Betty MacDonald Fan Club. Join fans of the beloved writer Betty MacDonald (1907-58). The original Betty MacDonald Fan Club and literary Society. Welcome to Betty MacDonald Fan Club and Betty MacDonald Society - the official Betty MacDonald Fan Club Website with members in 40 countries.
Betty MacDonald, the author of The Egg and I and the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Series is beloved all over the world. Don't miss Wolfgang Hampel's Betty MacDonald biography and his very witty interviews on CD and DVD!
Thank you so much in advance for your support and interest.
If
you join Betty MacDonald fan club blog as a follower during April
you'll receive a very special Betty MacDonald fan club Welcome gift.
That's a beautiful book cover of Betty MacDonald's The Plague and I. Do you know the language? Send us a mail, please and you might be our next Betty MacDonald fan club surprise winner. Good luck!
my dear husband is an excellent cook but don't ask how our kitchen looks like afterwards.
You only have to read Betty MacDonald's Onions in the Stew and you know what I'm talking about.
Do you remember the way Betty MacDonald's husband Donald behaved in kitchen preparing his famous sandwiches.
Please tell us the name of Don's famous sandwiches?
Send us your mail as soon as possbible and you might be our next Betty MacDonald fan club surprise winner. Betty MacDonald's unique grandmother Gammy would say: Men are pigs. Don't allow them to work in the kitchen.
I doubt we can act so strict because we don't hate men they way Gammy did.
We like men! Excuse us please, Gammy!
But not all men! There is one I dislike very much.
Dear Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Pippi Longstocking I agree: He is a bully and charlatan.
By the way 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.
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.
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.
We are working on Betty MacDonald fan club exhibit and an updated Betty MacDonald documentary.
Betty MacDonald fan club newsletter April includes a letter by Betty
MacDonald, mentioning Dorita Hess and other very important persons in
her books.
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.
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.
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.
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 April.
Send us your email address to our contact address, please.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Here are a dozen things we have learned in President Trump’s first 100 days.
1.
Trump has had the worst beginning of any president since, oh, perhaps
William Henry Harrison (who died a month after his inauguration). Trump
has had no legislative triumphs, and he has by far the lowest public
approval of any new president in polling history. Large majorities say
he is not honest, does not keep promises and does not care about
ordinary people.
2.
Trump distinguishes himself in one area: incompetence. The debacle of
the travel ban was followed by the collapse of the G.O.P. health care
bill, and I doubt we’ll ever see passage of a tax reform package, a
health bill or even a major infrastructure spending bill. Trump has made
no trips abroad (at this juncture, Barack Obama had visited nine
countries), and he has fewer than half as many nominees confirmed for
senior positions as Obama did at this point.
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 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 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.
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.
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.
Here are a dozen things we have learned in President Trump’s first 100 days.
1.
Trump has had the worst beginning of any president since, oh, perhaps
William Henry Harrison (who died a month after his inauguration). Trump
has had no legislative triumphs, and he has by far the lowest public
approval of any new president in polling history. Large majorities say
he is not honest, does not keep promises and does not care about
ordinary people.
2.
Trump distinguishes himself in one area: incompetence. The debacle of
the travel ban was followed by the collapse of the G.O.P. health care
bill, and I doubt we’ll ever see passage of a tax reform package, a
health bill or even a major infrastructure spending bill. Trump has made
no trips abroad (at this juncture, Barack Obama had visited nine
countries), and he has fewer than half as many nominees confirmed for
senior positions as Obama did at this point.
3.
New presidents typically grow into the job, but Trump remains a bully
and a charlatan. In my career, I’ve never known a national politician as
mendacious, ill informed, bombastic and dangerous as Trump. His tweets
are as immature as ever, and The Washington Post calculates
that he has issued 452 false or misleading claims since assuming
office, churning them out at a rate of more than one every six hours
around the clock (no wonder he seems so busy!).
4.
The opposition to Trump has been ineffective in reaching Trump voters,
and he remains deeply popular with his base. Only 2 percent of Trump
voters say they regret their choice in November, and an ABC/Washington
Post poll suggested
that if 2016 voters filled out their ballots today, Trump would be
elected by the popular vote as well as by the electoral vote. Even more
people say
that the Democratic Party is out of touch with ordinary voters than say
the same of the Republican Party. Trump’s popularity among Republicans
means that the liberal aim of removing Trump by impeachment or the 25th
Amendment is probably fantasy — and all this should prompt some hard
reflection among progressives.
5.
