2003 and they’ve moved three times, push the boundaries of “new”).

I didn’t really realize I had an aversion to new things until recently – it was a gradual process. But I love to think about where something came from: whose house did that painting hang in, how did this chair end up on the curb, and who looked in the mirror of that dresser. I heard if you light a candle, turn off the light, and look in a mirror the number of reflections will tell you how many people owned the piece. Frankly, it sounds a bit spooky to me and being a big fraidy cat, I’ve resisted the urge to try this. 

My husband was in the Air Force, so having old things that came with nicks and scraps was an advantage with all the moves. One more ding on the table or a scrap on the bench wouldn’t really hurt anything. I do have a table I’m fussy about when it comes time to move. I bought it at a garage sale in Palos Verdes, California. 

It’s a side table with barley twist legs, a serpentine skirt, and my favorite part – claw and glass ball feet. I was lucky to get it because I arrived at the sale late in the day. It had a sign on it that said “price firm,” which puts off a lot of people who expect to bargain at a sale.  The table has a ring in the top where someone set something wet on it. But it was love at first sight for me so I paid full price (something I rarely do), loaded it into my friend’s car, and took it home. My husband had to warm to it, which he did when I pointed out an identical table (sands ring) in a store window in Solvang, California, for four times the price I paid.

When we were moving from Los Angeles to Dayton, Ohio, I went out to check on the movers and there the table, with its delicate glass feet, sat on the rough pavement. (Yes, I had a mini freak out, steam out the ears, cartoon bug eyes, and a thought bubble with all kinds of #$%^.) Fortunately, that all occurred in my head, but I insisted they bubble wrap the glass ball feet which they did reluctantly. Now when the movers arrive, I always double check the table before it goes out. 

None of my pieces are priceless antiques (far from it), but my furnishings are a tale of our moves: a side table from Ohio, a bench from a flea market in Santa Cruz, a bed frame from Florida, a bookcase from Virginia, a painting from Massachusetts. Even our dining room table is special to me. My parents bought it in my hometown of Davenport, Iowa, at a garage sale (probably the only one they ever went to) of the mother of family friends. I like it because of that relationship and because it folds down to a size that works behind a sofa or opens to seat ten (twelve if we squeeze in). 

So readers do you have an aversion to shiny new things or do you embrace them? Or do you mix them together? What’s the best find you’ve ever had at a garage sale?

Sherry Harris started bargain hunting in second grade at her best friend’s yard sale. She honed her bartering skills as she moved around the country while her husband served in the Air Force. Sherry uses her love of garage sales, her life as a military spouse, and her time living in Massachusetts as inspiration for the Sarah Winston Garage Sale series. Tagged for Death, first in the series, released last week.  She blogs with the Wicked Cozies.   

And Sherry is giving away a copy of TAGGED FOR DEATH to one commenter today!

Here in Camelot! #Broadway

 
LUCY BURDETTE: The touring show of Camelot came to Key West last week and I jumped on tickets. This has to be my favorite Broadway show of all time. My high school put this production on during my sophomore year and without much talent in the acting/singing department, I happily joined the the costume committee. And then—oh glorious, happy day—I was assigned to dress Sir Lancelot himself. Can you imagine my teenage self aquiver in the men’s dressing room, helping the adorable Lancelot into his armor? The low point came later, after he realized I’d ever-so-helpfully taken his tights home to wash in the family laundry, and brought them back the next day—shrunken two sizes smaller.

That incident aside, I love this show. I know all the words. And the sweeping emotions from high (“Camelot”) to low (“Guinevere”.) My favorite song of all time has to be Lancelot singing the heart-breaking “If Ever I Should Leave You” to his trembling Guinevere.


Though the moment when Sir Lancelot bursts onto the scene singing “C’est Moi, chest moi, I blush to admit, tis I, I humbly reply. That mortal who, these marvels can do, chest moi, c’est moi, tis I” is utterly priceless too. 

