Pages of My Mind

Picture courtesy of Disney (of course)

Today is a much better day for us. We still have a job, things will change but we can handle that. My husband told our boss that we would take a pay cut to help the company out. They were shocked because (we found out) that our rates are lower then any of the other engineers and none of them offered to do that. Go figure.

We received our yearly Christmas card from my oldest friend. She has retired from her teaching job at a deaf and blind school in California. Her days are spent taking care of her grandchild for 3 days a week.

So, my mind went down memory lane, she was 1 and I was 3 when we met. We grew up together, she taught me how to swim, I introduced her to her husband. We were at each other's weddings. I was there when she gave birth to her first child. Her children, I adored and spoiled with a passion and watched them grow into handsome young men and marry. Now they are having children of their own.

I can look back and say we had very good times and our lives are better for it.

Queenie

Picture courtesy of PPLD

I would like to introduce you to Mary Lincoln Mellen Palmer better known as Queenie. She was Colorado Springs first school teacher.

Queenie came from a modest family, her father was a lawyer/coal miner/chauffeur. 1871 was a big year for her, she turned 21, married General William Jackson Palmer, gave birth to her first child and she and her husband founded the city Colorado Springs. The above picture was taken in 1871 a few days after her marriage.

Queenie stood shoulder to shoulder with her husband building the city of Colorado Springs. She took all the children and taught them no matter what race. She became a hero to the children and their parents. One woman she befriended, named her last girl child after Queenie. This woman was a Cheyenne Indian married to a white man. To Queenie, she was just another person making a life in the wild west, there was no racism in her heart.

Her heart was bigger then life and she was very much in love with her older husband. William Palmer was a good man and loved his wife. They built a beautiful home together here in the Springs, it is called Glen Eyrie. It's a wonderful castle.

By the year 1881, Queenie had two daughters Elsie 10 years old and Dorothy 1 year, with another child on the way. She packed her bags and moved to England. Colorado history books say she had heart problems and needed to live in a lower altitude.

Margery Palmer, Queenie's last child, was born in England. William loved Queenie and could not bear to be without her. In the early 1890's he went to England, he stayed so long his visa expired. In 1894, a member of his family died in the states, he applied for a emergency visa to return to America. His daughter Elsie, now in her 20's, went with him.

It was after this he told Queenie and his daughters things would be differant. I can find no record of Queenie returning but his daughters did. They found out things were not differant, only this time he had tied up the money so they could not leave. In 1906 fate made a call. While horseback riding on his land, William's horse threw him. The accident left him paralyzed for life, he ordered the horse shot. Many years later, his daughter Dorothy said "they should have shot him instead of the horse."

In March 1909 William Palmer passed away, Queenie followed in 1910. Their final resting place is here in Colorado Springs, the city they started.

I edited this story in April 2010 because some of the things that Dorothy had told me as a child were somewhat jaded. She did not have a good realtionship with her father but her father was a good man. He also had a gift of coming to an area and seeing what that area would become. He told his daughters things would be differant if they came back to the Springs, what he didn't know was that the men he was in business with were becoming more greedy and his money would be tied up.

Palmer was a good man that loved his wife above all and she loved him.

Amelia Earhart Part Two

I have read the rest of the classified file on Amelia, there are a lot of duplicate and triplicate pages. So, here is the bare bone facts, our government stood along side Japan and said she was not on Saipan Island.

The facts: pieces of her plane were found near this island, when the U.S. took this island during WWII, a japanese soldier had a picture of Amelia in front of a Japanese plane, a picture of Amelia with a Japanese officer was found inside a house on the island. Mr. Devine, who was with the military, was told of two people, a man and a woman, falling out of the sky by residents of the island. Mr. Devine was shown two unmarked graves in the cemetary on the island where these two people were buried (this was in 1944-45).

It is also a fact that Amelia was on a secert mission at the time of her disapperance. What the facts say is Amelia and her navigator were taken prisoners by the Japanese and most likely excuted.

So, there you have it. I don't think that they are still in those graves, I am sure the government has been there and made sure to remove all evidence of her ever being on that island, but I could be wrong.

Amelia Earhart, Classified Files

I was doing some research on Ancestary.com on another matter when a pop up came up saying they had the classified files on Amelia Earhart. Of course I stopped what I was doing and followed the link. It has 73 pages, I copied the first three, hoping all of you could read them but it doesn't seem like they came out big enough to read. Plus they came out backwards, the first page you see is page 3, page 3 is page 1 and so forth.

So, I've condensed the first three pages into this: In 1960 two Air Force officers turned in evidence that Amelia Earhart had been excuted by the Japanese on Saipan Island (it does not say what the evidence is). After investigating the government said Amelia was never on Saipan.

Then a Mr. Devine said he saw Amelia's grave when he was on Saipan in 1944-45. Because of this the Navy was asked to investigate.

That's it for the first three pages, so I'll digest the rest and do another blog on it. But it does not look good for our Amelia.

Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind

Picture courtesy of PPLD- Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind - 1900's


I have always had a love for this school, it was built in 1874, William Jackson Palmer (founder of Colorado Springs) donated over 300 arces to this school. It still stands and operates today though most of the land has been sold. I had the rare chance to spend a few days there. This is my story.

One Christmas morning, in the late 1950's, I was playing with my presents (a tea set was among them). My father was sitting in his favorite chair watching me.. I looked up and my dad's head slumped to the side, I walked up and gently touched him and told him to wake up, he didn't. My mother and cook (who was my favorite) came in and I told them daddy was sleeping. They called the doctor, who still made house calls


My father had a heart attack, he recovered but the doctor thought it would be better if my parents moved to a better climate. My father loved Colorado Springs, this runs in the Penrose blood-we find a city and its like a comfortable old shoe. For my Uncle Boies it was Philly, Uncle Richard it was New York, for Uncle Francis it was Ireland, for my dad it was Colorado Springs.


So, plans were made, my mother started letting the staff go. She would take them into the kitchen and I would never see them again. I thought that my mother was making them disappear and if I went into that kitchen, she would make me disappear. One day, she asked me to go into the kitchen to say good by to cook. I ignored her and I kept on ignoring her.


She thought something was wrong with me, the doctor was called in. He looked at my ears and noticed my ear canals were much smaller then normal. He thought I might be going deaf, he suggested that my parents take me to the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind. They had more experiance then he and they could help me.


So, a little bag was packed with my new tea set and my dad took my to the school. My room was very bleak but I had a room mate. She was about 8 and her job was to find out if I could hear or not and how much. I had a great time at this school, there were kids my age and we played. It was so much fun and one night I confessed to my roomie why I had been ignoring my mother.


She went to the heads of the school and reported to them, my father came and they told him. He laughed and took me home. When he told my mother, she was pissed. She only got madder when my dad said we were not going to leave Colorado Springs. My father explained to me about the disappearing staff.


So, the staff had to be hired back, some came, some didn't. Cook did and I was very happy. I missed my friends at the Deaf School, so I asked my father if I could go visit my roomie. He came up with a plan to have my roomie come live with us but when he went to the school, he was told she had died. It bummed me out and my dad said it wasn't a good idea for me to ever go back there and I never have.


My mother made me pay for a long time but it was still the best few days I had and I still love that school and the people in it.

William Jackson Palmer Statue

Pictures courtesy of the State of Colorado and PPLD

Hi, guys! I need your help. These pictures are the statue of William Jackson Palmer, founder of Colorado Springs. This statue has been redone and I am hoping that someone out there has an old picture of this statue with the hat in the hand. That's the way it used to be. And now the story behind the statue (you know me, I have to share the truth behind things).

Palmer died around 1906 and the people in Colorado Springs felt there should be a statue of him. That statue didn't come to be till 1926, two of his three daughters were there for the unveiling and they did not notice. Or if they did, they did not say a word.

