First, I would like to thank Aieshi for nominating me for the Quotes Challenge. It was greatly appreciated
Here are the Rules:
My nominations for today are:
Here are the Rules:
1. Thank the person who nominated you
2. Post a quote for three consecutive days (1 quote for each day).
3. Nominate three bloggers each day.
My nominations for today are:
Christina was sitting on the porch, enjoying a late spring
afternoon when Logan joined her.
“So how is Pemberton’s self appointed matchmaker?”
“Don’t you have anything else to do beside annoy me?”
He leaned against the door frame, his eyes intent on her.
“Whose life have you decided to meddle with this time?”
She glared at him. “I don’t meddle,” she retorted crossly. “I bring
people together.”
“Oh yes, you are Pemberton’s self-appointed matchmaker.”
“I have had great success in this venture. Why just recently
I had the pleasure of seeing my dear friend Lucinda marry
Robert McKinley. From the moment I saw him, I knew that he
would be a perfect match for her. I have had other such
victories. You cannot deny that I am good at this.”
“And you have never suffered defeat?” He sounded incredulous.
“Well,” she admitted grudgingly, “There was the matter of Olivia
and Miles.” She blushed as she remembered how Miles had
mistaken her solicitude toward him as romantic interest and how
angry he had become when she had intimated that she wanted
to secure him for her friend, Olivia. He was insulted, claiming
that Olivia was a nobody and unequal to him in every way. Then,
he had stormed out of the library never to be seen again. Poor
Olivia. It had taken a long time for her to get over the heartbreak.
“I must be the only unattached gentleman you have not tried to
find a match for,” Logan remarked, startling her. “Why is that?”
“You exaggerate,” she chided him. “There are several unattached
men and women whom I have not sought to find matches for.”
“I’m curious. Why haven’t you planned a match for me?”
She lowered her eyes, afraid that they might betray her
feelings. “Do you want me to?” she asked. She hoped he was
teasing her. He had a habit of doing so.
“As a matter of fact I do,” he announced. “There is a particular
lady I would like to become better acquainted with.”
Christina swallowed hard. “Do I know her?”
“Yes. You know her extremely well.”
Who could it be? The thought of him caring for another
devastated her. She couldn’t hide her agitation now.
“I’m afraid I can’t help you,” she said, avoiding his eyes and
getting up suddenly, she moved away and stood with her back to him.
She heard him come up behind her and then felt his hands on her
shoulders, turning her around to face him. She couldn’t
look at him so she concentrated on the front of his shirt.
“Christina,” he whispered. “Don’t you know by now that I’m in love
with you? You have been so caught up in trying to find love for others
that you failed to see the love that has always been yours.”
She looked up at him, her heart pounding wildly as she met
his gaze. “I have been in love with you since the first time we
met,” she confessed, hardly able to believe that this was really
happening. “I never dreamed of finding a match for you because
I had hoped that you would feel the same way about me.”
“I would not have allowed you to meddle in my life. As you
can see I am quite capable of finding love on my own.”
“My match-making days are over,” Christina promised him.
He smiled and taking her arm, he escorted her back to her
seat and they spent the rest of the afternoon most agreeably.
Sources: Wikipedia; Victorian Trading Co
This month, WHO launched a one-year campaign Depression: let’s talk. The goal of the campaign is that more people with depression, in all countries, seek and get help.
Depression is an illness that can happen to anybody. It causes mental anguish and affects people’s ability to carry out everyday tasks, with sometimes devastating consequences for relationships with family and friends. At worst, depression can lead to suicide. Fortunately depression can be prevented and treated. A better understanding of what depression is, and how it can be prevented and treated, will help reduce the stigma associated with the condition, and lead to more people seeking help.
Depression is a common mental disorder that affects people of all ages, from all walks of life, in all countries.
Overcoming the stigma often associated with depression will lead to more people getting help.
Talking with people you trust can be a first step towards recovery from depression.
