WLM Member Monday – Nancy McBride

Good Morning! Todays Member Monday comes all the way from the US (So she will be along a bit later). Please give a big, warm welcome to Nancy McBride! Nancy, enjoy your day and please, what is a bongo board?

Victoria Twead: Good morning Nancy McBride! Hope you enjoy your day! Yep, I really need to know what a bongo board is too…

Alison Charlotte Moore: Wow! Where do we start Nancy? A Quonset and blue angels? You got me already!

June Collins: Love Iceland – love Turks – and love the Blue Angels…But altogether??? More than I can handle…

Julie Haigh: I like the sound of that ‘ method of teaching people to paint who cannot paint or draw’-I would love to be able to put a lovely picture down on paper but sadly I’m rubbish at drawing. So tell us a bit about that please Nancy.

Gemma Murphy-Sanderson: Wow. Hello Nancy. I would love to know about the painting method as I am hopeless at painting or drawing. X

Valerie Robson: Hi there Nancy, what was the talk show about? Anything and everything? xxx

Charlotte Smith: Here’s an otter for you Nancy (and a teddy for Julie Haigh) So many interesting things to talk about. When you come to Spain to count my shells you can teach me to paint!

Cherry Gregory: Good Morning, Nancy! Wow, what an exciting life you’ve led! I’m dying to hear more details!

Victoria Connelly: I adore otters too, Nancy! Have you seen many in the wild? I thought I did once in Scotland but I think it was a mink.

Jennifer Ziton Bendriss: Gotta hear the story on getting struck by lightning…

Sue Clamp: Quonset and Blue Angels, I’ve just had to Google! Quonset is like a Nissen hut and Blue Angels in the USA are like the Red Arrows in the UK. A bongo board looks like a skateboard with some missing wheels!

— Tell us about your talk show, Nancy. Which radio station did you work for?

Janet Hughes: Hi there Nancy, here’s a little something to keep the pack at bay…

Julie Haigh: Coffee Janet?

Janet Hughes: Help yourselves to sugar

Valerie Robson: Dammit, that Full English looks so good… xxx

Julie Haigh: Thank you, wonderful breakfast as always Janet!

— -off to get my pencils/felt tips and brushes ready for these lessons!

Janet Hughes: Tuck in Valerie, Brad’s rustling more up as we speak

Sharon Carter Figueiredo: Wow Nancy McBride I would like to know more about the method of painting (unfortunately, or fortunately I am in Portugal) so can’t take lessons but would really like to know more. I would also like to know more about your work in iceland

Valerie Robson: Yum, yum, yum… good nosh, thanks xxx

Julie Haigh: So that’s three of us so far who don’t seem to have a flair for art-have you always been gifted with your art Nancy McBride? Most people I know who are good at painting and drawing just’ seem to be able to do it’ or did you learn later? I just can’t see how to translate what I see down on paper, for instance, my sister is quite good at art and if she used to draw something, I could copy what she had done but I couldn’t see it as she had done to be able to draw it from scratch.

Jerry Waxler: You seem to be driven by a desire for adventure, a passion for creative self expression, love for critters, and more. How would you describe the fire that propels you through all of this? One more question, tell me more about the NDE. Did it stimulate your life of seeking?

Fran Macilvey: Hello, Nancy! Tell me, is a kindle a good investment?? I just bought one. No, seriously, following on from Jerry’s question, what was the NDE experience like? I’m very interested in NDE’s too. xxx

Nancy McBride: I’m HERE! And this, my friends, is a Bongo-board! Ta-DA!

Cherry Gregory: Ha Ha! A Bongo board! That looks quite a balancing act!

Julie Haigh: Does that help you in training for snowboarding or something?

Nancy McBride: So, coffee in hand, let me dive in before the caffeine wears off. Its not 7, yet, here… YIKES! I’ve read through your questions, and methinks back to bed on this drizzly Monday is SO appealing!!! (No, I am STRONG! Bring it ON!) Where’s my coffee. Thanks, BTW, Janet Hughes for breakfast! Do you deliver? Got me mind full, here…

Janet Hughes: Wow, that looks like a full body workout! Here have a smoothie to boost you up

Fran Macilvey: Lots of hugs to wake you up, Nancy. There’s no hurry, you know! (((XX)))

Frankie Knight: Wow! I want to know about Attica? Why did you get involved and in what capacity? Was it Art?

Nancy McBride: OK. Let me start with teaching the painting method. It is not my personal method of artwork, in that for whatever reason, and you may analyze if you care to, my creative wool gatherings spill over in rushes or blurts, like my writing, arriving a bit off kilter in sketches, or in a plethora of painted chickens, feathers askew… relieved to be born, walking about a bit dizzy.

–This method allows a calm process, thus handholds for the artist, and we work from back to front, focusing on color mixing and building on. I encourage using not only color but paint as texture. I use acrylics, because they dry quickly, and only three colors (USA spelling…) plus white.

–In three hours, focusing on the technique, first, not the subject (inspiration), one leaves having completed a work of art.

–What I love about this process is that the student becomes empowered, clearly. I have students who come time and time again, and are progressing on their own, unfettered. They apply the subtle underpinnings of process (which I bring them back to time and time again, because it is important to embed), which makes them feel safe (especially linear types), but more importantly, they begin to allow themselves the joy of freedom, and the ability to see things from different perspectives…I have lots of tricks I teach them, and do not hesitate to turn their piece smack upside down, if they start to get detail-centered on me before they are ready.

–When they stand back, they are proud. I’ve received calls of how some now take a different route to work, or try different food, etc. This method can open up possibilities to symbolically loosen up and break down barriers. On the other hand, its fun do just do as an evening with friends.

–I find I, personally, have realized that I have slipped into a state of looking at things from other perspectives, and I apply the broader outcomes of this method to writing, etc.

–Just think about it… How could you, as a thinker and a writer, change a process you follow to write differently? I tried starting a story in the middle recently, and what a difference! Fun. Let the creative juices flow!

–Here ye! Hear ye!

–I will gladly come across the puddle as a traveling art teacher for food, a bus pass and a cot!

Frankie Knight: Love the last sentence!!!

Fran Macilvey: Oh what a relief to read this. I was brought up alongside the traditional school of art that decreed I had to be able to draw, whereas I love art, my own way. How liberating to read of your approach and to agree. Thank you, Nancy!

Cherry Gregory: That sounds fantastic. A way of expanding and developing the mind, as well as developing art. Liberating indeed!

Julie Haigh: So there is hope for me yet then and I may one day be able to do a half decent piece of art!

Nancy McBride: OK—Bongo-board. Growing up in an old farmhouse that had “settled”, adjusting to the floors’ dips and slants to get from one place to another became part of our normal gait, so when Dad bought us a bongo-board, beyond staying upright, it was even more challenging to deal with the slants! (And you wonder why I’m a bubble off plumb?)

