Peaks and valleys

These are not the southern Appalachian Mountains of north Georgia, nor are they the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia (although they are definitely blue). They certainly are not the Alps or the Andes or the Rockies or even the Pyrenees.

They are Blogger’s way of telling a person how many times his or her blog was viewed each day.

Here are some real peaks and valleys for your viewing pleasure:

(Photo of Mont Blanc, October 2004, by Nathan, used in accordance with terms of the Free Art License)

Mont Blanc will get bigger if you click on it. You heard it here first.

My brain has been drained of things to blog about today.

You’ll just have to make do with this.

Whatever became of the Lees?

Here is “the rest of the story”:

George Washington Custis Lee, who was known as Custis, succeeded his father as president of Washington College (now Washington & Lee University), serving from 1871 until 1897. He never married and died in 1913.

William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, who was known as Rooney, became a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1877 until 1891. He died in 1891.

Robert E. Lee Jr., who was known as Rob, became an author and recorded his memories of his family and life in Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee (1904). He died in 1914.

Eleanor Agnes Lee, who was known as Agnes, was considered her mother’s favorite daughter. She never married and died from typhoid fever in October 1873, at the age of 32.

Anne Carter Lee, who was known as Annie, also contracted typhoid fever and died in 1862 at the age of 23.

Mildred Childe Lee, who was known as Milly, never married and died in New Orleans in 1905.

Mary Custis Lee, who was known as Sister (at least to her siblings), never married and died in 1918.

According to a site about Arlington House that is maintained by the National Park Service, through Rooney and his younger brother Rob there are over twenty direct descendants of Mary and Robert E. Lee alive today.

You can find more fascinating information about each member of the Lee family there.

General Robert E. Lee (1807 - 1870)

Today is his birthday. He would have been 206.

Did you know that he was the son of Revolutionary War officer Henry “Lighthorse Harry” Lee III?

Did you know that he married the great-granddaughter of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, which made him the step-great-grandson-in-law of George Washington?

Did you know that he once served as Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York?

Did you know that he was offered command of both the Union and Confederate armies?

Did you know that after the war he became president of what is now called Washington and Lee University in Virginia?

Did you know that he and his wife, Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee, had three sons and four daughters (George Washington Custis Lee, William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, Robert Edward Lee Jr., Mary Lee, Eleanor Agnes Lee, Anne Carter Lee, and Mildred Childe Lee)?

I didn’t think so.

(Mary Custis Lee with Robert E. Lee Jr., 1845)

A historic day!

I don’t care what Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong say (3:35).

Or Billie Holiday (3:50).

Or Jimmy Buffett, who included the seldom-sung verse (4:13).

Or even the sugary-sweet, white-bread warblings of Doris Day (3:41).

Stars didn’t fall on Alabama last night.

Snow did.

At my daughter’s house.

We’ve been having pneumonia weather in the South this month. This morning the temperature at my house was 28 degrees Fahrenheit and it’s supposed to reach 72 this afternoon.

Thanks (I think) for the memories

How old is old?

Old is being able to remember when mailing a first-class letter cost three cents and mailing a postcard cost one cent. Today in the United States, the cost of mailing a first-class letter is 45 cents and the cost of mailing a postcard is 32 cents. On January 27, 2013 -- one week from now -- postage rates will rise again, to 46 cents and 33 cents, respectively. For postcard postage, this will be the third increase in less than two years.

Old is being able to remember when gasoline cost 24 cents per gallon and that the price fell to 17 cents per gallon during a local gas war. I’m not going to tell you what gasoline costs today. It’s too depressing.

Old is being able to remember listening to Baby Snooks on the radio. Also Henry Aldrich and Life With Luigi and The Great Gildersleeve.

Old is knowing who Winnie Ruth Judd was and what she did that made her famous.

Old is knowing who lived at 79 Wistful Vista.

Old is being able to remember Adlai Stevenson II saying, “I’m too old to cry and it hurts too much to laugh” about his defeat the day before by Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Old is being able to remember when Jell-O® came in only five flavors. I remember the five flavors from hearing commercials on the radio for “strawberry, raspberry, orange, lemon, and lime.” I also remember the first time I heard a radio commercial that added a sixth flavor, cherry, as in “strawberry, raspberry, cherry, orange, lemon, and lime.” Do not ask me why they stuck cherry in the middle of the list because I do not know, unless it was to group the fruit by citrus and non-citrus, which is as good a reason as any. Today, according to the Wikipedia article on Jell-O®, there are 27 flavors of Jell-O® gelatin and 31 flavors of Jell-O® pudding. A list of 38 discontinued flavors includes root beer, Italian salad, maple syrup, and mixed vegetable.

Really old is being able to remember when Jell-O® came in only four flavors. Even I cannot do that.

I can’t go traipsing off to Thailand

...like Yorkshire Pudding or create exquisite paintings of cherries like Katherine DeChevalle or cross dangerous gorges like Elizabeth Stanforth-Sharpe, but I can spend a quiet evening at home, sitting in front of the fireplace, listening to music from years gone by....

Care to join me?

1. “You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby” performed by Billy Butterfield with the Ray Coniff Orchestra (2:36)

2. Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust” performed by Billy Butterfield with the Artie Shaw Orchestra (2:50)

3. Nat “King” Cole singing “When I Fall In Love” (2:56)

4. Andy Williams singing “Moon River” (2:45)

5. Roberta Flack singing “Killing Me Softly With His Song” (4:42)

There, now, wasn’t that relaxing?

This is just wrong on so many levels

I’m talking about this video clip in which Kate Smith introduces a rather strange performance of “Way Down Yonder in New Orleans” by Juliet Prowse, complete with high kicks and a tap-dancing troupe, on The Hollywood Palace television program back in the day (4:36).

I mean, it’s as if Susan Boyle were on Britain’s Got Talent and then had to stand by and watch some dancers get all the glory, with the audience lapping it up.

Oh, wait, that actually happened.

It’s as if Bing Crosby, who introduced “White Christmas” -- arguably the best-known Christmas song of the twentieth century -- on a radio program on Christmas Day 1941, were hosting a Christmas special on television years later but had to stand back and watch someone else introduce another Christmas song.

Oh, wait, that actually happened, too (3:48).

But this post has a happy ending. It’s not as if Kate Smith, who introduced a rather well-known song herself back on a radio program on Armistice Day in 1938, didn’t get a final moment of glory (3:20).

If Bing Crosby had a final moment of glory, I am unaware of what or when it was.

I know it isn’t Christmas -- hey, it isn’t even Epiphany -- but you guys got me started with your comments about “What Child Is This?” on my previous post, which didn’t have anything to do with Christmas either.

So this post is kind of your own fault.

Let the comments begin. I expect you’ll be discussing Irving Berlin, or New Orleans, or ice hockey.