Posters – WHO has developed a set of posters and handouts to get the campaign started. The posters can be downloaded here
Handouts – WHO has handouts which provide information on depression to increase our understanding of the condition and how it can be prevented and treated. The handouts can be downloaded here
Organize an activity – According to WHO, organizing an activity or event is a great way to raise awareness about depression and stimulate action, both among individuals, and on a wider scale. The organization recommends that if you decide to organize an event, to keep the following in mind:
WHO offers other examples of activities that you may want to consider such as: discussion forums, sporting events, workshops for journalists, art competitions, coffee mornings, concerts, sponsored activities ̶ anything that contributes to a better understanding of depression and how it can be prevented and treated.
Share information and materials on social media – Throughout the campaign WHO will be communicating via our social media channels Facebook https://www.facebook.com/WHO/, Twitter https://twitter.com/who @WHO, YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/who and Instagram @worldhealthorganization
The primary hashtag that /WHO is using for the campaign is #LetsTalk but look out for posts using #depression and #mentalhealth as well.
You are encouraged to share WHO’s posts with your own networks, share your own materials and join discussions on issues related to the campaign.
If you are organizing an activity, or developing your own campaign materials, here are some facts and figures that you might want to use:
It’s hard to imagine that there are people out there who are suffering with depression but are hiding it. They are putting up a brave front while they are hurting inside. No one can see the sadness behind their smiles. We must provide the atmosphere where people suffering from depression will feel safe and comfortable talking about their struggles. Depression should be talked about and often. Talking and just letting it all out can be therapeutic and can lead to early recovery.
Alice Ball was the pharmaceutical chemist who developed a medical treatment for Leprosy, giving hope to millions. Leprosy is a dreaded disease. It has been around since biblical times. It is disfiguring and it filled its sufferers with hopelessness. In the US people with Leprosy were forcibly removed from their homes and detained indefinitely in remote colonies. Thanks to Alice’s treatment, many of them were released from the detention centres and allowed to go home to their families.
Alice was born in 1892 in Seattle, Washington to Laura and James P. Ball Jr. She was the grand-daughter of J.P. Ball, the famous daguerreotype photographer. Alice attended the University of Washington and graduated with two degrees in pharmaceutical chemistry in 1912 and pharmacy in 1914. In the fall of 1914 she attended the College (later the University) of Hawaii as a graduate student in chemistry. On June 1, 1915, she became the first African American and the first woman to graduate with a Master of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Hawaii. She was also the first woman to teach chemistry at the institution.
Impressed with her chemistry work, US Public Health Officer, Dr. Harry Hollmann, an assistant surgeon at Kalihi Hospital in Hawaii asked Alice to help him to develop a method to isolate the active chemical compounds in chaulmoogra oil. For centuries, Indian and Chinese health practitioners had limited success in using the oil to treat Leprosy. The oil could be applied topically but it wouldn’t be able to penetrate deep enough into the body and as a result, people with the disease had some relief but the injections were difficult and patients described them as “burning like fire through the skin”. Through her research, Alice found a successful treatment for those suffering from the disease. She created the first water soluble injectable treatment, something that researchers had been unable to do.
Sadly, she didn’t live to see her treatment being used. During her research, Alice had become ill. When she returned to Seattle, she died at the age of 24. The cause of her death is unknown although it is speculated that she inhaled chlorine gas during her teaching lab work.
Dr. Arthur L. Dean, the chairman of the Chemistry Department at the University of Hawaii continued the research, refining it and using it to successfully treat many patients at Kalaupapa, a special hospital for Hansen disease patients. Dean published the findings without giving any credit to Ball, and renamed the technique the Dean Method, until Hollmann spoke out about this. He went on record saying, “After a great amount of experimental work, Miss Ball solved the problem for me…(this preparation is known as)….the Ball Method.”
