Hello 'Pussy' it's Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Pippi Longstocking:
Your abrupt dismissal of the F.B.I. director
roiled Washington on Wednesday and deepened the sense of crisis
swirling around the White House. You lashed out at Democrats and other
critics, calling them hypocrites.
On Capitol Hill, at least a half-dozen Republicans broke with their leadership to express concern or dismay
about the firing of James B. Comey, who was four years into a
decade-long appointment as the bureau’s director.
Should I remain in bed, leave my country or fight against the dragon?
( see also the story by Wolfgang Hampel,
' Betty MacDonald: Nothing more to say ' )
Betty and Don MacDonald in Hollywood
Betty MacDonald's mother Sydney with grandchild Alison Beck
Betty MacDonald fan club fans,
Betty MacDonald fan club newsletter May includes a new Betty MacDonald essay by Anita and Eartha Kitt II about Betty MacDonald's wonderful friend Mike Gordon.
There are two never published before photos of Betty MacDonald and Mike.
The two ladies are working on an updated version of a new Betty MacDonald fan club item entitled ' Betty and Mike '.
Don't miss new Betty MacDonald fan club birthday contest, please.
Deadline is today.
Happy birthday dear.......!
There is a very important Betty MacDonald fan club personality who is celebrating her/his birthday very soon.
Who is the person we are talking about?
Send us a mail, please and you might be our next Betty MacDonald fan club birthday surprise winner.
Dear Betty MacDonald fan club ESC fans, thank you so much for your support!
We are going to publish your Betty MacDonald fan club ESC TOP 5.
You can see the results on Eurovision Song Contest Fan Club.
That's such a great story of Vashon Islander Kay Longhi.
Don't miss this very interesting story, please.
Reading this delightful story I'd like to move to Vashon Island.
Islander Kay Longhi and her twin sister were only 6 years old when they moved to Vashon from Chicago in the 1950s, but Longhi, now in her 60s and still living on Vashon, can vividly recall the move and the events leading up to it.
The decision to leave the Midwest was made by Longhi’s mother, Patricia Longhi, who Kay said was tired of living in cities and longed for the same kind of authenticity she witnessed on childhood vacations to a farm in Maine. Patricia found that opportunity in a 1954 radio interview with infamous island author Betty MacDonald.
“Arthur Godfrey interviewed Betty MacDonald on his radio program. She talked about her book ‘Onions in the Stew,’ and it intrigued Mother,” Kay Longhi said. “When Daddy came home, she announced that we were moving to Vashon.”
( see article below )
I totally agree the author of an oustanding Betty MacDonald biography needs a very good sense of humor.
We will be able to offer you very witty and exciting stories because of our outstanding Betty MacDonald research and many interviews with Betty MacDonald's family and friends by Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel.
We are going to publish new Betty MacDonald fan club items including new Betty MacDonald interviews by Wolfgang Hampel.
Work and life of Betty MacDonald had been honored by Wolfgang Hampel in Vita Magica.
More Betty MacDonald events will follow.
Anyway - we agree that Betty MacDonald's brilliant sister Alison Bard Burnett and Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel have a very good sense of humor.
Betty MacDonald fan club fans from 5 continents enjoy these unique very witty interviews and new ones will follow.
We are looking for signed or dedicated first editions in great condition with dust jackets by Betty MacDonald and Mary Bard Jensen for our fans.
Betty MacDonald Memorial Award Winner Wolfgang Hampel and Betty MacDonald fan club research team are working on an updated Betty MacDonald biography and new Betty MacDonald documentary.
Join one of our Betty MacDonald fan club research teams, please.
Thanks a million in advance for your outstanding support.
Let's talk about Betty MacDonald fan club book cover contest.
You can vote for your favourite Betty MacDonald book cover.
Deadline: June 30, 2017
Betty MacDonald fan club book cover contest winner will be owner of a signed first edition of one of Betty MacDonald's books.
Send us your mail, please and maybe you'll be the winner of Betty MacDonald fan club surprise.
Good luck!
Our most important research item is an updated Betty MacDonald documentary with lots of new info and interviews with Betty MacDonald, her family and friends.
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel told us that Betty MacDonald fan club research team does an excellent job in supporting him with his several Betty MacDonald projects especially an updated Betty MacDonald biography.
Reading this updated Betty MacDonald biography you'll learn the true story of many personalities in Betty MacDonald's books for example the mysterious and rather strange Ms. Dorita Hess from 'Anybody can do anything'.
Tell us, please what should a Betty MacDonald biography include?
Don't hesitate to send us your thoughts, please.
I'd say a real Betty MacDonald biography should also include fascinating info on Betty MacDonald's fascinating brother and sisters including adopted sister Madge.
As we can see Betty MacDonald's very witty sister Alison Bard Burnett got so many fans because of her unique interviews with Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel.
We are going to offer some interviews by Wolfgang Hampel, never published before.
Many fans adore the new outstanding website of beloved Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli.
Don't miss it, please.
Surprise, surprise!
We found new radio manuscripts and shows.
We are working on Betty MacDonald fan club exhibit and an updated Betty MacDonald documentary.
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel told us that Betty MacDonald fan club research team does an excellent job in supporting him with his several Betty MacDonald projects especially an updated Betty MacDonald biography.
Betty MacDonald fan club event team is very happy to hear from you and they got some really great ideas for the next International event.
Thanks a lot!
You can join Eurovision Song Contest Fan Club on Facebook.
Join us, please. We have lots of fun and joy and had several International ESC meetings in the past.
Vita Magica with Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel and Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Letizia Maninco was outstanding.
The audience enjoyed it very much.
Wolfgang Hampel's Vita Magica is fascinating because he includes Betty MacDonald, other members of the Bard family and Betty MacDonald fan club honor members.
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli and our 'Italian Betty MacDonald' - Betty MacDonald fan club honor member author and artist Letizia Mancino belong to the most popular Betty MacDonald fan club teams in our history.
Their many devoted fans are waiting for a new Mr. Tigerli adventure.
Letizia Mancino's magical Betty MacDonald Gallery is a special gift for our Betty MacDonald fan club fans.
We'll have several International Betty MacDonald fan club events in 2017.
Join us in voting for your favourite city, please.
Wolfgang Hampel's Vita Magica guest was a very famous TV lady, author and singer and she is our new Betty MacDonald fan club honor member.
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli is our beloved Betty MacDonald fan club honor member.
I guess our Casanova adores our Betty MacDonald fan club honor member very much because author and TV moderator Tatjana Geßler is a very beautiful, charming and intelligent lady.
Tatjana Geßler's books are outstanding. I've read several of them.
Enjoy Betty MacDonald's very beautiful Vashon Island, please.
Great Betty MacDonald fan club news!
You can join
Betty MacDonald fan club
Betty MacDonald Society
Vita Magica
on Facebook.
Thank you so much in advance for your support and interest.
If you join Betty MacDonald fan club blog as a follower during March you'll receive a very special Betty MacDonald fan club Welcome gift.
