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12/22/07 - NNHS Newsletter
Pat-a-Pan

“Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery
and an instrument of ten strings. Sing unto him a new song;
play skilfully with a loud noise.”

- Psalms. 33: 2-3

Dear Friends and Schoolmates,

This is another charming old French carol which I remembered from the days of my youth.

BIRTHDAYS - TODAY AND UPCOMING:
We have another one of those rare Birthday Four-Fers today! Kitty Norman Haskins ('57) of VA, Harry Barritt ('64) of VA, Dale Mueller ('64) of VA, AND Bill Rash ('67) of VA are all celebrating!

Sunday brings us a Three-Fer: Tom Flax ('64) of VA, Joyce Lawrence Cahoon ('65) of VA, AND Holly Hill Campbell (HRA - '72) of VA!

On Christmas Eve, we'll have another Two-Fer: James Gay ('57) and Ann W. Hutcheson ('57), and on Christmas Day, we'll have yet another Two-Fer: Patsy Bloxom Meider ('57) and Doug Dickinson ('69) of VA!

Many Happy Returns to you all!

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/Happy-Birthday.html

From Joyce Lawrence Cahoon ('65) of VA - 12/20/07 - "Love This":

Carol,

I just had to pass this on for you and everyone. Does it sound like any of your Mothers? We're a ways from her age but getting closer every year!! Sunday I'll be 60, seems like high school wasn't very many years ago, where does time go? Hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and may the good Lord take a like'n to you!

Subject: 86-year old lady's letter to bank

Shown below is an actual letter that was sent to a bank by an 86 year old woman. The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in the New York Times.

Dear Sir:
I am writing to thank you for bouncing my check with which I endeavored to pay my plumber last month.

By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the check and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honor it.
I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my entire pension, an arrangement which, I admit, has been in place for only eight years. You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account $30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank. My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways.

I noticed that whereas I personally answer your telephone calls and letters, --- when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become.

From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person. My mortgage and loan repayments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank, by check, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate.

Be aware that it is an offense under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope. Please find attached an Application Contact which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alter native. Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Notary Public, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof. In due course, at MY convenience, I will issue your employee with a PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me.

I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modeled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Let me level the playing field even further.

When you call me, press buttons as follows:

IMMEDIATELY AFTER DIALING, PRESS THE STAR (*) BUTTON FOR ENGLISH

#1. To make an appointment to see me

#2. To query a missing payment.

#3. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.

#4. To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping

#5. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.

#6. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home

#7. To leave a message on my computer, a password to access my computer is required. Password will be communicated to you at a later date to that Authorized Contact mentioned earlier.

#8. To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through 7.

#9. To make a general complaint or inquiry. The contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service.

#10. This is a second reminder to press* for English. While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.

Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement. May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous New Year?

Your Humble Client

(Remember: This was written by an 86 year old woman) 'YA JUST GOTTA LOVE "US SENIORS"!!!!!

And remember: Don't make old ladies mad. They don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to set them off.

This is a classic, Joyce (especially that last line)! Thanks so much! Happy Birthday - and Merry Christmas!

From Renee Helterbran Benton ('59) of VA - 12/20/07 - "Merry Christmas!":

Merry Christmas, Carol

special thanks for all you do!

Renee

WOWZERS!!! Thank you so much, Renee! Merry Christmas to you and yours!

From Cheryl Mays Howard ('66) of VA - 12/20/07 - "Merry Christmas":

A Mountain Christmas in Virginia

As Christmas sounds ring through the night, my childhood dream’s soon take flight,

To that old farm house sitting on a hill, a blanket of snow ‘neath the window sill.

Our plump little grandma cooks all day, so all the clan will enjoy their stay.

The player piano rings Christmas sounds, as everyone in the parlor gathers ‘round.

Uncle Massie fiddles a familiar tune and we sing and play all afternoon.

Soon Santa will arrive, with his face so kind, he surely resembles that dad of mine.

Uncle Garnett sounding like a train whistle will call,

announcing supper time to one and all.

As night falls on the old homeplace,

Uncle Jack tells stories to wide eyed children

of big bears and the golden arm.

Soon tucked snug in our beds, quilts over our heads,

cousins knew there was one thing to dread.

Across the cold dark room behind the closet curtain,

is a place we’d have to visit for certain.