The “Ball Method” continued to be the most effective method of treatment for Leprosy until the 1940s when a cure for the disease was found. Yet, as recent as 1999, a medical journal noted that the “Ball Method” was still being used to treat patients in remote areas. In 2000, the University of Hawaii acknowledged Alice as one of its most distinguished graduates after researchers, notably Stanley Ali and Kathryn Takara. They discovered in the archives the critical contribution Alice had made. Alice was honoured with a Chaulmoogra tree planted on the campus and the Governor of Hawaii declaring February 29th Alice Ball Day. She also received the University’s Medal of distinction.
Notes to Women is proud to celebrate and recognize Alice Ball whose research and ground-breaking scientific achievements went unnoticed by the University of Hawaii for almost a decade. We honour this remarkable young woman who departed from the world too soon. She left behind a legacy of hope for those who suffered from Leprosy by starting the fight against the disease and inspiring others to relentlessly hunt for more treatments until they found a cure.
Tell others about Alice Ball by hitting the Share buttons.
Sources: Women Rock Science; Black Past; Wikipedia; Clutch Mag Online
I still watch Murder, She Wrote because I like the show and the character Jessica Fletcher played by the great Angela Lansbury. My 7 year old son is also a fan of Jessica Fletcher’s. Before taking on the role of a mystery writer in one of the longest running detective drama series in television history, Angela was a silver screen movie star. My husband thought she was hot then.
Angela is a versatile actress, easily portraying an unlikable and cheeky maid in Gaslight opposite Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer to the music hall singer who, unfortunately and tragically, falls in love with the protagonist, Dorian Gray in the movie, The Picture of Dorian Gray to the frightening and domineering mother in The Manchurian Candidate. Her performance as Mrs. John Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate is ranked #21 in the American Film Institute’s 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains for villains.
Angela was born to an upper middle class family on October 16, 1925 in Regent’s Park, central London. Her mother, Moyna Macgill, was a Belfast born Irish actress and her father was the wealthy English timber merchant and politician Edgar Lansbury. He was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and former mayor of the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar. Her paternal grandfather was the Labour Party leader and anti-war activist George Lansbury. Angela was in awe of him and to her, he was “a giant in my youth”. Angela had an older half-sister, Isolde from her mother’s previous marriage. When Angela was four, her mother gave birth to twin boys, Bruce and Edgar, prompting the Lansburys to move from their Poplar flat to a house in Mill Hill, North London. In the weekends, they went to a rural farm in Berrick Salome, Oxfordshire.
She was nine years old when her father died from stomach cancer. To cope with her loss, she played characters, describing the event as “the defining moment of my life. Nothing before or since has affected me so deeply.” Faced with financial difficulty, her mother got engaged to a Scottish colonel and moved into his house in Hampstead. Angela attended South Hampstead High School from 1934 to 1939. She considered herself to be largely self-educated, learning from books, theatre and cinema. She became a “complete movie maniac”, going regularly to the cinema and imagining herself as certain characters.
Angela’s grandfather died in 1940 and with the onset of the Blitz, her mother, Moyna took her and her brothers to the United States. Her half-sister, Isolde remained in Britain with her new husband, actor Peter Ustinov. Angela’s mother got a job supervising sixty British children who were evacuated to North America aboard the Duchess of Athol, arriving with them in Montreal, Canada in mid-August. From Montreal they went by train to New York City where Moyna was sponsored financially by a Wall Street businessman and moved in with his family at their home in Mahopac, New York. Angela got a scholarship from the American Theatre Wing which allowed her to study at the Feagin School of Drama and Radio. There she appeared in performances of William Congreve’s The Way of the World and Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan. By the time she graduated, she and her family had moved to a flat in Morton Street, Greenwich Village.
