CAROLYN

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

CAROLYN

Rustie Earle

Today, December 10, is my birthday—I won’t say which one, but I’m well over 18 years old. Rustie, a blind poet who composes on a tape recorder  wrote an acrostic poem about me, titled simply CAROLYN, to celebrate my birthday one year. (a link to another of Rustie’s posts is included in the ADDITIONAL READING list below)

C is for character, no matter how you mean it.

A is for

Pearl Harbor: A 1942 Radio Broadcast Script

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

PEARL HARBOR : A 1942 RADIO BROADCAST SCRIPT

My files on my grandfather, Albert C. Briskay*, include a script from an NBC radio broadcast that contained interviews from non-military personnel, including my grandfather, at the Navy Yard in Pearl Harbor. Below is the text of Briskay’s part of the interview.

View photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carolyncholland/3899210556/in/photostream/

NAVY YARD BROADCAST

KGU to NBC

1100-1115 – Wednesday, March 18, 1942

WAHL: Remember Pearl Harbor? This broadcast comes to you from the pulsating heart of that gigantic mid-Pacific naval base, 2200 miles west and south of San Francisco. Until three months ago, Pearl Harbor was just a name! Today it is a legend…..the place where our war began.  Here are all the complex activities that comprise a naval base.

And there are men – thousands of them – civilian workers – who ready the ships for new jobs at sea when they come in from scouring the seventy million square miles of this Pacific battle front. For every man at sea there must be

My December Birthday: Reflections on Fifty Years of Bonus Life

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

HELP ME CELEBRATE MY DECEMBER BIRTHDAY!

Wonder how you can help me celebrate my birthday? Visit Carolyn’s Compositions daily—or more—, read as many posts as you choose to (check the index pages on the upper right hand side of the site to locate articles that most interest you), and add as many comments as you dare to on the posts. The person making the most comments on Sunday and through December 10 will receive a special gift.

ENTER THE DECEMBER COMMENT CONTEST

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS is awarding a monthly prize to the reader who makes the most comments at www.carolyncholland.wordpress.com. To enter, comment on any post. The more comments you post, the greater chance you have of winning. For further details click on http://carolyncholland.wordpress.com/monthly-prize-for-comments/ or visit the page MONTHLY PRIZE FOR COMMENTS at the top of the column to the right.

November winner: Kim Mabee

MY DECEMBER BIRTHDAY: REFLECTIONS ON FIFTY YEARS OF “BONUS LIFE”

“Appendicitis gives Councilor Lown the sign he was seeking.”

     The newspaper headline came from the Portsmouth Herald (N.H.) newspaper, September 12, 2003. I was cleaning out my files from the three month New England vacation my husband, Monte, and I had taken (OK, so it’s 2009—and the files were stuck in a box, in a corner, like so many papers are in this house!). Portsmouth (N. H.) Councilman Brad Lown was pondering on whether or not to run for another term as councilman when his appendix provided the answer—no.

     It is likely Lown’s appendix was removed at Portsmouth Regional Hospital, the same hospital where mine was removed.

     I don’t recall the fateful day when I entered

Open Hands Ministries: The Stahlstown Boutique

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

OPEN HANDS MINISTRIES: THE STAHLSTOWN (PA) BOUTIQUE

Monte Holland

During the holiday season, and at other times for shopping, some of us tend to forget the service stores in our communities. There we can find new or gently used clothing, gift items and furnishings. They accept donations of these items, and operate using volunteer help. Below is a post on one such store: the Stahlstown Boutique in Stahlstown, PA.

     Are you in need of a special Christmas outfit? Are you looking for a special Christmas gift? Or do you have a special outfit you can no longer wear, which needs to find a home elsewhere?

     You might be surprised that the Ligonier (PA) area has a special place to shop and donate—the Stahlstown Boutique, which sells

Christmas. Whose Season Is It?

CAROLYN’C COMPOSITIONS

CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT!

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS is awarding a monthly prize to the reader who makes the most comments at www.carolyncholland.wordpress.com. To enter, comment on any post. The more comments you post, the greater chance you have of winning. For further details click on http://carolyncholland.wordpress.com/monthly-prize-for-comments/ or visit the page MONTHLY PRIZE FOR COMMENTS at the top of the column to the right.