Several years ago I found an old Bongo-Board in a collectibles shop and thrilled and amazed the other shoppers there with my recalled skill! (Believe me, I am not even an iota athletic), so of course I bought it, all puffed up. I made two more in a wood-working class at the Craft Center, and showed off one I had taken to my office when photographers were waiting for a photo shoot. This photo was used at my retirement party as the back drop. LOL. I do not recommend its’ use after the age of 40.

Julie Haigh: Wood working too! No end to your talents Nancy!

Fran Macilvey: I love that picture of you, Nancy. You look so happy and relaxed. xxx

Bambi Flanner: I deleted mine as well. It’s Nancy Lynch who is from Hawaii and New England. I’m usually much better at keeping my Nancy’s straight.

Gemma Murphy-Sanderson: ooh fingers crossed i can paint as well. love the bongo board! I had never heard of one before today. I am interested in the flash flood where did that happen? I bet it was terrifying. x

Bambi Flanner: And I want the lightning story! Do you have any special powers now because of it?

Nancy McBride: Quonset huts and Turks… Well, just one hut, and seven Turks, to set the record straight. I had been teaching a workshop on Storytelling to English students at a University in Chelybinsk, Siberia, and on the way home was asked to spend some time in Iceland (on the way, of course, or so I convinced the powers to be at the college where I worked) to hold a reunion, the first international reunion, of five young men from there who’d graduated 10 years before! It would be good publicity all around. Staying at the NATO base with one of the graduates who hosted guests, I was billeted in a quite nicely appointed Quonset hut.

One evening when I was watching a USA Basketball tournament with my host, in burst seven boisterous, sweaty, uniformed Turks, high on adrenalin. Apparently the had been doing display maneuvers. They were told to stay with us for the night!

My first instinct, after finding our common language was pigeon French, was to mark my bathroom territory, making up a few rules, acknowledged. Then I held my nose to indicate they needed to shower. THEN we all watched the game and had a fun evening!

Which reminds me of when I slept with 17 Turks (men) in a hostel in Austria, but that’s another story…

Fran Macilvey: LOL!

Gemma Murphy-Sanderson: lol Nancy! x

Bambi Flanner: Are partial to Turkish men then? lol. Or have you created situations for other nationalities?

Frankie Knight: Attica?

Janet Hughes: Otters?

Nancy McBride: Talk show.

It was radio. It was the 70s. I’d recently moved (again) to Buffalo, NY with two small kids and a husband (Presbyterian minister) who was on the run in every way possible, but that’s another story…

–I had been lecturing for an organization called The Diet Workshop, so I was able to carry that over to my new environs, but was bored with it, frankly. My boss had heard of a talk show host opening in a station in Lockport, NY, near Niagara Falls, WLVL, and suggested I audition for it!

–Now, typically, I had never done this before, so I thought, “If I were to listen to a radio talk show, what would I want to hear?” And voila! Crap! I got it. It was just fun interviewing. i did not expect to GET it! Now what?

–Timing, on air, was essential, planning a show… I started by perusing the local papers and calling folks I found interesting, curious about their back story. They were open.

I’d written a social studies program for educational TV, in graduate school, where timing was essential, and found that came easy for me. My engineers were great, especially excited when i brought on Robert Moog, who invented the synthesizer…

–I interviewed prison wardens and prisoners (Post Attica uprising), celebrities such as Danny Thomas, Glen Campbell, Liberace (pain in the butt), etc. The show went from two half-hours shows a week to five one-hours shows a week. i loved it.

Sharon Carter Figueiredo: Iceland?

Frankie Knight: What does it feel like to be struck by lightning? Is it like sticking a finger in an electrical socket?

Nancy McBride: Otters—

Mother came for a visit and brought me a set of dishtowels and pot holders festooned with Holstein cows. I’d grown up in the country, and our neighbors were all dairy farmers. I could herd like the rest of my friends. If I wanted to play with a friend, I had to help do chores, first.

–Mom collected pig paraphernalia, not because she particularly LIKED pigs (we had a pig my brother had caught in a greased pig contest, but that’s another story), but because we had a photographer living with us for awhile, who had a famous pig poster to his name, and gave her one. She was disappointed when I said, “No, Mom, don’t start me on cows.”

“Well, what, then?”

“OTTERS!” came flying out of my mouth, unfettered. Well, obviously there were not sets of dishtowels about them! I think the idea of them came flying out because they’re FUN!

After she left, I suddenly became interested in otters! Do you know there are thirteen species of them? I began to travel to seek them out! And collect stuffed ones (not real). Here’s a picture of the cement otter I keep on my back porch.

–I even spent ten days on the Isle of Skye working as a volunteer to track Eurasian otters for the International Otter Survival Fund! And the beat goes on.

Julie Haigh: Nancy you have so many amazing things to tell-I would love to read your memoir-do you think you would write it?

Jo-Anne Himmelman: Oh my gosh Nancy (says Jo-Anne with coffee in hand and I-pod on table -one finger typing) what an amazing life you lead. I would love to learn how to draw. Have booked for two one-day courses featuring a special technique but on both occasions had to cancel. I vote for all WLM members ,who want to learn, to follow you across the puddle, bring the wine and have a serious art class!

–Also are you now afraid to be in the water as a result of the flash flood?

Nancy McBride: Lightning.

–Briefly, I, 15, was doing my French homework on the phone with a classmate, when apparently, a bolt of lightning struck the telephone wires outside my home, and the grounding wire was not grounded, so I grounded it through my ear, down my neck, out my shoulder, and smack into the radiator I was leaning on. It was instantaneous. My body, lifeless was tossed about 6 feet by the jolt. The phone, still in my hand, melted. I lay there for a few minutes before my mother and grandfather found me. The house lights had gone out when this happened, and they had found their way to the dining room for candles, then came looking for me, unaware of what had happened other than lightning had taken out the electricity. They could not hear each other because the lightning had amplified my friend’s voice, which had become explosive like a cannon being shot off!

–I was, by then, returning from my tranquil, inviting NDE, which had lulled me contentedly into an easy segue to passing beyond death. Slamming back into my body pissed me off BIG TIME. And then only to realize I was badly injured, and why did my dog lick my face and I felt it only on my right side? Obviously there is more, but eventually my nervous system regenerated, pretty well, considering, and I am only left stone deaf in my right ear. Talk about instant change!

Susan Joyce: Nancy, now I know why we became on the spot, fast friends … lots of connections from near death experience, Turks, sea otters, and last but not least pig paraphernalia (which I don’t normally talk about). Big grin to ya! Can you tell us about the flash flood nightmare?

–Good morning, btw!

Bambi Flanner: So you do have super powers! You have extra sensitive hearing in your left ear, and all your other senses are more engaged. I guess.

Nancy McBride: Julie Haigh, re: art flow. Hard to articulate, but like a lot of things in my life, I just stopped trying to follow the rules, and tell the story. If you want art to look like a photo, take a photo. Rather, tell a story with color and line and a few details, but unfinished is more real…then move on and don’t look back.

Fran Macilvey: Wow, Nancy. I’m sorry you felt bad coming back into your heavy body, but you seem to have such a lovely life. You really do take your opportunities, which is inspirational.

Frankie Knight: How old are your 2 girls now and are they still living with you?

