Thursday Thirteen #25 -- 13 women I want to hang with in Heaven

Thirteen women THE GAL HERSELF will invite to tea when she gets to Heaven This TT is inspired by Carly Simon’s song about her late mother, “Like a River,” where she wonders if Mom is enjoying the afterlife, “dancing with Ben Franklin on the face of the moon.” Isn’t that a lovely thought? Instead of waltzing with history’s most famous men on the face of the moon, I’d like to celebrate my arrival in Heaven by having a celestial tea party with some of its most famous women. My guest list includes First Ladies, writers, movie stars, an aviator and a princess. 1. Jackie Kennedy Onassis. I’d like her to share how she handled all that with her dignity, strength and integrity in tact? 2. Lady Bird Johnson. A woman of means and intellect, she worked tirelessly toward building LBJ’s career. Yet she lived nearly 35 years after his death. What was that like? Her husband was gone, her children were grown, the spotlight had moved on … Was it lonely, or peaceful? 3. Eleanor Roosevelt. She received so much ridicule during her lifetime! She was ugly. She didn’t know her place. Her voice was grating. Yet today she inspires people all over the country – from friends who have her quotes pinned to their office bulletin boards all the way to Hillary Clinton. She even has her own statue at the FDR Memorial. Do the respect and adulation she receives now, posthumously, help assuage the hurts she endured in life? 4. Mary Lincoln. She once said that she did “the wrong things well.” As she’s watched women’s roles change, century by century, does she wish she lived in a later generation? She certainly would have had an easier time. But then she would not have been right there, with her truly great husband, during a critical time in history. 5. Adela Rogers St. John. Reporter and screenwriter, she had a fabulous career that began with William Randolph Hearst, took her into silent films, had her in the pressbox for the Lindbergh kidnapping trial, and ended with an appearance in Reds. She wrote What Price Hollywood, which was remade twice as A Star Is Born. She even covered the assassination of Huey Long. I’d just love to hear her stories. 6. Lillian Hellman. Playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and true rebel. She was the first woman to be nominated for a screenwriting Oscar, gave HUAC what-for, & Dash Hammett used their love affair as his inspiration for Nick and Nora Charles. Her drinking and her fiery temperament made her life difficult but it fueled her writing. I’d just like to thank her for the entertainment that her writings have given me. 7. Louisa May Alcott. She gave us the March sisters, thereby influencing every woman I know. Shouldn’t that have been enough? No, she was a suffragette and the first woman to vote in Concord, MA. She was an abolitionist who hid a slave in her home. All this, and she died at the tender age of 55. 8. Anne George. It would probably amuse this soft-spoken little lady to be included among these firebrands. Ms. George wrote the charming Southern Sisters mystery novels. Her style was engaging and real. She gave us a pair of sixty-something heroines – Mouse and Aunt Sister – who loved their families, their pets, the South, solving crimes … oh, yeah, and one another. (Even though they bickered about a certain Shirley Temple doll at least once per book.) She only wrote 8 of these slim, adorable volumes, and I’d like her to enchant me with just one more Southern Sisters story. 9. Nancy Dickerson. Before Katie Couric, before Barbara Walters, there was Nancy Dickerson. She was the only woman I remember seeing on the news when I was a little girl in the 1960s. I used to look forward to her appearances because she was so rare – like the okapi at our local zoo. She covered Washington for NBC and got real stories, not fluff pieces about food or fashion. What was it like to be one of the first chicks in the boys’ club? 10. Marilyn Monroe. Her celluloid image is joyous, fuzzy and funny. Her personal life has become a tragic cautionary tale. How could one woman embody two such divergent personae? What was she really like? And do Madonna’s and Anna Nicole Smith’s lame imitations annoy her as much as they do me? 11. Katharine Hepburn. One of a kind. Not simply the first, but the only. The Great Kate. I might be too intimidated to speak to her. But that’s OK, I might not have to. She used to joke that she was her favorite subject, that she found herself endlessly fascinating. I – and much of the world – agree. 12. Amelia Earhart. WHAT HAPPENED? Was it an accident, or did you stage it to escape your marriage? Were you a spy? Did you enjoy an idyllic life on an island for decades? (I hope so). C’mon, spill it. It’s OK, it’s just us girls. 13. Princess Diana. I don’t know why she touches me so, she just does. I’d find it comforting to see that she’s happy and at peace. Besides, if I’m going to have tea in Heaven, I want a royal there. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Toni's is 13 of her favorite girls' names 2. Jenny's TT is musical and fragrant and hilarious 3. As fate would have it, Wylie's is about smells, too (but hers is FAR more PC) 4. You won't believe all the uses for peroxide Lori came up with 5. L^2 posted a TT that is positively supernatural 6. The Lady Rose does some Internet research about ... "The Lady Rose" 7. Gattina, who seems to have some doubts about my ascent into Heaven, has 13 completely charming quotes 8. Hootin' Ani's is all about the joys of summer 9. Miss Frou Frou's monumental 100th TT is up! 10. If you're a cat lover (and aren't all the best people cat lovers) then Dorothy's TT is a heart tugger 11. Supina's is a classic TV TT 12. Sue's TT is a riot about the life lessons we get from horror films 13. Gabriella offers a delightfully adult TT 14. Mo's TT is all critter pix (including some extremely charming kittens) 15. Puss Reboots full-color TT is up. 16. Qtpies chronicles a harrowing dental nightmare. Enter if you dare! 17. In Adelle's TT, she channels Maya Angelou


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To cleanse your palate

That whole Michael Vick thing is so icky that I thought you'd enjoy reading about a couple of athletes who get it:

Back in 1990, when he was manager of the Oakland A's, Tony LaRussa saw a black cat wander onto the field. The fans went wild (perhaps they'd heard of our curse!) and terrified the poor thing. Tony's heart went out to her and he helped the umpires capture her, and then kept her safe in the clubhouse until the game was over.

He drove the cat around the Bay area looking for a shelter to leave her at, but was dismayed to find that the odds were she'd be euthanized. By now she and Tony were buds, so he couldn't let that happen. He found her a new home on his own and then he and his wife opened ARF. His Animal Rescue Foundation is not only a no-kill shelter, it also offers free spay/neuter services and oversees a pet therapy program that brings dogs and cats to visit the elderly and abused.

I've contributed to ARF and know it meets all the BBB's standards. If you'd like to help out:
Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation
P.O. Box 30215
Walnut Creek, CA 94598

I hope all who visit appreciate how difficult it is for me to give any Cardinal props. However, I'm lovin' Lou and I'm loving my Cubs so I've become a kinder, gentler Gal.

And then, of course, there's my beloved, future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux. He and his wife Kathy fund and run the appropriately titled Greg Maddux Foundation. Says she, "We put money into it Greg receives from appearances. And we use it to support children's homes, domestic crisis shelters for battered women, and boys and girls clubs in Atlanta and Las Vegas." Because Greg Maddux funds it himself, donations aren't solicited. But it gives me a chance to run a photo of him. (I do dearly love that man.)