When the giggling is done, and the morning has come,

the aroma of ham cooking awakens us.

Too soon the time has passed, we must leave at last.

In sadness we part, holding memories in our hearts.

The aging farm house once busy with life waits quietly on the hill,

over looking Piney Rivers rushing sound where rocky banks wind around.

Silhouetted against a winter sky, her loneliness seems to call,

beckoning back the children who once played within her halls.

For they will come from far and near, to keep alive a dream held dear.

We are guardians of the future preserving the past.

May our children have memories that long will last,

of grandma’s bed and a cold winter's night and stories of Bethlehem’s light.

Burn deep in our hearts, oh silent flame,

we give thanks for those who to this mountain came.

Tombstones now line the silent hill, echoes of children playing linger still.

So put a candle in the window and gather around,

and sing of the Christ Child on which our faith is found.

Cheryl Mays Howard

WOWZERONI!!! I forget from time to time that you write poetry, Cheryl! This is charming! Thanks so much for sharing it with us! Merry Christmas to all of y'all!

From Sepi Dinwiddie Prichard ('58) of NC - 12/20/07 - "Merry Christmas":

Carol, and all readers of the NNHS Newsletter........

Thanks to you, Carol, this Christmas is one of the best in a long time. You and your unrelenting determination to get The NNHS Newsletter out to all of us is just a real true gift, one that you give to all of us all year. It has opened up a whole new window in my life, and a very welcome one. Being able to share things with friends, old and new has been very rewarding and enlightening and in a way like going through a box of old treasures, carefully wrapped, and stored in the attic of my mind so many years ago. Never really forgotten, but briefly remembered, at certain times by certain things that have occurred and a memory jolted by a name, a face similar to someone in the past, and places seen during my trips back to the old Stomping Grounds in the past 25 years. O.K. more than fifty years !

In the last six months The Newsletter has made it possible to find these wrapped treasures that I remember storing so long ago in my mind...after searching, I have located that box of treasures that I remember tucking away in my mind, located in my heart ! Funny how that happens. For the past six months I have been slowly unwrapping some of those treasures, taking my time, not wanting to reach the bottom of the box. Discovering that the wrappings themselves carried their own special meaning, I truly expected to find some broken or at least tarnished, but that has not been so. A few have turned back to dust, causing brief, unexpected grief... only to be replaced by the shining ones that still bring joy and love and the journeys back to years that prove that our hearts are still young even though some of our body parts aren't ! To find out how forgiving time is and that memories in their maturity are so much more kind and loving and have come to be more than any of us expected that we were capable of.

It is possible to go back home, even if it is briefly, to find the things you thought you had misplaced sweeter and more delightful than our once juvenile minds thought was possible. I love and adore each and every one of you, I will not name you, you know who your are. In unwrapping and approving old memories, I find that the bottom of the box is not being emptied, but being filled with new memories, created by new friends and wrapped in strong, resilient but beautiful pictures of the recent past. When I go home I really don't want to stay long, just long enough to collect a little more of each of you and in return to give a little more of myself. This is possible with each Newsletter, or e-mail or phone call or visit. Some of my memories began as diaper buddies, some as toddlers, first graders, and on up the ladder of education, in more than one curricula of study. We have all helped one another grow, most of the time without realizing it. We are stronger, happier, and more successful because we are all related by the memories of an old school, or schools and friendships. If it was just a smile from me to you, or you to me, it has helped me on my journey, I hope it has helped you. Our roots are multicultural, but still intertwined, what a blessing...some have been adopted, some encircled by love and mutual friends, but brought into the fold only to find it comfortable enough to want to stay. Maybe your brother of sister graduated before me, and that's how I met them. Maybe they were underclassmen and played in my yard and I watched them grow up. Whatever the reason, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas or whatever you choose to celebrate, and a Wonder filled New Year packed with miracles and blessings that will bring more peace of mind, more love and better health and more and stronger Faith into your lives.

Thanks Carol.......Thanks, All Y'all !

Sepi a.k.a. Ozora a.k.a. Dimples

WOWZERONI!!! Your note really touched me, Sepi! Thanks so much! Merry Christmas to you and yours!

From Joe Madagan ('57) of FL - 12/21/07 - "A quiz.":

Hi, Carol:

You may wish to share this with the TYPHOON Nation. A physician friend sent this to me and it was so interesting, I thought I would share it with you, and see if you wanted to use it for an upcoming Newsletter.