Cherry Gregory: Your stories are amazing, Nancy. I’m laughing at your bongo board story and your night with the Turks. It will be a brilliant memoir!

Nancy McBride: NDE:

–For me it was a release and then an easy drift toward “the light”. I was not in my body, but encapsulated. When I arrived, I emerged… I will interrupt here to state that the words I use to describe my NDE are weak symbols, like describing orgasm or the taste of honey, etc. Inadequate…

so suspend preconceptions, and relax to the ride, unfettered… (I use that term a lot, it seems… hummm…)

–It was so bright, that in our earthly terms it was too bright, but for me, then, it was warm and inviting and safe like flying over clouds with a slight glow, like a sunset… There was a gentle hum, too, a lulling, and everything felt familiar and loving, like knowing. Just knowing. Just as I was beginning to look around, I was whipped back down the rabbit hole and slammed into my body suit. WHAM! As, I mentioned, I was pissed, confused, and had NO idea where i was or what had happened… And then, life, anew began. And despite adjustments, it was good. A path I could have never planned…

Charlotte Smith: Would you like a nice cold beer Nancy?

Nancy McBride: OMG! My first break, and Charlotte, UR THE best.. but should I not have breakfast, first? XXOO.

–You all are great with your questions. I’ll just copy the replies, and voila! Memoir! Right?

Charlotte Smith: No – it’s a special day for you Nancy. Have whatever you fancy

Nancy McBride: Scrambled eggs with crisp bacon, and a hot, buttered English muffin, and marmalade, please.

Susan Joyce: Nancy, is your ex-husband still alive? Are you in touch with each other? If you feel like talking about it, I’d love to know how you met? A Presby minister?

Charlotte Smith: Maybe you should go for a swim later to work all that off?

Nancy McBride: Definitely, Charlotte, but I prefer skinny dipping…

Charlotte Smith: Ooooh. Have a popsicle to cool you down

Nancy McBride: Ex-O is still alive. He and his wife live in Santa Barbara, CA. The short story is that he blew out with bi-polar mania, which is frankly awful to live with, and took off like another bolt of lightning, less than a year after we moved, yet again, part of the mania, to Buffalo, NY. He blessed me with two amazing girls, now 45 and 43. But the relief I felt when he left was palpable. He is highly intelligent, but very self-centered. The girls keep light touch, but he never asks about them and their lives. One refers to him as…”I love him like a distant uncle.” The years after he left invited poverty and despair, and also a new life, good friends, and a new career that took me places I never dreamed of. Yippee!

Susan Joyce: Nancy, a blessing in disguise. Nice!

Nancy McBride: ABSOLUTELY! I was 20 when I married. i don’t think I knew what else to do, and I wanted to try out this thing called sex and have grilled cheese sandwiches every day… yep! In retrospect, we were never friends. I’ve had better sex and love since.

Janet Hughes: no marmalade, sorry

Nancy McBride: Lovely! I have some in the fridge!

–UR a honey, Janet Hughes.

Fran Macilvey: God, I’m hungry. Got to go and have lunch. xxx

Susan Joyce: Nancy, The flash flood? When? Where?

Charlotte Smith: Here’s marmalade

Nancy McBride: Attica:

–You may or may not remember that in 1991, there was a brutal riot at Attica, a federal prison, in NY State. The conditions were crowded, etc., etc. We were just then moving from upper state, NY to Buffalo, and I found a UU Church that had devised a program to work with inmates within the last 6 mos. of their incarceration. i was matched (first woman) with a gentleman named Don. The concept was to create a new community for him so that he didn’t have to return to his old haunts… new friends, job, etc. i was creating that for myself, so it worked. That was about the time I started my radio show, so it was an interesting time. That fellow helped me out, protected me, when I had to teach in the inner city, and was threatened. Another story…

Terry Bryan: Y’all do get up early…how about a cappuccino? Nancy, I’ve got to read and catch up. Talk to you later.

Nancy McBride: My sweets, I am taking a break for a breakfast inspired by Janet Hughes, our esteemed caterer, and shall returned refreshed to dive in again, and try to touch on each of your probing proboscises’ questions!

— Terry Bryan! Love your kitty capp!

Julie Haigh: Yet another amazing Monday Member interview-can’t wait for part two- enjoy your breakfast Nancy!

Janet Givens: Hi Nancy. I’m fascinated by your work with Attica folks. Ever think of writing about it?

Charlotte Smith: I think the otter is picking up your art tips rather well, don’t you Nancy?

Janet Givens: “I wanted to try out this thing called sex and have grilled cheese sandwiches every day… yep!” I love it! There should be a place where those of our age can list our (now) absurd readings for marrying that first husband. A First Hubby “It seemed like a good idea at the time” Club.

Frankie Knight: I’ll join! It’s amazing how many of our lives started after we’d ditched our original O/H’s. Although having tried it once, I decided I didn’t like it and am still single 44 years later. That’s not to say there haven’t been ‘incidences’ in between times, though!

Nancy McBride: Definitely. (Bacon is sizzling)… The Attica stories will be in my memoir, somewhere, Janet Givens. I have written a piece on that era in a different format to get it down.. I had my inmate friend interview me. It worked well to fetter out details I’d forgotten. I often write stories from different perspectives. breaks up the I did this, then I did that snooze… Publishing? It’ll happen.

— Same story, here, Frankie Knight. No regrets, and open to LUV!

— And then where would so many of those stories come from, eh? LOL.

Frankie Knight: I am old enough to remember those riots. I believe the first of their kind in the States (?) and how appalled we all were about what happened. Scary!

Julie Haigh: Ex husband ok but what is an O Husband?

— O/H ? am trying to think what this stands for?????

Frankie Knight: Nancy, I’m looking for someone with own hair and teeth, able to walk unaided, no living relatives and a very healthy bank balance. My friends reckon I’m setting my sights too high – I reckon I’m worth it….

–Other Half, Julie!

Fran Macilvey: Ex other half!

Nancy McBride: Old? Old Hat? OH, Other half! LOL.

Jerry Waxler: Since I’m new to the group, I hope you won’t mind me asking. Is there a memoir lurking in this interview somewhere? If you wrote a memoir, I could read about all of this in glorious detail. Right?

Frankie Knight: I do love these chats! My sun bed and cushion are outside waiting but I’m still in jeans and t-shirt with you lot!

–How’s the bacon Nancy? Not burning, I hope?

Julie Haigh: Ha ha yes! I was thinking maybe Ogre/Orkard (awkward)! I too am one of the ‘life begins after the article of an ex husband’ brigade!

Charlotte Smith: Jerry Waxler welcome to the group – this beer is for you if you can persuade the otter to give it up. Member Monday is just a nice informal friendly chat with a fellow WLM member. Pop in and out as you wish and feel free to ask Nancy any questions

Nancy McBride: Just where would we be without the (E)X-factor, folks? Hummmm?

–Bacon done, muffins almost done. scramble done.. Yum!

Frankie Knight: Hi Jerry, don’t be scared… We’d love some input from a newbie….