Moyna got work in a Canadian touring production of Tonight at 8:30. Angela joined her mother who got her first theatrical job as a nightclub act at the Samovar Club in Montreal. She lied about her age to get the job and earned $60 a week. She returned to New York city but her mother had moved to Hollywood to revive her cinematic career. Angela and her brothers joined her. After moving into a bungalow in Laurel Canyon, Angela and her mother got Christmas jobs at the Bullocks Wilshire department store in Los Angeles but unfortunately, Moyna got fired for incompetence. The family had to live on Angela’s wages of $28 at week.
Angela met John van Druten at a party hosted by her mother. He recently co-authored a script for Gaslight. He suggested that Angela would be perfect for the role of Nancy Oliver, a conniving cockney maid and she accepted the part although at the time she was only 17. A social worker had to accompany her on the set. She got an agent and was signed to a seven-year contract with MGM, earning $500 a week. She adopted “Angela Lansbury” as her stage name. The movie received mixed reviews although Angela’s role was widely praised. It received six Academy Award nominations, one of which was for Best Supporting Actress for Angela.
Following Gaslight, Angela starred in a supporting character in National Velvet which was a major commercial hit. Angela developed a lifelong friendship with co-star Elizabeth Taylor. I remember that the two friends appeared together in Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d with Angela in the role of the endearing Miss Marple.
Angela next starred in The Picture of Dorian Gray with Hurd Hatfield, George Sanders, Donna Reed and Peter Lawford. Surprisingly, at least to me, the film was not a financial success. However, it garnered Angela her second Best Supporting Actress nomination. She lost to her National Velvet co-star Anne Revere.
Angela married Richard Cromwell, an artist and a decorator. When I saw a photo of him, I recognized him as the brother of Henry Fonda’s character in the marvelous movie, Jezebel. Angela’s marriage to Richard was a trouble one. She would later disclose that he was gay, something she was not aware of until after their separation. The marriage ended in less than a year and Angela filed for a divorce. They remained friends, however, until his death.
Angela met her second husband, Peter Pullen Shaw at a party held by her former co-star Hurd Hatfield. Hurd would later be a guest star on Murder She Wrote. Peter was an aspiring actor also signed with MGM and had recently left a relationship with Joan Crawford. He and Angela became a couple, living together before she proposed marriage. They wanted to get married in Britain but the Church of England refused to marry two divorcees. So, they wed at St. Columba’s Church which was under the jurisdiction of the Church of Scotland in Knightsbridge, London. They had their honeymoon in France. They returned to the United States and settled in Angela’s home in Rustic Canyon, Malibu, each becoming naturalised U.S. citizens with dual British citizenship.
Angela’s contract with MGM ended in 1952. She was miscast, playing older and often villainous women. Earlier in her career, MGM loaned her to United Artists for The Private Affairs of Bel Ami in 1947 and then to Paramount for Samson and Delilah (1949). Unhappy with the roles MGM was giving her, Angela instructed her manager to terminate her contract. At the time she was pregnant with her first child, Anthony whom she gave birth to that year. Soon after he was born, she joined the East Coast touring productions of two former Broadway plays, Remains to be Seen and Affairs of the State. In 1953, Angela gave birth to her daughter, Deidre Angela. Angela’s husband, Peter had a son by a previous marriage and had legal custody of him. He brought the boy to California to live with the family. They moved to a larger house in Santa Monica.
In the mid-fifties Angela entered the world of Broadway theatre. In 1957 she debuted in Hotel Paradiso, a French burlesque set in Paris, at the Henry Miller Theatre. Although the play ran for only 15 weeks, earning her good reviews, she later stated that had she not appeared in the play, her “whole would have fizzled out”. Next she appeared in A Taste of Honey, playing Helen, a boorish and verbally abusive absentee mother of Josephine played by Joan Plowright who was only four years younger. Angela became friends with Joan and Laurence Olivier, Joan’s lover. It was from Angela’s rented apartment on East 97th Street that Joan and Laurence eloped to get married.
Angela didn’t feel comfortable in the Hollywood social scene. She chalked this up to her British roots. “In Hollywood, I always felt like a stranger in a strange land.” In 1959, the family moved to Malibu where they settled into a house on the Pacific Coast Highway where she and Peter were able to escape the Hollywood scene and send their children to state school.
