Chronicle Singalong

 

 Well, gosh gee whilikers.  If nobody else is going to immortalize our Founding Mothers in song, I guess I'll have to, but DO NOT LOOK FOR PRECISE HISTORICAL ACCURACY HERE.  If you want precise historical accuracy, talk to a politician. Or, wait. Don't. Unless it's Sarah's husband. Anyway. . .I want you to know that I can sing this.  It scans according to "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."  I swear it does. It's not my fault if YOU can't carry a  tune or a rhyme, bless your heart.

Okay, are you ready, Alvin?

And a one and a two and a. . .

 

  You. . . know. . .Margaret and Joshilyn and Barbara and Brunonia, Elaine and Nancy and Cornelia and Kathy, Amy and Heather and Hank. . .But do you recall?  The most im-por-tant Tartlets of allllll?

 

 

 

Sarah, the Vermont Vixen,

Had a very shiny nose,

And after those martinis,

You might even say it glowed.

 

All of the other bloggers,

used to laugh and call her names,

They never let poor Sarah

Join in any blogger games!

Then one blitzened Friday night,

Nancy Martin said,

"Sarah, why's your nose so red?

Is that LIPSTICK on your head?"

Then Sarah told her Charlie,

That she'd met a Harley Jane,

"She a brilliant star and writer!"

Sara Bubbled when she said the name.

 

(Second verse, sung same as the first)

Oh, then the three new best friends

Felt complete until they spied--

Dressed to the nines and maybe tens,

A lovely writer named McBride!

 

None of the other bloggers

were blogging as these four would do,

They'd be funny, smart, and honest,

Sarah swore to tell it true!

 

So they plotted how to please,

Like no bloggy others,

They'd tell secrets of their own,

Just please don't tell. . . their. . . mo-thers.

 

Then how the blogworld loved them,

As they shouted out with glee,

"We are the Lipstick Chronicles,

And we'll go down* in his-toh-ree!"

 

*"They said 'go down'!" Me, Margie exclaimed, as she blogged out of sight.

_______________________________________

BONUS:  Here is the first post they ever posted:

May 24, 2005

Welcome to our world!

Welcome to The Lipstick Chronicles where four friends who write books plan to vent, rant, fume, fuss and maybe reach some insightful conclusions about about our writing lives as we Reveal All about our families, our agents (are they the same??) our work and getting along in the world.

Many thanks to Jane, our web mistress, for setting up the blog in the first place.  (Any blunders we make from now on are solely ours!) and to Sarah for making things look pretty.

We hope to conduct a conversation here.  We want to build friendships.  So join in when you have something to say.  Don't hold back.  We want to hear from you.

Nancy

 

Comments

[Kathy Reschini Sweeney]

Another holiday classic!!!

[Deb]

It's clear that I cannot go on sniffling like this without people thinking that I'm sick. God knows what my waterworks will be like by January 1! I will have to tell the truth: that there's been a "death in the family"...sniffle...sniffle...need...more...tissues...

[Karen in Ohio]

And history was made.

You really did build a family, and a community. Gosh darn it, this is too hard.

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

Oh, a CLASSIC!! HOw wonderful.. I am howling with laughter--and applauding in appreciation of how talented you are!!!
(And now I'll be humming all day. Hush, YOu MArgie.)

[Nancy Pickard]

Our evil secret is that there are so many of us that by the time we've all said goodbye you'll be so sick of the whole thing that you'll yell,"Thank God they're gone!" Hee.

Let's talk about something else. Do you know I STILL haven't finished the new Steven King book about the Kennedy assassination? I still think it's brilliant and compelling, but the damn thing is so big and heavy that it threw my left shoulder out! I kid not. I'm afraid to pick it up again, lol. I shoulda bought it as an ebook.

Also, Homeland is not yet available on DVD I have learned. Rats.