Trump systematically betrays his supporters. Elected in part on
working-class anger at elites, he keeps proposing giant tax cuts for the
rich financed by cutting health care for the needy, and his tax “plan”
would in effect borrow from China to reward billionaires like himself.
His “deregulation” includes letting chemical companies peddle an
insecticide, chlorpyrifos, linked to brain damage in children.
6.
Trump has built a colossal swamp in Washington, hiring lobbyists to
craft policies governing the very companies that previously paid them.
To cover up abuses, the White House issues secret waivers of its own
ethics rules! The denizens of this swamp are also like nothing
previously seen in the White House: One counterterrorism aide,
Sebastian Gorka, founded an extremist political party in Hungary and
allegedly has ties (which he denies) to a Nazi-allied group there.
7.
Bless the American people: Scapegoating and bigotry carry a political
price. Trump has demonized some of the most vulnerable people — refugees
and unauthorized immigrants — but large majorities of Americans
disapprove of his policies on immigration (57 percent to 41 percent,
according a CNN poll).
8.
After initially tussling with allies like Australia and Mexico, and
apparently refusing to shake Angela Merkel’s hand for a photo, Trump has
partially adapted to reality on foreign policy, abandoning his
positions on two Chinas, on China’s currency and on the Iran nuclear
program. He has replaced an awful national security adviser (Michael
Flynn) with a good one (H. R. McMaster) and now has a respectable
national security team.
9. Perhaps the greatest single risk of a Trump presidency is what he calls a “major, major conflict”
erupting on the Korean Peninsula. I don’t think this is likely, but it
would be cataclysmic. The problem is that Trump’s existing policy won’t
succeed in getting North Korea to give up its nuclear stockpile — and
one can’t help worrying when two inexperienced and impulsive leaders
face off.
10. Democrats should be careful to avoid Trump Derangement Syndrome. A survey
of Dartmouth students found that 45 percent of Democrats would be
uncomfortable with a roommate of opposite political views, compared with
only 12 percent of Republicans. Meanwhile, the passions to block
conservative speakers at Middlebury and the University of California,
Berkeley, should also give us pause: Liberalism mustn’t be illiberal.
11.
Let’s avoid the temptation to chase the latest shiny thing. Focus on
what’s truly important: health, tax and housing policy, the allegations
of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, the efforts to undermine women’s health programs, and the effort to slash foreign aid just as 20 million people face possible famine.
12.
The Republic stands. Checks and balances have constrained Trump, courts
have blocked his travel ban, journalists have provided oversight, and
the public has hounded members of Congress. Alarm that the U.S. might
slip into a fascist dictatorship has diminished — but it’s a long three
years and nine months still ahead of us.
A version of this op-ed appears in print on April 30, 2017, on Page SR11 of the New York edition with the headline: Lessons From 100 Days Of Trump. Today's Paper|Subscribe
Trump Tells N.R.A. Convention, ‘I Am Going to Come Through for You’
ATLANTA — President Trump received a thunderous welcome from thousands of gun lovers as he appeared here on Friday at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention to thank the group for its unwavering support of his presidential campaign.
A
supporter of restrictions on guns before he entered politics, Mr. Trump
became a fierce champion of gun rights during his bid for the White
House, earning early backing — and $30 million in campaign support —
from the powerful lobbying group.
“Only
one candidate in the general election came to speak to you, and that
candidate is now the president of the United States, standing before
you,” Mr. Trump said. “You came through for me, and I am going to come
through for you.”
The president was received as a hero, in part for successfully installing a conservative Supreme Court justice, Neil M. Gorsuch,
who is seen as a likely protector of the Second Amendment. Mr. Trump in
turn treated the gun convention like a political rally, joyfully
recalling his election victory and mocking the journalists and Democrats
who were confident that he would lose.
“Remember,
they said there is no path to 270,” he said, referring to the number of
electoral votes a candidate needs to win the presidency. “There is no
route — there is no route to 270. We ended up with 306, so they were
right.”
He
predicted that he would have no problem dispatching any rival during a
2020 re-election campaign, suggesting at one point that Democrats might
nominate Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. He referred to her
as he did during the campaign, derisively calling her Pocahontas, a
reference to claims she once made about being part Native American.
“It
may be Pocahontas, remember that,” he said, prompting laughter in the
cavernous room. “She is not big for the N.R.A., that I can tell you.”
Before
the president’s arrival, attendees watched hours of videos assailing
former President Barack Obama, Democrats and anyone who has advocated
gun control measures. The crowd erupted in boos when the large screens
showed campaign commercials from last year attacking Hillary Clinton,
the Democratic nominee.
