Hi there everyone,

I hope you have all had a great week and are enjoying your summer. Things were a little slow mail wise earlier this week, so you will only have received one mailing this week. However, I did receive quite a few letters during the later part of the week, but as I wasn't feeling really well, I hadn't got around to compiling them until today. Please don't be concerned if you only receive one mailing for the week. It usually means that things are just a bit slow coming in. If it needs to be sent out for you quickly, I will send it straight to you, otherwise I might wait till more comes in.

Well now it's over to you. Till next time, Karen.

From Julie:

Here's a thought---wouldn't it be a good idea to have the next Walton's special be about the marriage of Elizabeth and Drew and have it be called "A Walton's Valentine??"

KAREN'S COMMENT: If they were to do this they would share Erin and Paul's wedding anniversary, as they also married on Valentine's Day. Very romantic!

From Rae:

Hi all. Since we didn't get a midweek installment of the digest, I am guessing its been slow, so I thought I would send something. I have an idea, since we are adding so many new members, myself included it might be nice if each of us wrote a message introducing ourselves. Maybe the basics(our names, ages(if you want) and where we live, as well as our Walton favorites (character, episode, memory, etc.) I think that this would help us to get to know each other. If this has already been done, let me know, It was just an idea. So, I'll start, just in case.

My name is Raeann (Rae for short) Schoudt, I live in Pennsylvania USA, and I'm 29 years old. My favorites are Elizabeth, John-Boy (Richard Thomas's version, not the impostor) and lately in reruns I have really started to like Jason. My favorite episodes, "The Empty Nest" where they remember Grandpa. So many touching, as well as funny moments in that one, and Jason writing his composition for Klineberg. Oh, and the one where Elizabeth and Drew go to the dance (the beginning of a beyootiful relationship). Those are my favorites. Well that's about it. Oh, for those who watch it in the late afternoon early evening on the Family channel, I just realized that if they keep going in order, we only have a few weeks left. I hope they then start over from the first episode (can you say Walmart blank video tapes here I come!!!!!) Well, that's it, have a great week.

KAREN'S COMMENT: I would welcome introductions from any of our newer members, and thanks for yours Rae. It's nice to know a bit about those on the list. Actually one of the newer members asked me during the week where in Australia I lived, so I guess I might as well tell you all now. Rod and I live with our two sons, Tim and James, in North Ringwood, which is an Eastern suburb of Melbourne. We are about 15 miles from the center of Melbourne not far from the base of the Dandenong Ranges. It's a very pretty, "treey" suburb. In case your knowledge of Australia is not too good :-), Melbourne is the capital city of Victoria, Australia's southern most mainland state. Tasmania is the southern most state and it takes about 12 hours by boat, or 1 hour by plane to get there.

From Kim:

We learnt French in high school as well, and also German since French, Flemish and German are the three official languages of Belgium. But I like English best. It's such a beautiful language. That's great that you speak French! I think I have to brush up on my French also. We have a French TV channel here and they show 'The Waltons' or 'La Famille des Collines' as they call it every Wednesday. But I watch it every Monday and Tuesday on Dutch television. The last episodes I saw were about Mary Ellen's wedding. But they are not showing 'The Waltons' on television this week or the next because it's the tennis season at Wimbledon. But after that they should be broadcasting it again. If they don't take a summer break that is. Oh I hope not! Two months or longer without my favorite show! I sometimes have a peep at the French episodes but they are already in season eight I believe and we are in season five. And the French episodes are dubbed, really stupid. Instead of having French subtitles, everyone is speaking French. John Boy is called 'Junior'! Well, it can be funny sometimes.

KAREN'S COMMENT: I find it fascinating to hear about The Waltons being shown on non English TV. It's interesting that the French channel dubs the voices. I wouldn't have thought that "La Famille des Collines" translates into "The Waltons". I've forgotten a lot of my high school French Kim, as I haven't used it for a long time.