Send your email-address to our contact address, please.
Great news!
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli is back and his fans are delighted.
We'll have several International Betty MacDonald fan club events in 2017.
Don't miss Wolfgang Hampel's Vita Magica March, please.
You'll enjoy it very much.
You can see brilliant Brad Craft.
"This is Me," by Bad Kid Billy. [Official Music Video]
Seems I'm in this for a hot second. I remember being asked to participate one day on the street in front of the bookstore where I work. I didn't think to ask what it was for, or even so much as the name of the song or the band. Didn't want to be late coming back from lunch. Silly bugger. The very nice young woman with the green hair also featured herein happens to work at Magus Books. She mentioned she'd seen me. Told me the name of the band, and here we are.
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Monica Sone and other Betty MacDonald fan club honor members will be included in Wolfgang Hampel's new project 'Vita Magica'.
We got very interesting new info for updated Betty MacDonald biography.
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel and Betty MacDonald fan club research team are going to include all these new details and info in updated Betty MacDonald biography.
If you'd like to join Betty MacDonald fan club you only have to press the join button on Betty MacDonald fan club blog.
New Betty MacDonald fan club fans will receive a special Betty MacDonald fan club Welcome gift during May.
Send us your email address to our contact address, please.
Wolfgang Hampel's Vita Magica February was outstanding and so was Vita Magica Betty MacDonald event with Wolfgang Hampel, Thomas Bödigheimer and Friedrich von Hoheneichen
Wolfgang Hampel and Betty MacDonald fan club research team are working on an updated Betty MacDonald biography.
This very new Betty MacDonald biography includes all the results we got during a very successful Betty MacDonald fan club research which started in 1983.
You'll be able to find unique Betty MacDonald treasures in our Betty MacDonald biography.
Betty MacDonald biography includes for example interviews with Betty MacDonald, her family and friends.
We got many letters by Betty MacDonald and other family members even very important original ones.
Our goal is to publish a Betty MacDonald biography that shows all the details of Betty MacDonald's life and work but also to present her fascinating siblings.
Dear Betty MacDonald fan club fans let us know please what you are interested most in a future Betty MacDonald biography.
Do you prefer an e-book or a so called real book?
Wolfgang Hampel and Friends of Vita Magica visited Minister of Science of Baden-Württemberg, Theresia Bauer in Stuttgart.
They visited Landtag and had a great time there.
Do you have any books by Betty MacDonald and Mary Bard Jensen with funny or interesting dedications?
If so would you be so kind to share them?
Our next Betty MacDonald fan club project is a collection of these unique dedications.
If you share your dedication from your Betty MacDonald - and Mary Bard Jensen collection you might be the winner of our new Betty MacDonald fan club items.
Thank you so much in advance for your support.
Thank you so much for sending us your favourite Betty MacDonald quote.
We are so glad that our beloved Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli is back.
New Betty MacDonald documentary will be very interesting with many new interviews.
Alison Bard Burnett and other Betty MacDonald fan club honor members will be included in Wolfgang Hampel's fascinating project Vita Magica.
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel interviewed Betty MacDonald's daughter Joan MacDonald Keil and her husband Jerry Keil.
This interview will be published for the first time ever.
New Betty MacDonald documentary will be very interesting with many interviews never published before.
We adore Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli
Thank you so much for sharing this witty memories with us.
Wolfgang Hampel's literary event Vita Magica is very fascinating because he is going to include Betty MacDonald, other members of the Bard family and Betty MacDonald fan club honor members.
It's simply great to read Wolfgang Hampel's new very well researched stories about Betty MacDonald, Robert Eugene Heskett, Donald Chauncey MacDonald, Darsie Bard, Sydney Bard, Gammy, Alison Bard Burnett, Darsie Beck, Mary Bard Jensen, Clyde Reynolds Jensen, Sydney Cleveland Bard, Mary Alice Bard, Dorothea DeDe Goldsmith, Madge Baldwin, Don Woodfin, Mike Gordon, Ma and Pa Kettle, Nancy and Plum, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and others.
Linde Lund and many fans from all over the world adore this funny sketch by Wolfgang Hampel very much although our German isn't the best.
I won't ever forget the way Wolfgang Hampel is shouting ' Brexit '.
Don't miss it, please.
It's simply great!
You can hear that Wolfgang Hampel got an outstandig voice.
He presented one of Linde Lund's favourite songs ' Try to remember ' like a professional singer.
Thanks a million!
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli and our 'Italian Betty MacDonald' - Betty MacDonald fan club honor member author and artist Letizia Mancino belong to the most popular Betty MacDonald fan club teams in our history.
Their many devoted fans are waiting for a new Mr. Tigerli adventure.
Letizia Mancino's magical Betty MacDonald Gallery is a special gift for Betty MacDonald fan club fans from all over the world.
Don't miss Brad Craft's 'More friends', please.
Betty MacDonald's very beautiful Vashon Island is one of my favourites.
I agree with Betty in this very witty Betty MacDonald story Betty MacDonald: Nothing more to say by Wolfgang Hampel.
I can't imagine to live in a country with him as so-called elected President although there are very good reasons to remain there to fight against these brainless politics.
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s abrupt dismissal of the F.B.I. director
roiled Washington on Wednesday and deepened the sense of crisis
swirling around the White House. Republican leaders came to the
president’s defense, and Mr. Trump lashed out at Democrats and other
critics, calling them hypocrites.
On Capitol Hill, at least a half-dozen Republicans broke with their leadership to express concern or dismay
about the firing of James B. Comey, who was four years into a
decade-long appointment as the bureau’s director. Still, they stopped
well short of joining Democrats’ call for a special prosecutor to lead the continuing investigation of Russian contacts with Mr. Trump’s aides.
I think the future dinosaur flatulence will be the behaviour of 'Pussy' and his very strange government.
Poor World! Poor America!
Don't miss these very interesting articles below, please.
The most difficult case in Mrs.Piggle-Wiggle's career
Hello 'Pussy', this is Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.
You took calls from foreign leaders on unsecured phone lines, without consultung the State Department. We have to change your silly behaviour with a new Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle cure. I know you are the most difficult case in my career - but we have to try everything.......................
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel sent his brilliant thoughts. Thank you so much dear Wolfgang!
Hi Libi, nice to meet you. Can you feel it?
I'm the most powerful leader in the world.
Betty MacDonald: Nothing more to say
Copyright 2016 by Wolfgang Hampel
All rights reserved
Betty MacDonald was sitting on her egg-shaped cloud and listened to a rather strange guy.
He said to his friends: So sorry to keep you waiting. Very complicated business! Very complicated!
Betty said: Obviously much too complicated for you old toupee!
Besides him ( by the way the First Lady's place ) his 10 year old son was bored to death and listened to this 'exciting' victory speech.
The old man could be his great-grandfather.
The boy was very tired and thought: I don't know what this old guy is talking about. Come on and finish it, please. I'd like to go to bed.