My second all-time favorite is the Sound of Music, another of our high school productions. This time, while my dear friends Joel Silidker and Suzanne Snell played the leads, I landed a bit part as one of the seven Von Trapp children, Brigitta.

What’s your favorite Broadway song/show?

HALLIE EPHRON: Hands down favorite: "Guys and Dolls." Starting with "Fugue for Tinhorns" (I go the horse right here...) to Miss Adelaide's lament to Luck be a Lady ... one great number after another! Sky Masterson. Nicely Nicely. Miss Adelaide. I don't even mind the drippy sweet Sarah Brown.

Can't believe I've never seen Camelot.

LUCY: Oh those songs from Guys and Dolls are fabulous too Hallie! You must see Camelot--the thing is, I got so excited about going last week that I forgot about the ending. Then I turned to John at intermission: "It's so tragic!" It is tragic, more like the brutal finish of an opera than a musical. But with a tiny flicker of hope at the end...

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, I saw Camelot (for the first time) in Chicago, a MILLION years ago, with Robert Goulet and Julie Andrews? And Richard Burton? And Roddy McDowell as Mordred.( "If charity means giving, I give it--it you!")  And I cried for THREE WEEKS. Truly. Could I have been in college? I forget--but I clearly remember trying to figure out whose "fault" it was.  Oh, gosh, I could sing the whole thing.

For one song only, my favorite is Candide. I can hardly type "And Make Our Garden Grow" type without crying.


For lyrics and music, that's too hard. South Pacific. Oklahoma!  My father was the music critic for the old Chicago Daily News, and he saw the ground-breaking and tragic West Side Story ("We're depraved on account of we're deprived...") (Everyone there will give big cheer! Everyone there will have moved here...) and the gorgeous operatic Kismet  ("Play on the cymbal, the timbrel, the lyre; play with appropriate passion, fashion songs of delight and delicious desire.." in previews.  Can you Imagine?? I asked him--did you know? 

And he said yup.

There are so many...ah. Let me think.

  Oh! A LIttle NIght Music, absolutely. Cleverest lyrics in the world.  Winner. ("A Weekend in the country, it's insulting!" "It's engraved.") 

Don't get me started. Oh. Too late.

RHYS BOWEN: I've always adored big musicals. As a young girl my friend and I stood for hours to get standing tickets to the opening night of My Fair Lady (and yes, my parents let me go up to London alone at eleven or twelve). I think I've seen them all. Favorites: for the quality of the music is Les Mis and West Side Story. For spectacle: Phantom. For cleverness: Chicago and into the Woods. But frankly nothing can beat those old musicals that were part of my childhood: Oklahoma, South Pacific, and Carousel (Yes, Hallie, I know your parents wrote it. it's brilliant and I still cry every time I see it.)

If I had to choose just one musical probably The Sound of Music.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I am with Hank on Candide, which I absolutely adore. I have the music, and like Hank, listening to Make Our Garden Grow gives me the sniffles. Bernstein was so brilliant. I love West Side Story, too.  I love Oklahoma! There's something so joyous about it. And of course My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music. But I'm embarrassed to admit I've never seen Carousel.  Hallie, is there a film version I should watch?

HALLIE: Ha ha! Indeed there is. The movie my parents wrote with Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones in '56. It's very '50s in its interpretation. I saw the play revived at Lincoln Center awhile ago and it was interpreted as a much darker story, really about domestic abuse. It held up very well. Great songs. On the other hand.. I was always a big fan of Peter Pan (Mary Martin, Cyril Ritchard) but the version that just ran on television shows how dated the book is and the songs are just meh. Painful to watch.
SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: The first Broadway show (in previews in Washington, D.C.) I saw was Les Miserables — at the time, it was mind-blowing. Then I became obsessed with Stephen Sondheim, everything, really but maybe especially Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods.Hank, I played Anne in A Little Night Music in college — so much fun, although singing Sondheim is harder that you may think....