In 1962, Angela starred opposite Lawrence Harvey in The Manchurian Candidate, playing his manipulative mother even though she was only three years older than him. The role earned her her third Best Supporting Actress Award nomination. It bothered her that she didn’t win. Angela starred in several movies in the 1960s but although her performances were well received, the kind of roles she wanted evaded her and she became dissatisfied with the minor roles she was getting, feeling that none of them allowed her to explore her potential as an actress.
I was a wife and a mother, and I was completely fulfilled. But my husband recognised the signals in me which said ‘I’ve been doing enough gardening, I’ve cooked enough good dinners, I’ve sat around the house and mooned about what more interior decoration I can get my fingers into.’ It’s a curious thing with actors and actresses, but suddenly the alarm goes off. My husband is a very sensitive person to my moods and he recognised the fact that I had to get on with something. Mame came along out of the blue just at this time. Now isn’t that a miracle? – Angela Lansbury
In 1966 Angela took on the title role of Mame Dennis in the musical Mame, the musical adapted from the novel, Auntie Mame. The director’s first choice for the role was Rosalind Russell who played Mame in the non-musical adaptation but she declined. Theatre critics were surprised that Angela was chosen for the role, believing that the role would go to a better known actress. Angela was forty-one at the time and this was her first starring role. She trained extensively for the role which involved over twenty costume changes throughout the play and ten songs and dance routines. Auntie Mame opened on Broadway in May 1996, gaining Angela rave reviews. She received her first Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. Following her success as Mame, Angela appeared in Dear World, the musical adaptation of The Madwoman of Chailott, as a 75 year old Parisian eccentric. Angela found the experience “pretty depressing” but received positive reviews for her performance and her second Tony award. The show, however, received critical reviews and ended after 132 performances. After Dear World, Angela played the title role of the musical Prettybelle, based on Jean Arnold’s The Rape of Prettybelle, set in the Deep South. It was a controversial play because it dealt with issues of racism with Angela as a wealthy alcoholic who seeks sexual encounters with black men. It opened in Boston to poor reviews and was cancelled before it even reached Broadway. Angela would later say that the play was a “complete and utter fiasco.” She felt that her performance was awful.
In the early 1970s Angela turned down several cinematic roles, including the role of Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest which went to Louise Fletcher who won the Oscar for Best Actress. In 1970 Angela appeared as the middle-aged English witch in the Disney film, Beadknobs and Broomsticks, her first lead in a screen musical. 1970 was a traumatic year for the Lansbury family. Peter underwent a hip replacement, their son Anthony suffered a heroin overdose and went into a coma and the family’s home in Malibu was destroyed in a bush fire. They bought a farmhouse constructed in the 1820s located near the village of Conna in rural County Cork. It was there Anthony was taken to receover from his drug addiction after he quit using cocaine and heroin. He enrolled in the Webber-Douglas School, his mother’s alma mater and became a professional actor before becoming a television director. Angela and her husband did not return to California, instead, they divided their time between Cork and New York City. They lived opposite the Lincoln Centre.
Angela returned to theatre in 1972, performing in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s theatrical production of Edward Albee’s All Over in London’s West End. Although reviews of the play were mixed, her performance was widely praised. She did a revival of Mame which was touring the United States at the time. She returned to the West End to play Rose in the musical Gypsy. Initially, she turned down the role because she didn’t want to be in Ethel Merman’s shadow. Ethel had portrayed the character in the original Broadway production. Eventually, Angela accepted the role and she received a standing ovation and rave reviews. Not at all in anyone’s shadow, she was in demand among the London society, having dinners in her honour. When Gypsy went to Broadway, it was a critical success, earning Angela her third Tony Award.