Palmer had done a grave injustice to a friend of Spencer Penrose's. I do not recall what the injustice was but it was terrible enough for Penrose to go to the sculptor and pay a huge amount of money to have his own face put on the statue instead of Palmer's. And there it stood for many years, people thinking it was Palmer when it was Penrose. For Spencer Penrose it was a pay back for the terrible thing Palmer had done to his friend and every time he went by the statue he felt satisfaction.

The statue was redone and I do not know when. They took Spencer off the horse and put Palmer on it. The statue of Spencer, they put downtown. One person took a picture of it and said Penrose looks like he is taking a crap.

My husband laughed when he heard this and said "yes, the city sh-t on him and his daughters and now he's sh-tting back on the city" I agree with him. :)

Me

These two pictures were taken the same day and they both are me. The PPLD has the costume one as Pauline but that's not true.

I remember the day it was taken and where. Louise was the woman taking care of me, she drove me up to my parents house in the Broadmoor area. Inside the house there were a lot of people, they were nuns and priests (I did not know that then).

My mother greeted us and immediately started to put this costume over my dress, telling me a picture was going to be taken. Louise left us alone and I begged my mother to let me come home. She told me this was no longer our home and then asked if I wasn't happy with Frank and Louise. Before I could answer, Louise walked up, I stopped talking. I knew that if I said anything Louise would make me pay. My mother seemed to understand and said "I see. I'll try to get you back." That never happened.

So, it was time to take the picture. A man with a long red and black robe with a funny red hat walked up, "So, this is her." My mother bowed her head, "Yes, Father," she replied. Well, you know me, I had to pipe up and say "this is your father!" My mother told me to hush. "You are not raising her in the faith," he asked. My mother kept her head bowed and kept silent. "It's just as well that she isn't," he said. My mother let out a sigh like air coming out of a balloon.

He took the picture, then walked up to me "I hope I never see you again," he told me. Turning to my mother he said, "I'm going back to Rome tonight, this just might save your life." (I did not know what he was talking about then, I do now, but I cannot share that with you now).

My mother took off the costume but let me keep the bracelets. So, I left my mother and the home I once had. Louise made another stop, the house they used to live in. She made me stand in the front yard, pulled my hair back and used spit to flaten my bangs (ick),telling me to put my hands behind my back and she took the picture above. The sun was glaring in my eyes and I had a hard time looking up because of it.

So, there you have it. A picture of me and me :)

What A Gift Can Do

My husband and I are BIG fans of Playing For Change, so when they came out with a DVD/CD, we got 3. One for ourselves, one for my in laws and one for Aunt Beth.


Beth is a teacher in St. Louis and after receiving and watching her DVD/CD gift. She took it to her high school class and shared it with them. The kids were inspired and they shared with their friends. Soon, the other teachers came and borrowed it and shared it with their classes.


All the teachers and students were inspired. Little did we know that a B-day gift would flourish and grow and reach out to so many. It inspired our hearts :)

Veteran's Day

Yesterday was Veteran's Day and here in Colorado Springs we honored those who have served, are serving and who have fallen.


Colorado Springs is home to Fort Carson, the Army and Peterson Base, the Air Force. The Broadmoor served food to the military but my favorite is The Retired Enlisted Association. Few people know that at Peterson (it used to be Norad in the mountain but they moved to Peterson) we have the Royal Canadian Air Force (they have changed thier name to Canadian Forces Air Command) here in Colorado Springs.


The Retired Enlisted Association gives tribute and is attended by The Royal Canadian Air Force and U.S. Air Force to honor Veteran's Day.


It is a reminder that many have served around the world and that we are all in it together. It was our day to say thanks to those living and give a moment of silence to those who have fallen.

The Changeling, 2008 Movie

If any of you saw Clint Eastwood's movie, then you know it was done very well. But, Clint didn't have all the information about it. Did you ever wonder what happened to the little boy? Well, I'll tell you.

Above is a picture from my family album, the man with the hat is my father. The man in the middle is Jack Dempsey's little brother and his little girl, the man in the white pants is C.L. Tutt Jr. (and if you notice C.L. is a short man, he married a tall woman and 2 of his kids came out tall).

C.L. was a ladies man and he had lots of affairs, one of those affairs involved Christine (the woman in the movie). C.L. was the father of the little boy. In the movie the little boy asks about his dad, the reason he did this, C.L. was visiting him without Christine knowing about it.

Now, Christine is a telephone operator, she is told by either our government or the mob, to eavesdrop on a phone call. She doesn't do it, this is why her kid disappears. It was pay back for not doing what she was told to do.

Her little boy had his name changed to Karl, and when he got older he became my father's chauffeur. His girlfriend was my nanny. They talked a lot about his younger years and she would beg him to call his mother, he refused. He was hurt and didn't understand why his mother (Christine) said that someone else was her little boy. There was also the circumcision, which they did to him after Christine let it be known that he hadn't been.

My nanny explained a lot to Karl that he didn't know about. He was ranting about how his mom was crazy. Nanny explained to him about that and the movie did a great job on it. But what they didn't know was my dad paid for the lawyer to get Christine out. My dad felt sorry for her because she would never had been in that situation if she never would have started seeing C.L.

So, Karl had a good life. He married my nanny, they had kids. He was a Tutt the whole way and enjoyed them being his familyand the money that they had stolen. And he was a traitor to my father and me, maybe that's why he drank himself to death.

So, there you have it. that's what happened to that little boy. I wonder what his life would have been like if Christine had done what she had been told to do.

Amelia Earhart's Scarf

Amelia Earhart in front of the Lockheed Electra in which she disappeared in July 1937 (picture courtesy of NASA and msnbc)


A new movie is coming out this week end about Amelia Earhart, we are going to wait for the DVD but another thing is going to happen in Nov. which involves Amelia.


Her lucky scarf (which she did not take on her fatal flight) is going up in space. It is going to be on the space shuttle Atlantis with Astronaut Randy Bresnik.


Randy is the grandson of Amelia's personal photographer, Albert Bresnik
Along with the scarf Randy is taking one of his grandfather's pictures and the coordinates for Howland Island. This is the island that Amelia was trying to find when she disappeared. He is going to try and take a picture of the island as they fly over it in the space shuttle.


The scarf is on loan from the Museum of Women Pilots in Oklahoma City. It was given to the museum by Amelia's family and has been on display along with pictures from Albert Bresnik.


This is not the first scarf of Amelia's to go into space, the first american woman to pilot and command the space shuttle, Eileen Collins, had another Earhart scarf from the collection and wore it on her first mission in 1995.


Purdue University has an Earhart scarf that flew on the 1990 mission to deploy the Hubble Space Telescope. And a watch that Amelia wore is going to space in 2010 with astronaut Shannon Walker.


Now, the only thing left is for us to find out, what happened to Amelia Earhart.

My Dream

Picture courtesy of icindy (independent newspaper)





Okay, this is why this post was done. Darlene from Darlene's Hodgepodge posted she had a dream and I posted if she would tell me hers, I would tell her mine. She did and now here's mine.

Above is the main street of Colorado Springs, in the good old days looking at the mountains. In my dream I was standing in the middle of the street seeing what you see in the picture.

Coming towards me is my grandfather Penrose, only he is huge towering over the buildings. He is dressed in a white glowing robe
with a white glowing cowboy hat. He looks at me and tells me everything is going to be okay. I start walking in to the town and a river of blood stops me. The river turns into a red carpet and my grandfather laughs and says "I told you everything would be okay".


So, that's my dream.

The Japanese Attack on Santa Barbara, Truth or Fiction

Most of my life, I have been treated like a mushroom, kept in the dark and fed bullsh-t. So, the truth is very important to me and I am a truth seeker.


So, when I did my last post I mentioned the bombing of Santa Barbara and Darlene from Darlene's Hodgepodge made a comment. That sent me on a mission of truth and I had to find out if the Japanese really did bomb Santa Barbara. This is the result of my search:



Our story, strangely enough starts before the war in the late 1930's. A Japanese ship docked in the small city of Santa Barbara, it is unknown if it was there to load or unload cargo or to get a shipment of crude oil from one of the off shore wells by the city.


