Tapping on the image to zoom in on my old computer made the text smaller, BUT... I went up to the "zoom" settings in the Google Chrome menu at the top of my screen and that solved the problem nicely.
I zoomed in and miraculously the text was no longer too small to read! It was juuuust right. How wonderful. Good and nostalgic story, thank you for sharing.
A Paulonia tree stands guard In the Cynthiana Christian Church Parking lot.
In the spring it sings songs in the key of lavender.
It did not sprout in the parking lot.
The seed pod might have fallen from its parent tree And blown across Mill Street from Aunt Jan and Uncle Richard’s yard, Or it might have been carried and buried by a squirrel,
Or it may have been eaten by a bird and shat there,
But in any event, it took root in the back yard of
Famed Harrison County High School French teacher
And my wise and funny, purple-loving friend, Phyllis Wyles.
Paulownia trees seed freely, to put it mildly,
And they grow at a pace that the impatient And aged can appreciate—
Several feet a year.
They have leaves as large as a human face.
When Madame sold her home on Church Street to the Church,
They tore that lovely old home down,
Then paved on account of paradise I suppose,
But the result was still a parking lot. Parking lots bear some resemblance to hell in the summertime—hot and Godforsaken,
Particularly when they are devoid of green space.
The Church did demonstrate some sound judgment In my judgment When they paved around the tree.
I do not know that they wanted to.
I do believe there must have been some debate because Uncle Richard told me that he had informed the Church Leadership
That if the tree went, he went.
They got to choose which leaving they would prefer.
The tree remains. Uncle Richard, Aunt Jan, and Madame Wyles do not,
But the tree remembers them.
And the tree never fails to remind me, Especially when it sings songs in the key of lavender in the spring.
The font is too small to read without a magnifier and, further, it is a very light face type design that is especially difficult to read at minuscule point size. Kindly have an art director who is at least age 70 review future page layouts. Thank you.
Keep them coming ... I love how you start in one direction and veer off in another and then, in the last minute knit all of the characters life experiences together into something that has a message for us and what life is all about.
Text is too small to read but that's okay, I have the book Leaving Home. In fact you signed it is San Francisco at the Herbst Theater. You gave us two great treats that evening. The first, I asked a lady if you'd be available for autographs, if maybe you'd do a meet and greet after the show or something or other, she said you'd probably do something but didn't know what. Then suddenly out of nowhere you were just moseying around, minding your own business, looking at some pamphlets on a table as people slowly and cautiously took turns approaching you. You were gracious, friendly, shaking people's hands and asking their names, eventually got to me and thumbed through my book and said "Hmmmm.... I don't remember this one.....".
The second treat was, instead of the usual City Arts And Lectures style interview - which would have been cool and was what we went there for, we got a stripped down APHC with Rich, Heather and Elvin Bishop.
That book was bought used at a small shop during a really tough and sad time in my life and with the help of weekly APHC broadcasts helped get me through it, so don't be so quick to disregard the show as you sometimes do, it's done a great deal of good.
Lastly, few weeks later I got to hear that show on the radio driving past SFO one Sunday afternoon; of course with the limerick segment heavily edited. Thanks for being here for us, even if you didn't know it.
Your writing is a gift. Continued best wishes for healing. Went to settings on my laptop and was able to enlarge the script. Just some advice for others here....
The text is way too small to read.
Editors note: These are scans from original documents in the archives. The hope is that you tap on image and zoom in for legibility.
Tapping on the image to zoom in on my old computer made the text smaller, BUT... I went up to the "zoom" settings in the Google Chrome menu at the top of my screen and that solved the problem nicely.
Print was too small and faint so could not read.
Editors note: These are scans from original documents in the archives. The hope is that you can tap on image and zoom in for legibility.
I zoomed in and miraculously the text was no longer too small to read! It was juuuust right. How wonderful. Good and nostalgic story, thank you for sharing.
Wonderful story. Thanks.
That was one of your best stories I've read.
Sorry, my microscope is in the shop, can't read this post without it. PLEASE resze the font here!
Song In the Key of Lavender
A Paulonia tree stands guard In the Cynthiana Christian Church Parking lot.
In the spring it sings songs in the key of lavender.
It did not sprout in the parking lot.
The seed pod might have fallen from its parent tree And blown across Mill Street from Aunt Jan and Uncle Richard’s yard, Or it might have been carried and buried by a squirrel,
Or it may have been eaten by a bird and shat there,
But in any event, it took root in the back yard of
Famed Harrison County High School French teacher
And my wise and funny, purple-loving friend, Phyllis Wyles.
Paulownia trees seed freely, to put it mildly,
And they grow at a pace that the impatient And aged can appreciate—
Several feet a year.
They have leaves as large as a human face.
When Madame sold her home on Church Street to the Church,
They tore that lovely old home down,
Then paved on account of paradise I suppose,
But the result was still a parking lot. Parking lots bear some resemblance to hell in the summertime—hot and Godforsaken,
Particularly when they are devoid of green space.
The Church did demonstrate some sound judgment In my judgment When they paved around the tree.
I do not know that they wanted to.
I do believe there must have been some debate because Uncle Richard told me that he had informed the Church Leadership
That if the tree went, he went.
They got to choose which leaving they would prefer.
The tree remains. Uncle Richard, Aunt Jan, and Madame Wyles do not,
But the tree remembers them.
And the tree never fails to remind me, Especially when it sings songs in the key of lavender in the spring.
How lovely. Thank you.
Thank you, Judy, especially for the “every one else cemetery on the west.”
The font is too small to read without a magnifier and, further, it is a very light face type design that is especially difficult to read at minuscule point size. Kindly have an art director who is at least age 70 review future page layouts. Thank you.
Keep them coming ... I love how you start in one direction and veer off in another and then, in the last minute knit all of the characters life experiences together into something that has a message for us and what life is all about.
I clicked on Open in Browser and then enlarged the text. No problem reading it!
A novel waiting in everyone's backyard... what a wonderful concept!
Text is too small to read but that's okay, I have the book Leaving Home. In fact you signed it is San Francisco at the Herbst Theater. You gave us two great treats that evening. The first, I asked a lady if you'd be available for autographs, if maybe you'd do a meet and greet after the show or something or other, she said you'd probably do something but didn't know what. Then suddenly out of nowhere you were just moseying around, minding your own business, looking at some pamphlets on a table as people slowly and cautiously took turns approaching you. You were gracious, friendly, shaking people's hands and asking their names, eventually got to me and thumbed through my book and said "Hmmmm.... I don't remember this one.....".
The second treat was, instead of the usual City Arts And Lectures style interview - which would have been cool and was what we went there for, we got a stripped down APHC with Rich, Heather and Elvin Bishop.
That book was bought used at a small shop during a really tough and sad time in my life and with the help of weekly APHC broadcasts helped get me through it, so don't be so quick to disregard the show as you sometimes do, it's done a great deal of good.
Lastly, few weeks later I got to hear that show on the radio driving past SFO one Sunday afternoon; of course with the limerick segment heavily edited. Thanks for being here for us, even if you didn't know it.
Beautiful. I love the idea of a novel sitting in everyone's backyard.
Your writing is a gift. Continued best wishes for healing. Went to settings on my laptop and was able to enlarge the script. Just some advice for others here....
What a lovely story about hanging in there and occasionally searching for magic. Especially magic that's right in front of our eyes.
I am 61, and was able o read it just fine, even without glasses (which i do not use)..
I love GK's monologues..I miss hearing them every week.... :-(