Hi everyone,

Wow, I can't believe that we've hit 40 of these digests for the year already! Wherever is the time going to? It has been an absolutely beautiful spring day today, and we've had all the windows open. I wish we had a lovely big verandah with a swing on it just like the Walton family did. I would love to be able to sit out there at night, or just when I needed to rest a little when doing the housework. The sun's quite a change too. On Thursday we had such heavy rain that it just washed down our driveway and right through the garage. Fortunately our garage is a bit weird and we have a front lifting door as well as a back lifting door, and the water just went in one way and out the other. We had some boxes and other things stored in there but they were lifted off the ground and standing on bricks, so were unaffected. It was only the bits and pieces of rubbish that got soaked and that didn't matter anyway. Apparently there was a mini tornado in Geelong, on the coast of Victoria, and we must have got part of it as well. We were fairly lucky I think because the court behind us had awful problems. They're a bit lower.

Not much on The Waltons to report this week. I'm still enjoying RT on It's a Miracle, and I caught him again on a recent (but old) Touched by an Angel episode. It's nice to see him so busy.

I notice that the TNN website says that Judy Norton, "who portrayed the rebellious Mary Ellen on The Waltons", will be on the TNN site for an online chat on Tuesday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. ET/PT, before the telecast of A Decade of the Waltons. Maybe some of you can join her. I'm not sure what time that translates into over here, but I suspect I'll be at work. :-( Does anyone know if there are archives of these chats? I take it you have to register to join the chat? You can send in questions now though, so think up some good ones and send them in. I'm about to send one off now. Maybe it will get picked. I've actually just found the Chat Archives. There's a chat from Earl Hamner and Kami Cotler and another from Jon Walmsley and Mary McDonough. They make great reading.

OK, so here's the question for next week. If you could ask any of the Walton children a question, what would it be. There's a lot of things I'd love to know. Tell you about them next week. :-))

Till next week. Enjoy your week of The Waltons and if you manage to get to chat, please let us all know.

Goodnight everyone,

Karen.

Hello to you all,

In the latest Digest (39-2000 wow Karen, haven't you done a lot!), Kaz wrote -

In the episode ' The Conflict" where the Walton relatives that live in the mountains are being evicted due to a highway being built through their property, does anyone have any ideas on the comment Jim-Bob makes to his mother when told Boone is his cousin, Jim-Bob replies "how can he be my cousin if he is so old?".

It is possible, though hard to explain. I remember when in my late teens discovering a relative of my own age, to whom I was her uncle! In my case it wasn't "in-breeding" but, I think, just that some branches of a family can marry and have children at different times to others, ie some marry young, while others (like my own parents) married later in life. Thus these curious anomalies can occur!

Well, just my thoughts, thus the writers of The Waltons were once again, "true to life" in my estimation!

Arthur

The Complete Walton Synopses

KAREN'S COMMENT: I had a couple of friends who had nieces and nephews as old as themselves, and I always thought it would be wonderful for that to happen. Unfortunately my family wasn't very big/old so it never happened.

Hello Karen and All, I was thinking about Hayley's talking about her cousin Baby Sam in the last digest, and your question, Karen, about John-boy hating being call John-boy.

If I recall, in a number of episodes, John-boy wanted to be known as John Walton Jr. He thought John-boy was professional enough. His friends always laughed if somebody called him John-boy in person. So I think he did hate it now and then.

Also, In the episode the hunt, his nick-name was Sprocket. He asked his father not to call him that because he didn't like it. I guess his whole life he wanted to be called John.

Thanks Hayley and Karen for getting my mind working.

Goodnight All, -----Jennifer

KAREN'S COMMENT: It's interesting that the name Sprocket was never mentioned again. Yes, once he got to college he did insist on being John Walton Jr, and I don't blame him. Do you suppose Earl was Earl Boy once upon a time?

Hello Karen and All...

Just wanted to mention something...

In "The Roots" (2nd Season) in the begining when the children are getting their money, the man giving out the money says you have to be 12 to get paid. Ben comes up and says that he is twelve. Erin comes up next and the man asks, "So you're twelve too?" Erin nods. I think that is a little strange.

In "The Silver Wings" Betsy Randolph does NOT look middle-aged. I have never seen a middle-aged woman wear such skimpy outfits! She looked like Britney Spears! LOL. :)

Goodnight Hayley

KAREN'S COMMENT: The Roots is a great episode. I love it too at that scene. I guess Erin thought she did just as much work as Ben and deserved to be paid. Would she have been 12 or not?

The Waltons Museum still has copies of the xmas CD. I ordered a copy yesterday -- 10/14/2000. They also have cassettes.

Don

KAREN'S COMMENT: Thanks for letting us know Don. If anyone wants to order it's a good place to order from.

Hi everyone,

I am wondering if anyone out in Walton's land can provide the recipe for Olivia's aplesauce cake that was mentioned several times on the show, especially around the holidays. I know it was an actual recipe as I saw it posted on another Walton's website but did not copy it down. Would love to try it for the upcoming holiday season. Thanks!