While the ship was in port, the Japanese captain was given a tour of the sights. While the captain was admiring a view, he fell backwards landing in a cactus bed. The americans burst into laughter, the captain felt ridiculed.


After war was declared, this Japanese freighter captain joined the navy as a submarine commander. So on Feb. 23, 1942 he brought his submarine close to the Calif. coast.
He knew the oil fields by Santa Barbara, which of course is important in any war, but this was revenge for being ridiculed in the late 1930's.


He surfaced his sub near an oil field pier just north of a suburb of Santa Barbara called Goleta. He shelled the pier and ordered shelling of the area around. The only damage was to the pier, no lives were lost and few people lived in the area. But the captain got his revenge.


Only two newspapers carried the story on March 1, 1942. The Santa Barbara paper and the San Francisco Chronicle. This act put the people in Santa Barbara on alert. In the nearby town of Montecito, many of the wealthy part time residents put their houses up for sale and went back east.


Later, a person would buy the timber from the pier and build a restaurant called "The Timbers". it is on Highway 101.


There is no record of what happened to the submarine captain.

Honorable Heart

Isn't this a neat title for a book! This is the book that I am reading now. It is the life story of Eugene R. Harwood, written by him and his daughter Barbara Harwood Hartwig. It's available at Barnes and Noble.


Barbara had to finish the book by herself because her dad passed away in 2005. I wanted this book because Eugene was born in Colorado Springs and there is a lot of neat stuff in there about the Springs during the 1920's and 1930's. His parents owned a home in the Broadmoor area that I went by many times.


Eugene also was a navigator on a B29 during WWII and ended up a POW. There were a lot of things I didn't know about WWII that he shares about. Did you know that the Japanese bombed Santa Barbara or that we dropped leaflets to the Japanese people telling them to get out of towns because we were going to bomb them or that our ally, the Russians, shot down our planes and turned our men over to Japanese POW camps? If you did, then you know more then I concerning WWII.


This book talks about that and more. Eugene was a navigator on one of the leaflet planes (this plane also was a plane we used to drop supplies to our POW men), that same plane was shot down by the Russians and he was put in a POW camp. The very same camp he delivered supplies to.


This is a great story and the title fits it to a tee.

Where An Address Leads

picture courtesy of PPLD

This is a picture of my dad, Merton and Ruth Bogart, it says they are on the SS Empress of Canada. Of course I always check these things out, mainly because at PPLD they said Merton was my dad's secretary. Merton was C.L. Tutt's secretary, so that was one strike against this pic.

So, I did my detective work. Yes, they were on the same ship. My dad in 1st class, the Bogart's were in cabin. My dad's destination was Niu, Honolulu. The Bogart's destination was 5621 Kalanianaole Highway, Honolulu. Both places are Niu, so I don't know where my folks stayed.

But, I followed the address and this is what I found:

200 years ago King Kamehamha I gave 2,400 arces to Alexander Adams, a British sea captain. The captain was head of the kings first navy. The land passed down to Adams grand daughter, Mary Lucas.

Starting in the 1950's much of the land was subdivided into residential housing going to Mary's children Charlotte Cassiday and Mary Pfluger. Her grandson, Ben Cassiday Jr was given 5699 Kalanianaole Highway in 1940, he got the property 5621 when Mary died in 1965.

I don't know if Mary lived at 5621 when my parents went to Honolulu or if she rented it or if one of her relatives lived there. But there is a tie there, Ben Cassiday Jr. is now a retired Air Force General. He was at the Air Force Academy here in the Springs from 1955-1959. He has lived at the 5621 address since 1973, he retired in 1972. His son, Ben Cassiday III has lived at the 5699 address since 1982.

And wouldn't you know, this family is in a dispute over the family money and trusts. When I read about the feud, it was like welcome to the club. But, at least in my case it wasn't my own family member's, it was my dad's lawyer that stole from me. At least these people are old enough to fight back. I was 3 and I had no one on my side.

But, I thought it a hoot that an address would connect Mary Lucas, Ben Cassiday, my parents, the Tutt's and Merton Bogart all together. And what's happening to the Cassiday's now, happened to me many years ago.

You never know where an address will lead :)

Greed

My family have known the Astor's for a long time, so when Brooke Astor was sick a couple of years ago, I sent a get well card to her. When she passed away, I did not find out about till a few weeks after. It was to late to send anything and with her death I felt a part of history had faded away.


Brooke Astor married into the Astor family in 1959, she had a son from her previous marriage, his name is Anthony Marshall. He is her only son and they say he was stealing from her. She was 105 years old when she passed away. Anthony is 85 years old.





I speak of this now because his trial is over, Brooke's attorney was also brought up on charges. They were found guilty but his lawyer is going to appeal. I felt very sad about this and even sadder when I read that he wasn't taking care of his mother. But, the thing I don't understand is, if she had all these friends, that the paper said she did, which include Barbara Walters and Henry Kissinger, then why didn't they say something to her son? Also, the person who brought these charges up was Anthony's son, Philip.







Now, if he was so concerned about his grandmother, then why didn't he make sure she was taken care of. Why didn't he pay for certain things she needed. Also, his dad is 85, shouldn't the son be looking out for his dad instead of taking him to court. Something's not right, things don't add up. Like Walter Cronkite said, you don't get to the truth till you hear both sides of the story.





But, I will tell you, to me, it looks like the grandson is a greedy SOB and he wants his own father out of the way. I could be wrong, I don't know the whole story but it looks fishy to me.





Anthony had legal power over his mother's estate. So, he could spend the money. I see greed and envy in the grandson but not the son. And like I said I could be wrong. If Anthony was taking such bad care of his mother, how did she live sooo long. It looks like Philip's lawyer got the jury caught up in legal issues that they didn't understand. Anthony's lawyer should have proven (and there is proof) how well he took care of his mother.


I know greed, I have been a victim of greed since I was 3 years old. Philip wants all the money, he doesn't want to wait till his dad dies. OMG, he might live to be 105 like Brooke. They also threw in the pity vote, that the will was changed to exclude certain charities. I bet she did exclude them and I bet her grandson Philip has a postion with each charity that was excluded.

I will tell you now that Anthony is getting the shaft, this never should have been taken to court. And as far as the grandson Philip, he needs to be slapped. And the question put to him, "Why didn't YOU help your grandmother if things were so bad!"


That's my beef for the week. Greed sickens the mind, soul and spirit.

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds

The Beatles classic song that people thought was written about drugs, in fact, was inspired by a little girl.


Lucy Vodeen, age 46, of Surrey England passed away last week from lupus.


The true story of Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds is this:

Julian Lennon, 4 years old, came home from school one day with a drawing that he had done. He presented to his father, John Lennon (who was working on a album called Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Band Club). He told his dad it was Lucy in the sky with diamonds.


That inspired John to write the song we all know. Julian (who is living in France now) lost contact with his friend Lucy when his parents were divorced but they reconnected years later.


Julian would send her flowers for her garden, to put a smile on her face, during her fight with lupus.


So, the song was inspired by a child, who was inspired by a child, who inspired a father, who inspired the world.


Life is a simple thread that connects us all.

Terrorism, Is It?

I have been wanting to do this post for a few days but I have had problems on my blog. So, here it is. I know you've heard that they have arrested a few people in Denver on Terrorism charges. I don't know if these people are innocent or not, what I do know is that the papers and TV have already found them guilty.

Does anyone remember McCarthy and the communist scare? His stupidity caused a lot of pain for a lot of innocent people.


Let me tell you about something you don't know, its called the Cointelpro. After McCarthy was winding down, the FBI (under Hoover, who wanted dirty little secrets on everyone because he had one of his own) started the Cointelpro. It started in 1956 and ran till 1971. This is what it was: a dirty tricks program, planting forged documents to create suspicion that a key person was an FBI informant, spreading rumors thru anonymous letters, leaking false information to the press, calling for IRS audits, saying the person had communist ties and the like. You get the picture, it was a false information, lie thru your teeth program.


