Hi everyone,

Well here we are nearly at the end of January already. We had a lovely few days up in Sydney, enjoying the change of pace and scenery immensely. The apartment that we were staying in had a wonderful view of Sydney Harbour and it is just so pretty.

Our cable network, Foxtel, is still airing The Waltons, I'm very pleased to say, but still airing them in a very strange order. We are well into the third season now. We saw most of the second season, except "The Bequest". I'm not sure why that one was missed but maybe it will pop up at some time, like one from the first season did. We haven't seen "The Easter Story" here yet either, but I'm assuming that they might have kept that one to show at Easter, which really isn't all that far away.

I haven't added as much to my site as I would have liked to during my holidays, so hopefully I'll get to it during the next term break, however I have added a new story which was sent to me by Laura. I've had a lot of positive comments about Laura's first story and I do hope that you'll enjoy the second one just as much. Thank you very much Laura for the "loan" of your story. You will find a link from my main page:

http://www.oocities.org/TelevisionCity/2792/walton1.htm

Don't forget too, that all of the 1998 digests are up now for you to catch up on. They are linked to my second site at:

http://www.oocities.org/TelevisionCity/Set/4536/index.html

They're fun to catch up on too. Sometimes I forget just how many Waltons "things" we have covered over the weeks until I'm editing them to go on the Net.

Hopefully the Digests will now be back to the weekly format, but please don't stress if yours doesn't arrive on a given day. Sometimes there are problems with the ISP or something might have cropped up and I simply haven't had time. Alternatively there may not have been much mail, so please keep it all coming in. :-))

Talk to you all again next week. Goodnight everyone,

Karen.

Regarding Lisa Harrison - the information you saw has to be incorrect. I don't believe John-Boy was even on the show at the time that Lisa Harrison came on; she was always just Jason's girlfriend. (Robert Wightman might have been playing John-Boy at the time she came on - my memory isn't clear - but I think this was even before he began his stint as John-Boy on the show.)

Geri Ann in Phoenix, Arizona

KAREN'S COMMENT: Yes I had thought that Lisa only ever played Jason's girlfriend. As you're getting closer to the end of the series over there, I would think she would have popped up, or be seen very soon, if she had been.

Hello to Karen and fellow Digest members!

I am SO HAPPY to have finally seen the episodes of "The Violated" and "The Waiting!" Since I started watching The Waltons on an every-day basis on The Family Channel a couple of years ago, I had never seen those episodes. And, they went through the eighth season three or four times while I was watching before the show moved to TNN. I never understood why they skipped those episodes. I always felt terribly disjointed, because John-Boy was MIA up to the "Lost Sheep" episode, then The Family Channel would skip the next two, and all of a sudden John-Boy had been found, and Olivia was off caring for him, but you never knew what transpired in between.

Now, I figure it is because "The Violated" deals with the subject of rape that The Family Channel didn't want to show it. And, "The Waiting" takes its lead directly from "The Violated." The Family Channel must have figured they'd skip that one, too, since they are directly connected.

"The Violated" ends with Earl Hamner saying that the story would be continued "...on the next episode of The Waltons," and "The Waiting" begins with Earl calling our attention to a review of the last scene of "The Violated." This is the only time I recall two separate episodes being connected in this fashion (as opposed to Part I and Part II of the same episode).

And, I was thrilled to see the actor who played Paul Northridge (Erin's husband) in later episodes playing John-Boy's roommate in the Hospital in "The Waiting." I liked that actor, and was sad that Erin and Paul's marriage ended up not working out.

By the way, poor Erin...she's really gone through the ringer romantically, hasn't she? From G.W. getting killed to Ashley marrying another woman while overseas to Paul cheating on her... It's too bad, because the character is just so sweet.

(Keep in mind that I haven't ever seen the 1997 special, so I'm not sure if her romantic life has turned around lately...the last thing I recall was that fellow teacher, who was married, coming to her house to mourn President Kennedy's death with her.)

Oh my! I've gone on quite a bit. I'll cut myself off now, and say good day to everyone!

Claire

KAREN'S COMMENT: I'm with you Claire, I always liked Paul too. I hadn't realised that the Family Channel hadn't aired those episodes before. We can add them to our list of ones they wouldn't show!

HI!