From Marca:

My name is Marca and I've recently joined this nice mailing list about my favorite TV series The Waltons.

I live in the Netherlands (or in Holland as some would prefer) which is located in Europe somewhere between England and Germany (for those who don't know).

When I was a little girl I saw already several episodes of The Waltons during the late 70's. Of course I didn't understand what is was all about and then I wasn't really a great fan. But about one year ago (and some 15 years later) one of our Dutch television stations began to broadcast it for the second time. (My Belgian neighbor Kim mentioned this already in Digest 21..). They broadcast it twice a week when there are no big tennis tournaments such as Roland Garros or Wimbledon.

I started to watch this series again and I love it even more. It is a wonderful family, it has great stories and the characters are played by good actors. I like them all but my favorites are John and Zeb (Grandpa). And as good as I can I (often) try to interpret the spirit of tradition and family values, as shown in The Waltons, in these modern times.

Recently I asked my husband Alex if he could search for some info about The Waltons on the Internet. I didn't expect much because the series has been recorded in the 70's and ended in the early 80's (except some specials). But to my surprise he did find some interesting information and photographs with the help of the nice program WebFerret. There were much more sites containing 'Waltons' but they mostly had a music group from Canada as subject I never heard of.

The official Waltons web site The.Waltons.Com is very nice because they have access to the sources (writes, editors and actors) of the series and the movies. And I really think that Karen has also made a superb job in composing her web site. For me it contained a lot of unknown information.

Also my greatest compliments for her because she will spend so much time in compiling this mailing list. But I understand it is not the best weather in Australia at this moment. In my country it is summer with temperatures between 17 and 20 degrees Celsius with sometimes a little bit of rain but mostly dry and cloudy.

About Father's Day: In the Netherlands we celebrate Father's Day on the 3rd Sunday of June. We usually visit our father and give him a small present to thank him for his care during all the past years. This year I gave him a compact disc of the blind Italian singer Andrea Boccelli.

Just like other fans I ordered the memorabilia package and I am very anxious about it. I think it is a great initiative and I hope they find more stuff to sell. We also found the addresses of 3 fan clubs who all publish a quarterly newsletter. One in England: "The Waltons Friendship Society" and two in the USA: "Friends of The Waltons" and "The Waltons International Fan Club". I would like you ask anyone of you if you have experience with one of the fan clubs and what you think of the quality of the newsletters. Perhaps I will join one of these fan clubs, or more if they all don't write the same news.

Well, this is my first contribution to the mailing list and I hope you like it. And forgive me if I made some mistakes with the English language. I would like to hear from you all soon.

KAREN'S COMMENT: Thank you for your letter Marca. I'm glad you're enjoying both the program, and the mailing list. It's amazing how many sites there are for the music group, The Waltons, because we have never heard of them over here! I have no doubt that our Canadian members would tell us they are very popular over there.

About the fan clubs: I am a member of The Waltons International Fan Club, simply because I thought it would be designed for overseas members, but this was not so. However I am enjoying their newsletters. I believe they contain quite different information to the Friends of the Waltons. Some of our list members are also members of this one and might like to write a bit about it to help you make up your mind which to join. As for the one in England...I have no idea! Does anyone else know about this one? I have been tempted to join all three also Marca.

From Shirley:

Walton and Hamner June Birthdays: Since there seems to be a number of Walton birthdays for June, I thought you would be interested in knowing who they are:

3rd June Grandma Walton = Ellen Corby, 86

13th June John Boy Walton = Richard Thomas, 46

17th June Elizabeth Walton = Kami Cotler, 32

21st June James Hamner, 61

22nd June John Walton = Ralph Waite, 68

July Birthdays

10th July Earl Hamner, 74

KAREN'S COMMENT: Yes June certainly seems a popular birth month for Waltons actors. I hope they all enjoyed their birthday celebrations.