How do I know this because I was 3 (got that three) years old and I, my father and my half sister were accused of being communists. This is the story:

My sister was an entertainer, she lived and worked in Florida. What's by Florida? Cuba. My sister had a lot of friends, she knew a lot of people. The FBI used the dirty tricks program using my sister.

So, one day my father took me to the library/study in our house. As we walked to the room he told me that a man would be asking questions and I was to answer him with all honesty, I also was going to be left alone with this man and I did not need to be afraid. We walked in, the man looked like Walter Cronkite (but a lot of people did in that day). My father left and the man smiled. A movie camera was set up and I asked about it. He explained that he was filming our conversation. He asked me a lot of questions about my family, I told him about the grandfather who was a captain on a ship and came to America.

He asked me if I had been on a ship, no, I replied, ships have accidents like the one my Uncle Francis had been on (the Titianc). I don't know how long I was there but I liked the guy. He was a nice person.

Then the door opened and my sister came in with my dad. My face lit up like a Christmas tree, I loved my sister. She went to the man and shook his hand as my dad came to me. "Don't say a word to her," he told me sternly. He took me by the hand and led me out of the room. We sat by the closed door and waited for my sister. I asked my dad what this was all about. He said that our loyalty to America was being questioned and that they think we were communists. (of course he had to explain this to me).

My reply, "we will just have to show them that we are the best loyal americans."
"that's my girl," my father said. Then he hugged me.

My sister came out, she asked my father the same thing, he answered her the same. She was astounded that they thought that. My father whispered something to her. "NO," she shouted, "I never did." My father said he believed her and told her someone was out to get us, she was to be very careful. Also, me and him would not be able to see her for awhile. This one really hurt me because I was going to go live with my sister and now that would not happen.

They used the dirty tricks program on my father, after my father's murder I would visit Dick Cheney's house in Wyoming where Dick would say, "they are going to find out that it is not good to be loyal to the Penrose's."

My father, sister and I were and are loyal americans. There was not one shred of evidence against us. The FBI still has the film of us answering questions. My father was worth 9 billion dollars when he died. That money was split up between the CIA, FBI, the Tutt family, military and the mob. My sisters and I never got a penny.

So, when I see someone being accused of being unamerican or a terrorist, I have my doubts. Maybe, they haven't retired the dirty tricks program after all.

Oh, a note of interest: One of my dad's best friends was Charlie Chaplin, remember what they did to him.

One Voice

Obama made a very inspiring speech today in the state of Maryland (my grandmother's home state)


He talked of the power of one voice and I can think of no one better then Darlene from Darlene's Hodgepodge that is an example of what Obama was talking about.


His speech was fantastic and I enjoyed it greatly.


I hear everyone's voice here at blogspot, Lydia from Writersquake, Betty @ A Piece of My Mind, MaryContary, Beth, the list goes on and on.


It's a beautiful melody with each having a differant chord that blends together.

Let us continue to raise our voice to share our thoughts, our everyday lives, our humor and our passions.

All it takes is one voice :)

Fremont Experimental Forest

Picture courtesy of Colorado Springs Gazette and Eric Swab/ Fremont Experimental Forest Concrete Seedhouse

When you think of Colorado, I'm sure that you think of mountains and trees, but by 1900, 75% of the forests around Pikes Peak had been destroyed by fires or logging. Any reforesting efforts were done by scattering seeds, till a 24 year old Carlos Bates, graduate of a new field in forestry, came and started the Fremont Experimental Forest.

Carlos and a few men picked a site by No Name Creek, which is less then a mile from the Manitou Incline by Manitou Springs, Colorado. They built a few small shacks and turned the surrounding hills into a laboratory. This was done so that Coloradans could learn to repair the disappearing forests.

They planted oaks, Japanese larch, native evergreens and exotic trees to see which ones were best suited for the Rockies. The native evergreens won out.

They learned leaving mature trees for shelter encouraged quicker regrowth, seedlings have more success then seeds and seeds gathered from trees close to the planting site made the hardiest seedlings. The Forest Department still use these practices today.

The Fremont ran experiments till 1935, in 1945 the Forest Service had almost all the buildings demolished. The picture above is one that survived, also after 100 years, 5 Japanese larch still are growing there.

The reason we know this now is due to a local hiker by the name of Eric Swab. He came across piles of rusted instruments on a hike and he researched the forest's history plus found old photos. His findings are one of the new exhibits at the Old Colorado City Historical Society.

So, thank you Eric for taking the time to give us a valuable history lesson.

Kung Fu Panda

I have always been a lover of children's movies. Maybe because in my heart, I'm forever a little girl. These movies always have good points in them. Kung Fu Panda is one of those and I'd like to share a few of those points:

1. There are no accidents in life

2. Yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery but today is a gift, that is why it is called present

3. Believe in yourself


If you want to read a really neat post, go over to Darlene's Hodgepodge and read her post "The Land That Made Me, Me" It's a good one!

His Last Wish

When I worked at my dad's hotel, my boss came to me. She asked if I would have lunch with a young man who had cancer, the doctors had given him 2 months to live. The chemo had not helped him and hospice was the next step. I told her yes.



I walked into the hotel's cafeteria with my boss, she went to the table where a man sat. He could've been my age or older or younger, it was hard to tell. The chemo had taken his hair, I told him he looked like a young Yul Brunner, he laughed and the ice was broken.



As my boss left us alone, he thanked me for coming. My pleasure, I replied. He had a story to tell me, he talked as I ate.



His parents, now deceased, had worked at the Penrose's Turkey Creek Ranch when he was a little boy. One day, he was playing in the sand outside the big house. The Penrose's daughter was playing in the sand also, not far from him. Her mother came out, you could tell she was not in a good mood. He had been instructed by his parents to stay away from Mrs. Penrose.

As he rose to go towards his own home, she grabbed him and started choking him, talking nonsense. He was close to blacking out when the daughter came up to her mother. She knocked her mother off balance where she let go of him and fell hitting her head.

Because of the servants screaming, his parents had been running up to rescue him. They had seen the whole thing. They took him home, the doctor was called to see Mrs. Penrose.

Mr. Penrose arrived later on that night, his wife lied to him and he marched up to his daughter's room. Her screams as she was being punished went on for hours. The little boy felt bad for her because she hadn't done anything wrong, in fact she had saved his life. The next day his parents told Mr. Penrose the truth about the incident.

It was the last time he saw the little girl, when Mr. Penrose died, he and his parents tried to see his little girl. The Tutts told them she had died.

So, now here he was and his last wish was being granted. He wanted to thank D'iana for saving his life. He said, "Thank you for saving me, I have had a good life." and got up and left.

I sat at that little table for a long time.

The Torch Of Camelot Has Gone Out

I sat in front of my T.V. yesterday morning, they reported that Ted Kennedy had passed away and I was taken back to the day President John Kennedy was murdered.



I was in grade school, my foster mother received a call not to send me to school that day but to have me watch the T.V. and report my reaction. My foster mother had argued that she was not going to let me watch T.V. all day. The reply was that my foster mother would know when to let me watch.



When they reported Kennedy's death from Dallas, I was summoned and placed in front of the T.V. , I saw what never should have happened and what my father had fought against happening but it did happen.

Now, we have lost another Kennedy and the torch of Camelot has been silenced forever. The Kennedy brothers were feared by the powers behind the throne. Now the last one is being laid to rest and we will never see another era of this magnitude.

It was a good ride with the three knights in shining armour. We bid you farewell and fare thee well to Camelot.

Bobby and Jackie, A Love Story, I Don't Think So

As a writer, we are taught to look at stories and write a different outlook or take a smaller character and weave a story about them.


Also, in America we like to romanticize stories. For instance the Titanic, they made it into a love story. America ate it up, the facts and truth left out. The richest men in America were murdered because our government was going to start individual taxing and these men were going to take their money elsewhere. That's the truth, believe it or not.