Alzheimer's test.

      Count the "F's" in the following text:

      FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.
      (see below)

      Managed it ? Scroll down only after you have counted them, okay?

      Do you think there are three?

      How many ?    3?

      Wrong, there are 6 !!   -- no joke. Read it again.

      The reasoning behind is further down.

      The brain does not process "OF".

      Weird or what ?

      Go back and look again!!

      Anyone who counts all 6 "F's" on the first go is a genius.

      Three is normal, four is quite rare.

      Send this to your friends -- it'll drives them crazy.

And when they get "Crazy" send them to me it is good for my Business $$$

TYPHOON Regards,

Joe Madagan ('57) of FL

WILD GIGGLES!!! Thanks, Joe! I spotted four, but those other two were hiding!

From Frank Blechman ('65) of Northern VA - 12/21/07 - "RE: Winter Solstice":

Actually, this year (the 4th year in the leap year calendar), the solstice is tomorrow. I will be celebrating with a bonfire or other minor ceremonies. No human or animal sacrifice this year, Some absolution of sins.

Frank Blechman

ARGHHH! I "thought" I had checked on that! Sigh. Well, on the bright side, whodaevahthunk I'd be EARLY instead of LATE?!?

Thanks, Frank! Enjoy your celebrations - and be careful with that fire!

From Domi O'Brien ('64) of NH - 12/21/07:

A favorite seasonal poem of mine I'd like to share, by Susan Cooper:

The Shortest Day

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!

Susan Cooper

Have wonderful holidays, everyone!

Domi

Thank you, Domi, I really like that! Good Yule!

From one of my Famous Marines, Herb Hice of MI, who served in the Pacific Theater during WWII - 12/21/07 - "Dear Carol / Dimples, Merry Christmas to You and Your Family":

Dear Carol / Dimples

I can't say it enough, Merry Christmas to You and Your Family.

Herbie

My Christmas IS ...

I don't know who they are,
Saying I can't greet the crowd
The way that I want to,
Can't say "CHRISTMAS" out loud.

I walk into a business place,
See things that I'd rather not see,
But dare I not say "CHRISTMAS"
And ask for a "holiday" tree.

What happened to freedom of speech
And living in the land of the free?
How can they take my CHRISTMAS money
But can't say "MERRY CHRISTMAS" to me?

Men and women have given their lives
So we could still go free.
I wonder how they would feel
At saying "HOLIDAY" TREE.

Come on, ALL, let's wake up
Don't let freedom escape
If they get by with doing this,
What else will they take?

This is starting to get out of hand,
And I've begun to keep track.
Well, I've just about had enough;
I'M TAKING CHRISTMAS BACK.

So MERRY CHRISTMAS, ALL,
I hope this gets all over the net.
If we all stand united and take freedom back,
'Twill be our best CHRISTMAS YET!

Merry Christmas!!

Thanks so much, Herbie Darlin' - for everything!

From Jean Poole Burton ('64) of RI - 12/21/07 - "When Christmas overwhelms you, take a nap!!!":

		Great idea! WILD GIGGLES!!! Thanks, Lady! Merry Christmas!
Thursday, December 6, 2007

From Chandler Nelms (Hampton HS - '63) of MD - 12/21/07:

Does anyone have a good recipe for fruit cake? Don't laugh, now. Today, for some reason, fruit cake has gotten a bad rap. Growing up, fruit cake was ALWAYS a favorite treat within my family.....grand parents, aunts, and all. My grandmother, and then my mother, always made at least one fruit cake every holiday season and she would soak it in some sort of rum or brandy. In addition she would sometimes prepare a type of creamy sauce to spread on a slice. I believe she called it "Hard Sauce", probably because it also was made with some sort of "hard" liquor. Don't take me wrong. The Nelms' were not a bunch of sots, well at least not the adults, but our fruit cakes never lasted very long before they were entirely eaten. Maybe that's why fruit cake has gotten such a bad name, now. People have not only given up the art of making them at home but they've forgotten the secret "ingredients".

Chandler Nelms

I have a double admission, Chandler Darlin'. I LOVE fruit cakes, and I've never baked one in my life. So whereas I can find you a good Virginia recipe, I've never personally tested it.

Anyone else???

Thanks, Sweetie! I'll see what I can find for you.