Dear 'great-grandfather' continued and praised the Democratic candidate.
He congratulated her and her family for a very strong campaign although he wanted to put her in jail.
He always called her the most corrupt person ever and repeated it over and over again in the fashion of a Tibetan prayer wheel.
She is so corrupt. She is so corrupt. Do you know how corrupt she is?
Betty MacDonald couldn't believe it when he said: She has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country.
Afterwards old toupee praised his parents, wife, children, siblings and friends.
He asked the same question like a parrot all the time:
Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?
I know you are here!
Betty MacDonald answered: No Pussy they are not! They left the country.
They immigrated to Canada because they are very much afraid of the future in the U.S.A. with you as their leader like the majority of all so-called more or less normal citizens.
By the way keep your finger far away from the pussies and the Red Button, please.
I'm going to fly with my egg-shaped cloud to Canada within a minute too.
Away - away - there is nothing more to say!
Daniel Mount wrote a great article about Betty MacDonald and her garden.
We hope you'll enjoy it very much.
I adore Mount Rainier and Betty MacDonald's outstanding descriptions
Can you remember in which book you can find it?
If so let us know, please and you might be the next Betty MacDonald fan club contest winner.
I hope we'll be able to read Wolfgang Hampel's new very well researched stories about Betty MacDonald, Robert Eugene Heskett, Donald Chauncey MacDonald, Darsie Bard, Sydney Bard, Gammy, Alison Bard Burnett, Darsie Beck, Mary Bard Jensen, Clyde Reynolds Jensen, Sydney Cleveland Bard, Mary Alice Bard, Dorothea DeDe Goldsmith, Madge Baldwin, Don Woodfin, Mike Gordon, Ma and Pa Kettle, Nancy and Plum, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and others - very soon.
It' s such a pleasure to read them.
Let's go to magical Betty MacDonald's Vashon Island.
Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund and Betty MacDonald fan club research team share their recent Betty MacDonald fan club research results.
Congratulations! They found the most interesting and important info for Wolfgang Hampel's oustanding Betty MacDonald biography.
I enjoy Bradley Craft's story very much.
Don't miss our Betty MacDonald fan club contests, please.
You can win a never published before Alison Bard Burnett interview by Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel.
Good luck!
This CD is a golden treasure because Betty MacDonald's very witty sister Alison Bard Burnett shares unique stories about Betty MacDonald, Mary Bard Jensen, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Nancy and Plum.
Wolfgang Hampel's Betty MacDonald and Ma and Pa Kettle biography and Betty MacDonald interviews have fans in 40 countries. I'm one of their many devoted fans.
Many Betty MacDonald - and Wolfgang Hampel fans are very interested in a Wolfgang Hampel CD and DVD with his very funny poems and stories.
We are going to publish new Betty MacDonald essays on Betty MacDonald's gardens and nature in Washington State.
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli is beloved all over the World.
We are so happy that our 'Casanova' is back.
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel
and Betty MacDonald fan club research team are going to share very
interesting info on ' Betty MacDonald and the movie The Egg and I '.
Another rare episode (from March 21 1952) of the short-lived comedy soap opera, "The Egg and I," based on best selling book by Betty MacDonald which also became a popular film.
The series premiered on September 3, 1951, the same day as "Search for Tomorrow," and ended on August 1, 1952.
Although it did well in the ratings, it had difficulty attracting a steady sponsor. This episode features Betty Lynn (later known for her work on "The Andy Griffith Show") as Betty MacDonald, John Craven as Bob MacDonald, Doris Rich as Ma Kettle, and Frank Twedell as Pa Kettle.
Betty MacDonald fan club exhibition will be fascinating with the international book editions and letters by Betty MacDonald.
I can't wait to see the new Betty MacDonald documentary.
Enjoy a great breakfast at the bookstore with Brad and Nick, please.
Take care,
Another rare episode (from March 21 1952) of the short-lived comedy soap opera, "The Egg and I," based on best selling book by Betty MacDonald which also became a popular film.
The series premiered on September 3, 1951, the same day as "Search for Tomorrow," and ended on August 1, 1952.
Although it did well in the ratings, it had difficulty attracting a steady sponsor. This episode features Betty Lynn (later known for her work on "The Andy Griffith Show") as Betty MacDonald, John Craven as Bob MacDonald, Doris Rich as Ma Kettle, and Frank Twedell as Pa Kettle.
Betty MacDonald fan club exhibition will be fascinating with the international book editions and letters by Betty MacDonald.
I can't wait to see the new Betty MacDonald documentary.
Enjoy a great breakfast at the bookstore with Brad and Nick, please.
Take care,
Andrea
you can join
Betty MacDonald fan club
Betty MacDonald Society
Vita Magica
Eurovision Song Contest Fan Club
on Facebook
Vita Magica Betty MacDonald event with Wolfgang Hampel, Thomas Bödigheimer and Friedrich von Hoheneichen
Vita Magica
Betty MacDonald
Betty MacDonald fan club
Betty MacDonald fan club on Facebook
Betty MacDonald forum
Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( English ) - The Egg and I
Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( Polski)
Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - LinkFang ( German ) Wolfgang Hampel - Academic ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - cyclopaedia.net ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - DBpedia ( English / German )
Wolfgang Hampel - people check ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Memim ( English )
Vashon Island - Wikipedia ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - Monica Sone - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( French )
Wolfgang Hampel - Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle - Wikipedia ( English)
Wolfgang Hampel in Florida State University
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel
Betty MacDonald fan club interviews on CD/DVD
Betty MacDonald fan club items
Betty MacDonald fan club items - comments
Betty MacDonald fan club - The Stove and I
Betty MacDonald fan club groups
Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund
Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Greta Larson
Sense of Crisis Deepens as Trump Defends F.B.I. Firing
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s abrupt dismissal of the F.B.I. director
roiled Washington on Wednesday and deepened the sense of crisis
swirling around the White House. Republican leaders came to the
president’s defense, and Mr. Trump lashed out at Democrats and other
critics, calling them hypocrites.
On Capitol Hill, at least a half-dozen Republicans broke with their leadership to express concern or dismay
about the firing of James B. Comey, who was four years into a
decade-long appointment as the bureau’s director. Still, they stopped
well short of joining Democrats’ call for a special prosecutor to lead the continuing investigation of Russian contacts with Mr. Trump’s aides.
At
the White House, Mr. Trump shrugged off accusations of presidential
interference in a counterintelligence investigation. He hosted a surreal and awkwardly timed meeting
in the Oval Office with Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister,
and Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States. Mr.
Kislyak’s private meetings with Mr. Trump’s aides are a key part of the sprawling investigation.
White House officials denied American reporters permission
to witness the Oval Office meeting or take photographs, but Russian
state news outlets published images taken by their official photographer
of a beaming Mr. Trump shaking hands with the envoys. The pictures
quickly spread on Twitter.
