Subscribe
Tag Cloud
1950s television Alsace animal behavior Asbestoses Bakewell Tart baking banana coconut upside down cake bananas Barefoot Contessa beach beans beauty beer can chicken Ben E King blueberry Book Review Boom De Ya Da Bradenton Florida cabbage cake canine lung worm carrot salad casserole cassoulet Celebrity Constellation Celebrity cruiseline cheese chicken chicken and dumplings chicken fricasse'e Chicken Salad chicken thighs chihuahua chocolate christmas pudding coconut commercialization of Christmas Condor Ferries contrived ignorance cooking video Cornwall COSTCO cottage pie couscous Cream of Tortilla Soup Cream Recipes cream teas crockpot croutons cruise ship menu cultural awareness current event Curry Dauphinoise Potatoes decorating desserts Dick and Jane Ding Dong School Dinner Discovery Channel diversity dog psychology dogs Easy Recipes eggs enamel coated cast iron English Cooking English trains Enzos on the Lake Epcot extrovert Fall Food Fast Easy Fresh Fennel Recipes fish florida food preparation France Frances Horwich French cooking fresh green beans Fresh Market fresh pasta fresh vegetables fruit tart gardening genital euphenisms George Pullman grandchildren greek yogurt grilling ground lamb ground beef guardian ad litem ham hocks Handicaps Havanese healthy food home decorating how to clean leeks I Have a Dream Ina Garten Indian food introvert Italian Cooking Italian Food IVIG Kix Cereal lamb lamb curry lamb palak lamb shahi khorma lamb shanks Lasagna leek and potato soup Leeks leftovers literacy love song low-carb main course Mallomars Marissa Tomei marriage Martha Stewart Martin Luther King Mary Oliver Meat Recipes meatloaf mental illness Michael Portillo Mickey Rourke Miss Frances modern omelet monkey bread Moroccan muffins Mushroom Recipes Mushrooms Nelsonian knowledge New England Style Cooking Nixon NY Times Obama one dish meal onion tart onions oscar nominated pack dominance pack leadership pakora parenting Parmesan Recipes pasta pate brisee Paula Deen peach cake Peeps peppermint bark photo photography photos pina colada monkey bread pineapple poached poem polish cooking politics poverty pullman dining car raspberries recipe recipes refrigerated rolls riding the rails roast chicken Rush Libaugh RV lifestyle salad Sally Field salmon Samsung Appriances Sand Hill Crane Sand Sculpture Sausage Recipes sausages Schizophrenia school children hear Obama speak self-perception shepherd's pie Siesta Key Florida snails souffle soup South Florida spaghetti squash Spinach St. Malo Stand By Me Whistle Blower summer meal sweet bread Taffy Tandoori cooking Technology Ted talks The Help theme park This Was the Week That Was Tin Can Tourist Tom Gross transatlantic cruise travel trailer tropical plants UK UK Guardian article urban blight Valentine's Day vegetables vegetaria video VIMEO viseo welsh terrier white blood cell count wild salmon Willful Blindness Willful Ignorance wood look porcelain tile World Showcase Youtube Youtube video zucchini Zuni Cafe Roast Chicken

Entries in Miss Frances (1)

Saturday
Jan122013

Is It Any Wonder I Became a Teacher?

 

Memoirs of a Six Suitcase Girl in a One Bag Allowance World


 

I grew up in 1950s post-war prosperous Baby Boom Northeast USA.  My husband is eleven years older than I am and grew up in postwar ravaged England  where the rationing of food was still in effect until 1954.   I do not remember a time without television.  John did not have a television in his home until he was eighteen.  Due to our difference in ages and places of birth, our cultural icons are very different.

My Dad was here last night and he was reminiscing.  He said, " I remember how much you loved Miss Frances.  Do you remember Miss Frances?  She'd say, "OK,   girls, go get your Mommy.  Tell her Miss Frances needs to speak to her."  Of course I remember!  I'd go out to the kitchen for my mother yelling, "Hurry up!  Miss Frances needs you right now!"  My mother would be doing whatever and she'd say, "Go back there and tell Miss Frances to leave me alone.  I'm busy and she's just wanting to sell me something!"  I'd dejectedly slink back to the living room, sure that Miss Frances was so disappointed in me that she'd  write a letter and no one would let me into kindergarten at Chamberlin School when I turned five. 

You can meet Miss Frances below.  Look at her...so perfect in every way...the dress, the pearls, her bracelet, the perfect timbre and modulation of her voice, the way she always is so calm and happy.  I said bed time prayers in those days and every night after I said my "Now I Lay Mes" and it was begging time, I'd beg G-d for a pony and to wake up and find that Miss Frances was my new Mommy.   I eventually got the pony.  I never got Miss Frances but....................because of her, I became a teacher and then a principal.  I also think I grew up to be a persnickety perfectionist in every way, modeling myself after the ever right, ever perfect, never let 'em see you sweat , never cut yourself any slack , no crumbs on the counter Miss Frances.  You will notice however, there is no cursing, no violence, no nudity, no nothing off the grid behavior where Miss Frances rules the air waves.  Also, pay particular attention to the clip around 3.0 minutes into it.  You will see the most perfect huckstering of a product to children.  It should be in the Huckster Hall of Fame.  If there's a Huckster Heaven, I bet  Miss Frances is up there sipping Dirty Martinis withBilly Mays and The Marlboro Man.