Eager to move on from musicals, Angela decided to tackle a production of one of William Shakespeare’s plays and landed the role of Gertrude in The National Theatre Company’s production of Hamlet. The play received mixed reviews. Angela later admitted that she hated the role because it was too restrained. To make matters worse, she learned that her mother had died in California. Angela had her mother’s body cremated and her ashes scattered near to her own County Cork home.
Angela appeared in Edward Albee’s Counting the Ways and Listening. Her performance was praised. She followed this with another revival tour of Gypsy. She appeared in the revival of The King and I musical at Broadway’s Uris Theatre. After seven years, she starred in her first cinematic role in Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile, opposite her brother-in-law Peter Ustinov and Bette Davis who became a close friend. Of Bette, she had this to say, “She is an original. There has never been anyone, before or since, who could touch her.”
In 1979 she earned her fourth Tony Award playing Nellie Lovett in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. In 1982 she played an upper middle class housewife in A Little Family Business which also starred her son, Anthony. The movie was panned and accused of racism by the Japanese-American community. She co-starred with friend Bette Davis in the film made for television, Little Gloria…Happy at Last. She appeared in other television movies, one of which was BBC’s A Talent for Murder which she jumped at the chance to take in order to work with co-star Laurence Olivier.
Then in 1983, Angela was offered two television roles–one was in a sitcom and the other was in a detective series. She was unable to do both so her agents advised her to accept the sitcom role but she decided to accept the other role. And we are thrilled that she did! Angela described her character Jessica Fletcher as “an American Miss Marple”. It’s interesting that she said that because she played Miss Marple in The Mirror Crack’d. She played the sleuth the way Agatha Christie described the her unlike Margaret Rutherford who made the role famous. The role of Jessica Fletcher had been offered to Jean Stapleton first but she turned it down. I must say that I am happy that she did because I can’t imagine anyone else playing the part. Angela was the perfect choice.
Angela took her role as Jessica Fletcher very seriously and had creative input over the character’s costumes, makeup and hair. Network executives wanted to put the character in a relationship which Angela strongly rejected, believing that the character should remain a strong single female. She changed any script which did not fit Jessica’s personality. She saw Jessica as a role model for older female viewers and praised her “enormous, universal appeal” and admitted that, “It was an accomplishment I never expected in my entire life.” Murder, She Wrote was described as a television landmark in the U.S. for having an older female character as the protagonist, paving the way for series like The Golden Girls, another show I enjoyed tremendously. “I think it’s the first time a show has really been aimed at the middle aged audience,” Angela said. It was the most popular show among senior citizens but it gradually gained a younger audience. By 1991, a third of the viewers were under fifty. It gained high ratings throughout most of its run.
I know why [Murder, She Wrote was a success]. There was never any blood, never any violence. And there was always a satisfying conclusion to a whodunit. The jigsaw was complete. And I loved Jessica’s everywoman character. I think that’s what made her so acceptable to an across-the-board audience – Angela Lansbury, 2014.
As the show went on Angela assumed a larger role behind the scenes with her own company, Corymore co-producing the show with Universal. After a while, though she began to get tired of the series, especially of the long working hours and said that the 1990-1991 would be the show’s last season. However, she changed her mind after she was appointed executive producer for the 1992-1993 season, which made it far more interesting for her. For the seventh season, the show’s setting moved to New York where Jessica had taken a job teaching criminology at Manhattan University in an attempt to attract younger viewers. Angela encouraged this move. The show aired on Sunday where its ratings improved in the early 1990s. People had gotten used to tuning in every Sunday night to see what murder mystery Jessica Fletcher would be solving so it was unfortunate when CBS executives got the bright idea to move it to Thursdays opposite NBCs new sitcom, Friends with the hope of drawing a larger audience. Not surprisingly, Angela was angry at this move, believing that it ignored the show’s core audience. The show’s final episode aired in May 1996 and ended with Angela voicing a “Goodbye from Jessica” message. The role of Jessica Fletcher would prove to be the most successful and prominent of Angela’s career. It must have been hard saying goodbye to Jessica Fletcher for Angela and the faithful viewers. All good things must come to an end. Sigh.