— Right, I’m off for an hour soaking up the sun into my old bones. Back later – that’s a promise, not a threat!

Nancy McBride:

Sue Clamp: Looks yummy, Nancy, and I love that plate!

Terry Bryan: That’s supposed to be an otter in the cappuccino…not a cat…

Nancy McBride: Why worry about love, when I’ve received hickies from an octopus?

Fran Macilvey: You’re once, twice, four times the octopus….and I love your arms, I looooove your arms.

Nancy McBride: OH! Of, COURSE!!!! Otterly ridiculous of me not to see that! Otter on, Terry Bryan!

Susan Joyce: Jerry, I warned you we were zany.

Nancy McBride: Of course my man, at the time, could hardly believe THAT one, but sometimes truth is stranger…

Janet Hughes: Susan are you on the right thread?

Nancy McBride: Right, Jerry Waxler. I have written a lot of it, but it needs shaping and will probably run to a few… The writing flows. The shaping? Not so much…

Julie Haigh: Yes Janet, Jerry has jumped in right at the deep end and he’s on here with us!

Nancy McBride: Sue Clamp, I have that plate for my grandson’s visits. He loves eye-balls…

Susan Joyce: Love that plate! Nancy what age is your grandson?

Janet Hughes: Nancy McBride declared that hickies were applied, best by an octopus… and thus, when the deed was done, she loudly cried, “oh what fun” and lay down in the afternoon sun.

Nancy McBride: (noshing…) Alden is 10, and my favorite (and only) grandson. He lives nearby with is sister, Sophie, 13, who is creating a full french dinner for us all, tonight! I am to bring the baguettes. Alden loves soccer (football), and is a cuddler. Their Mom is Iona (another story), and their dad, Lincoln! My elder daughter, Amy and her husband Steve live in Seattle (oh, well, have to visit a few times a year), and they have two girls, Burgin, 14 and Jena, 12. Amy is a marketing consultant, and Steve an independent film and commercial guy. Lincoln and Iona work with special needs kids… Two different worlds, for certain.

–Janet Hughes, I love that little story!

Nancy McBride: I’ve been making a list of some titles for my memoir(s). Suggestions from the peanut gallery?You’ve got the NDE, etc., and you’ve got the pregnant with popcorn types of stories. See my quandary?

Susan Joyce: At the moment, I’d vote for Pregnant with Popcorn, that failed to pop.

Nancy McBride: … more like a situational tragi-comedy, right?

–It is one of my faves… with a variety of subtitles…

–Or, too pooped to pop…

Jerry Waxler: Shaping the memoir is the difference between a collage and a painting. LOL Yes, this thread is a bit crazier than what I’m accustomed to. It’s a baptism by fire, or maybe being struck by the lightning of the WLM group mind. I think this could be a full time job.

Janet Hughes: We’re very addictive Jerry

Susan Joyce: Nancy, It has great potential as a play on words. Jerry, right on!

Nancy Gould Gomoll: I have enjoyed reading through this so far. Count me in on the art lessons, wherever you have them. I would enjoy that, and might find some deeply hidden talent! Your life sure has been a full one and not lacking for adventure. Like you and Frankie, I have also opted for the single life after an unsuccessful marriage, raising my kids myself. And, my life was turned into something I would never have imagined…for the better! A good marriage would have been nice, but wasn’t in my cards! I have to go run errands now but will be back to catch up!

Nancy McBride: OK! I’m back, and will tackle a few more questions…

Special Powers since lightning and NDE? I have been known to “read” another’s emotions, from way afar, like Sweden… around death and deep sadness… And I have been swept back to my NDE, unplanned, via a guided meditation…so, as my allergist says, “Perhaps a wouldn’t refer to you as delicate, but sensitive.” LOL. I prefer living in the present. Many who experience an NDE long to be “there” not here. I choose here. There is for later. i have no fear of death, resultant, but the long dying but sucks.

Janet Hughes: Anem a berenar, que aprofiti!

Sue Clamp: You’re making me hungry now!

Nancy McBride: Jo-Anne Himmelman! I would love to host some painting classes here! Wine works wonders, i can sleep four in my studio, and four in the house, and then there are couches and blow-up mattresses… I feel a party coming on! And, no, no fear of water since the flood… and no fear of lightning since struck…

Janet Hughes: Pobreta, tens gana? Pa amb tomaquet amb pernil iberic, que bo !

Susan Joyce: Janet, I think she wants grilled cheese sandwiches.

Sue Clamp: Tengo muchas ganas! I’ve got the bread (home-made and freshly baked) and tomato but no jamon Iberico.

Janet Hughes: Que lastima, aquí tenemos mucho

Susan Joyce: Nancy, how close are you to the Green Line? That’s such a FAB NYC Must Do.

Sue Clamp: Janet,

Nancy McBride: OK: the flood… It was in Matunuck, RI, in the summer of 1954. I was 11. Our rented cottage was one street down the valley behind the ocean beach. There was a tidal pond at the end of our street.

–With no warning, a hurricane snuck up the coast, and slammed us, sending a tidal wave through the pond which was a 15 ft. wall of water. It drowned our two cars, crumbled the garage, broke up the big summer house with a foundation, next door, and the debris from that slammed into our cottage, which was up on pilings, and we wrenched loose from our pipes and wires and took off—a little ark! The porch was almost totally under water, having screens, and the kitchen almost totally out of the water… There was some hysteria, thank you very much, and a level head or two, and about two hours and a half a mile “up stream” our pipes caught on high grasses on a knoll, and kept us swirling in place (of course we had no clue). Eventually the eye of the storm came, and we, temporarily settled in mud writhing with sealife and who knows what else… we swam int towards a house holding on to clothesline, my elder brother leading the way with the rope tied to a pressure cooker cover…. we all survived.

Frankie Knight: OMG! That truly sounds VERY scary!

— I’ve been forced inside from my sun bed as I have a horrible feeling the delivery Pepe the Goatman had on Saturday may have been pigs!

Steven Whitacre: Wow Nancy.. you’ve had some memorable experiences! I’m not even sure where to start Except I can’t paint at all.. or draw.. would love to know what method you use!

Cherry Gregory: Your cottage like a little ark! It reminds me of some old silent movies I’ve seen! Wow, what an experience.

Nancy McBride: Bambi Flanner! Your question re: Turkish men. No more of them. Been there, done that, as it were… and I have created other situations (although I name them opportunities) for other nationalities. Sweden has high marks, as does The Netherlands, then there is always Scotland… oh my!….

Frankie Knight: Nancy, what did you do for a home after that?

Jo-Anne Himmelman: What a great idea Nancy McBride ! Count me in for classes if it is a plan.

Nancy McBride: Frankie Knight, it was a rented cottage. The owners eventually hosed it out, renovated it and put it on higher ground, just in case. It had tongue-in-groove walls which saved our lives, clearly. They allowed the place to creak and bend, and not splinter up Also, not having had a foundation, freed us to escape our groundings…

Frankie Knight: It still sounds a very frightening experience!

Nancy McBride: Steven Whitacre, scroll back, I tackled my teaching method early on, today! Glad you joined us. Any more questions?

