Hi there everyone,

I hope you've all had a great week.  It's certainly been relaxing here, with things being done much more slowly than usual.  I've managed to catch up on some reading. This next term we have a Children's Book Week celebration and during the term we spend a lot of time looking at the children's books which have been shortlisted for the different awards.  It means that I have to have read about 18 different books before the end of the holidays so that I can plan how I'm going to approach teaching/introducing them to the children.  I don't know how many of these Australian books make their way overseas, but we do have some excellent authors represented.  Bob Graham has a picture book in, and Emily Rodda has a junior fiction book in.  These are just two very well known authors over here who have written and illustrated a lot of books for children. Like I said though, I don't know how many of our books are sold overseas. We don't seem to get a lot of overseas writers over here, unless you go to specialty bookshops.  There's a few around that just cater for children's books.  Anyway, we get very well known authors such as Patricia MacLaughlin, and Katherine Paterson, and, of course, all the series books and a lot of British stuff, but I'm sure we miss a lot of very interesting authors.

Apart from that, I've had to compile reports for all the children at school, to let their parents, and them, know how they're going with their information skills. That's been time consuming, but at least it's finished now.

We've got a couple of theatre things coming up this week, to look forward to. Thursday night we're seeing Trelawny of the Wells, with Amanda Douge (sp) playing in one of the main roles. Some of you will remember her as Victoria Blackwell in Snowy River: The MacGregor Saga. Friday we're seeing The Sound of Music. The revived Broadway production has been going out here since November last year. It came to Melbourne in March and has been doing very well. I'm really looking forward to that.

Till next week, goodnight everyone,

Karen.

Dear Karen, just thought everyone might like to know that Ellen Corby had made guest appearances on the Andy Griffith show, Gomer Pyle and I love Lucy, and she had a great career before The Waltons. The acting community lost a gem when she died.

Goodnight everyone.
Ron

KAREN'S COMMENT: Yes she certainly had a huge body of work that she'd appeared in, even before The Waltons came along. In fact, after The Waltons, did she do much at all?

We enjoy the show with Richard Thomas "It's a Miracle" here in MD... it is well done and not as melodramatic as some that tend to leave the viewer more in amazement than fulfilled. I think my favorite so far is the story of the Mother who found her son living on the streets in CA and the strange circumstances that brought around that miracle. I have a son who has been missing 7 1/2 years and these stories do bring me hope -- but hope we don't have to wait 10 or 20 years.....
Richard is so sincere with this project and I can see it lasting for many years.

Carole

KAREN'S COMMENT: These types of shows just remind us that we really don't know what is often just around the corner. Perhaps one of these days you'll be writing with some very exciting news Carole.  I hope so.

I just watched an old Movie "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" with Don Knotts, and Ellen Corby had a small part. It was a pleasant surprise to see her in that movie. I just wanted to share that.

Lisa

KAREN'S COMMENT: It seems to be a time when all Ellen's old movies are coming on again.:-)  I haven't seen this one.

Hi Karen,
This is my first time sending you a message. Hello everyone. I have been a fan of The Waltons since I was a young boy growing up on a farm in Thunder Bay Ontario Canada, which is located about 1000 miles west of Toronto. I grew up not unlike the Walton children I have a large family we would all sit down to supper and discuss the days events. Our house was always filled with laughter. My parents always made stranger feel welcome I guess you could call it country hospitality. At the end of the day when we where all safe in bed we would call out good night to each other.

The episodes from the 8 & 9th season I enjoy are from season 8... The Home Front , The Idol , The Last Straw . From season 9...The Outrage, The Last Ten Days, The Threshold. Seasons 8 & 9 may have not been as good as the previous seasons but I believe there where still some very good moments. I always missed Richard Thomas in the role of John Boy and often wonder how much different it would have been if Richard would have stayed. Although Robert Wightman did an excellent job filling the role. It is sad the way the show ended there was never a real conclusion (as some shows have a well defined final episode). The Revel was the final episode it did not really give closure to the show. There where several specials that followed all of which I enjoyed as a way of catching up with the family.