WINNER OF THE NOVEMBER 2009 COMMENT CONTEST

Kim Mabee

 CHRISTMAS. WHOSE SEASON IS IT?

Among the items in my files: a holiday skit I wrote in the 1970s while I was sole proprietor of the Holland Child Care Home (family child day care).

SETTING: Children in a choir setting at a school are learning seasonal music.

TEACHER: Good morning children. Today we’ll start by singing some traditional holiday music. Let’s try

CHRISTMAS LETTER 2006

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT!

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS is awarding a monthly prize to the reader who makes the most comments at www.carolyncholland.wordpress.com. To enter, comment on any post. The more comments you post, the greater chance you have of winning. For further details click on http://carolyncholland.wordpress.com/monthly-prize-for-comments/ or visit the page MONTHLY PRIZE FOR COMMENTS at the top of the column to the right.

CHRISTMAS LETTER 2006

Each year our family contributes to the annual Christmas letter (dreaded by some persons). Tonight, to kick off this year’s Christmas season, I am posting excerpts from my section of our family’s 2006 annual Christmas letter, with a few necessary updates.   

     Year 2006 included a “maternity watch,” for grandchild Marcus, son of Nolan and Tammy, born July 8. We arrived in Cleveland right after his birth. Marcus is a happy baby, has a big smile and lots of conversation. Vince enjoys being “big brother,” accenting his job with two-year old exuberance. He attends softball games his parents play in, and his favorite toy is any kind of ball.

     The year’s events, however, began Christmas night 2005. It involved a 1971 promise my late friend Charlotte and I made to each other.

     We had adopted our girls, Sandy and Kathleen, at the same time from the same agency. They grew up as sisters. Us mothers agreed that

The Thanksgiving Baby

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

THE THANKSGIVING BABY

Rustie Earle

It was great to feel your baby kick, to feel it move around.

I hope that it’s healthy and happy, born weighing seven and one half pounds.

May you always remember, this is God’s gift from above,

And may each become guilty

TURDUCKIN

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

TURDUCKIN

Tradition!

     Our family is like many others during the holidays. We have traditions. For instance, a turkey adorns our Thanksgiving table, and often stuffed Cornish hens appear on our Christmas or New Years day menu.

     We also have another tradition. Thanksgiving and other holidays are usually celebrated the day

THE THANKSGIVING TURKEY

CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT!

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS is awarding a monthly prize to the reader who makes the most comments at www.carolyncholland.wordpress.com. To enter, comment on any post. The more comments you post, the greater chance you have of winning. For further details click on http://carolyncholland.wordpress.com/monthly-prize-for-comments/ or visit the page MONTHLY PRIZE FOR COMMENTS at the top of the column to the right.

THE THANKSGIVING TURKEY

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

      I found the perfect card for my granddaughter’s ninth birthday—one that will make her eyes roll. The front has a sepia picture of a girl whose hair, dress and boots are quite old fashioned. She is holding a platter with a small cooked turkey on it.

     Inside it says Happy Birthday You Turkey

     OK, so you’re eyes are rolling too, as do the eyes of others who overhear me trying to

WHAT? NO PUMPKIN PIE FOR THANKSGIVING?

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

MONTHLY PRIZE FOR COMMENTS

NEW CONTEST! A MONTHLY PRIZE!

 

     CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS is awarding a monthly prize to the reader making the most comments at www.carolyncholland.wordpress.com. To be eligible for the prize, comment on any post. The more comments you post, the greater chance you have of being the winner.

     The first prize, to be announced on December 3, 2009, will be awarded to the reader who made the most comments on during November.

     The winner will be notified by E-mail. In the event of a tie, a name will be drawn. Winners will be listed on this page. 

     Thank you for your loyalty to my writing site.      Carolyn C. Holland

 WHAT? NO PUMPKIN PIE FOR THANKSGIVING?

     Will Mother Nature’s 2008 and 2009 weather conditions deny many Americans their traditional pumpkin pie? If so, the holiday dinner tables will look more like that of the first Thanksgiving in 1621.

     The menu for fifty-three immigrants who watched half of their group die of malnourishment and disease, and the ninety Indians, all of whom attended that three-day feast, didn’t have pumpkin pie on their menu. It was an improbable dessert because