Hi everyone,

I can't believe that we have put together FIFTY of these digests...and they are still very much in demand. :-) Just amazing.

Well it's the end of another very busy week here. Lots to be done before school finishes in two weeks time. I really don't think I'm going to get everything finished. And the Christmas shopping. How am I ever going to find the time to do that? Oh well, I'm sure that everything will eventually all be done. I'm really looking forward to our holidays.

We will be away for a few weeks during January this year. I'll let you know closer to the date so that you won't worry when you don't get your digests.

Now for the Waltons news...I received my newsletter from the International Fan Club this week, and of course there's lots of things about the reunion dinner. It sounds as if a great time was had by all. More about that over the next few weeks though. What I did want to include in this mailing is that Leslie Winston (Cindy) and her husband Bob Yannetti had their baby on August 18th, 1997. A little girl who they called Joanna Lisa Lora. Joanna is Leslie and Bob's second daughter. She has a big sister called Allie. Congratulations to the family from us all.

There was also a little note inserted into the newsletter which you might all be interested in:

"Richard Thomas stars in A Thousand Men and A Baby. A two-hour special that is based on the true story of the crew of a US Aircraft carrier that rescued and fell in love with an abandoned Korean War orphan in 1953. The CBS special can be seen on Sunday, Dec. 7 from 9-11 p.m. ET/PT."

So I hope you will set you videos, or glue yourself to the TV and let me know what the movie is like. :-)

Till next time, Goodnight everyone, Karen.

From Brenda in West Virginia:

Hi Everyone, I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I have an answer to someone's question from the last digest.

> On another note someone spoke about grandpa being born in 1862, based on the episode >"Empty Nest" it has on his headstone 1865-1941 I recall an episode where Earl Hamner >spoke about his grandmother living to be in her 90's. I don't recall if grandma's age was ever >spoken about.

In "The Awakening" during Season 2, Grandma celebrated her 68th birthday. I'm not sure what year that was supposed to be, probably about 1934 or 1935, which would mean she was born around 1867.

We now have 7 members in The Waltons WebRing. Alex and Marca from The Netherlands joined this week. They have a wonderful 'Dutch Fan's Page' about our favorite TV show. The Waltons WebRing represents 5 different countries: The Netherlands, England, Canada, Australia, and the U.S.

Information about joining can be found at:

http://www.oocities.org/Heartland/Meadows/7604/webring.html

Everyone on this mailing list who has a homepage is invited to join.

Brenda

KAREN'S COMMENT: Wonderful to hear that your webring is growing Brenda. How about thinking of developing your own homepage everyone? It's really very easy and extremely rewarding and being part of the ring guarantees that you'll get visitors. :-))

Dear Karen and Walton family,

Glad to hear your computer woes are over Karen.

Here's a very trivial Waltons spotting! In the episode where Erin graduates, she trys her hand as a waitress at a road house. When Erin asks for a job the lady looks at Erin and says "Your no waitress...do your folks know your here.. if its alright with them , its alright with me" The lady who runs the road house appeared in the popular "Home Alone" movie as a passenger at the airport.

I may be mistaken but this same actress looks very familiar to the actress that has a 1 minute spot in another episode of the Waltons. The episode is where John boy is saving up to buy the printing press and takes a job selling bus tickets. In this episode she wants to buy a ticket but doesn't know if she wants a round trip ticket or a one way ticket.

I wondered if it is the same actress in both of these Walton episodes.

And to finish with I will leave you with a another classic little gem I found. In the episode "The Parting" where Olivia leaves the family to go into a TB hospital, Grandma is teaching Elizabeth to cook. After Elizabeth makes 4 sponge cakes she asks Esther is she sure she isn't leaving out an ingredient. Grandma looks guilty and motions Elizabeth over to the pantry cupboard with her. There she reaches in and brings out a jar of the "Recipe"! Elizabeth is amazed that this is the secret ingredient her Grandma uses in her sponge cake.

Good night everyone

Kaz (in Oz)

KAREN'S COMMENT: Hi Kaz...I hope the fires weren't too close to you this week. (There's been very bad fires up in and around Sydney this week for all you overseas people). Well all of you who have a Waltons Database done...is it the same actress or not? As for Grandma's little secret, I agree it is a real delight to see Grandma looking so sheepish!

