Category: Parenting

March 20, 2015 / Vickie Lester

John Barrymore and baby daughter Diana – a hauntingly beautiful portrait

March 5, 2015 / Vickie Lester

Reprise: What an attentive husband, a little Gershwin, a flying saucer, and an ad agency like Leo Burnett can do

I have been out of sorts lately, it seems to be going around. The kindly gentleman above, however, remembered something I had said years ago, and it turns out he looks every month for a funny little ad I said, had it been within my power, I would have bestowed…

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January 14, 2015 / Vickie Lester

Orson Welles at home with daughter Christopher in New York City

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January 1, 2015 / Vickie Lester

“Man is a marvelous curiosity. When he is at his very, very best he is a sort of low grade nickel-plated angel…” Mark Twain

Morrow: Pal, look, how would you like to go on a real old-fashioned binge? 8 Deeds: Binge? 8 Morrow: Yeah, I mean the real McCoy. Listen, you play saloon with me and I’ll introduce you to every wit, nitwit, and half-wit in New York. We’ll go on a twister that’ll…

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December 28, 2014 / Vickie Lester

Fred Astaire and son – 1941

Photography by Bob Landry

December 11, 2014 / Vickie Lester

Reprise: in Palm Springs, the dog ate my sandals and flung them in the pool

I’m lucky they didn’t fling me in the pool. My aunt and uncle, besides the venerable parrot, favored large dogs (I mean dogs that outweighed me) who my uncle trained in German as to foil evil doers, I presume. I’ve been talking quite a bit about my aunt, but my…

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December 11, 2014 / Vickie Lester

Reprise: I have a Pavlovian response, and when I’m feeling peaked I have to go to Palm Springs

When I was a youngster we didn’t spend much time there. My mother spoke of it disdainfully saying, “It’s fine if you’re a Republican or play golf,” neither the party or the sport interested her. I did, however, have an aunt and uncle who had retired young and decided to…

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November 29, 2014 / Vickie Lester

I’ll tell ya what I’m thankful for…

Plenty. First of all I grew up with loving parents who were wary of the fishbowl of fame. Now, if you’ve been reading along for the past couple of years you know that Cary Grant is not my daddy, but I call the parts around here home. Neither my mother…

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November 27, 2014 / Vickie Lester

Reprise: Thanksgiving stories…

Once my friend prepared a casserole dish of potatoes au gratin to bake at my house and it sloshed in her car and for weeks it smelled like baby puke, until she took it to a specialty cleaner…the kind that cleans up crime scenes. True story! A long time ago,…

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October 22, 2014 / Vickie Lester

This time last year I was deep into the novel, working with my line editor in London…

An example of a photo you’d take while waiting to receive your editor’s daily notes – how could anyone question the literary output of one who would wear such socks? Now you see exactly why I need an editor, a little governing is always a good idea faced with baffling…

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