A movie that I remember Will Geer being in was Jeremiah Johnson (1972). Excellent film! I miss Will his role as Grandpa was an inspiration to many. Goodnight Grandpa.

Enjoy your holidays Karen.
Goodnight Everyone.
Rob.

KAREN'S COMMENT: Thanks for your response too Rob.  I agree with you...some of the episodes of seasons 8 and 9 might have been less enjoyable than others in earlier series, there were certainly many episodes there which were still very good. Another I liked was The Hot Rod. I haven't seen the final episode, The Revel, for so long that I can't really make any comment about it's closure or not. What do other people think? I believe they could quite easily have ended the series with A Decade of the Waltons, Founder's Day or even The Valediction, all episodes that seem to tie up the series quite nicely.

Karen,
Love the Walton's Digest. Here's a comment about the Walton house. How many bedrooms did they have? I know of John's and Olivia's, the grandparents', the boys' and girls' rooms and, of course, John-Boy's. To my knowledge there wasn't a guest room. However in early episodes, Jim-Bob and Elizabeth share a room. Where did this one come from?

Karen in Ohio

KAREN'S COMMENT: I always thought there were just the four rooms upstairs, and I also didn't think there was a guest room.  After all John Boy had to move every time someone came to visit! It seemed like there was just the one downstairs too.

Hello Karen,

This isn't really Walton-ish but I really enjoyed the USA v Australian talk and wanted to add my bit. I am not at all offended if you don't add it to your digest as it is completely off topic.

<<And, I've noticed when speaking by phone with my friend in rural, far northern, England that her English has lost a lot of it's British accent.>>

I think a lot of Americans / Canadians think that a British accent is as the Royal Family speaks, whereas the reality is less "plummy". I have travelled in the USA / Canada and have a Southern English accent which is constantly mistaken for Australian. I should think that Australians would be horrified if they heard my accent being described as Australian. Also there is a huge range of accents in the UK, some even localised to cities, (Scouse from Liverpool and Geordie from Newcastle) and this adds to the confusion. Many North American can not believe that such a tiny country has such a range of accents.

Having said that the huge popularity of Australian soap in the late 80s / early 90s did add Australian terms to "British English", sangers for sausages, barbie for BBQ and this arvo which is never written down over here but certainly said. The other night I was listening to the radio, a BBC national station and the DJ (disc jockey in this case :-)) ) said "give us a bell on the moby" which translates as "phone me on my moblie phone". My cousins in Vancouver didn't know what a mobile phone was until I showed them. This is because:
1) they pronounce the word mobile so differently and
2) they tend to refer to them as cell phones over there.

<<"On holiday" means taking a trip to another place to us. "Time off" or "vacation" is used to mean days off from work or a job, and from school.>>

We use these terms as in Australia except university students have vacation. so a student saying I'm on vacation means that it is not term time. Our school year is split into three terms. The first is called the Autumn Term and runs from September to December. In the middle we have one weeks holiday called half term. Xmas is a two week break usually. The next term is the Spring Term, also with a half term in the middle. The Spring Term lasts until Easter. Over here Good Friday and Easter Monday are always bank holidays ( this means national holidays). Schools have just under two weeks holiday then. The Summer Term is until the end of July, also with a break in the middle for half term. The summer holidays are for six weeks.

Until recently universities followed the same pattern but without half terms. Instead their terms were shorter and the vacations ( which is what the uni s called them) longer, normally a month for Xmas and Easter and 12 weeks for summer, enabling students to take summer jobs. Now the holidays are pretty similar but there are often two semesters. One running from October to February, a short break for exams to be marked and then March to June with the Easter vacation being a bit shorter.

Like you in Australia we have colleges but usually they are part of a larger university. And also it is very common nowadays to take degrees across two faculties. This is being encouraged. However we specialise even early. Pupils start school in YrR (reception). This is one, two or three terms, depending on the child's birthday, but ending in July for all. In September on return to school the pupils go into Yr1. This follows through exactly t he same as Australia ( except our academic years run September to September) until Yr11. At the end of Yr11 pupils take GCSE exams in most subjects. Some pupils leave school after this and can go to a technical college to study vocational course or maybe take a job which allows day realse to college. These college are not university. Some pupils will just (hopefully) work.