Sue Clamp: Nancy, your flood story reminds me of a children’s book I love called The House That Sailed Away! http://www.amazon.co.uk/…/184002…/ref=tmm_pap_title_0… Scary stuff though!

Frankie Knight: I’ve just had a dreadful thought – I have a house viewing tomorrow so if the potential buyers are reading this then I am sure the delivery was just guinea pigs!

Nancy McBride: Frightening? Beyond that, if there is a word. But this tale led to others, and the survival stories have some humor, too.

Frankie Knight: I think, in retrospect, survival stories always have humour in them. How would we cope otherwise?

Nancy McBride: Oh, I raised guinea pigs, too. One was still on my shoulder when i ran for the school bus, and stayed there, under my long hair…I got to see the principal after Poppy, who looked like a rat, made a bolt for it, surprising the teacher before i had a chance to turn ourselves in… story of my life…

Frankie Knight: Bet they don’t stink like big pigs though?

Nancy McBride: No, not if you clean their cages…

— Susan Joyce, are you talking NYC or Boston. I visited NYC last week with “Flyboy”, but live nearer to Boston, MA. There are green lines in both cities.. I rode the N/S green line in NYC to get to the High Line Park. It was a lovely walk back in the park.

–This is how I feel…

Nancy McBride: I appreciate all of your “likes”! Good listeners. Suggestions or comments or questions?

–have i missed any queries?

Cherry Gregory: Would you illustrate your memoirs, Nancy?

Frankie Knight: How’re you enjoying your day Nancy? Is it as you expected?

Nancy McBride: Some, especially my travel diaries… because the illustrations became my words for those occasions.. I draw as things spill, unplanned, but yes, I can see for some…the fun ones, not the serious, survival ones… my work is too whimisical for reality…

–I’m thoroughly enjoying myself. It’s work, but your responses are warm and thought-provoking, so its easy work. I’m keeping copies so I won’t have to rewrite stuff i haven’t nailed down already… and this forced stream-of-consciousness, is preferable to thinking…

Cherry Gregory: From what I’ve seen of your illustrations, they’d be a great asset to the stories.

Nancy McBride: This is one of my favorites from my Alaska trip.

Bambi Flanner: Nancy, the Scottish. Swedish! All remain to be discovered. Maybe in my next life. Lol.

— Alaska I’m a bit of an expert on. I lived there for 15 years. Just moved to Florida 3 1/2 years ago. Want to move to Hawaii next.

–And I love your illustration from Alaska. It’s wonderful.

–I see that was inspired by the Homer spit. We lived in Kenai. You had to drive by it to get to Homer. Well, Soldotna, at least.

Nancy McBride: here’s another for you, Bambi Flanner.

Nancy McBride: OK. excuse me while i shower down from all this attention. I’ll be Bbbbaaaaacccckkkk….

–Where in FL, Bambi?

Frankie Knight: I really am off under the shower – I stink of pigs…..

Susan Joyce: Nancy, you’re right. (Again?) I was thinking of the High Line Park.

— I love your illustrations. They all brim and bubble over with life.

Bambi Flanner: That’s amazing! A perfect Kachemak bay halibut scene.

Alison Charlotte Moore: lovely illustrations, totally agree with Susan!

Bambi Flanner: Punta Gorda. Right between nothing and not much. Lol.

–Those would be amazing for a children’s book. I have 2 little Alaska Native boys we adopted. They’re 5 and 6.

Susan Joyce: Bambi, it certainly would make a wonderful children’s book.

Alison Charlotte Moore: or a rustic cooking book!

Nancy McBride: Yes, Susan. NYC is about 4 hours drive from here… We took the green line (ABC?) from Port Authority on 42nd down to 12th, then walked on the HL to 30th…

Bambi Flanner: Just because.

Nancy McBride: Susan Joyce, I noted earlier that you may have also had an NDE?

— I was asked earlier about paranormal experiences since my NDE, and i mentioned some “sensitivities”, but another profound change even took place when I shifted into survival mode after the trauma of poverty sunk in, post husband leaving, etc., no jobs, etc., and I was having “adventure” after “adventure” with weirdness after weirdness, hand-to-mouth jobs, and my basic instincts reared up and took over, relieving me of too much rational thought, so useless, and I learned very specific lessons, that have led me ever since. Mega-freeing…

Charlotte Smith: Never mind half naked men………let’s have another otter!

Frankie Knight: Again, I think what you describe is our innate instinct for survival which kicks in when the chips really are down. Maybe there is no time to rationalise in those circumstances?

Nancy McBride: Much more fun… Frank Kusy, Alan Parks, Steven Whitacre, Jerry Waxler,are you going to let us get away with this?

Frankie Knight: Nancy, I truly think they may be bit too intimidated to butt in….

Nancy McBride: I know, its my open American personality…

–Love you guys, anyway!

Terry Bryan: Open American Yankee….

Charlotte Smith: Love you too Nancy!

Nancy McBride: Open and Yankee are rarely in the same sentence! Yankees are staid. Gwumph…. I’ve never been called that, either!

Steven Whitacre: I grew up with three sisters…I learned early on not to interfere when the women are talking

Nancy McBride: Dare you, Steven Whitacre.

Terry Bryan: I would not think anyone would call you staid, Nancy McBride!

Nancy McBride: We gals will help you over this trauma with laughter…

Frankie Knight: I do like a man who knows his place Steven! (only joking!)

–I’m trying to cook dinner here and already burnt my turkey steak…. LOL!

Nancy McBride: Hugs to make up for Frankie Knight’s teasing…

Terry Bryan: I was going to offer tea, but I think some are thinking supper…

Nancy McBride: That’ll teach you to tease the boys!

–Supper for some, lunch for otters, I mean others… Then there are the Aussies…

–Janet Hughes? Tea? Hello?

Frankie Knight: Who says I’m teasing, Nancy? I’m a hard woman….. LOL!

Susan Joyce: LOL Steven! Smart guy!

Nancy McBride: Uh-huh..Frankie Knight, a hard woman who burns her turkey? nada… Convince me.

Frankie Knight: Ha, ha, ha….. I hate cooking….

Charlotte Smith: This mug ok for your tea Nancy?

Nancy McBride: OOOoooooooh! Nice one! I. WANT. IT.

–A little cream and sugar with mine…

Nancy McBride: Alan Parks, they’re a wee bit cute, right? And they don’t spit, but, you’re right, you can’t sell the fleece…

Charlotte Smith: Here’s the milk – now where’s Janet with that tea?

Alan Parks: They are cute, but…

Nancy McBride: I love the indulgences of otters, my friends… so kind…

Alan Parks: 

Nancy McBride: I know, I know, Alan… at least you admitted that they’re adorable…well you didn’t go that far, but you did say they were cute.. WHA?! I see what you just posted! Shocking!! Do you suppose they’re friends?

Alan Parks: Wouldn’t have thought so

Nancy McBride: In the Amazon there are huge otters and they live in pods (extended families). They can grow as big as walruses!