Stunned
by the sudden loss of their leader, agents at the F.B.I. struggled
throughout the day to absorb the meaning of Mr. Comey’s dismissal, which
the White House announced Tuesday evening. Veteran agents and other
F.B.I. employees described a dark mood
throughout the bureau, where morale was already low from months of
being pummeled over dueling investigations surrounding the 2016
presidential election.
Mr.
Trump is weighing going to the F.B.I. headquarters in Washington on
Friday as a show of his commitment to the bureau, an official said,
though he is not expected to discuss the Russia investigation.
The
president and his allies expressed no regrets over Mr. Comey’s removal,
insisting that F.B.I. agents had been clamoring for it. Mr. Trump’s
decision, they said, was unrelated to Mr. Comey’s oversight of the
investigation into Russian meddling and possible connections to Trump
advisers.
In
an email to F.B.I. agents on Wednesday, Mr. Comey said he would not
dwell on the reasons for his firing or how it was carried out.
“I
have long believed that a president can fire an F.B.I. director for any
reason, or for no reason at all,” he wrote in the email, which a law
enforcement official read to The New York Times on the condition of
anonymity.
Graphic
How Every Lawmaker Has Reacted to Comey’s Firing So Far
Reaction has ranged from support for the decision to calls for a special counsel.
“I
have said to you before that, in times of turbulence, the American
people should see the F.B.I. as a rock of competence, honesty and
independence,” Mr. Comey wrote. He added, “It is very hard to leave a
group of people who are committed only to doing the right thing.”
Top
Justice Department officials were hurrying to install an interim
director to run the F.B.I. while a permanent replacement for Mr. Comey
is chosen. Among those under consideration for the temporary role were
several career law enforcement officials, including Andrew G. McCabe,
who was named acting director upon Mr. Comey’s firing.
White House officials refused to comment on reports that, days before he was fired, Mr. Comey had asked the Justice Department
for a significant increase in resources for the Russia investigation.
Democrats cited the news of Mr. Comey’s request as added reason to be
suspicious about the president’s motive for firing him.
“Was
this really about something else?” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York,
the Democratic leader, asked in remarks on the Senate floor.
“Nothing
less is at stake than the American people’s faith in our criminal
justice system and the integrity of the executive branch of our
government,” he said.
The
outrage over Mr. Comey’s firing was a political turnabout for many
Democrats, who had previously expressed anger and frustration at his
handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private
email server when she was secretary of state. It was that investigation
that Mr. Trump cited as the reason for dismissing Mr. Comey.
Days before last fall’s election, Mr. Comey announced that the F.B.I. was examining newly found emails potentially related to the investigation. “I do not have confidence in him any longer,” Mr. Schumer said at the time.
“I am asking that he step down,” Representative Steve Cohen, Democrat of Tennessee, said.
Many Democrats, including Mrs. Clinton, have since placed much of the blame for her loss on Mr. Comey’s actions.
On
Wednesday, in a series of visceral posts on Twitter, Mr. Trump seized
on those earlier comments to highlight Mr. Comey’s “scandals.” He also
suggested that Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, be
investigated, moments after Mr. Blumenthal appeared on television to
condemn the president’s action.
“Watching Senator Richard Blumenthal speak of Comey is a joke,” Mr. Trump wrote. “‘Richie’ devised one of the greatest military frauds in U.S. history.”
For
years, “as a pol in Connecticut, Blumenthal would talk of his great
bravery and conquests in Vietnam — except he was never there,” Mr. Trump added.
When “caught, he cried like a baby and begged for forgiveness … and now
he is judge & jury. He should be the one who is investigated for
his acts.”
The president was referring to a 2010 article in The Times
that said Mr. Blumenthal had presented himself as a Vietnam veteran
during his first Senate campaign, when he had actually served in the
Marine Reserves at home and never gone to war. The story did not say
that Mr. Blumenthal had boasted of bravery or conquests.
Republican
leaders echoed Mr. Trump’s Twitter attacks on Democrats throughout the
day. At one point, the president wrote that his adversaries were
pretending to be aggrieved by Mr. Comey’s firing.
“Phony hypocrites!” Mr. Trump wrote, signaling the growing frustration inside the White House about the backlash.
Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky — who, as majority leader, wields vast power over the focus of the Senate — defended the decision. Many other top Republicans agreed.
Senator
Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina and chairman of the
Intelligence Committee, stopped short of directly criticizing the
president. But his committee announced that it had issued its first
subpoena to demand records from Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s former
national security adviser, in connection with his emails, phone calls,
meetings and financial dealings with Russians. It was an aggressive new
tack for what had been a slow-moving inquiry.
The maelstrom is sure to sap the Senate’s time and energy, detracting from a Republican agenda that includes a budget, health care, a tax overhaul and infrastructure.
“Today,
we’ll no doubt hear calls for a new investigation,” Mr. McConnell said
on the Senate floor as most Democrats looked on. He predicted that such a
move could “only serve to impede the current work being done.”
In
the House, the Republican chairman of the Oversight and Reform
Committee asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to review Mr.
Comey’s firing. The chairman, Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah,
said the review would be included in an internal Justice Department
inquiry into the F.B.I.’s disclosure of its investigation of Mrs.
Clinton’s emails before the election.
Despite their concerns about Mr. Comey’s actions last year, Democrats said his dismissal evoked the days
of President Richard M. Nixon, who ordered the firing of the special
prosecutor looking into the Watergate case. They called for the
appointment of a special counsel to lead the Russia inquiry.
Democrats
exerted as much pressure as they could on their Republican colleagues
on Wednesday, using procedural moves available to the minority to block
or delay hearings on Russia, cybersecurity, presidential nominees and
several other matters.
When
Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, asked for unanimous consent
to permit a scheduled meeting of the Special Committee on Aging, Mr.
Schumer objected. Ms. Collins, clearly angry, said: “This makes no sense
whatsoever. This is an example of the dysfunction of the Senate.”
For
months, Republican lawmakers have been left to defend, sometimes
haltingly, presidential behavior they often strain to understand or
support. But even some of Mr. Trump’s most vocal defenders questioned
the timing of the firing.
“It
surely would have been simpler and cleaner to do so in January,” said
Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, who defended Mr. Comey’s removal
nonetheless.
White House officials said that Mr. Trump had been considering firing Mr. Comey since the day he was elected president.
But though Mr. Trump had lost confidence in Mr. Comey, the Justice Department’s recommendation to fire him was not ordered by the president, a White House spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said.
Ms. Sanders said that Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, had acted on his own
when he recommended to Mr. Trump during a meeting on Monday that Mr.
Comey be dismissed. At that meeting, the president directed Mr.
Rosenstein to put the recommendation into writing, Ms. Sanders said.
After meeting with the Russian officials, Mr. Trump said he had fired Mr. Comey because “he wasn’t doing a good job.”
“Very simply — he was not doing a good job,” he said.
Asked whether the furor over the firing had affected his meeting with Mr. Lavrov, Mr. Trump said, “Not at all.”