So, now an author has a book out about Robert and Jackie Kennedy, that they had an affair. Now, I'm not going to read this book because I know it's going to piss me off. So, if anyone reads it, would you please enlighten me. I would like to know if the author covers the following things:

Does he say that Robert Kennedy was going to run for president BEFORE John? Because that is the truth. Robert Kennedy was going to run for president, Joe Kennedy was told that the CIA and the mob had put a hit out on Robert. So, Joe doesn't let Robert run, he tells John to run because no one had anything against John. We know by history that was not true.

Does the author say that Robert felt guilty over his brother's death? That he felt it should have been him not John?


And I'm sorry (maybe I'm old fashioned) but if I had my husband die in my arms. Then I'm not going to be looking to hop in the sack with his brother. That sounds like a man's wet fantasy dream to me.


So, if anyone reads this book, please feel free to share with me and answer my questions, if you will :)

Playing For Change, Songs Around The World

The first time I heard "Stand By Me" with Clarence Bekker, Roger Ridley and lovable Grandpa Elliott, it spoke to my soul. It filled me to overflowing and I wanted more.

"Playing For Change" has all of their videos on You Tube but for those of us who have computers that malfunction with their sound card and can't hear them, there is a CD/DVD that now can be purchased. I have the "Playing For Change" banner on my site, if you click on it, it will take you to the "Playing For Change" site. You can purchase this directly from them or buy it from Amazon.com and other stores.


I love the fact you get both, you can watch and see all the performers singing on your T.V. when you want then when you are in your car, office etc you have the CD to listen to.


It is manna for the soul. The magic of it, is in the musicians performing from all different countries together. I can hardly wait till they come out with another one.


Playing For Change is building music schools for children here in the U.S. and around the world. I know many of you have had the You Tube videos on your site (Lydia from Writerquake is one) and that you enjoy them as much as I.

I just had to share how much I enjoy their music :)

Pikes Peak Library Pictures cont.

2.

ok, a little history here.

My parents had a # of 1.

houses. Picture #1 is the inside

of one of these houses. Now, the

library is saying that Picture #2

is the outside of picture #1.

Wrong, picture #2 belongs to

either the Tutt's or C.L. Tutt's

secretary, Merton W. Bogart

(I'll be doing more on good ole

Merton, he was Tutt's secretary

not my dad's and I have hard copy proof of this)

So, back to the houses. Julie wanted to live at the Broadmoor Hotel, she had friends that lived there. I heard this argument every single day. Her and my dad would argue about it, my dad would tell her "I am not living where I work." She would not let it go, she was like a pit bull. After my dad's death, she had a part of the hotel redone for her apartment. This is what she had wanted for a long time but it wasn't what she thought it would be.

She lived in fear the whole time she was there. Her phone calls were monitered and she only got a very few. This was by order of the Tutts (remember this was the time of calls going thru the hotel switchboard). She would not eat any of the food prepared for her from the hotel kitchen. When it was delivered to her apartment rooms, she would have the waiter eat the food in front of her. She was deathly afraid she would be poisoned.

So much for wanting to live at the hotel.

Pikes Peak Public Library Pictures

Every few months I go to the Pikes

Peak Public Library photos because
they have tons of pictures with wrong dates and names

Now they say they just put down what is written on the photo. So, I guess I can take a photo of my husband and myself, put on the back

Peter Pan and Tinkerbelle with the

date 1776 and thats what they will

print. Do you see where I'm going with this? So, I am going to be printing quite a few pictures and telling the truth about them because the idiots at the library can't.

I've chosen these two as the start. The first picture is: Standing in the car is Jack Dempsey's LITTLE BROTHER, beside him is his little girl. He is shaking hands with C.L. Tutt and the other man next to him on the ground is my dad. The library lists this as Jack Dempsey, C.L. Tutt is listed as unknown but they got my dad right.

The second picture is:left to right, unknown, my Uncle Francis, Jack Dempsey, Mary Marvin (my uncles nurse) and unknown. The library lists this as unknown, my dad, Jack Dempsey, unknown, unknown.

Jack Dempsey was a friend of my father's, in fact my dad tried to start a hotel in Mexico which Jack was going to run. The Mexician government ran Jack and my dad out of the country. I don't know if the hotel is still standing today but it would've been a good one. Jack's little brother was a fighter also. He moved to L.A. when the mob was in contol of it and got hooked on drugs, he died from an overdose. Jack took it very hard.

So, this is the first of many pictures :)

So Much To Say, So Little Time to Say IT

So, much going on in the news lately. First, Obama having a beer with Prof. Gates and the cop. Good for him, but the Prof. has more problems then that. Has anyone ever thought about the neighbor who called this in? What she didn't recognize her own neighbor! Give me a break! She has hired a lawyer, yeah because we all know she called the cops on a fake burglary and she knew it. Looks like the Prof. Gates has a neighbor problem if you ask me.

There's a new school in Vegas for women, its called Stiletto Spy School. Its fantasy training to make a woman feel empowered and confident in the world. Well, if you need fantasy training, you have more problems then a "Spy School" can help :)

Outdoor magazine has said Colorado Springs is the #1 city to live. No, people we are not. We don't have any jobs for anyone. The housing market sucks, the only houses being sold are under $250,000 and they are rare. There is a bidding war going on for these houses. Our roads are packed with traffic, this town was not built for growth and we are seeing it with full impact. Plus we don't have the water for any new people, we'll be lucky to have enough for ourselves! I'd like to give that magazine a swift kick!

Amelia Earhart was in the news, seems they have found the island that she was on. A compact from the 30's and hand lotion was found on the island. They are sifting thru the sand for more stuff. She is one of my favorite people and I have always wanted to know what happened to her. One story was the Chinese found her and kept her a prisoner because she was spying for the good ole u.s. of a. To tell you the truth this is the one I believe but maybe, just maybe we will find out the real truth.

Have a good one!

The Cost Of War

I don't know if any of you caught CNN doing a story about Fort Carson or not but I have to put in my two cents. For those who do not know Fort Carson, it is in Colorado Springs, Colorado, my home.

The paper here (The Gazette) has been really busy taking down the curtains and showing the truth. I never thought I'd see the day!

But, they did a really good story on Fort Carson and what is happening to the men that come back from Iraq. And what is happening to the innocent people living here. I will share only one story.

In Oct. 2007 three men had come home to Fort Carson from Iraq, they were driving down the street. Louis Bressler, 24, was driving, his passengers, Bruce Bastien, a 21 year old medic and Kenneth Eastridge, 24. They saw a woman walking to work, Bressler swerved and hit her with the car. Bastien, the medic, jumped out of the car and stabbed her over and over. Eastridge stayed in the car and watched.

This is a clear picture of why war is not a good idea, the government is not helping our people when they come back. There is countless stories of abuse on military wives. War not only costs us money, there is the cost of innocent Americans being murdered, there is the cost of our men and women who come back with mental problems.

This is too high a cost and we all know, "they" want war because "they" make money. I think we should have a town that every senator, congressman, politician, businessman who voted and wanted a war, should live in. Then when any military comes back from that war, they have to live in the town with the senators, congressman, politician, and businessman. Let one of their family members get murdered. I bet you, we would not have any more wars.

When the decisions that our politicians make, start hitting their families then we will see a difference.

So, there you have it. One of my beefs: I hate war. I say, let the leaders duke it out and the rest of the world can stay home.

Karen Grammer

At 10:20 a.m. today, a monster stood before a parole board in Limon, Colorado. He's been there for 30 years saying he was sorry and downplayed his role in a Colorado Springs 1975 killing spree that took the life of actor Kelsey Grammer's little sister.

Kelsey Grammer missed his plane for the parole hearing and sent an email to the board, that was read a loud at the hearing, he called him a butcher and that his parole should be denied. The DA (Bob Russel) for the case was present, he called it one of the most vicious crimes he had seen in his 20 years of being a DA. Lou Smit, the retired detective from the case was there also. He told the parole board, "they killed her without mercy as she pleaded for her life". The board will make their decision in a few hours.

