March 8, 2016 Tuesday)
The year was 1965, and there were three married couples from Rockport who went out to eat at the Astor Restaurant in Corpus Christi before attending a showing of “The Sound of Music” at the Tower Theater (now gone) near Six Points. The couples were Buddy and Doris McElveen, Ben and Doris Howard and Charles and Wanda Fake. Hard to believe that was 51 years ago! I am the only survivor of that group today. All the others are in Heaven. My memories of time spent with them are precious. They are part of a long list of sweet memories with so many wonderful friends through the years.
We were a little late for the show and when we took our seats Maria was already singing in the scene where she was filled with joy because “the hills were alive with the sound of music.” It was one of the best movies any of us had ever seen. We all said so. Our judgment proved to be correct, because the movie is now a classic and its songs are here to stay.
A fascinating scene in the movie is built around the song, “My Favorite Things.” * During a storm Julie Andrews calms the children with this song (scene at right-click to hear). What were those things? Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings, cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels, doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles, wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings, girls in white dresses, with blue satin sashes,
snow flakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes, silver white winters that melt into springs.
And then she added, “When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I’m feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don’t feel so bad.”
What prompted me to think of “my favorite things” today? Well, it’s this cup of coffee I hold in my hand. One of my very favorite things in life is that first cup of coffee in the morning. I learned to enjoy it with my grandfather when I was just a toddler (of course, then it was mostly milk), but that’s one of my favorite memories–sitting on the front porch with “Big Dad” and welcoming the day while drinking what he called our “morning soon.” He had a nick name for everything and everyone.
What are your favorite things?
* “My Favorite Things”
Song
Published 1959
Composer Richard Rodgers
Lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II
Language English
Recorded by Mary Martin & Patricia Neway (1959),
John Coltrane (1961-67),
Julie Andrews (1965),
Diana Ross and The Supremes (1965)
and various others