Correction: May 10, 2017
An earlier version of this article incorrectly described the
prospects for a Democratic filibuster of President Trump’s nominee for
F.B.I. director. Under a change in Senate precedent in 2013, breaking a
filibuster on an executive branch nominee only requires a majority vote.
Continue reading the main story
Politics
Trump and Comey: An Abrupt Ending That Was a Year in the Making
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s decision on Tuesday to fire James B. Comey, the F.B.I.
director who had been leading an investigation into possible ties
between his campaign and Russia, came in a bombshell announcement that
left Washington reeling.
But it had been a long time coming.
Whatever
the stated reasons, Mr. Comey’s ouster was the abrupt culmination of a
toxic dynamic between him and Mr. Trump that had unfolded slowly over
more than a year.
The relationship began to sour during the presidential campaign over Mr. Comey’s exoneration of Hillary Clinton
in the F.B.I.’s investigation of her email practices, which ran counter
to Mr. Trump’s “Lock her up!” message to his supporters. It grew still
more bitter after Mr. Trump became president and Mr. Comey declined to
back up his accusation that President Barack Obama had spied on him. And
it reached a nadir when the F.B.I. director confirmed in sworn
testimony in Congress that the bureau was investigating ties between Mr.
Trump’s campaign team and Russia.
Administration
aides said on Tuesday that senior officials at the White House and the
Justice Department had been charged with building a case to justify Mr.
Comey’s firing since at least last week, and that Attorney General Jeff
Sessions had been tasked with coming up with reasons to fire him.
That
rationale, set forth in a pair of letters from Mr. Sessions and Rod J.
Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, was that Mr. Comey had
mishandled the Clinton emails investigation by, among other things,
releasing “derogatory information” about her as he closed the case and
said she should not be prosecuted. But that explanation ran counter to
Mr. Trump’s message as recently as last week: that Mr. Comey had treated
Mrs. Clinton too well, not too harshly, during the investigation.
“F.B.I.
Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton
in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds!” Mr. Trump said in a
posting on Twitter last week.
Mr.
Comey’s dismissal comes after a period in which the president has
engaged in a remarkably public campaign to undercut an active
investigation into his presidential campaign, repeatedly denouncing the
inquiry and dismissing it as meritless.
“The
Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax,” Mr. Trump said Monday on
Twitter. “When will this taxpayer funded charade end?”
But the final straw appeared to be Mr. Comey’s appearance at a Capitol Hill hearing
last week, in which he testified that while he was “mildly nauseous” to
think he might have influenced the outcome of the presidential
election, he had no regrets about his handling of the Clinton
investigation.
The ill will dates to last summer, when the F.B.I. director took the extraordinary step of going public
in the thick of the presidential campaign with his conclusion that Mrs.
Clinton could not be prosecuted for her use of a private email server
to handle classified documents.
Mr.
Trump told aides at the time that Mrs. Clinton should have been
charged, according to one person close to him who spoke on the condition
of anonymity without authorization to speak for the president. That was
a view Mr. Trump often shared with voters on the campaign trail.
“He
saved Hillary Clinton from facing justice for her illegal and corrupt
actions,” he said of Mr. Comey at a rally in Tampa, Fla., the next
month. “They were illegal and they were corrupt, and the F.B.I. saved
her, and I would imagine many people within the F.B.I. are extremely
embarrassed — extremely.”
But as Election Day neared and Mr. Comey went public again — this time alerting Congress that new emails had come to light in the Clinton matter — Mr. Trump said his opinion of Mr. Comey had improved.
“I
have to tell you, I respect the fact that Director Comey was able to
come back after what he did,” Mr. Trump said in Phoenix in October. “I
respect that very much.”
Document: White House Announces Firing of James Comey
In
Grand Rapids, Mich., Mr. Trump said, “It took guts for Director Comey
to make the move that he made in light of the kind of opposition he
had.”
“I
was not his fan,” he said at the time, “but I’ll tell you what: What he
did, he brought back his reputation. He brought it back.”
Still,
after his victory in November, Mr. Trump was irate with the suggestion,
put forth by many Democrats and ultimately Mrs. Clinton herself, that
he would not have won but for Mr. Comey’s actions. He ultimately had to
be persuaded to keep Mr. Comey, the person close to him added. Even
then, the president made it clear he could change his mind at any
moment.
In
November, Mr. Trump suggested in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes”
that Mr. Comey’s fate could hinge on whether he was able to satisfy the
president that his handling of the Clinton investigation had been
justified.
“I
would certainly like to talk to him and see him” before making a
decision about whether to keep Mr. Comey, Mr. Trump said then. “This is a
tough time for him, and I would like to talk to him before I’d answer a
question like that.”
He added, “I’d want to see, you know, he may have had very good reasons for doing what he did.”
Mr. Trump’s disdain for Mr. Comey intensified at the beginning of March, when the president wrote Twitter posts accusing Mr. Obama of wiretapping his telephone at Trump Tower.
The next morning, word spread quickly that Mr. Comey wanted the Justice Department to issue a statement saying that he had no evidence to support the president’s accusation, although no such statement was released.
For
weeks afterward, Mr. Trump insisted that his accusation was correct. In
dramatic testimony later in March, Mr. Comey said he had no information
to back up the president’s allegations even as he confirmed the
existence of an F.B.I. investigation into Mr. Trump’s campaign.
That
set up a remarkable dynamic — an F.B.I. director directly contradicting
a sitting president at the same time the bureau was pursuing a possible
criminal inquiry into whether the president’s associates had colluded
with Moscow to tilt the election to him.
Last
month, Mr. Trump reiterated that Mr. Comey might not be on solid
ground, telling Fox News that “it’s not too late” to fire him, even as
he said he had confidence in his F.B.I. director.
“We’ll
see what happens; it’s going to be interesting,” Mr. Trump told Fox.
“Don’t forget, when Jim Comey came out, he saved Hillary Clinton —
people don’t realize that. He saved her life.”
Sean
Spicer, the White House press secretary, repeated last week that Mr.
Trump still had confidence in Mr. Comey, but by Tuesday, he was hedging,
telling reporters at his daily briefing that he had not spoken with the
president about the matter since the last time they had asked. By then,
the decision to fire Mr. Comey and announce it later in the day was
already well underway.
In
between, there had been odd body language between Mr. Trump and Mr.
Comey. In January during a ceremony at the White House to honor law
enforcement officials, Mr. Trump singled out Mr. Comey and called him
over, shaking his hand and patting him on the back while whispering
something inaudible in his ear.
“He’s
become more famous than me,” Mr. Trump said in the Blue Room, a dubious
compliment from a president who enjoys being the focus of attention.
A Global Trump Movement? France Election Signals No
WASHINGTON
— After his November election, President Trump and his strategists
foresaw the beginning of a populist wave washing over the developed
world. But instead of being joined by like-minded counterparts across
the Atlantic, Mr. Trump finds himself facing a European leadership that
has repudiated his fiery brand of politics.