Alan Parks: Walruses? What are you drinking Nancy?

Nancy McBride: stale coffee… I think I need something else…but its not five here, yet… LOL

–What are you implying?

–Geez! it’s almost 8 PM for some of you.

Sue Clamp: You’re running late! Besides, it’s always past five o’clock somewhere in the world!

Nancy McBride: Time to pick the lilacs…

Susan Joyce: Nancy, yes I had a NDE in CA following a surgery. Definitely an awakening of senses and a shift of perspective for me on many levels. Definitely changed the way I view life.

Sue Clamp: My lilac’s finished for this year.

Nancy McBride: Just out a few days…

–Susan Joyce, very cool… I KNOW….

–My friends, seriously consider coming over this fall, mid-October, to paint and kayak, and nosh… I’ll host, you chip in for groceries and stoke the fires, etc. Any takers? Our leaves are amazing about that time in NE.

Janet Hughes: Here you are dahling *staggers under the weight of the tray*

Nancy McBride: Lovely! Worth the wee wait!

Nancy Gould Gomoll: Back from errands and catching up on the conversations between loads of laundry. Nancy McBride, I LOVE your paintings!!!! I love that style and they are so colorful, whimsical and full of life! You are an amazing artist!

–You have had enough life experiences to fill several lives! Certainly several books are just waiting to come out! You have such a wonderful sense of humor and way with words that I know you could be a success as an author!

Nancy McBride: Nancy Gould Gomoll, I so appreciate your encouragement! Now what? XXOO

Steven Whitacre: Frankie Knight – just because I’m smart enough to avoid stirring up the hornets nest, doesn’t make me any less of a gardener!

Nancy McBride: Ah! A “gardener”!

Steven Whitacre: Yes.. and seeing what adventures you’ve had, this comes to mind..

Julie Haigh: You’re right Nancy Gould Gomoll. This has been an amazing day with Nancy McBride, her writing and her art is SO lively, bright and refreshing. What I love about you Nancy McBride is that, even from the night you joined We Love Memoirs, you joined right in and were to be found busting all over WLM! We’re so glad to have you!

Nancy McBride: Steven Whitacre, what a loving’ handful! Thank you!

Karen Knight: Hi Nancy, have just read through Fred. Wow comes to mind

I also had a NDE after surgery and it changed my thinking. Your paintings are very inspiring, but haven’t drawn anything since my teacher in art told me not to waste paper. I collect anything piggy. I must confess I have the proverbial t-towel

–Can I ask you Nancy, if you could travel anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, where would you go?

Nancy McBride: First, Karen Knight, screw that teacher. Start with a fresh piece of paper and crayons. Do not color in the lines.

Karen Knight: Also can I ask you to tell us about your adventure target shooting in Serbia?

Nancy McBride: Secondly, I had a dream years ago about stayin in a little seaside apartment on the north coast of Spain, just living there in a fishing village… so that would be nice. never been to Spain, but do not speak the lingo… Like to share subtle parts of language…

New Zealand, too. I find great peace in mountains… South America for the same reason, not the cities… How about you?

Karen Knight: A quiet island, sand, living in a beach hut and living off the fruit. I would take my kindle and just read. I would miss my family and friends especially WLM, but I would just like to have a sabbatical to take stock of where I have come from and where I would like to go.

–If you could take one book with you Nancy, what would it be?

Alison Charlotte Moore:  I’m with Nancy, Karen, sod the teacher and draw if you want to!!!

Terry Bryan: Yep, a lot of teachers have ruined promising artists…I hate to say it because teachers have to put up with so much, but they can say hurtful things about arty folk.

Nancy McBride: I was teaching storytelling in a university in Eastern Siberia–A WORKSHOP. Each moment was a Felliniesque adventure. My host took me to the Urals for a weekend at their version of a resort, more like a camp… many wonderful experiences with people. Every moment to be savored with these wonderful folks! One man wanted to take me target shooting. i said, sure… here I was, after all, in Russia! He open the trunk of his car 9boot), and there was a large wooden box. He pried off the top to reveal many new rifles. He handed me one… As I checked it over (never having held a rifle before), I read on the side, “MADE IN RUSSIA” IN ENGLISH!!! OMG!!! We proceeded to set up glass bottles. I’d seen in the movies, that rifles bucked, so I stood against a tree to brace myself. Still I missed the bottles. Then I laid down on the ground, bracing the rifle on a rock, and BINGO! nailed ’em! I stood up, blew off the smoking end of the gun, then twirled it, like Annie Oakley. Always do it, then leave them amazed, I say…

Karen Knight: Terry, I’m certainly not a budding artist, but then to be honest, I did wonder how my art teacher actually got her job!!!

— Go you Nancy Otter Oakley!!!

Nancy Gould Gomoll: Nancy McBride, how did you come about teaching a workshop in storytelling in Siberia??? Also, what was your formal education in? Did you go back to college after your divorce?

Nancy McBride: First teachers are supposed to inspire not implant, and secondly, I have never drawn for others, just for myself… NO JUDGEMENT allowed! and only recently accepted that I was an artist… That’s what I love about allowing my students to paint and play. The old doors of should close, and we open the windows of color and shape and texture, and Voila!

–I was an art/psych student. Art for fun… in college, and graduated on time with a BA, while married. I then found myself teaching fifth grade at a rural school in Appalachia. When I returned to the city the next year (Pittsburgh, PA) I went for a year of post-graduate school to become certified. Of course, we promptly moved to Baltimore, MD, even though I had an amazing offer with Educational TV… My final 35 years at work were as a Public Relations, Publications, and website coordinator for higher education. I still consult for marketing, occasionally, and I am a standardized patient instructor for UMASS Medical School, where i play a specific role as a patient for the students. I love it. I love retirement, but don’t call it that. I say i am recalculating…

–Re storytelling, long story short, I had grown tired of being on boards, and committees, and so said NO to them, and took an hiatus (I have several credos, but one is if you add on one thing, take off, two…). I waited. Then a summertime workshop in the art of storytelling, in West Virginia turned up, and I was gone… I imagined that some nice country boy would share tales while we dozed under a shade tree… no such luck. A week later, I was home, and it was show time! I was on the storytelling circuit for years. I taught it, preformed it, etc. A teacher from Russia was taking course in business at the college where i worked, and we became friends. She was learning about business to better interpret for our profs who were going to Russia to teach them western business practices (uh-huh). She invited me to work with her senior level English students…segue to shooting rifles, and her lover being shot point blank by the mafia…

Fran Macilvey: Nancy, I love that credo of yours, “If you add one thing, take off two.” which, with your permission I hereby adopt as my motto in all domestic and work arrangements. You just made a wilting woman very happy! xx

Nancy Gould Gomoll: Have either of your children ever traveled with you on your adventures or have you done all these things after they were grown and out of the house?

Nancy McBride: Wilt no more, my friend! It amuses me that lets say we add on yoga to reduce stress and it adds stress because its one more THING to schedule!!! Add one; remove two. Here’s another, learned the hard way: Simplify your expectations, don’t lower them. Voila!