[Karen in Ohio]

Nancy, I think you can watch it online, here:

http://www.sho.com/site/order/preview.do#/Homeland_s01_e01

Claire Danes has always been a favorite of mine. Since we don't have cable, maybe I'll also watch it this way. Have to keep up with the cool kids, ya know?

[Karen in Ohio]

Or here:

http://www.hulu.com/search?query=homeland&st=1&fs=

[xena]

Reminds me of Charlie Waffles:
Bye Bye Boobies!

[Nancy Pickard]

xena, hahahah!! I love that. But who is Charlie Waffles?

Karen, thank you! I'll check it out, and then when you and I join the cool kids we can compare notes on fb.

I'm a little giddy today. I get to go out for a long lunch with friends, after being cooped up at home for the past week.

[Nancy Martin]

What a hoot! NancyP, you're a prize, I must say. Thanks for commemorating our beginnings.

I puzzled about the original blog for a minute, and then I realized the Sarah mentioned for making things look pretty was/is my daughter Sarah (not the Tart Sarah) who was finishing up her studies as a graphic designer at the time. Shortly thereafter, she went to nursing school, got her MBA and is now enjoying a bigtime career in healthcare. I wonder if the experience of creating the first blog header and working with Mr. Typepad sent her directly to nursing school??

[Nancy Pickard]

Nancy, lol, I wouldn't be surprised. Mr. Typepad could drive almost anybody not only to nursing school or drink, but clear back into the l9th century.

I wondered who "Sarah" was, too. When did Holly come on board?

[Holly Gault]

I can't remember. First as a reader, obviously.

[Harley]

My question is, who was Webmistress Jane?

[Harley]

And oh, Nancy P., you have clearly missed your calling. A songwriter/choral director lurks beneath that novelist exterior!

[Nancy Pickard]

I'm tired of saying goodbye, can you tell? :) I want to say HELLO. I'm so happy that some TLCers have already said hello to facebook. Today I'm going to say hello to a new restaurant when I have lunch with my friends. And did I mention, I'M GETTING OUT OF THE HOUSE!!

I said Hello to Trader Joe's recently. That was a great meeting.

If anybody is still reading, lol, what have you said hello to lately?

[Linda Rodriguez]

I love it! The problem is I'll be singing it all day now, and my kids and all the folks in the stores we're going to hit today (the boys don't do gift-shopping until they get here) will think I need to be committed.

NancyP, so sorry about the shoulder. I'm a huge Dickens fan, so my sister started giving me the big hardcover Nonesuch editions. I love them, but my shoulders are shot from lupus and fibro, so I can't read one of them unless I sit at a table resting the heavy book on it. If I ever go to e-books, the weight issue and my shoulders will be why.

[Nancy Pickard]

Linda, have you seen Andrea Warren's new book for chldren, the book about Dickens' life and philanthropy? It's getting rave reviews and I'm so eager to get a copy. So far, I've missed all of her book events, darn it.

[Nancy Pickard]

Omg, I just saw the story about the stupid drunk soccer fan who tried to attack a goalie during a Dutch cup match. The goalie saw him in time, tripped him and then kicked him (twice)like a soccer ball. It is very hard not to feel completely happy about that. :) The goalie got a red card and then his coach marched that team off the field. Sympathy everywhere is with the goalie. The attacker said he did it because he hates that player. Sheesh. He'd been banned previously, but sneaked on. The problem I see is that now he's *really* going to be dangerous.

[Margaret Maron]

But Nancy, you know what IS out on DVD as of 2 days ago? MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, my favorite movie of 2011.

Just finished reading WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (I'm always a year behind everyone else) and loved it because her terminology and research paralleled mine for SLOW DOLLAR. Judith, have you read it? What did you think?

Now I'm wading through the bio of Judge Susie Sharp, NC's first female supreme court justice and also first female Chief Justice. A very conflicted person though few knew it at the time. Never married but had torrid affairs with 3 or 4 of her married mentors. Thoroughly enjoyed being the first female to do a lot of things yet lobbied against ERA. (Probably wanted to stay the only woman in the boy's club.) Was considered fair in her judgments yet was, in private, a Jim Crow racist and anti-Catholic, anti-Jew, anti-a lot of other things. She really could hold two mutually opposing viewpoints at the same time. Doesn't make me like her though.

