HUNGER AND MONEY TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS

The first time I stayed in New York City and took a summer course in ballet, (two classes a day)  I stayed with Mrs. Graves. Mom figured I'd be happy and safe. Being the wealthy widow of one of my father's distinguished clients , MRS  GRAVES OWNED ANAPARTMENT IN WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK and talked a lot about Life and Death--their thirty-year-old daughter was in the hospital for leukemia and not doing well. I learned BIG words from her, and street talk from her maid who fed me.  

         Alas, I was always hungry. Mom send me $7 week for food.  At the automat I ate corn muffins and  and leftovers . There was a market nearby at New York University. I selected fruit, squeezed it and put it back. Later I'd return, find the bruised fruit, hide it in one of my pockets, and gobble it up later. 

        I did a lot of walking but my feet were growing --my shoes were too small. .

        I developed "'bitching corns" (the maid calls them that). 

        Actually living in the park, observing Greenwich Village inhabitants, I've become quite an expert in aggrandizing whatever I seriously crave.     hurray!!!

   

NATHAN OGELSBY BUYS FRANKEE TOP NOTCH EVERYTHING

 When we're dancing "Haunted Moments" we use a Bose amplifier. Our  tapes are recorded on Magnecorder, at 15 inches per second. It provides the most realistic powerful sound you can get.   

Mark dances the train , chugging into a station, utilizing deep MARTHA GRAHAM contractions. She says she loves the way Frankee dances to the cheering crowd sound--especially  the 'economical use' she makes by doing just one low extension of a leg into a one very slow 'rondejambe.'  

The famous Pilates  actually came backstage the other day, when she performed  'LAUGHTER' at a fund raising  benefit  for Juilliard. They have become 'names' in dance. The life-size photo of Frankee in pink ballets slippers is on the main wall at Capezio's at Lincoln  Center.  When she told Pilates how Carola Trier, popular teacher in Manhattan had over-crowded classes, Pilates  said in broken English, ''You need no teachings."

The Big BIG Deal is Jacques COSTEAU, French scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied  all forms of life in water. After each  performance Costeau hugged and kissed the team, and Mark Spitz, Olympic Swimmer, got Frankee on the cover  of "Time" in a new costume Nathan hired a famous designer to create for her that 'Vogue' called "super chic."   

WHAT ARE AVERAGE NORMAL PEOPLE THINKING ABOUT

 ARE THEY THINKING ABOUT THANKSGIVING ?  It's always been one of our special holidays.  My husband John Cullum loves to tell what I cooked for the first Thanksgiving we celebrated as a couple. In a flash I'm remembering how I make a spicy turkey--massaging the thawed cleaned bird with olive oil and  headING  for the spice shelf above the stove.    

I DID A GOOGLE SEARCH AND BUMPED INTO WHAT MY HUSBAND WROTE ABOUT THE HOLIDAY BACK IN 1914

"The most memorable Thanksgiving dinner for me was the one a young redheaded dancer made for me in her Artist In Residence n studio in New York City. It wasn’t a turkey, just a large chicken, and it never occurred to me that this gorgeous girl could even cook, but boy, she could – all the trimmings, fresh cranberry sauce, stuffing, sweet potatoes, vegetables and all. I could hardly believe it. There she was, the best dancer I had ever seen, gracefully whirling around a tiny kitchen, whipping up a dinner as good as any I had ever eaten, and all for me. Never had a Thanksgiving meal been made exclusively for me and me alone, and with such love. It was an experience I couldn’t walk away from. And I never did. I guess Emily decided if I was going to keep hanging around, she might as well marry me. Which she did."

Fact of life:  Unless our son JD who lives in California flew home for the holiday spur of the moment, I am not cooking. I am very busy finishing the novel I've been writing all year online.  

Anyhow, aren't most people today are thinking about survival; earning a living, and what our New President will be suggesting about "Wearing a mask."  

Since I specified average normal, what is average, normal?   

Are you? Am I?

FUN DREAM

 I WAS ABOUT TO BE MARRIED, BEING TAKEN TOTHE CEREMONY BY OUR SON JOHN DAVID.   (ENVISION HIM as a GROWN UP VERSION  OT THE INTENSELY FOCUSED BOY IN THE PHOTO I POST SOMETIMES, WHO IS DRINKING MILK FROM A BOTTLE I AM HOLDING AS HIS CONTENTED  LOVING MOM..(MY HAIR IN A BRAID (THAT LOOKS LIKE A CROWN)

Yep, I was about to be married  to the good looking man  who was playing Mr. Chucky in the outdoor drama, (which I watched every night)  --he definitely to seemed to like the way I coached  him to have 'listening elbows' before doing cartwheels.  HE SENT ME AN E MAIL PROPOSAL SUGGESTING, "DON'T CALL ME mR.CHUCKY....CALL ME BY MY NAME...'jOHN' --  ACTUALLY  MY NAME IS "JOHN CULLUM." 

In the dream I was thrilled.  The fact is. the realme. Emily Frankel,  ex dancer who is writing a novel on line that is almost finished, about a dancer named "Frankee," (who wants to be the best dancer in the world ) is clearly dreaming (and still thrilled) about her marriage to John Cullum.