From Lael:

Just wanted to mention a Waltons' sighting that I had. I usually don't watch talk shows, but I was flipping through the channels yesterday morning and happened to see Mary McDonough (sp?) on Sally Jessy Raphael. She was discussing breast implants - I believe - and the illnesses that hers caused. Then she spoke of a new movie she just did -I don't remember the name :( - but Sally showed a clip and it was a VERY steamy clip of Mary making out with a guy. I do remember she said that the movie had something to do with a married couple wanting to divorce and they were locked up together for 24 hours to work on the marriage. It may sound silly, but it looked to me to be a very serious film. After the clip, Sally was remarking about it and Mary said something about it not being the Waltons any longer. She was only on for a short time, but it was nice to see her anyway.

While I am here, I have another question/comment. The other night on the Family Channel, they showed the episode where Cindy sees apparitions of Ben at the end of her bed, then they find out that he is a POW. I thought that the family channel had refused to air any episodes dealing with supernatural things (ghosts, etc...) and I was very surprised to see this one. Was I off target in thinking they weren't showing those episodes, or was this one tame enough to pass through their censors?

KAREN'S COMMENT: Did anyone else see this piece? I gather it would have been current, and not a rerun? I'm not sure if we get Sally's program over here anymore. It might be on around 5 in the morning, I'm not sure.

It's an interesting point you raise Lael. I wonder why they chose to be inconsistent about this. Any suggestions?

From Marie:

Happily, I received in the mail today my newsletter - Blue Ridge Chronicles! Are any other mailing list members reading the messages on the Waltons Discussion Forum at Ralph's web site? It can be very informative.

In The Moonshiner episode this week, Boone Walton told the sad story about his wife, Rose Jamison, and their son being drowned in a flood in the spring of 1888. They had been married in her church in Alberene which was a 12-mile walk for him. Boone says the name of his son - Henry Jamison Walton - did I hear that right? Then who is Wade Walton in The Conflict? I thought he was Boone's grandson. Were Wade's parents ever mentioned? I'm sure the writers never thought these story lines would come under such scrutiny.

KAREN'S COMMENT: I catch up with the Forum every few days and I find it really good too. About Wade, I always thought he was a grandson too, but maybe Boone is his Uncle?

From Lael:

I know I already posted once here this week, but I just happened to think of another question that I forgot to put in my last post. Last night, the episode was aired of FAM in which Cindy's father, the Colonel, came to visit her on Walton's mountain. I know he hadn't seen her for awhile because he'd been "overseas." During one part, he went to talk to John about Cindy and Ben and he said to John that Cindy's mother had died when she was just a young lady and he (father) had done the best he could by her. However, I also remember another episode when Cindy and Ben's son was born and a woman took Cindy to Charlottesville to go shopping, then Cindy went into premature labor and ended up staying in the fancy hotel with this woman. The woman was a bit overbearing and went so far as to take Virginia to stay with Cindy without asking Ben's permission. I was under the impression that this woman was Cindy's Mom. Was I mistaken? Was this woman her grandmother, or maybe her step-mother? I honestly thought that it was her Mom, but now I am way confused after seeing the episode last night.

Little things like this tend to drive me bananas! Could someone set me straight on Cindy's parents?

KAREN'S COMMENT: After going through some of her Father's papers after his death, Cindy discovers she is adopted, and she sets out to look for her birth mother. It is Cindy's birth mother who appears in the special you mentioned, Mother's Day on Waltons Mountain.

From Shirley:

You lucky people get the Waltons. We don't get them here in Canada. We are having close to 90 degrees weather with some rain. Oh! Yes! Karen we have Father's Day in June too.(3rd Sunday in June) Canada Day is July 1st, as the US is the 4th of July. We have thanksgiving the second Monday in October as the US their thanksgiving is in November.

Good Night, Karen Girl :-)
Shirley's Homepage:

http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ct622/

KAREN'S COMMENT: Goodnight everyone.