[NancyP]

Margaret, I haven't read WATER yet, either.

[Linda Rodriguez]

NancyP, I am dying to get my hands on Andie's Dickens book. Have been ever since she first told me about the research she was doing for it. I think any adult would want to read it because she's looked at Dickens in a way few have, except in very scholarly articles. Like you, I always seem to be out of town for her events. Let's stage a raid on her place and pull her out for lunch--with the proviso that she bring two books along to autograph for us.

[Marie-Reine]

Thank you. Really. A ton. xo

[Laura (in PA)]

I love this! Very festive.

Wow - prophetic words on the first blog, Nancy. Boy, did you ever build friendships. Not only tarts to commenters, but among we commenters ourselves. I'll always be grateful.

Enjoy your lunch, NancyP!

[marie]

Nancy P thanks for such a wonderful tribute.
To keep my mind occupied we went to see Daniel Craig in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". We loved it.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season.
The people here are spectacular!!

[Reine]

Sorry. That should be "Reine." xo

PS: Thanks too, for the best meatloaf recipe. xo and bye

[Reine]

Oh. Forgot. I've said hello to a revised body schema including new hair by Sylvia the championship horseback sharpshooter.

[Nancy Martin]

Harley, Jane was (at the time)the one who created my website, and I corralled her into helping put the blog together. I think Mr. Typepad did her in. We've since lost touch. I think she's hiding from Mr. T.

[Deb]

Nancy P,

My "hello" - it was on my "to do" list for four years, but I FINALLY joined the local Fine Arts Council earlier this month. A couple of months ago I bought season tickets to the council's current roster of plays. I'm embarrassed that it has taken me so long to start supporting the arts in my city.

Margaret,
I started reading WATER FOR ELEPHANTS but I just haven't been able to get into it. I LOVED her book THE APE HOUSE, and couldn't put it down.

Linda,
The reason I bought an e-reader is that it just got too painful to hold onto thick books. I've sustained more than one "reading" injury.

[Karen in Ohio]

Sara Gruen is a good example of someone who has changed genres without also changing her name, and it didn't hurt her a bit. Her first couple of books were about a woman trying to rebuild her life by taking over her parents' riding school. Animals were involved, but those books told a completely different kind of story than Water for Elephants.

I resisted reading Water for Elephants for a couple of years, because I had no idea what it was about. It was a big surprise when I finally read it because of our book club. The Ape House was scary as hell.

[gaylin in Vancouver]

I found the blog after reading one of Harley's books and the address was included in the acknowledgements??? I think that was how. I haven't read Water and probably won't.

The most interesting book I read this year and darn it, I can't remember the title, it was on the history of the NIS, which became NCIS. Very compelling.

I sit on my couch with a big pillow on my lap when I read a big hardcover, that way I don't have to hold it, just turn pages. If I had a sweetie I would have seriously hinted for an e-reader for Christmas, it is not in my budget at the moment.

I started my day with Eartha Kitt's version of Santa Baby.

[gaylin in Vancouver]

I did try to go to those sites to check out Homeland and still get the message:
Content not available in your country.

[marie]

Sometimes I recall comedian George Gobel on The Tonight Show" when he asked Johnny Carson "Did you ever feel like the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?"
Well, when I come to TLC I always feel like a "tuxedo" because it has been such a welcoming place!!

[Karen in Ohio]

It's a really good book, Gaylin. I've heard that the movie isn't half as good.

Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt is one of my two favorite holiday songs! The other one: Baby, it's Cold Outside, as sung by Sammy Davis Jr. and/or Dean Martin. Sexy!