Hi Karen and all Walton Fans,

My name is Barbara. I have been on this list for some time now, however, I haven't made any comments. It is so amazing to me that there are so many Walton fans still out there, in so many places.

I am a Virginian and live very close to the Walton's Museum. I highly recommend it to anyone that can go there. I have been a fan of Earl Hamners since Spencer's Mountain was released. (I have to admit it still is my favorite.)

Today, I wanted to share my Thanksgiving day with everyone. I am sort of connected with the Hamner Family. My wonderful son, Gene, married Audrey's lovely daughter, Wendy. We share two beautiful grandchildren. Audrey is a great friend and a wonderful person. I am very grateful to know her. For the last several years, we have all gathered at Gene and Wendy's home for the traditional Thanksgiving feast. This year was even more enjoyable because Audrey bought along all of her photo albums of the Hamner, Spencer and Walton families. She had photos of the Hamners when they were all kids. (They were a good-looking bunch.) There were autographed photos from the casts of the Spencers and the Waltons. We laughed and reminiscenced about the characters and the show and had a great time. My 92 year old mother LOVED the characters of Grandma and Grandpa Walton. Audrey gave her pictures of herself with Ellen Corby and Will Geer. She made my Mother very happy. Later, we all sat down to the best Thanksgiving dinner (All of the traditional foods) It was a good day.

Thanks,
Barbara Huffman

KAREN'S COMMENT: I think Thanksgiving Day is a lovely special holiday, but we don't have anything like it over here. We do, however, get together at Christmas time so I guess that will have to do. It sounds as though you had a lovely day with your family Barbara, and I hope everyone else did too.

Karen,

Last year I heard a Christmas poem or message that was read by Grandpa Walton during one of the episodes. Do you know where I could find a copy?

KAREN'S COMMENT: I received this small note during the week from someone who is not a list member. I don't know the Christmas message/poem he means and I wondered if any of you could help please?

From Kim:

Hello, Karen. I'm sorry to hear you've had the hottest November day on record. We're all freezing our noses off in Canada right now.

Lynn asked about the two large windows to the right and left of the Walton's front door. If you're facing the house from the front walk, the 2 right windows would be the living room. The 2 left windows belong to Grandma and Grandpa's room, which has a door leading to the living room just to the left as you walk into the Walton's house (at least that is how the house appears to my very untrained eye). I, unfortunately, have never seen the Walton's set (though I'd love to), however, in the movie "A Day for Thanks on Walton's Mountain" and in the episode "The Separation", the 2 windows in the grandparents' room are shown.

I've always been impressed by the grandparents' room. It's so big and lovely and nicer than John and Olivia's room. It seems to be a split level room with 2 doors and perhaps 3 windows. I'm guessing at the third window - their room apparently occupies the complete first floor left end of the house from front to back. Since there are 2 windows at the front of the house, and since I know there is a window in the kitchen at the back, it seems reasonable to assume that the grandparents would also have a window looking out to the back yard (or, in their case, the foot of the mountain).

It was kind of Dorothy to run her tape so many times in order to get the words for the Children's Carol. I'm going to have to check the credits on the movie now, because I'm curious now as well as to whether or not Jon Walmsley wrote the song.

Thank you for the digests. They're wonderful!

Kim W

KAREN'S COMMENT: The house certainly is interesting isn't it? I've got a picture sitting in front of me at the moment...there's a good one in the newsletter...and I can't see a second window on the left side of the door. It's a bit dark there though, so perhaps that's why! The two on the right hand side I would definitely say are from the living room.

I agree that the left hand side would be Grandma and Grandpa's room. Are there 2 doors? I'll have to get my plan out and see where the other one is. It's been a while since I've seen an episode :-(( but I do remember the door near the stairs which leads into their room and done the few stairs. Their dressing table/bureau thing is near the stairs there. I remember Grandma banging on it when she tries to help John Boy with his sermon in "The Sermon". I love this episode...it's got lots of funny bits and it really brings out the personalities of the adult characters.