This is what this monster and his friend did in 1975, the first victim was a male from a restaurant, they kidnapped him and shot him in the head. The second, a Fort Carson soldier who wanted to buy pot, they stabbed him to death with bayonets.

The third, was Karen, 18 years old. She had moved to Colorado Springs to be close to her boyfriend (her father had been murdered just 5 years before this). She had just gotten off her job at the Red Lobster. The two monsters tried to rob the Red Lobster and botched it, they grabbed Karen in the parking lot. They repeatedly raped her, put a black bag over her face and started stabbing her. All the while she pleaded for her life, till they hit an artery and she died.

There were two more murders that they committed, both of them were friends of theirs. One was over a loaf of bread and the other, a poker game.

These monsters do not deserve to be let out of prison, they do not deserve to live. They have no respect for life and we should have no respect for theirs. There is only one monster up for parole today and he does not deserve to leave prison. We owe it to Karen Grammer and the other victims.

UPDATE: At 3:45 p.m. mountain standard time, the parole board came back with their decision: DENIED PAROLE!
And you can bet if this monster comes up for parole again, Kelsey Grammer, Bob Russel, Lou Smit and the Gazette will be there to remind everyone what this monster did.

I will never see justice for what happened to my father and myself but for one brief moment I can see a glimmer of justice in the lives of others. And it gives me hope, hope that maybe America is not as lost as she seems.

The Broadmoor Hotel Printing Press

Did you know that the Broadmoor Hotel had it's own printing press. They printed their own menus, brochures, books etc well after 1992.

There was a big joke around the hotel when the Tutts were running it, that they were printing their own money.

So, if you are into antique collecting, here's how you can tell if it's real:

Anything that says it is after 1939 and says the late Spencer Penrose, that's a fake and remake by the Tutt family and the Broadmoor Hotel printing press.

Anything that says it is after 1959 and says the late Spencer Penrose, that's real.

Author Amanda McKittrick Ros

I was flipping thru my June copy of Smithsonian when on the last page (and its called The Last Page) the title caught my eye "Words to Remember".

The article is about an Irish female writer whose first book was published in 1898, she wrote three novels and many poems. She was highly criticized, for what some said, was an abuse of the english language.

Being a writer, I had to read on. I thought she had a great descriptive attitude. Here is an example: for eyes she calls them "globes of glare", legs were "bony supports", sweat was "globules of liquid lava".

Sounds pretty creative to me but to other authors she wasn't. Mark Twain said her first book was an unintentional humorous novel. Two of my favorite authors, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis would have contests reading her books out loud, the winner was the person who kept a straight face the longest.

Her last book she named her characters after fruits, Lord Raspberry, Sir Plum etc. She passed away in 1939. I think if she were alive today, she would fit right in. I mean, we do have veggie tales, that's only a taste away from fruit.

I think she was born before her time. I wonder what Twain, Tolkien and Lewis would say about authors today. I wonder if they would like my book, problay not. Twain would say "hogwash, do a book about a modern boy." Tolkein would say, "be more descriptive." Lewis would say, "more animals, you need more animals".

Here's to a good week for everyone :)

Honoring Life, Celebrating Memories

The title of this post

is from Hutchens
Mortuary in Florissant, Mo

On July 4, 2009 our

family lost Joshua

Koetting
The family will be
honoring his life and

celebrating
his memory this Sat.

Josh was 36 and lost his battle with cancer. The Lance Armstrong Foundation heard of Josh, Lance sent a signed copy of his book. The foundation kept track of his battle, when they found out of his passing, they put a stone with his name on it at the La Tour de France that Lance Armstrong is doing right now, it is past the 16 mile marker. I thought this very touching of the foundation

The picture of the flowers are the flowers we have sent for the funeral, we have also had a tree planted in Josh's memory (for those who are interested in planting a tree for a friend or loved one you can go to www.arborday.org) We have planted trees for the last 12 years for our friends and family. We feel that a part of them is still living and growing in one of our national forests by doing this.

We are unable to attend the funeral because of our work but my in laws are representing us and my husband's family understands. Josh had a great sense of humor, he was an avid boater and sky diver. He was a computer whiz. He was an up beat and postive person up to the very end. We will miss him.

Neno's Award

Beth from bethinquetteart.blogspot.com gave me Neno's Award. I am so humbled by her kindness. Beth had some very kind words about me but to her I say, YOU are the encouragement. Your art and your words feed the soul of many. Thank you for being the person you are, the world shines brighter because you are in it.

Thank you, dear friend :)

Two Icons Gone

Michael Jackson's song "Black and White" will always be a favorite of mine, as well as the video. It is sad to know that the genius will never make another song for us. We were looking forward to his concert debut, we were hoping he had new material and our ears and soul would be nourished once more by his magic. He will be missed.

My heart goes out to his children, they knew the man as no one will. I know they will miss him sorely, he was their world. I just hope whoever gets them does not separate them and gives them plenty of love.

Farrah Fawcett lost her fight against cancer. I enjoyed the show "Charlie's Angels", I liked all three actresses. I loved Farrah's hairstyle and had my hair cut the same. She entertained us and showed the world she could act.

Both these people shared a part of themselves with us and for that I am thankful.

Good Ole Colorado Springs

Well, the city council had their meeting about the coyotes. They put it on the back burner stating that they had more important issues to deal with right now. So, for now they will be left alone.

I love looking at the "back pages" of the paper, this is where they tell you what happened 100, 75 and 50 years ago. If it's interesting I always check up on it to make sure its accurate, just call me the history police :)

Today it had a blurp on the naming of animals at the zoo (we do that a lot here, have a contest for naming a new born animal). The first zoo here, started in 1906 by John Coughlin by 1916 the zoo was made into an auto camp. In 1926 was when my father started what people know today as The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. My father loved animals, the year the zoo opened a marjar from India gave my Dad a white elephant called Empress. I do not know if Empress and Tess were the same elephant or if they were two different elephants.

My dad taught Tess to throw tires, this was great fun until Tess was in a parade and she went after cars trying to throw the tires :)
Tess died in 1936 and she is buried in a pet cemetery on the out skirts of the city. My little mini doxie that died 2 years ago is buried in the same cemetery as Tess.

The last thing in the "back pages" was in 1959 a Gene Vories published his book "Arrowhead Ranch". It's a turn of the century fiction book but the Walsenburg, Colorado ranch is real and was owned by his family. I thought I'd try and find the book, sounds like an interesting read.

Take care everyone.

Things Going On In Colorado Springs

Today the city council are voting to shoot coyotes, the coyotes have to be vicious and you have to have a permit plus you can only shoot them after dusk and before 4:00 a.m. The town is going to h-ll in a hand basket. We will see if it passes, it more then likely will.

The Gazette paper is going after a few institutions, Memorial Hospital was one, they even went to court where the Gazette won. The paper wanted to see some financial papers, the hospital said no. The hospital should have read the new law, they know it now plus they have to pay all legal fees. Now the paper is going thru the police department but just the last couple of years. I wish they would go back to 1959. There was a police officer that was murdered on Monument St. but his car and body was found one street over on Dale Street. There's not a scrap of reporting on it, I had a lead on it a year ago but the person clammed up on me and refused to talk to me about it (I come up against this a lot trying to find out more things about my dad). I'd like to know the officer's name, he saved my life which cost him his.

We'll see how far and long the paper will keep doing this, they just got a new CEO. Will he keep up the good work or put a lid on everything?

Half of the country's state attorneys are coming here, they are going to talk about the country's drug traffic and a few other things. My guess is that they are up to no good but I always feel that way when people who have power get together :)

That's all I've got to say for now, take care everyone

Happy Father's Day, Daddy

When all the veils are lifted
And all the tales have been told
There's a gift at the end of the rainbow
More precious than a pot of gold

Happy Father's Day, daddy

It's A Wild Life Or Is It Wildlife

We live in beautiful Colorado Springs, on the southeast side. It's more of the plains but we have a beautiful view of the mountains. The west side is closer to the mountains and wild animals are always coming down.