[JJ]

Xena, I love Charlie Waffles almost as much as I love this blog and all these gals, so you're not alone! All I can say is thank goodness for Facebook and still being able to keep up. And, Nancy, next time I see you, you HAVE to sing for me. Can't write a song this good and not be musical too.

[lil Gluckstern]

I love the song. As for the rest, I'm in denial. I'll look for you on Kacebook, but right now my inner four year old is stamping its feet :-)

[Reine]

NancyP, Gaylin, Karen - aren't we talking about HOMELAND the TV show? I know nothing about a film or book, but Scout, Kendall and I are captives of the HOMELAND TV series on Showtime. Nice NYT review: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/arts/television/showtimes-homeland-finale-with-claire-danes.html

[Carol Robinson]

Someone asked a few days ago if the Archives of this blog would still be available after January 1. I don't remember seeing an answer, does anyone know? I came to the party so late that if the archives are available I can have a long, long goodbye :)

[Karen in Ohio]

Yes, but we were also talking about Water for Elephants, the book. Sorry for the confusion, Reine. Too many cross conversations, I guess.

My daughter Holly is crazy about Homeland (the TV show!). Since we don't get cable I've not seen it, although it sounds as though there are some online viewings in my near future!

[gaylin in Vancouver]

Reine, the book I mentioned that I liked this year was:
Conduct Unbecoming
http://books.google.ca/books/about/Conduct_unbecoming.html?id=iOAmL6JPCE0C&redir_esc=y

As for the tv show Homeland, I would love to watch it, if it was available in Canada. Maybe it is? On satellite? or cable channel I don't get.

[Hanna from Finland]

Oh,I'm going to miss this blog so much!

[Reine]

Hi Gaylin,

Thanks for clearing that up. Have you ever read this one? http://www.amazon.com/Love-Between-Women-Christian-Homoeroticism/dp/0226075923 More academic maybe, but I love this book.

Hi Karen, we get HOMELAND via DirecTV satellite. I think some episodes can be viewed on the Showtime web site.

It sure is nice not having to do that code thingy!

[Nancy Pickard]

Hi, and thank you to all of you who came in to comment after my last comment. Hard to believe this is the last time I'll have my own blog post here. I feel really really lucky that I got to partake and be part for a while. I've made good friends. I've had great fun. I've been touched and moved and impressed and taught and inspired and. . .

The nurse is coming to check on my mom, so I have to run off again, but. . .love to you all.

[Lynn in Texas]

Thanks for the clever song, Nancy. Will definitely miss your witty sense of humor, along with that of the other Tarts who've made this place such a fun respite. Glad I found you on FB.

Happy Holidays and all Best Wishes for the New Year.

[Danielle, Quebec]

I love your song but can't sing it.
In a family,we're not supposed to have favourites but you were definitely one of mine here. And if the goal to bring this blog on was to find new readers: it was successful. And you were the first I sought and read.
But more than that, posts and comments made me think,
laugh, cry and enjoy company.Even if my background is a little different as a french canadian I could almost always relate.
Thanks to you and I hope you had a good lunch out of home.

[Deb]

Okay, Nancy, I must be serious for a little bit:
When I discovered this blog - and I still cannot remember how I found it - one of the special things about it was discovering that some of my favorite authors blogged here, including you. It's been great to find out that you are such a delightful person,in addition to being such a great writer. Your characters feel like people I have known. (Your tornado description gave me nightmares. Thanks for the image. I think.)

I still miss Jenny Cain.

Being the kind of neurotic that I am, after TLC ends for good and I no longer know what's going on with you and the bloggers and backbloggers on a regular basis, I will be worrying up a storm about the welfare of all of you.

I will miss hearing about Al's Princesses...I will miss...oh,heck; time for more tissues...

[Al_S]

Oh NancyP you are so very clever. I love your rendition of a Christmas favorite and the way you worked in the four foremothers. I am really going to miss your posts.

[Laraine]

Lovely work, NancyP.

Hmmm. Where will we go in January for answers to questions like, 'how did Harley and NancyM meet for the first time?'

Sigh.