Some pupils will return to do Yr12 and study for more GCSEs, maybe re-do some of the GCSEs again to get better grades or to study vocational courses. More academically able pupils will return to school for two years to do A levels. You study A levels for in just three subjects, I did Biology, Chemistry and Physics. So very early specialism. You need A levels to gain entry to uni.

<<Words are another thing altogether! Swimming costumes are a prime example. Here in Victoria we call them "bathers", New South Wales call them "swimmers" and other places call them "togs". I don't know what you call them! We have a "jug" of water, not a "pitcher" and we walk on the
"footpath", not the "sidewalk". The storage space in cars here in Victoria is called a "boot", but other places in Australia call it the "trunk". There are all sorts of little differences like these. It's very interesting. >>

In the UK words vary across the nation. We say swimming togs here, but my Mum calls them "bathers" ( that is a generation thing). We say "trainers" but in the North they call them "sneakers" and in Wales "dabs" (Reeboks / Adidas etc shoes for sport). We have jugs (never pitchers), walk on the pavement (not sidewalk), footpath is a track in the country-side and our cars have boots. Elephants have trunks !!

Hope I haven't bored you but I find this type of thing fascinating. I'm also a teacher. I am so looking forward to my long summer hols ..... just four more weeks to go. Enjoy your holiday
Best Wishes
Alison

KAREN'S COMMENT: Now, I never!!! say "sangers" for sausages, although some people say "snags" and I'm with you...we carry mobile phones too. It always sounds funny when people refer to them as cell phones. We often just shorten it to "call on the mobile" too.

The first year of school has funny names too. Here in Victoria we call it "Preps". I guess it was originally short for a Preparation Year. Children have 7 years at primary school...Prep to Year 6.  Other states start school with year 1, although I think some call it Reception too.  It's very confusing as some private schools also have a Reception year here in Victoria, which I think might be equivalent to our Kindergarten year. Kindergarten is for 4 year olds and is held for 4 half days per week. It's not compulsory, but is a good way to help children with social skills.

I can add another word for "trainers".  They're sometimes called "runners" over here!  It is fascinating.

Dear Karen & Walton's Friends,

In response to favorite Walton's Couple, my first choice- John and Olivia. Although this is not a wildly original offering, the reason for my preference might be. I enjoyed the way John treated Olivia as if she were still his young sweetheart and always seemed captivated by her even after she had all those children! How often do we hear of men trading down for a younger model when they get bored. I think his representation is a good role model for fidelity and longevity. As for Olivia, she obviously adored her husband and allowed him to be a leader and yet spoke up when her feelings and judgement deemed it necessary. Their relationship showed mutual respect and attraction.

Second choice is for Jonesy and Mary Ellen, what wonderful chemistry they had! I especially enjoyed the way Jonesy pulled Mary Ellen back into her life, he had just the right personality to do it.

On a personal note, I was saddened to learn that my late Grandma's home in Virginia, was struck by lightening this past week and subsequently was quite damaged by fire. The individual who had recently bought the home plans to demolish it. What a devastating thought. It was a stately brick home with an old fashioned veranda. I spent so many lovely Sunday dinners, Christmas, and Easter's there as well as summer picnics and just now feel the loss of her all over again. I see the end of an era and a way of life passing into memory.

Marabelle

[Incidently Karen, this same Grandma went to Madison Women's Teacher's College in the early 1900's, which Midge mentioned as the now James Madison University. She was similar to Grandma Walton just in that she was short of stature but stood tall on her Bible]

KAREN'S COMMENT: How right you are with your comments about John and Olivia. He was so romantic at times and really treated her with respect all the time. They were a lovely couple. It does seem sad to think that homes or places that held such memories in our childhood are being torn down, but I guess that's just progress unfortunately. At least you still have those wonderful memories and maybe even a photo or two.