They
also laughed as television clips showed members of the news media,
Hollywood stars and even Mr. Obama predicting confidently that Mr. Trump
would never be elected president.
“The
eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a
crashing end,” Mr. Trump told the crowd after assailing Mr. Obama’s
record on guns. Now, he said, “You have a true friend and champion in
the White House.”
Mr.
Trump, just shy of Saturday’s 100-day milestone in his presidency,
stepped in front of the friendly audience amid a flurry of activity back
in Washington. In just the past few days, his administration has
released a tax plan and made and then rescinded a threat to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, while Republican lawmakers reignited their effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act and Congress passed a short-term spending bill needed to keep the government running.
In
addition to his Supreme Court pick, Mr. Trump has made some modest
moves in support of gun rights. He signed legislation that reversed an
Obama-era rule that would have required the Social Security
Administration to provide information about mentally ill people for
background checks on gun purchases.
Leaders
of the N.R.A. heaped praise on Mr. Trump. Chris Cox, the executive
director of the group’s political and lobbying arm, called Mr. Trump the
“most proudly pro-gun presidential candidate” in history and accused
the news media of lying about the number of people who watched Mr.
Trump’s inauguration.
“The only number that mattered was the number who watched Hillary Clinton’s inauguration — zero!” Mr. Cox said.
Wayne
LaPierre, the chief executive of the N.R.A., predicted that Mr. Trump
would help wage war against elites in academics, politics and the news
media. He called members of the news media “public relations flacks for
the destruction of our country.”
Gun
control organizations accused Mr. Trump of supporting what they call
the “extremist” agenda of the N.R.A. In a statement on Thursday, two of
those groups — Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action — vowed
to oppose efforts by the gun group to “allow more guns for anyone,
anywhere, no questions asked.”
Those
gun control groups are planning a rally for Saturday in Atlanta to
demonstrate their willingness to “stand and fight back against the
N.R.A. leadership’s dangerous ‘guns everywhere’ agenda that contributes
to the more than 90 Americans shot and killed and the hundreds more
injured every day.”
In
a statement after Mr. Trump’s speech, Gabrielle Giffords, a former
Democratic congresswoman from Arizona who was shot in the head in 2011,
criticized Mr. Trump for not confronting the problem of gun violence in
America.
“It’s
time for our elected officials to listen to the American people,
protect our communities and reject the gun lobby’s extreme agenda,” Ms.
Giffords said.
After
the event, Mr. Trump attended a fund-raiser for Karen Handel, the
Republican House candidate in Georgia who will compete in a runoff in June to replace Tom Price, who left his seat to become health and human services secretary in Mr. Trump’s administration.
For
Ms. Handel, who has been a poor fund-raiser, Mr. Trump’s help is a boon
as she competes against Jon Ossoff, a Democrat who is receiving
enormous financial support from around the country.
Ms.
Handel also needs to energize Republicans to support her in a primary
that is likely to have low turnout. Her willingness to be part of a
high-profile fund-raiser involving Mr. Trump suggests that she believes
rallying his supporters is her best bet to defeat Mr. Ossoff.
A version of this article appears in print on April 29, 2017, on Page A17 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump Tells N.R.A.: ‘I Am Going to Come Through for You’. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe
Trump Warns That ‘Major, Major Conflict’ With North Korea Is Possible
HONG KONG — President Trump warned Thursday of the possibility of a “major, major conflict” with North Korea,
in an interview in which he said he was seeking a diplomatic solution
to concerns that Pyongyang was preparing to conduct another nuclear
test.
“There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea,” he said. “Absolutely.”
Mr. Trump’s remarks came amid signs that North Korea might soon conduct another underground detonation
at its Punggye-ri nuclear test site despite Mr. Trump’s warning not to
do so. China has played a mediating role in the crisis, as Mr. Trump has
urged Mr. Xi to use Beijing’s leverage with North Korea, a longtime
ally, to persuade it not to conduct a test.
“I
believe he is trying very hard. He certainly doesn’t want to see
turmoil and death. He doesn’t want to see it,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Xi.
“He is a good man. He is a very good man, and I got to know him very
well.”
In the interview, Mr. Trump actually offered some grudging praise for North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un.
“He’s
27 years old. His father dies, took over a regime,” he said. “So say
what you want, but that is not easy, especially at that age.”
“I hope he’s rational,” Mr. Trump added of Mr. Kim.