After the end of Murder, She Wrote, Angela returned to the theatre. Fast forward to March to June 2014 when Angela reprised her 2009 Tony winning Broadway performance as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit at the Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End, marking her first London stage appearance in nearly 40 years. She picked up her first Olivier award, Britain’s most prestigious prize a the age of 89 for Blithe Spirit. It’s worth mentioning that Angela received an Academy Honorary Award for her lifetime achievement at the Governors Awards on November 16, 2013 and received the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre on November 16, 2015.
I read a few interesting things about Angela. I will just mention a few. In the late 1940s, MGM planned to cast her as the female lead in a film entitled “Angel’s Flight” with Clark Gable but the project never came through because Mr. Gable disliked the storyline, so the studio had to squash the entire project. She was considered for the role of Miss Caswell in All About Eve (1950), but Marilyn Monroe was cast in the role instead. Frank Sinatra wanted Lucille Ball for the role of Mrs. Iselin, the manipulative mother in The Manchurian Candidate but Angela got the part and played it convincingly. I don’t know if Lucille Ball would have pulled it off. Angela is a staunch Democrat and a solid supporter of Barack Obama. She was very close friends with Bob Hope. She gave a speech at his memorial service on August 27, 2003. Her nephew David Lansbury was married to actress Ally Sheedy, The Breakfast Club.
Angela was self-professed homebody who preferred spending quiet evenings inside with friends to the Hollywood night live. She is a supporter of the United States Democratic Party and the British Labour Party. Notes to Women celebrate this remarkable woman who is a staunch supporter of charities such as Abused Wives in Crisis which combated domestic abuse and those who worked toward rehabilitating drug users. She supported charities dedicated to fighting against HIV/AIDs. She was a chain smoker early in life but gave up the addiction cold turkey in the mid-1960s. We congratulate her on her promotion to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to drama and to charitable work and philanthropy. Last year she was made a Dame by the Queen at Windsor Castle. This honour couldn’t have happened to a more deserving lady. Dame Angela, we applaud you for the work you have done in movies and in theatre and most importantly, your charitable deeds.
The older I get, the more I realize how much I have missed because I was so busy entertaining that audience and so busy pursuing a career.I just went along for the ride. It was a God-given gift. It is. So you can’t say well, you wasted your life because you spent all of it acting, but I think gosh, I’ve never been to China, I’ve never been to Japan. I’ve never been to Yellowstone Park.I had no idea that such a thing could happen. It never occurred to me.My son told me. He called me and said, “Darling, I just wanted you to know that you have been chosen to receive an honorary Academy Award.” I was in the back of this car, and I said, “Oh,” and burst into tears, of course, because it was so unexpected and quite wonderful. I thought it’s been worth hanging around all these years.I honestly consider that the greatest gift to me, is the reaction that I get from my work. That is a given which I never, ever take for granted. But to be given that by audiences, individuals, on the street, in the theater, is an extraordinary feeling.My mother was one of the most beautiful women, I have to say, of her generation. She was absolutely lovely. She was a very, extremely sensitive, Irish actress. She came from Belfast, Northern Ireland, and she came to London, and she was sort of discovered by several people.~Angela Lansbury~
Sources: azquotes; Wikipedia; IMDB; Hollywood Reporter; Deadline Presents
Remember those times when you and he were dating how you used to be on the phone for hours? You never seemed to run out of conversation. There were no awkward moments. The conversation just flowed. And when you were together, the time just seemed to fly because you were having so much fun? And the only times you were not together was when you were at work. There were those occasions when you were with your family but more often than not, you were with him. It was torture being apart and total bliss when you were together. There were times when you would go out with other couples but for the most part, you and he preferred to be alone, enjoying each other’s company.