From one of my Famous Marines, Herb Hice of MI, who served in the Pacific Theater during WWII - 12/14/07 - "Dear Carol / Dimples, This is Dog Logic" (#5 in a series of 12):

Dear Carol / Dimples Something to ponder. Herbie So sadly true! Thanks, Herbie Darlin'!
		Dogs love their friends & bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love & always have to mix love & hate.
		-Anonymous

There's much more to come - next time! Meanwhile, Good Yule - and Merry Christmas!

Y'all take care of each other! TYPHOONS FOREVER! We'll Always Have Buckroe!

Love to all, Carol

==============================================

NNHS CLASS OF '65 WEB SITE: http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com

PERSONAL WEB SITE: http://www.angelfire.com/weird2/cluckmeat

==============================================

Carol Buckley Harty
219 Four Ply Lane
Fayetteville, NC 29311-9305
910-488-9408

Pat-a-Pan

"Patapan" (or "Pat-a-pan") is the title of a traditional French (specifically, Burgundian) Christmas carol. The carol revolves around the birth of Jesus Christ, and is told from the perspective of shepherds playing simple instruments--flutes and drums--the onomatopoetic sound of which gives the song its name; "patapan" is meant to mimic the sound of the drum, and an accompanying lyric, "tu-re-lu-re-lu," the flute. This is similar conceptually to the carol "The Little Drummer Boy", with its chorus of "pa-rum-pa-pum-pum."

Words and Music by Guillô, Pran Ton Tamborin, Bernard de la Monnoye, c. 1700 (1641-1728)
(Source: William Sandys, 1833)
Translator Unknown

Guillô, prends ton tambourin,
Toi, prends ta flûte, Robin
Au son de ces instruments
Tu-re-lu-re-lu, pat-a-pat-a-pan
Au son de ces instruments
Je dirai Noël, gaiement.

C'était la mode autrefois
De louer le Roi des rois
Au son de ces instruments
Tu-re-lu-re-lu, pat-a-pat-a-pan
Au son de ces instruments
Il nous en faut faire autant.

L'homme et Dieu sont plus d'accord
Que la flûte et le tambour
Au son de ces instruments
Tu-re-lu-re-lu, pat-a-pat-a-pan
Au son de ces instruments
Chantons, dansons, sautons-en!

Willie, get your little drum,
Robin, bring your flute and come.
Aren’t they fun to play upon?
Tu-re-lu-re-lu, pat-a-pat-a-pan;
When you play your fife and drum,
How can anyone be glum?

When the men of olden days
Gave the King of Kings their praise,
They had pipes to play upon.
Tu-re-lu-re-lu, pat-a-pat-a-pan;
And also the drums they’d play,
Full of joy, on Christmas Day.

God and man today become
Closely joined as flute and drum.
Let the joyous tune play on!
Tu-re-lu-re-lu, pat-a-pat-a-pan;
As the instruments you play,
We will sing, this Christmas Day.

"Pat-a-Pan" midi courtesy of http://www.classicalmidiconnection.com/cmc/xmas.html - 12/20/07

History courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patapan - 12/20/07

"Pat-a-Pan" French Lyrics courtesy of http://www.songsforteaching.com/charlottediamond/patapan.htm - 12/20/07

"Pat-a-Pan" English lyrics courtesy of http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/pat_a_pan-1.htm - 12/20/07

Image of Wilhelm Schweizer Pewter Angel Christmas Figurine courtesy of http://www.pewterkingdom.com/WilhelmSchweizerCollection.htm - 12/20/07

Image of Goebel Porcelain Angel Christmas Figurine courtesy of http://www.replacements.com/webquote/CO_GOEXMSF.htm - 12/20/07

Red Bow Bar Divider Line clip art courtesy of http://www.hellasmultimedia.com/webimages/christ-htm/lines-christ22.htm - 12/20/07

Animated Tiny Birthday Cake clip art courtesy of Sarah Puckett Kressaty ('65) of VA - 08/31/05
Thanks, Sarah Sugah!

Marine Corps Seal clip art courtesy of Herbert Hice of MI - one of my Famous Marines who served in the South Pacific during WWII.
Thanks, Herbie!

Navy Seal clip art courtesy of http://www.onemileup.com/miniSeals.asp - 05/29/06

Crab clip art courtesy of http://www.geocities.com/agent99bm/ - 10/02/05

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