The decisive defeat in Sunday’s election of his preferred choice for president of France
underscored the limits of the nationalist populism that Mr. Trump has
come to represent. It also further complicated a trans-Atlantic
relationship already stressed by issues like the future of trade, a
resurgent Russia, the mission of the NATO alliance, and extremism and
war in the Middle East.
Mr.
Trump called to congratulate President-elect Emmanuel Macron on Monday,
a day after voters picked him by a 2-to-1 margin over Marine Le Pen,
the far-right nationalist who had the American president’s implicit
support. Mr. Trump emphasized his desire to cooperate on “shared
challenges,” the White House said afterward, and the two leaders will
meet for the first time on the sideline of a meeting of NATO leaders in
Brussels on May 25.
But
Mr. Trump will find more shared challenges than shared values as he
encounters the new tandem of Mr. Macron and Chancellor Angela Merkel of
Germany, both champions of the European project and skeptics of Russian
adventurism. With Ms. Merkel in strong shape heading into an election
this fall — and facing an opponent who, like her, supports the European
Union — the French election was perhaps the last, best chance for Mr.
Trump to secure a major ally this year through a populist electoral
uprising.
Interactive Graphic
How France Voted
Detailed maps of the French presidential election show
how Emmanuel Macron decisively beat right-wing nationalist Marine Le
Pen.
“The
notion of a kind of ‘Internationale’ of the nationalists is no longer
going to be viable at all,” Daniel Fried, a former assistant secretary
of state for European affairs, said on a conference call organized by
the Atlantic Council on Monday. “It changes the landscape in which
Trump’s foreign policy will operate.”
Mr.
Macron “now stands as a counterweight to Trump,” Mr. Fried added. The
combination of a dominant, seasoned veteran like Ms. Merkel and a young,
dynamic newcomer like Mr. Macron, he said, creates an “implicit
challenge and perhaps an explicit challenge to the Trump ideology.”
It
might be too much to say the French voted to reject Mr. Trump, given
the many economic and security issues that confront France and defined
the campaign, yet the larger trends he reflected were at stake. “I don’t
think it’s a repudiation of Trump,” said Benjamin Haddad, a research
fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington. “I do think it’s a
political answer to the challenge of populism.”
The French election followed contests in Austria, where voters rejected the far-right presidential candidate Norbert Hofer in December, and the Netherlands, where the far-right party of Geert Wilders fell short of expectations in parliamentary elections in March.
Mr.
Trump had assumed that his own election and Britain’s vote to leave the
European Union were harbingers of other establishment dominoes that
would fall. “He seemed so convinced coming in that ‘Brexit’ was just the
beginning and other countries would be leaving,” said Karen Donfried,
president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. “Clearly,
he’s got to correct that assessment.”
Ms.
Le Pen had initially sought to capitalize on the momentum from Mr.
Trump’s victory in November. She was among the first foreign leaders to
congratulate him, and she made an unannounced but highly visible visit to Trump Tower
before his inauguration, though she did not see the president-elect. By
spring, however, with Mr. Trump highly unpopular in France, she was
distancing herself, rarely mentioning him.
Mr. Macron, by contrast, posted a video in February tweaking Mr. Trump by inviting American climate change
scientists to move to France since “your new president” is “extremely
skeptical about climate change.” In the final days before Sunday’s
second-round runoff election, Mr. Macron attempted to persuade his
supporters not to take victory for granted by airing an advertisement showing American pundits predicting a decisive election defeat for Mr. Trump.
But
Mr. Macron also showed restraint in the final stage of his campaign.
For his debate with Ms. Le Pen, his campaign team prepared talking
points with plenty of attack lines tying her to Mr. Trump, according to
an adviser to Mr. Macron, who asked for anonymity to discuss internal
deliberations. Mr. Macron disregarded them. “Instead of scoring cheap
points, he went for the more prudent and anticipatory attitude,” the
adviser said. “He didn’t want to jeopardize the relationship just for a
punch line.”
For his part, Mr. Trump made little secret of his preference in the French contest. After a police officer was killed
on the Champs-Élysées in Paris just before the first round of voting,
Mr. Trump suggested it would help Ms. Le Pen’s campaign, which focused
in part on what she said was the threat of foreigners allowed into
France.
“Another terrorist attack in Paris,” he wrote on Twitter. “The people of France will not take much more of this. Will have a big effect on presidential election!”
In
case anyone doubted whom he was referring to, Mr. Trump mentioned Ms.
Le Pen in a subsequent interview. “I think that it’ll probably help her
because she is the strongest on borders and she is the strongest on
what’s been going on in France,” he told The Associated Press.
But
once the vote was in, he too put aside the election. “Congratulations
to Emmanuel Macron on his big win today as the next President of
France,” he wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “I look very much forward to working with him!”
One
area where Mr. Trump and Mr. Macron may clash is Russia. Mr. Trump has
spoken flatteringly of President Vladimir V. Putin and vowed to improve
Russian-American relations, but Mr. Macron has taken a tougher line. Mr.
Putin hosted Ms. Le Pen in Moscow during the campaign in a virtual
endorsement, and the Russian government is suspected in the hacking of
the Macron campaign and the leak of documents, an episode that echoed
last year’s Russian meddling in the American campaign.
Mr.
Trump has made clear he thinks international relations are built in
part on his personal chemistry with foreign leaders. If he can put aside
his vitriolic attacks on China to forge what he now calls a strong
relationship with President Xi Jinping, it seems plausible he could find
common ground with Mr. Macron. He could focus on their similarities
rather than their differences; neither had been elected before, and each
ran against the establishments of the mainstream parties in their
countries.
Besides, while Mr. Trump surely would have interpreted a victory by Ms. Le Pen as a validation of his own politics, she would not necessarily have been an easy partner,
given that her promises to pull out of NATO and the European Union
could have created a less stable situation for the United States.
Still,
Mr. Macron, young, diffident and intellectual, is more often compared
to President Barack Obama. “He’s sort of the antithesis of Donald Trump,”
said Mark Leonard, director of the European Council on Foreign
Relations. “He does share this odd thing of running as an outsider when
he’s obviously an insider. But I don’t think they could be any further
from each other in terms of their ideas, their philosophy.”
Kay Longhi’s parents, Francis and Patricia Longhi, at their north-end home on Cowan Road in the 1960s. (Courtesy Photo)
Coming Home: Betty MacDonald interview drew Longhis from Chicago
“I remember crossing the border into Washington and remember standing in the back seat — those were the days where you could do that, no seat belts — and Dad stops the car in Spokane and says, ‘We’re here,’” she recalled. “I just remember thinking, ‘We came all the way for this?’ Spokane was not much to look at and didn’t quite meet the expectations I had.”
The family’s journey obviously had to go a little farther west, but ended at a motel on Seattle’s Aurora Avenue. Kay and her family stayed there a week while her father found a job. Shortly after, the Longhi family moved to West Seattle.