Does anyone know what happens to Ashley Longworth and Erin? Why didn't they ever marry?

I look forward to the Waltons everyday after work. Two and a half hours to go now.:) heehee.

Goodnight everyone,

Susan

KAREN'S COMMENT: The Waltons is well worth waiting for Susan :-). About Ashley and Erin, I haven't seen these for a while, but no doubt someone can fill us in.

Good evening Karen and all.....

I noticed a couple of things in the past two episodes I've seen that surprised me.

Last night in the episode "The Wager" where Mary Ellen and Erin ran the walk and ride race, the family sat down to dinner without saying grace. I don't think I've ever seen them do that before.

In tonight's episode, "The Spirit", they were celebrating Christmas, 1943. Everyone had gathered together on Christmas Eve, and Ike Godsey got up to offer a toast. He held his cup up and said, "to our loved ones not with us tonight, to John Boy, Olivia, Esther, Miss Emily and Miss Mamie," but he failed to mention his own daughter, Aimee! I found this a little odd. Wouldn't she have been home from school? Or at least mentioned because Ike and Cora Beth were celebrating the holiday at someone else's home?

Here in Ohio we are in the middle of a severe ice storm, keeping everyone off the roads. The weather isn't supposed to be any better tomorrow, but hopefully by the weekend (this is Wednesday) things will dry up a bit.

Looking forward to reading next weeks digest,

Robin in Ohio

KAREN'S COMMENT: Has anyone else noticed the family not saying grace before their meal. Could it be that they only say it before their evening meal and this was lunch time? Any suggestions?

Again from Ohio -

Tonight my family and I were watching "The Fastidious Wife", where Cora Beth gives Cindy the book on how to keep Ben happy.

Mary Ellen brings a cradle to the shed for Cindy, and says that John Curtis and all the other Walton babies had slept in it. My husband, Doug, reminded me that no, that cradle had been made by John for Mary Ellen especially for John Curtis. Remember when John and Olivia felt that maybe it wasn't good enough compared to the bassinet that the Baldwin Sisters gave?

Tonight it was Doug with the "eagle eye". He teases me a lot about watching the Waltons, but sometimes he remembers things that I've forgotten!

Talk to you later,

Robin

KAREN'S COMMENT: Do you tease Doug about watching so carefully Robin :-)). He did very well.

Hello from Ohio again!

I know, this makes three letters from me, but I had to write and tell you about my latest find. Yesterday, my husband and I visited one of our favorite antique malls, and I bought a Walton's lunchbox, complete with thermos. I had walked right by it and not seen it, but Doug pointed it out to me. I thought about it while we walked the rest of the mall, then went back to the booth it was in and got it. I've checked out the E-bay auction site to try and see if I spent too much - there are two up for sale on there now. Doug reminded me that we've never seen another one around here, so I spent the money on it, even if though it means I'll be brown-bagging lunches for a while! This makes two pieces of memorabilia for me - I bought a Walton's board game at the same antique mall last year, although from a different dealer. I have yet to see any of the dolls, except for on the auction site.

I hope you have enjoyed your time away, Karen. I know how important a vacation can be.

Until next time,

Robin

KAREN'S COMMENT: Ebay is a good site to check out what's going on with the memorabilia. Their lunchboxes have been going for quite a high price recently...too high I sometimes think, but then that's what people will pay and that's what determines their value. My memorabilia consists of most of the books at the moment. I've just bought some of the paperback ones and I'm waiting for them to arrive. I keep looking though. Maybe one day I'll find a Waltons something that I just HAVE to have.

Hello,

I have just joined your mailing list, and have always been a big fan of the Waltons. I have a couple of questions for you.

Did they actually have an episode in which grandpa died and the family found him on the mountain? It has always been referred to, but did they have it in an episode? Also, the little girl Virginia, what was the accident that happened to her, and was it also ever an episode? Thank you for your input on these question. :)

Carol

KAREN'S COMMENT: I haven't seen these episodes for a long time, but since Will Geer died during the hiatus, I don't think there was an episode where this actually happened. Rather they had like a memorial service thing for both Grandpa Walton and Will Geer at the end of one of the episodes. As for Virginia, it was mentioned that she had died in A Walton Thanksgiving, but I don't recall a cause being given. I will stand corrected though!