Saturday 9

Ode to Billie Joe (1967)

If you're not familiar with today's song, you can hear it here.

1) This song takes places on "the third of June," which is described as "another sleepy, dusty" day. Describe the weather where you were on Friday, June 3, 2016.

Just like the day before it, and today, and pretty much all month long, it was wet, very wet.

2) In this song, the family sits down to eat and discuss the doings of their friends and neighbors. Mama, Papa, Brother and Sister were at the table. Who did you have dinner with on Friday?

My husband David and our oldest daughter Laynie and I were the only one's here Friday.

©2015 Suzanne G. McClendon

3) Young Billie Joe MacAllister playfully put a frog down another kid's back. Do you see many frogs where you live?

YES! I can't step out our back door without seeing a frog. Mostly, they are little bitty, teeny-tiny frogs, but sometimes I see a regular-sized frog.

4) This song made Mississippi's Tallahatchie Bridge famous. What's the name of a bridge in your neighborhood?

I don't know the name of the bridge, but it crosses the Colorado River at the gauge on Business 59.

5) Bobbie Gentry often performed with Glen Campbell. Mr. Campbell's family is very open about Glen's battle with Alzheimer's. Is anyone in your life facing this terrible disease?

Me & Grandma, 1984

My maternal grandma Maggie Pressley Spence had Alzheimer's. It still makes me cry to talk about it. It is suspected that her mother had it as well.  Looking back, although I was too little to understand such things when I was a little girl, my great-grandpa's sister Pauline Pressley gave every indication of having some form of dementia, possibly Alzheimer's. My mama gave her a picture of us kids once and she kept asking my mama where she put the picture. Mama would tell her that she put it in her billfold and about half a second later, Aunt Pauline would ask about it again.

6) "Ode to Billie Joe" was made into a movie directed by Max Baer, Jr. Mr. Baer is better known for playing Jethro Bodine in a famous 1960s era sitcom. Can you name it?

Beverly Hillbillies, and my favorite characters were Uncle Jed and Granny.

7) Bobbie Gentry made one of her last public appearances in 1981 on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Johnny is now seen in reruns on the Antenna TV channel. Think of the last TV show you watched. Was it new or was it a rerun?

The last TV show that I watched was My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic. One version or another of this series has been going on for years. The kids watch it and then share the link with us, so I guess as far as we're concerned, they are re-runs. The kids run them first, and then we do. It's a sweet little show with good values.

8) In 1967, when this song was popular, Sweden changed its traffic laws and Swedes began driving on the right. Have you ever driven in a foreign country? If so, did you have a hard time adapting to their laws?

Unless you count Texas, I have never driven in a foreign country. What I do not understand about the traffic practices around here (and I don't know if this is their law or just what the people do) is people on bicycles driving against the traffic. Back home in South Carolina, pedestrians were the only ones that went against the traffic; all wheeled vehicles, bicycles included, went with the traffic. In other words, bicycles drove in the same direction as the cars on their side of the road.  But out here? You guessed it, the bicycles drive against the traffic and most of these folks do not follow common courtesy, like, oh, I don't know...stopping for a stop sign?

9) Random question: Which would you rather have more of -- compliments or hugs?

Hugs.  I don't generally believe compliments when they are directed at me.