“A tiny house clinging to the hillside” is how Longhi recalled that first home.
She and her sister started first grade in West Seattle before the family moved to a home on Cowan Road at the north end of Vashon the following year, 1955. Her mother fell in love with the island and never looked back.
“We came to this island, which was secluded, out of the big city,” Longhi said. “We could see the mountains, as well as the sound. She would walk all over Vashon and loved being surrounded by water. She was very, very happy.”
The home was also not far from MacDonald’s, although Kay says her mother did not find that out until after she bought the home.
“I don’t know how she knew the house (Betty Macdonald’s) was close … but she was aware of it,” Kay Longhi said.
And while her mother never met MacDonald, she did meet her sister, Mary Bard.
Patricia Longhi went on to live in that same north-end home for 56 years. She moved out in 2011, three years before her death at the age of 91.
“Mother was very much a loner in her heart. She liked solitude and wanted to be in the rugged, great outdoors,” Kay Longhi said before explaining that her mother grew up in an affluent family in New York City and was expected to become a socialite.
“She abhorred the life,” Longhi said. “She loved the summers she spent on the coast of Maine. They always went to Laudholm Farm — a working farm with outbuildings that were rented out in the summer.”
It was a lifestyle similar to that of the farm that Patricia Longhi found on Vashon, and that authenticity and community is what has kept Kay Longhi here. Longhi attended college in Portland, moved to Seattle, then moved to North Carolina and Mobile, Alabama, but because her mother was here, she followed what was happening on the island and would always come visit.
“Because I was raised here, I never lacked a sense of home,” she said. “The community here has been my go-to place both mentally and physically. I’ve always been very centered. There’s a real sense of community and home I’ve never felt anywhere else.”
Longhi moved back to Seattle in 1997. By 2008, her mother was in her 80s and suffering from dementia, and Kay moved into a small cabin on her mother’s property to take of her. She was eventually moved to a memory care home in 2011 and died in 2014, but her mother’s dream of rural living in the north-end home continues to this day, as her great-grandchildren are growing up in the same house.
“My sister’s child, so my niece and her family, live there,” Longhi said. “Houses don’t come up for sale on Vashon because one generation leaves and another comes in.”
But the Vashon home is not the only lasting evidence of Patricia Longhi’s search for a more rural, authentic life. During her life on Vashon, she discovered the Washington coast, and Kay said her mother saw many similarities between it and the Maine coastline of her childhood. She and a few other island families bought land and primitive cabins in the mid-60s on a strip of coast that is now part of the Olympic National Park.
“The federal government came in and claimed eminent domain and declared it wilderness. There were two choices, either have the home torn down and take the money the government gives you, or have the government take it over when the owner dies. Mother put the home in her children’s names, so it’s still there.”
The three-story cabin has no electricity and no running water. It’s tall and skinny, perched on a cliff so her mother could see the water below her.
“For Mother, it was the ultimate solitude,” Longhi said. “It was just about where she wanted to be.”
Betty MacDonald fan club fans,
we share a very special gift by beloved and very popular Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honor member Letizia Mancino.
We know you'll enjoy it as much as we do.
Thanks a Million, dear Letizia Mancino.
You are an outstanding writer and artist.
We are so proud and happy to have you with us.
Letizia writes: One should not underestimate Wolfgang Hampel’s talent in speedily mobilizing Betty MacDonald’s friends.
We agree. Thank you so much dear Wolfgang Hampel for doing this. You founded Betty MacDonald Fan Club with four members.
Now we have members in 40 countries around the world. A dream came true.
Mary Holmes did an excellent job in translating this great story.
Thank you so much dear Mary Holmes.
We are really very grateful.
All the best to Letizia, Wolfgang and Mary and to all Betty MacDonald Fan Club fans from all over the world!
Lenard
Following in Betty’s footsteps in Seattle:
or some small talk with Betty
Copyright 2011/2016 by Letizia Mancino
All rights reserved
translated by Mary Holmes
We were going to Canada in the summer. “When we are in Edmonton”, I said to Christoph Cremer, “let’s make a quick trip to Seattle”. And that’s how it happened. At Edmonton Airport we climbed into a plane and two hours later we landed in the city where Betty had lived. I was so happy to be in Seattle at last and to be able to trace Betty’s tracks!
Wolfgang Hampel had told Betty’s friends about our arrival.
They were happy to plan a small marathon through the town and it’s surroundings with us. We only had a few days free. One should not underestimate Wolfgang’s talent in speedily mobilizing Betty’s friends, even though it was holiday time. E-mails flew backwards and forwards between Heidelberg and Seattle, and soon a well prepared itinerary was ready for us. Shortly before my departure Wolfgang handed me several parcels, presents for Betty MacDonald's friends. I rushed to pack the heavy gifts in my luggage but because of the extra weight had to throw out a pair of pajamas!
After we had landed we took a taxi to the Hotel in downtown Seattle. I was so curious to see everything. I turned my head in all directions like one of the hungry hens from Betty’s farm searching for food! Fortunately it was quite a short journey otherwise I would have lost my head like a loose screw!
Our hotel room was on the 22nd floor and looked directly out onto the 16-lane highway. There might have been even more than 16 but it made me too giddy to count! It was like a glimpse of hell! “And is this Seattle?” I asked myself. I was horrified! The cars racing by were enough to drive one mad. The traffic roared by day and night.
We immediately contacted Betty MacDonald's friends and let them know we had arrived and they confirmed the times when we should see them.
On the next morning I planned my first excursion tracing Betty’s tracks. I spread out the map of Seattle. “Oh dear” I realized “the Olympic Peninsula is much too far away for me to get there.”
Betty nodded to me! “Very difficult, Letizia, without a car.”
“But I so much wanted to see your chicken farm”
“My chickens are no longer there and you can admire the mountains from a distance”
But I wanted to go there. I left the hotel and walked to the waterfront where the State Ferry terminal is. Mamma mia, the streets in Seattle are so steep! I couldn’t prevent my feet from running down the hill. Why hadn’t I asked for brakes to be fixed on my shoes? I looked at the drivers. How incredibly good they must be to accelerate away from the red traffic lights. The people were walking uphill towards me as briskly as agile salmon. Good heavens, these Americans! I tried to keep my balance. The force of gravity is relentless. I grasped hold of objects where I could and staggered down.
In Canada a friend had warned me that in Seattle I would see a lot of people with crutches.
Betty laughed. “ It’s not surprising, Letizia, walking salmon don’t fall directly into the soft mouth of a bear!”
“ Betty, stop making these gruesome remarks. We are not in Firlands!”
I went further. Like a small deranged ant at the foot of a palace monster I came to a tunnel. The noise was unbearable. On the motorway, “The Alaskan Way Viaduct”, cars, busses and trucks were driving at the speed of light right over my head. They puffed out their poisonous gas into the open balconies and cultivated terraces of the luxurious sky- scrapers without a thought in the world. America! You are crazy!
