Tag Archives: literature

Ha, I know a lot of them today! But this is when I was a kid.

I knew an old lady who swallowed a fly. I don’t know why she swallowed a fly… yes the great Canadian folk singer Alan Mills wrote and sang this song. I still give the book to kids.

His wife was best of friends to my great aunt. It was quite a scary story, especially (don’t tell your kids) in the end she ate the horse, of course.

After he was gone, I remember her cooking a lovely dinner for us at their home, filled with art and gorgeous, spare French Canadian furniture. I cannot remember what we had for dinner but am sure it was excellent and I was too absorbed in the dinner, design and art to remember what she cooked.

In the 60’s I had no idea of the revolution that was going on in the U.S. We did watch Walter Cronkite every evening and he ended the news with an official body count then his signature farewell.

I never got the hippie spirit as my father was wearing suits and skinny ties. I believe I did have two wild great-aunts (one I adopted and that was Mr. Mills’ wife) who had their own way of dealing with the system.

For the first time I got to ride a motorcycle, meet gays and people from different cultures. I also ate different foods that sparked an interest in cooking.

In her nineties, my aunt was still in her apartment in a lovely neighborhood and the societal police came to call to see if she could be evicted and placed in an old folks home/facility.

They asked her questions and had her count down backwards from 100 by 7. Then they told her to write a sentence. She asked if it could be in the form of a question. The answer was yes so she wrote “When are you leaving?”

Secondhand Lions, the film, introduces the viewers to an older Michael Caine and Robert Duvall as ornery uncles to a young boy. My aunts, current and passed, are inspirations to me and founts of stories, both personal and from great literature.

Today, I cherish all my ancestors and friends who I will not name except for Nanny, who accepted me into my husband’s family and thus creates more stories.

I knew an old lady who swallowed a fly, I don’t know why she swallowed a fly…. Good morning! Dee