It's not unusual for a bear to roam the golf course of the Broadmoor, deer are always grazing on your lawn and we have a moose that likes the creek by Colorado College. Out on the plains you know that there are antelopes, foxes and coyotes. The antelopes are the ones you usually see. Growing up here you believe that it is as natural as the sun coming up.

But, the last few months we have had a fox and a coyote in our back yard. The fox got one of the neighbor's cats, bummer. But, yesterday a young bear got lost and found himself at Wal Mart, he didn't bother with the Citadel Mall which was a hop, skip and a jump from there. He also wandered in a few yards (not ours, thank goodness). The wild life people captured him and took him back to the mountains.

My dogs wouldn't go out yesterday without us, now I know why. Poor Galileo, he just wanted to sit in my lap and he shook the whole time. Just the smell of the bear scared him. This is unusual, for the wildlife to come in so close on the south side. It shows me that they have built far too much and food is getting scarce.

It's a wildlife here :) hope everyone has a good week end!

Bill Maher, No, No

As I have said I am a big Bill Maher fan but his last show I didn't care for.

He blasted Obama for being in the news too much. What Bill has failed to see is that Obama is trying to show America that he is accessible, he's not doing this so America will like him.

Come on Bill, you can do better than that on your show, have Palin on. Oh, no that's a mistake, Palin would demand an apology for everything you said. Then she would turn it into a soap box.

I can just see Palin as President, demanding from other countries an apology. That would go over big. :)

Well Bill, you'll just have to find something else to talk about. You've always been able to put the truth out there for everyone but on this one you're wrong. I think your sources are being paid off by the Republican party.

Till next time people, have a great rest of the week!

The Francis Boies Penrose Story

I would like to introduce you to my Uncle Francis, he was born in Philadelphia, PA in the year 1867 the 5th son of my grandparents. My Uncle had a beautiful talent, he loved to draw. When my grandparents would go on trips without the kids, their nanny would have them write letters to my grandparents. Francis' letter and envelope would have drawings on them. His nickname was Friday.

My Uncle attended Harvard, two things happened to him there. The first was a fellow student with the nickname "piggy" fell in love with him and constantly sent him letters. My grandfather's advice was to burn every letter and discourage "piggy". My grandfather had plans for his brother Boies to become President of the United States and a scandal like this could hurt him. Uncle Francis did as his father said.

The second thing that happened was Francis became very sick, they called it a brain fever(this is what we call meningitis today and a blow to the head can also cause brain fever). He had to leave Harvard in his second year and went back home to Philly, he was eighteen. My grandfather, who was a doctor, had a cure for everything. A change in climate and hard work were his remedies, so when my Uncle Francis was strong enough he was sent to England. My grandmother, who had died in 1881, had family there.

By 1912 my Uncle was 45 years old. He had married and had children, the last one was a newborn. My Uncle got a job on a ship, its name was "Titanic". There were many people on this ship who knew my family well. The only person who did not take this trip was Rockefeller, he was booked to take it but didn't. The richest men in America had a meeting on the fateful night of the Titanic, even the head of the U.S. Treasury was there. They were going to take their money out of America because the government was going to start taxing individuals. A bomb went off in that room killing every person there.

My Uncle knew of the meeting and went to check on everyone. He saw water and dead bodies.

Everyone knows the rest of what happened except what Washington was doing. The bomb was to go off at a certain time, the President had arranged a meeting with my Uncle Boies (who was head of Naval Affairs) during this time. Uncle Boies gets the message the Titanic is in trouble and the President is not going to do anything. Uncle Boies leaves Washington (the President is pissed) and gets his yacht the "Betty". He is able to save my Uncle Francis and a few others.

Fast forward to Washington, my Uncle Francis and the other surviving employees are taken away where they are questioned. My Uncle is tortured, he keeps telling them what he knows and he keeps saying all he wants to do, is go home to his family. I do not know how long they kept him, he had to sign a paper to never talk about what he knew. At one time they were going to blame my Uncle for planting the bomb then they changed their minds. Note: a messenger was sent to Mrs. Astor to make sure that she never mention the meeting.

They released my Uncle Francis, who was tired, in shock and was mentally plus physically drained. He went home to England, when he arrived he discovered his whole family had been murdered even the baby. My Uncle had a complete nervous breakdown.

My family brought him home to Philly where they put him in a mental hospital. There were parts of the Penrose family that would tell people my Uncle was adopted and he was born in New Mexico, that is not true. They did this because people thought it was bad when a member of a family had to be in a mental hospital.

My father brought my Uncle to Colorado Springs in the late 1930's, my uncle's nurse (who had been on the Titanic and rescued also) took care of him till he died in 1947. Mary Marvin stayed on with my family and my mother appointed her to help Fairbanks and Berkey with the book about my Uncle Richard. This book never mentions the Titanic or the letters my Uncle Richard wrote concerning this incident. My dad had wanted them in the book, my mother did not.

My father made my Uncle Francis' life as pleasant as he could and if you look at the picture of him you can see a gentleness about him. So, that's the story about my Uncle from my father and what happened on the Titanic.

Slave Camp

If you have been watching CNN, then you know the story about the WWII slave camp that our soldiers were in. The military made these men sign a paper that they were NEVER to speak about this. The military said it was a mistake, that they never said the men could not talk about it. BULLSH-T, these men were told not to speak about it and its NOT the first time our government has told people to sign a document and not talk about what happened.

My Uncle Francis was on the Titanic and worked on the ship. He had to sign a paper and was told to never talk about it. And that people will be my next post, the truth about the Titanic , my Uncle Francis' story.

And for those people who do not believe in the holocaust: Hitler's men did put Jewish, Gypsy and Gay people in camps, they did kill them, number them, gave very little food to them and experiment on them. This is a reminder to all of us, that when the wrong people have power (those behind the throne) bad things happen. German people are good people with good hearts, the ones in the 30's elected a friut cake, who surrounded himself with more friut cakes. We have elected a few fruit cakes in our time, who made promises. What else is new! The holocaust is a reminder for the world that nothing like this should ever happen again!

It is to remind us not to be animals, to show humane kindness. It is a reminder of what can happen and as humans, we need to be reminded over and over and over.

Uncle Boies

My Uncle was the most famous of all the Penrose's. He was a senator, all he really wanted to be was a mayor of his beloved Philadelphia but that was not to be.

In the 1930's a book was written about him, it was a favorite in women's
book clubs because it gave an inside look on Washington. I liked the book, in fact I have a copy of it. Another man wanted to do a book about my Uncle in the 1950's, he was a broadway producer, writer, pretty famous for the time. He came and talked to my father who was excited about the book. But, something happened and the book was never done, in fact I tried to find the guy. The last thing I found was around the late 1950's, someone tried to kill him. I think they succeeded because thats all I could discover. So much for the book.

So, I thought I would share about my Uncle, this is what he did the last year of his life in the senate. That year was 1921:
April - He wanted equality for blacks. he said that they should be equal to whites in hotels, cafes, restaurants, educational institutions and amusements. They fought him hard on this one.

June - He had gotten Mr Mellon in as head of Treasury and he was doing a bang up job, nineteen countries owed us money and Mr. Mellon had worked out a plan for them to pay it back.

My Uncle left Washington to go back to Philly, President Hoover had left my Uncle with no offices in Washington (I find this very odd because Hoover was a geologist like my Uncle Richard and a friend of my Uncle Richard's).

My Uncle helped with the election of the next Governor of Penn. (I think this was the reason he left Washington)

July - He called for disarmament of the U.S. (World War One had ended). My Uncle didn't believe in war. They fought him hard on this one too.

Sept - He installs a movie theatre in his Washington apartments

Oct - He is trying to get tax bills passed, the Soldiers Bonus bill thru and a corporation tax thru.