Things quickly got serious between the two of you and pretty soon you are planning your wedding. The big day finally arrives and you walk up the aisle, your eyes sparkling with excitement. Your heart leaps when you see him standing there, smiling at you. You gaze at each other as the vows are exchanged and then the minister pronounces that you are husband and wife. After you kiss, you stroll arm in arm down the aisle in the midst of a sea of smiling faces. After the reception, you go on your honeymoon where you enjoy a week in paradise, wishing you could stay there for the rest of your lives.
Life is wonderful as you settle into being a wife to your new husband. Then, you have children…
Suddenly it’s no longer just the two of you. Now there are four of you. In my case, there are three of us. When I was on maternity leave, I was so happy when my husband came home. I needed adult conversation and company after spending all day with a baby/toddler. I didn’t feel attractive so I didn’t feel romantic. We didn’t have anyone to babysit and we didn’t feel comfortable getting a stranger to do it so we were stuck. We couldn’t go out for a romantic dinner. We had to settle for entertaining ourselves at home while trying not to disturb our son.
Now, it’s a matter of trying to find time for each other. During the week, it’s a challenge. By the time we come in from work, we are tired. Sometimes we have to prepare dinner. After we eat, we have to spend time with our son before he goes to bed. Then we have to clean up and have our baths. By the time we are finished doing these things, there’s not much time for us to relax. We have gotten into a rut where we end up watching television or a movie instead of spending quality time together. We don’t talk as much as we used to. We are not bonding as we used to. It’s not much different on the weekends. Our son and other things demand our attention. And there is hardly any “us” time.
When a couple doesn’t spend quality time together, their relationship suffers. The spark starts to flicker and if nothing is done about it, it will go out. Ladies, what can we do to keep the spark alive? I came across these tips which I plan to put into action. I hope you will find them helpful too. Instead of writing the tips word for word, I rephrased them as best as I could.
Date Your Spouse
Go out for a date. Set up a date night schedule. This will help you to have quality time together and reconnect after a hectic week. It gives you the opportunity to appreciate each other and to unwind.
Surprise
It’s nice to surprise your spouse from time to time. It can be as simple as leaving a note on the fridge or flowers at the office or tickets to a fun event. Make a special meal for each other. Dress up sometimes.
Prioritize Each Other
Make time for each other. It’s not easy when you have children but you must make the effort. Without your marriage, there would be no foundation for your family. Besides, you will be setting an example for your children when it comes to good/bad relationships. Set a good example. Make sure that your spouse knows how much you value them and that life wouldn’t be the same without them. Don’t assume that they know this. Tell them.
Be Affectionate
Show your spouse how much they mean to you not only in words but in actions. Hug and kiss them.
Be Spontaneous
It’s hard to be spontaneous when you are raising a family and juggling so many things at once but it’s a good idea to change things up a bit. Instead of your regular dinner plan, how about having a picnic or eating out? Instead of staying in over the weekend – go out. Be adventurous and steer away from the norm. Spontaneity in your life will help to keep the spark alive (Belief Net).
Add Some Playfulness Into Your Marriage
This is a way of breaking out of a routine. You can sneak in a quickie before making dinner.
Talk to Your Partner
Instead of watching television, talk to each other. Sit outside and enjoy the weather while the kids are in bed (Canadian Living)
Respect
Show each other the same respect you did when you were dating. Let others know that it is an honor for you to be with the one you love. Speak kindly and listen to one another again.
Gift Giving
You don’t have to give elaborate gifts. A random card with a note letting them know you are thinking about them would do very nicely.
Studying One Another
Ask each other questions like you are meeting for the first time. You might find out that the things you thought were true or what may have been true 20 years ago isn’t the case anymore (What Christians Want to Know).
Talk to couples who have been married for 40 years and over. Find out the secret of their success.
Have fun trying to keep the spark alive in your marriage. If anyone has any tips they would like to share, I would love to hear from you.
Sources: Belief Net; What Christians Want to Know; Canadian Living