“Betty, are all people in Seattle deaf? Or is it perhaps a privilege for wealthy people to be able to enjoy having cars so near to their eyes and noses to save them from boredom?”
“When the fog democratically allows everything to disappear into nothing, it makes a bit of a change, Letizia”
“ Your irony is incorrigible, Betty, but tell me, Seattle is meant to be a beautiful city, But where?”
I had at last reached the State Ferry terminal.
“No Madam, the ferry for Vashon Island doesn’t start from here,” one of the men in the ticket office tells me. ”Take a buss and go to the ferry terminal in West Seattle.”
Betty explained to me “The island lies in Puget Sound and not in Elliott Bay! It is opposite the airport. You must have seen it when you were landing!”
“Betty, when I am landing I shut my eyes and pray!”
It’s time for lunch. The weather is beautiful and warm. Who said to me that it always rains here?
“Sure to be some envious man who wanted to frighten you away from coming to Seattle. The city is really beautiful, you’ll see. Stay by the waterfront, choose the best restaurant with a view of Elliott Bay and enjoy it.”
“Thank you Betty!”
I find a table on the terrace of “Elliott’s Oyster House”. The view of the island is wonderful. It lies quietly in the sun like a green fleecy cushion on the blue water.
Betty plays with my words:
“Vashon Island is a big cushion, even bigger than Bainbridge which you see in front of your eyes, Letizia. The islands look similar. They have well kept houses and beautiful gardens”.
I relax during this introduction, “Bainbridge” you are Vashon Island, and order a mineral water.
“At one time the hotel belonging to the parents of Monica Sone stood on the waterfront.”
“Oh, of your friend Kimi!” Unfortunately I forget to ask Betty exactly where it was.
My mind wanders and I think of my mountain hike back to the hotel! “Why is there no donkey for tourists?” Betty laughs:
“I’m sure you can walk back to the hotel. “Letizia can do everything.””
“Yes, Betty, I am my own donkey!”
But I don’t remember that San Francisco is so steep. It doesn’t matter, I sit and wait. The waiter comes and brings me the menu. I almost fall off my chair!
“ What, you have geoduck on the menu! I have to try it” (I confess I hate the look of geoduck meat. Betty’s recipe with the pieces made me feel quite sick – I must try Betty’s favourite dish!)
“Proof that you love me!” said Betty enthusiastically “ Isn’t the way to the heart through the stomach?”
I order the geoduck. The waiter looks at me. He would have liked to recommend oysters.
“Geoduck no good for you!”
Had he perhaps read my deepest thoughts? Fate! Then no geoduck. “No good for me.”
“Neither geoduck nor tuberculosis in Seattle” whispered Betty in my ear!
“Oh Betty, my best friend, you take such good care of me!”
I order salmon with salad.
“Which salmon? Those that swim in water or those that run through Seattle?”
“Betty, I believe you want me to have a taste of your black humour.”
“Enjoy it then, Letizia.”
During lunch we talked about tuberculosis, and that quite spoilt our appetite.
“Have you read my book “The Plague and I”?”
“Oh Betty, I’ve started to read it twice but both times I felt so sad I had to stop again!”
“But why?” asked Betty “Nearly everybody has tuberculosis! I recovered very quickly and put on 20 pounds! There was no talk of me wasting away! What did you think of my jokes in the book?”
“Those would have been a good reason for choosing another sanitorium. I would have been afraid of becoming a victim of your humour! You would have certainly given me a nickname! You always thought up such amusing names!” Betty laughed.
“You’re right. I would have called you “Roman nose”. I would have said to Urbi and Orbi “ Early this morning “Roman nose” was brought here. She speaks broken English, doesn’t eat geoduck but she does love cats.”
“Oh Betty, I would have felt so ashamed to cough. To cough in your presence, how embarrassing! You would have talked about how I coughed, how many coughs!”
“It depends on that “how”, Letizia!”
“Please, leave Goethe quotations out of it. You have certainly learnt from the Indians how to differentiate between noises. It’s incredible how you can distinguish between so many sorts of cough! At least 10!”
“So few?”
”And also your descriptions of the patients and the nurses were pitiless. An artistic revenge! The smallest pimple on their face didn’t escape your notice! Amazing.”
“ I was also pitiless to myself. Don’t forget my irony against myself!”
Betty was silent. She was thinking about Kimi, the “Princess” from Japan! No, she had only written good things about her best friend, Monica Sone, in her book “The Plague and I”. A deep friendship had started in the hospital. The pearl that developed from the illness.
“Isn’t it wonderful, Betty, that an unknown seed can make its way into a mollusk in the sea and develop into a beautiful jewel?” Betty is paying attention.
“Betty, the friendship between you and Monica reminds me of Goethe’s poem “Gingo-Biloba”. You must know it?” Betty nods and I begin to recite it:
The leaf of this Eastern tree
Which has been entrusted to my garden
Offers a feast of secret significance,
For the edification of the initiate.
Is it one living thing.
That has become divided within itself?
Are these two who have chosen each other,
So that we know them as one?
The friendship with Monica is like the wonderful gingo-biloba leaf, the tree from the east. Betty was touched. There was a deep feeling of trust between us.
“Our friendship never broke up, partly because she was in distress, endangered by the deadly illness. We understood and supplemented each other. We were like one lung with two lobes, one from the east and one from the west!”
“A beautiful picture, Betty. You were like two red gingo-biloba leaves!”
Betty was sad and said ” Monica, although Japanese, before she really knew me felt she was also an American. But she was interned in America, Letizia, during the second world war. Isn’t that terrible?”
“Betty, I never knew her personally. I have only seen her on a video, but what dignity in her face, and she speaks and moves so gracefully!”
“Fate could not change her”
“Yes, Betty, like the gingo-biloba tree in Hiroshima. It was the only tree that blossomed again after the atom bomb!”
The bill came and I paid at once. In America one is urged away from the table when one has finished eating. If one wants to go on chatting one has to order something else.
“That’s why all those people gossiping at the tables are so fat!” Betty remarks. “Haven’t you seen how many massively obese people walk around in the streets of America. Like dustbins that have never been emptied!” With this typically unsentimental remark Betty ended our conversation.
Ciao! I so enjoyed the talk; the humour, the irony and the empathy. I waved to her and now I too felt like moving! I take a lovely walk along the waterfront.
Now I am back in Heidelberg and when I think about how Betty’s “Princessin” left this world on September 5th and that in August I was speaking about her with Betty in Seattle I feel very sad. The readers who knew her well (we feel that every author and hero of a book is nearer to us than our fleeting neighbours next door) yes we, who thought of her as immortal, cannot believe that even she would die after 92 years. How unforeseen and unexpected that her death should come four days after her birthday on September 1th. On September 5th I was on my way to Turkey, once again in seventh heaven, looking back on the unforgettable days in Seattle. I was flying from west to east towards the rising sun.
Is this Mr. Tigerli?
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