The
United States has been pressing the United Nations to impose more
sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs. The
diplomatic efforts have coincided with military maneuvers
by the United States and South Korea in Pocheon, northeast of Seoul,
South Korea, where the allies have demonstrated some of their latest
weapons. In addition, the Michigan, a submarine armed with Tomahawk
cruise missiles, has arrived in the South Korean port city of Busan. And
a Navy strike group led by the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson has been
sent to the Sea of Japan, which borders the Korean Peninsula.
Earlier
this month, as tensions with North Korea were flaring, the Carl Vinson
was said to be sailing north, toward the peninsula, when it was actually
heading south, toward the Indian Ocean.
To protect against a North Korean attack, the United States is on the verge of making a new antimissile system operational in South Korea. Mr. Trump said in the interview that he would seek to have South Korea pay for the system, known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or Thaad, putting its cost around $1 billion.
Under its arrangement with Washington,
South Korea was to provide land and build a base for the Thaad system,
while the United States would pay for it and cover its operational
costs.
In
South Korea, Mr. Trump’s comment shook the election campaign to choose a
successor next month to Park Geun-hye, the ousted president. Ms. Park’s
decision to accept the Thaad deployment has been one of the most
contentious issues on the trail, and Moon Jae-in, the leading candidate,
seized on the remarks and, through a spokesman, called for a halt to
the deployment.
“We
must consider whether it conforms to the spirit of the alliance,” the
spokesman, Youn Kwan-suk, said on Friday, accusing Mr. Trump of
“demanding unilaterally and without close bilateral consultations that
South Korea pay the cost” of the missile defense system.
Rebuffing Mr. Trump, the South Korean Defense Ministry said on Friday that it had no plans to pay for operating the system.
Mr.
Trump also said that because of the United States’ sizable trade
deficit with South Korea, he intended to renegotiate or end a trade pact
with the country. That free trade agreement, called Korus, went into
effect in 2012. It contains a framework for trade in both goods and services, and it covers environmental issues as well.
Like
all free trade deals, it is designed to remove barriers to commerce.
South Korea is America’s sixth-largest trading partner in goods, with
$112.2 billion worth of commerce between the two in 2016, according to
the Office of the United States Trade Representative. South Korea has a
$10.7 billion trade deficit in services with the United States, but a
$27.7 billion trade surplus in goods.
In
the Reuters interview, Mr. Trump also rejected an overture from
Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, for further discussions. His telephone call with her in December alarmed China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province.
“My
problem is that I have established a very good personal relationship
with President Xi,” Mr. Trump said. “I really feel that he is doing
everything in his power to help us with a big situation. So I wouldn’t
want to be causing difficulty right now for him.”
On
Thursday, Ms. Tsai had raised the possibility of talking with Mr. Trump
again. “We have the opportunity to communicate more directly with the
U.S. government,” she said in an interview.
“We don’t exclude the opportunity to call President Trump himself, but
it depends on the needs of the situation and the U.S. government’s
consideration of regional affairs.”
Mr.
Trump also used the Reuters interview to reflect on his three-month-old
presidency, saying, “This is more work than in my previous life. I
thought it would be easier.”
Follow Gerry Mullany on Twitter @gerrymullany. Gerry Doyle contributed reporting from Hong Kong, and Choe Sang-Hun from Seoul, South Korea.
A version of this article appears in print on April 28, 2017, on Page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump Warns of ‘Major, Major Conflict’ With North Korea if Diplomatic Efforts Fail. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe
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.
Betty MacDonald Fan Club, founded by Wolfgang Hampel, has members in 40 countries.
Wolfgang Hampel, author of Betty MacDonald biography interviewed Betty MacDonald's family and friends. His Interviews have been published on CD and DVD by Betty MacDonald Fan Club. If you are interested in the Betty MacDonald Biography or the Betty MacDonald Interviews send us a mail, please.
Several original Interviews with Betty MacDonald are available.
We are also organizing international Betty MacDonald Fan Club Events for example, Betty MacDonald Fan Club Eurovision Song Contest Meetings in Oslo and Düsseldorf, Royal Wedding Betty MacDonald Fan Club Event in Stockholm and Betty MacDonald Fan Club Fifa Worldcup Conferences in South Africa and Germany.
Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honour Members are Monica Sone, author of Nisei Daughter and described as Kimi in Betty MacDonald's The Plague and I, Betty MacDonald's nephew, artist and writer Darsie Beck, Betty MacDonald fans and beloved authors and artists Gwen Grant, Letizia Mancino, Perry Woodfin, Traci Tyne Hilton, Tatjana Geßler, music producer Bernd Kunze, musician Thomas Bödigheimer, translater Mary Holmes and Mr. Tigerli.