Sharon Carter Figueiredo: Nancy McBride Unfortunately I have been out most of the day but I really like your “teachers are supposed to inspire not implant” we are not to make our learners clones of ourselves, but inspire and encourage them to fulfil their potential. Good on you.

Nancy McBride: Amy, my eldest, went with me on a quickie to Europe, but that’s the only one. I tend to just go, passport always in my purse. They were hardly grown, but relaxed to my nature, and had fun with friends 9who i took in a lot0 whilst I was sprung.

Fran Macilvey: YAAY! Nancy, thank you so much. I think you could be a guru of mine. I’ve found a few in books, but never on line before.

Nancy McBride: My occasional smack-downs have been blessings articulated… there are a bunch more. One whole memoir in itself….How they pop out is always a surprise and a treat… a relief… Doesn’t happen much any more. This old girl got the messages.

Fran Macilvey: Got to go, people. Family calls, and time moves too fast. This has been a lovely, informative thread. Thank you so much, Nancy for all your time and considerate answers. Most helpful and enlightening. XXX

Nancy McBride: My pleasure, Fran Macilvey. XXX

Susan Joyce: Nancy and Fran, that was a wonderful exchange!

Frankie Knight: Yes, I’ve certainly enjoyed reading it!

–Nancy, out of curiosity, what time was your first post on here this morning? Your time, that is. It has seemed to have been non stop for you….

Julie Haigh: Well I’ve just had a look Frankie and the thread started 11 hours ago and Nancy has been going non-stop for 8 hours!

Nancy McBride: About 6:45 AM. it’s now 3:16… looks like I put in a full day, eh? I don’t suppose there’s much you don’t know about me, by now. Rest assured, I still have secrets, love stories, and pathos left…

Susan Joyce: Nancy, thanks for a great day in the tell-all seat. Are you sure you still have secrets? I’ve enjoyed getting to know you even better and liking what I’ve come to know.

Frankie Knight: Go on then spill the beans> I’ve noticed several hints have been dropped about things ie “but that’s a different story” but everything has been moving so fast I’ve not been able to ask….

Terry Bryan: Me too,Nancy McBride. You are a facinatin’ lady!

Nancy McBride: Oh, there are dark alleys and broken hearts and fishing on Skye, the Queen Mum on my bum, and a first husband few know of, left to tell, among others… I’ll be here for awhile, then around, so questions?

Nancy McBride: Frank Kusy, I see you’re catching up. Where was Ginger when i needed to fend of these nosy fiends of yours?

Frankie Knight: OMG! Where to start? How about the husband?

Frank Kusy: Hiya Nancy! Sorry late to the party (was playing bridge with little old ladies), phew wot a long and interesting fred, my word it’s practically a memoir! Oh, and I’m with Steven, when the ladies are talking, I look the otter way

Nancy McBride: How about Gretna Green, Frankie Knight? With scones for wedding cake. I just re-found him after 50 years… sigh.

Frankie Knight: No, sorry, that isn’t enough – go on….

Nancy McBride: I found out then, he’d really expected we’d find each other and marry. Then the guy married another… story of my life… Then there’s Charlie, now immortalized as a plant stand… just re-found him, too. His wife has Alzheimer’s. So sad.

Frankie Knight: Ah, yes been there. Lived with a guy for 4 years and he rang me at work one Tuesday to say he was getting married on Friday – to my best friend! I did not attend the wedding!

–Nancy, you’ve just got to write all this down…..

Nancy McBride: Yup. One I loved, wasn’t ready to settle, then married the first woman he met, when he was. He, eventually, died and his wife found me and wanted to know me because she’d moved to NE and knew no one who knew him. A bizarre weekend ensued, with her leaving his wedding bracelet under her pillow for me to find and keep.

–Makes one dizzy, n’est pas?

Frankie Knight: I do lurve a bit of goss….

Nancy McBride: Oh, I’m writing them, Frankie Knight. But who’d want to read them. Are folks really interested? I don’t like to presume me, me, me… you know?

— “Goss”?

Susan Joyce: … and other un-popped popcorn tales.

Frankie Knight: Are folks interested? Are folks interested? YESSS, of course we are…..

Nancy McBride: Ah, yes, pregnant with popcorn, and other provocative probabilities…

Frankie Knight: Sorry, forget about you people on other side of the pond – goss = gossip!

Julie Haigh: Sure LOADS OF US want to read your memoirs Nancy!

Frank Kusy: Memoirs are all me me me Nancy, and everyone here is fascinated with your life tales. G’wan, copy/paste this fred into a book (take the food pics out, keep the otter ones in, a lot of us are on diets) x

Nancy McBride: OOoooooo! Goss!

–Well, I have been keeping Fred on my .doc.

Frankie Knight: Sooo, you gotta go for it then…. No excuses!

Nancy McBride: Just how does one jump the fence, as it were?

–So goss like the queen Mum bit?

Frankie Knight: yes! on your bum?

Nancy McBride: Uh-huh… in Edinburgh…

Frankie Knight: Hang on a mo, have just poured a drink as it’s getting down to the nitty gritty before I take my nightly meds….

Nancy McBride: You’ll need them if i tell all…

Susan Joyce: Nancy, I put all interviews into a doc after the fact so they can be posted on our WLM site. When I get to yours, I’ll email a copy with a writing assignment. Write a short story about each incident and waa-la…you’ve a sketch of your memoir. Easy-peasy!

Frankie Knight: After first slug … go on….

Susan Joyce: All ears on deck.

Frankie Knight: C’mon, we’re waiting…..

Nancy McBride: Well, it involved a Scottish British Army officer, retired survival trainer, who worked his career in the deserts of Africa… he was running a car rental

Frankie Knight: Yes?

Susan Joyce: LOL Frankie Knight!

Nancy McBride: and i of course had rented a car when my girls and I traveled the highways and byways of my beloved Scotland…Ooops! think I’ll hold on that one… Oh, then later, i returned to go on holiday with him, on Skye when we… and then there was a tattoo or two… He’s now presumed dead… another story…

Frankie Knight: So, piecing it together, you have a tatt on your bum of the queen Mother?

–I used to be a detective!!!!

Julie Haigh: Well, this is all as clear as mud to me?? Queen mum/bum-is it rhyming slang or have you got a tattoo of the queen mum on your bum?

Nancy McBride: But how did the queen Mum get on my bum, you may still be wondering… But, I’m going to try to stand up, now, and toddle off to my daughter, Iona’s, where Sophie, 13, is cooking up a lovely french dinner! Oooo lalalalal…

Frankie Knight: Nanceeeee, you cannot leave it there…..

Nancy McBride: Julie Haigh, something like the second part of your query would be correct…

— It wasn’t permanent… but funny as heck…

–As was the tricky second tat I pulled on my Officer and a Gentleman…

Sue Clamp: You’re a hoot, Nancy! I’ve had a terrific time following this thread!

Frankie Knight: Whew, it’s like drawing teeth….

Susan Joyce: Here’s a brandy for Nancy!

Frankie Knight: Susan, it’s me that needs the brandy….