On Dec. 30, 1921 Uncle Richard stops by to see my Uncle in Washington. My Uncle is in perfect health, great mood and nothing is wrong. At one minute before midnite on Dec. 31st, 1921 my Uncle is dead.

The papers are full that he was sick, poor health blah, blah, blah. Lies, lies, lies. My Uncles Richard and Charles along with my father get together, they hire people to find out who killed my Uncle and who put the contract out on him.

My Uncle had many enemies, there was a senator who was going to be brought up on treason charges, my Uncle stood up for him and with him (he became his friend after that) but that is the way the Penrose's are, even if our enemies are falsely accused we will stand up and state the truth. But, there were two enemies my Uncle had, they were the Vare brothers (one of them was a senator). The Vare brothers were heavily connected with the mafia, Lucky Luciano was a close friend, the Vare boys owned one of the Philly newspapers and they were involved in what was called "the bloody fifth ward". You didn't have to go far to find out that they were the ones that put out the contract.

Why, my family didn't go to the government I'll never know. Maybe it's because of what they did to my Uncle Francis or maybe they felt there was someone higher up involved because the newspapers weren't printing the truth. No matter, they put out a contract on the hired gun and the man that hired him. For them justice was done.

My Uncle was a loving caring person, he had a great sense of humor. In his younger years he wrote plays and poetry, he even wrote a pamphlet for Barnum on elephants (Barnum passed out this pamphlet at his circus). He never married but he had a lot of mistresses. He loved America and he really loved the city of his birth, Philly. He was never involved with the mafia and he never took a bribe. He had a photogenic mind, he would read something and it stayed there, word for word. All the Penroses had this except me, I remember conversations word for word, I guess the gene said "lets skip the reading material and go for conversations instead" :)

So, there you have it my Uncle and the last year of his life. He was a very good man.

Bill Maher Fan

My husband and I are BIG Bill Maher fans. He always tells it like it is and is totally honest about himself along with bringing out the truth about this country and its people.

He is the only one to come out and tell the truth that W (George W. Bush), was a coke head (cocaine). Yes people, W loves the white stuff. He was a big friend of the Tutts and the Broadmoor was like a second home. When someone does something in my backyard then I know about it :)
And yes its true that he drank a lot also but the coke and booze is not my point because I don't really care about other peoples vices until they are running our country :) but the point is, Bill had the guts to talk about it where everybody else was running away from it in terror.

So, anyway Bill had two Republicans on his show and they were talking about how the republicans are coming up with a new plan(OMG). My husband and I talked about this after the show, the plan that they will problay come up with is World War 3 (they never said what the plan is).

Well, people that means we have to keep Obama in office AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. The Republicans are already trying to screw up what Obama is trying to do. So lets screw the Republicans up by keeping Obama around tell h-ll freezes over. And just a little note of interest, I am a registered republican (it runs in the family), but I vote for the man not the party :)

So, that's my first rant, I have more because a lot was in the news today but I wanted to share about the show we watched :)
Till next time

Charles Mather MacNeill 1872 - 1923

I would like to introduce to you my father's best friend, Charles Mather

MacNeill.

The first time I saw this picture I was sitting on the hardwood floor in my

parents home, playing with my toys. My father walked up to me, he was

VERY angry, he shoved this picture in my face and said, "This is my best

friend and I want you to remember it. Don't you ever forget, study this

picture and never forget Charley was my best friend."

I took the picture and to this day it is a favorite of mine. Why did my father get so mad, you wonder. Its because the Tutt family was going around saying that C.L. was my dad's best friend. My father was going to

make sure I knew the truth and to this day I will not print the picture of

my dad and C.L.

Charles Mather MacNeill was the son of Dr. J. Edward MacNeill, he had one sister named Eloise.

They lived in Denver, Colo. but his dad was from Vermont. Charley was a go getter, he was a year younger then my father and my dad always thought of him as a brother. In fact he once said that Charley acted more like a brother then his real brothers.

Charley was a partner in everything my dad did. He was a partner in the Broadmoor and president for the Utah Copper, Chino, Alaska mines and more. The list is staggering from Africa mines to Alaska and Charley even did businesses that my dad didn't get involved in. He was the energizer bunny of his time. He and my dad tried to do the hotel business before the Broadmoor. It was in Penrose, Colo. but it failed. The hotel still stands in that city today.

Charley was rich and powerful, with that comes enemies and he had them. The biggest enemy was The Western Federation of Miners, they were the mafia of that time. They had hit men and Charley was on the list. No matter what you read, they murdered Charley. He did not die from pneumonia, my father could not help him. How they did it I will never know because my dad could not bring himself to talk about it. He would start then hang his head and no more words would come out.

Charley was married to Marion Parsons Irwin, they had a house in New York and apartments at the Antlers Hotel here in Colorado Springs. I always thought that it was strange, living at The Antlers when he was a partner of The Broadmoor. I know he had his reasons, it just makes me wonder what they were. They had no children but Charley was the guardian of a boy and girl. The children were not related to each other and I could find nothing out about them. If my father ever mentioned them then I don't remember it. Marion was in Europe when Charley died, she left for Europe in 1921 and did not come back till 1924. She remarried in 1925.

Charley was a Colonel in WWI. There are no monuments or memorials to him, in fact history has all but forgotten him. Except for a little girl, who made a promise to always remember her daddy's best friend.

So, here's to you Charley the bestest friend Spencer Penrose aka Philip Thomas Penrose ever had.

Meme

Hi, everyone!
Lydia of Writerquake tagged me for this and since its my first one I will be copying from her the rules.
The Rules:
respond and rework
answer questions on your blog
replace one question
tag eight other people (Lydia, and I agree, that the rules should be reduced to tagging three blogs if the person prefers)

TAGGED BLOGS

BethNiquettefineart
Random Cards
MaryContrary

I also, will copy another thing from Lydia because she says it so well :) is the fact that if you don't have the time or inclination to be a part of this one please don't give it another thought!

1. If one song were to describe your life, what song would it be?
Circle Of Life from The Lion King, music by Elton John

2. Which item of clothing do you wear most?
T-Shirts, comfortable. Only time I dress up anymore is when we go to the Broadmoor for dinner.

3. What's for dinner?
It's taco night, my husband has a lot of stomach problems, one night we have a heavy dinner,(meat, potatoes, salad) the next night we have a light dinner. Tonite is the nite for light!

4. Last thing you bought?
Dog toys, denti-bones and puppie chow.

5. What are you listening to?
James Galway performing Mozart. He plays the flute and does Mozart so well.

6. Favorite holiday spots?
Besides home, the Broadmoor Hotel and the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

7. Reading right now?
The Lost Books of Merlyn by Douglas Monroe

8. Favorite film?
I have two, "Lilo and Stitch" then its "Meet the Robinsons". Can you tell I'm a Disney fan, the first movie I saw was with my dad in my dad's hotel theatre, "Sleeping Beauty".

9. Okay, what were you thinking about just then?
How people will think I'm a little strange because I'm over 50 and I love Disney films :)

10. First spring thing?
Open the house up and let fresh air in.

11. Funniest thing you saw in your life?
Henry Winkler in public acting like the Fonz instead of himself

12. Who's your hero/heroine?
My father

13. Share some wisdom?
You can have all the money in the world but you can't buy time, use it well - Philip Thomas Penrose

14. If you were a tree, what tree would you be and why?
A mighty Oak, the oak tree has always been in the Penrose family. It's strong and its roots go deep.

15. Fictitious characters who made a lasting impression on you?
Chatty Cathy - after my father, best friend and her mother were murdered, I stopped talking. My mother sent a chatty cathy to me, I pulled the string and the doll said "I love you". I hugged that doll so tight and said "I love you too". Needless to say everyone was pleased that I talked again.

16. 4 words to describe you?
Heart of a child.

17. What is your favorite city in the world and why?
I would have to say Colorado Springs because its home.