Tammy

KAREN'S COMMENT: If you go to my site Waltons Digest Archives and do a search for Applesauce Cake you'll find several listings there. I think number 5 (digest 4) has the recipe sent a few years ago. You might find others there too. The search engine is fabulous for things like that. Let us know how the cake turns out Tammy.

Hello all,

Last week Kaz was wondering about the relationship of Boone Walton to the rest of the clan. I know in "The Pony Cart" that Martha Corrine explains that Henry, Zeb's brother, was her husband. So Martha Corrine is Zeb's sister-in-law. Boone is Henry and Martha Corrine's son, and hence Zeb's nephew. Martha Corrine and Henry were quite a bit older than Zeb, so Boone would not be a "young" nephew. However, what this makes Boone to the Walton children is a bit fuzzy to me. Maybe it was to Olivia, too, so she just brushed it off with "cousin." Sounds better than saying "your grandpa's nephew."

Also, Hayley was asking if anyone knew of someone called by a first name followed with "boy." I can't say that I do, but I recall in Spencer's Mountain, based on Earl Hamner's book and the forerunner of "The Waltons," that the father is "Clay" and the oldest son is "Clayboy." If you haven't seen this movie (1963) or read the book, both are delightful. Henry Fonda plays the father; Maureen O'Hara the mother, Olivia; and James MacArthur, Clayboy.

--Laura

KAREN'S COMMENT: Were there ever any other brothers or sisters of Zeb mentioned? There seems to have been a lot of Walton relatives over the years. Can we start listing them all?

Hi Karen and all you Walton folks out there!

The names John Boy and Baby Sam had me remembering a man past 60 and over 6 ft. tall who is still called Little Bob, even though his father, big Bob, has been dead for years. Also a father and son, both said as if all one word, called Johnsenior and Johnjunior.

Re family relationships: Martha Corrine was Zeb's sister-in-law and Boone was Mr. Walton's 1st cousin but appeared much older. The writers didn't make it clear, though. In my family generations got mixed up after the Civil War. A young father left for dead on the battle field was rescued by a family from the other side of the war and nursed by them. Years passed before he was able to walk home through three states to find his wife and child. Five more children were born and his youngest son was younger than his oldest's first child.

My cousin Mary is my age but my father's generation, the daughter of my grandfather's youngest brother. So she is my 1st cousin once removed, one generation apart. Her son is my generation, my 2nd cousin, but my daughter's age and a 2nd cousin once removed. It gets more confusing in subsequent generations. My 1st great grandchild will be about the same age as Mary's youngest grandchild, but two generations apart, and third cousins twice removed.

The numbers used for relationships make for more confusion. First cousins are the 3rd generation of a family, and if the number of generations they are removed (apart) is mentioned that's another number. One generation apart is once removed, and two generations twice removed. In the large families of earlier times this was a common occurrence.

Half cousins are when the spouse of the grandfather or grandmother dies, or is divorced, and he/she marries again and has a second family. (Divorce wasn't common in older times.) Step children have no same parent but have parents who married each other, and the grandchildren are called step cousins but are not actually related. If those generations are also mixed up in ages it is really confusing when they call themselves cousins but intermarry.

Most families have confusions or generations mixed up somewhere. This is why old genealogies are not accurate, especially when the same names were used over and over with siblings all naming a child for grandparents. Some even named a baby for a dead older child.

Lastly, a comment about an old discussion. Wouldn't it be nice if all service providers in the world could get coordinated into one system for email?! Then the Digest issues would look the same to everyone, and not have provider systems delivering them in so many different formats. Thanks again, Karen, for achieving a readable Digest every week! CJ

KAREN'S COMMENT: Families are fascinating that's for sure. We have one child way back who died, called Johanna, then about 6 years later another to that family, called Johanna, who also died. I hope your digest is coming through clear now CJ. I don't think it's just the ISP's which are the problem, but also the email programs everyone uses and the versions.

Hi. I'm looking for the title of the song that Jason sings to his army buddy Lapinski. After Lapinski's Grandfather dies... It has the lyric "Moonshadows are calling..." "Crickets are chirping..." Jason also plays it in other episodes as well... Any clues as to the title of the song? Or where I might look to find it?

I love your site, and I love the Waltons. I hope you can help me. Thank you.

Kat

KAREN'S COMMENT: Can anyone help with this one please?

Hi Karen,

While shopping in a discount store last week (McFrugals if anyone out there has one in their town) I saw the Waltons Christmas CD from last fall on the bargain rack for $2.99. I had had to order mine last year off of the internet in order to get one. I just wanted to let your readers know that if they didn't get one last fall, they are out there and at a bargain price to boot. I picked up a second just to have a spare.

Goodnight from AZ

Karen

KAREN'S COMMENT: Definitely a bargain. :-))

I recently got emailed about a Tony Becker site too. Please visit there and sign the webmaster's guest book. Here's her letter:

"Hi,

I wasn't able to find a guestbook on your site so I thought I'd e-mail you instead to let you know what a terrific Waltons site you've created. Keep up the good work!

If you're interested, I recently created a fan site devoted to actor Tony Becker, who played Drew Cutler. Go to The Tony Becker Fan Site. Please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions in my guestbook!"