Charlotte Smith: Nancy you have been so entertaining. Sorry I had to leave – more new home dramas to deal with. Thank you for being such fun!

Nancy McBride: Thanks for the brandy… I’ll check in later… Love to you each…

Susan Joyce: And another for Frankie!

Julie Haigh: aargh! the phone went right in the middle of all that and now Nancy’s popped off!

Nancy McBride: Leave ’em hangin’, right? XXOO

Frankie Knight: Nancy, I’ve truly enjoyed myself today and hope I haven’t taken up too much of your day…… Off to my cot now – us old folk need our beauty sleep….

Julie Haigh: Ok, so I’ve had a look back through all that-so not a permanent tattoo then? Nancy McBride you have enough material for quite a few volumes to your memoirs!!!!!

Nancy Gould Gomoll: What a day you have put in, Nancy McBride! Thanks for sharing your humor and talents and adventures with us. You have done a remarkable job and are appreciated and admired by all of us. Enjoy the rest of your day with your family. Hugs to you!

Terry Bryan: And Nancy McBride, you jolly well better write a memoir…and quick! I’m not getting any younger, drat it all. Get busy!

Frankie Knight: Think I’ve aged at least a week today reading all the various things Nancy has done….. Sounds as if she’s lived many lifetimes in one…

Cherry Gregory: What a glorious thread. Thank you, Nancy.

Frank Kusy: Frankie got a song for you, Nancy! x www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTdwFYxv_ro

Karen Knight: Thank you Nancy, you have been so fun. Enjoy your meal and hopefully catch up later. Love and hugs zzz

Jo-Anne Himmelman: OMG, Nancy McBride I just got in the house – travelled from our cottage, stopped in Mahone Bay for lovely homemade treats (raspberry and peach pie, rhubarb muffins, cookies) and opened my i-pad. Honestly what an interesting life you have led. I would love to sit with you over a glass of wine just to listen to the stories of your life. A memoir would be lovely but in person better. Thank you for today!

Terry Bryan:

The following morning …

Bambi Flanner: I agree with Terry. Thank you so much. You’ve been wonderful, and I too want to sit and drink and listen to your stories all day and into the evening. I can’t wait to read your memoir.

Frank Kusy: Hope you enjoyed your day as much as we did, Nancy, thanks for a wonderful fred x

Gemma Murphy-Sanderson: Thank you for a fascinating day Nancy. X

Nancy McBride: My WLM Lovies… How easy you made it for me, a newbie, to divulge, purge and play! Although I have written out so many stories, they sit in folders, some tied in a bow, complete, and others just glad to be “out” as it were, or hatched, … I think it will help immensely to have Susan’s shaken out version of the fred… too bad I’m so stiff from sitting all day yesterday to check to see if the Queen Mum is still back there… XXOO

Sue Clamp: Glad you enjoyed yesterday as much as we did! Thanks again, Nancy, for a fascinating fred!

Susan Joyce: Nancy McBride, dahling you done great! If you can still see Your Queen Mum tattoo, you’re in better shape than me. Bongo on!

Charlotte Smith: A round of applause for Nancy

Susan Joyce: Hip-hip hooray for Nancy!

Nancy McBride: Awwwwwww… you guys… make-a me so happy… I am doing the Happy Dance!

Fran Macilvey: XXX

Janet Hughes: Here’s a John Travolta look alike, just for you Nancy McBride

Nancy McBride: Just STOP! This cuteness overload is SSSooooo Sweet! I feel it!

Julie Haigh: Is this Member Tuesday lol?

Frankie Knight: And why not?

Charlotte Smith: Maybe we can keep it going until Friday!

Dawn Downey: Member Monday? Flash floods, Siberia, NDEs, prison uprisings, Icelandic quonset huts? For heavens sake. I stay away from the computer for one day and look at all the fun I missed.

Susan Joyce: Dawn Downey, since our star is still with us, feel free to ask Nancy McBride questions.

Nancy McBride: Yes! I’m just back from water aerobics and will be happily checking in throughout the day! I’d be otterly delighted…

Alan Parks: 2 hours without a comment? Nancy are you ok?

Victoria Twead: I c.a.n.n.o.t believe it! No internet for 3 days (except for 30 second bursts) and we have the most AWESOME Member Monday session! @Nancy McBride, you are incredible. When you have time to catch your breath, please choose 2 winners.

Alan Parks: When are we starting WLM FM?

Susan Joyce: Fun idea Alan!

Victoria Twead: Great idea!!!!!

Frankie Knight: Oh, NO! Victoria, it would have been wrist slitting time in Mi Casa without internet!!!! Even worse if it kept tantalisingly appearing for brief periods. Yes, you missed an awesome session yesterday!

Susan Joyce: Agree Frankie! Truly awesome. I should have poured you brandy hours before.

Frankie Knight: Only one?

Susan Joyce: Frankie, a few.

Frankie Knight: That’s better….

Nancy McBride: I’MMMMMM Backkkk! Went to water aerobics, then lunch, Mediterranean -style with my lovely British friend Sasha who leaves for Jolly Ole in the morning for the summer! She writes books, a scholar(!) about lady Wilde, etc. We are so different and like to pick each others’ brains about writing, teaching, etc. I regaled her about yesterday, and was spilling over, still… I’m having my Mother’s Memorial Celebration on June15, in Connecticut, and my brain’s been buzzing about how to gather folks remembrances to perhaps do a memoir of her…. buzzzzzzz… 
Is it five o’clock over there, yet? Nice you missed me, Alan Parks. BTW, at my lovely French dinner, last night, I was telling my son-in-law’s mother, who is FR, about my day, and she asked where some of the folks were from… I mentioned that there were Ex-pats in Spain, etc., etc. She said she’d JUST finished reading a delightful memoir by a guy who’d moved to Spain and was raising alpacas!!!! It was YOU!!! What are the chances? Love LIFE!

Dawn Downey: Well, Nancy McBride, I’m very curious about your near death experience. Wondering, is your incredible zest for life at all related to that?

Nancy McBride: Very interesting thought and compliment, Dawn Downey! My NDE certainly erased any fear of death I may have had. I cherish the little things and moments and ordinary, I do not worry, and my expectations are simple. I have received very clear messages from my gut, or more nicely referred to as my Goddess Within…she’s shaken me out to dry a few times forcing me to shed the riff-raff, too. Hummmm…

Susan Joyce: Great question Dawn! Nancy McBride, certainly after my NDE I didn’t fear death. Even when I was in the middle of the Indian Ocean and thought, ‘this is it.’

Nancy McBride: I DO understand that, Susan Joyce. Somehow I don’t freak when it might be my last breath.

Dawn Downey: While I was walking through a cemetery, I came across a name similar to mine on a headstone. She was no relation. It was so shocking, I had the sensation I’d already died, and was looking down at my own grave. Before that I knew intellectually death co…See More

Susan Joyce: Dawn, that’s an amazing moment. A revaluation! I’m writing about those moments. So powerful! Lucky you to be so aware.

Nancy McBride: Me, too. There are so many… knowings…