My first show when I got to New York City was The Secret Garden. Loved, loved, loved it and I would save my publishing salary penned to go to TKTS and get discount tickets to see it any number of times.... (Funny story — years later, a friend of mine brought a young lady over to our apartment for dinner. Over the course of the evening I realized — same actress who played Mary Lennox!)

For us, Avenue Q was just amazing — the puppetry community in NYC is pretty small, so of course we know the original cast and were there to cheer them on on opening night and also for the big Tony win.

 Oh, and this is true, cross my heart — Bobby Lopez (Avenue Q, Book of Mormon, Frozen) is our neighbor and the Kiddo and his daughter used to have playdates. But she had a crush on him and he didn't reciprocate, so.... When we heard her as the first voice of "Do you Want to Make a Snowman" I was like, you could have been BFFs with her! (He was still unimpressed.)

"Oh, Kaye!" chats about holiday traditions

There are traditions and there are traditions.


There's Johnny Mathis singing a beautiful version of O Holy Night






Or the newer tradition of Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band singing Santa Claus is Comin' To Town.

If you've ever seen Bruce Springsteen in concert during the winter months, you've probably danced along with this one.

I saw his winter show in Atlanta many years ago.  One of the best concerts ever!  When they started singing Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town, all the lights in the house were turned on. 

Everybody was dancing.

And I recall doing a few turns with an Atlanta police officer.

It was a night to remember.








I'm one of those people who loves Christmas.  I am a complete sucker for tradition, and love that the holiday season is filled with beautiful, meaningful traditions.

And, of course, there are those wonderful, fun, meaningful and oh, so silly family traditions that you alone own, and some other folks just will not understand - like our purply-pink Christmas tree I put up in addition to our more old tradition green tree.

Another includes Mother and Donald and I donning goofy headgear sometime during the holiday while we play a wicked hand or two of Canasta

Harley doesn't care much about playing Canasta, but we don't want him to feel left out

Actually, you may have noticed, some of us enjoy this tradition more than others.  This is not one of Harley's favorites.

Whatever we believe, however we celebrate, we all have ways of honoring our traditions.  They, in turn, serve us well.  They help us share a feeling of bonding with our own history and roots, and a sense of belonging.  Cultures are kept alive by tradition.

There's one pretty big Christmas tradition that has changed at our house.

While we do still celebrate and exchange gifts with our family, Donald and I no longer exchange Christmas gifts.  We started a new family tradition a few years ago when we agreed to do what we could for a family in need.  It's become a tradition of importance to us.

Truth be told, we could be that family some day.


A tradition that is, however, still alive and well at our house is the decorating.  For me, one of the best things about the holidays is having the house decorated.  Oh, how I love to decorate. 

 Admittedly, that too is less than it once was.  Packing it all up to put away reminds me I'm not as young as I once was.  And since I hate being reminded of that little fact in such a rude way, I get around it by not putting out as much.  

Every year I go through this - I start pulling old and much loved Christmas ornaments out of the storage boxes and I'm flooded with memories of where each piece came from.

Many have been given to us by friends and family.

Many we've bought while traveling.

And each has a memory.


I'm betting I'm not the only one.  How 'bout it, Reds?  Do you guys take a few trips down memory lane while decorating?



And, of course, there's the cooking and the baking.  While not much a cook, truth be told, I do love cooking during the holidays.  But I love to bake, and I love to make candy.

Another tradition I love is one of sending Christmas cards (although I haven't quite gotten around to doing that yet this year).  

So.

I'm taking today as an opportunity to send each of you a big ol' virtual Christmas card to let you know how much you mean to me.  

And to thank you for yet another year of allowing me to come here each month sharing my words, sharing my images, my opinions and my feelings.  It's an honor and a joy.  

So, dear Reds - 


Here's your Christmas card filled with images from our house to yours -  

Merry Christmas and much love to you & yours!

This little angel tree topper has graced every tree we've had since 1985, which was the first Christmas Donald and I were together.

and now it's your turn -  

Let's hear about holiday traditions from your house, Reds!