Joan’s Boomer Blog

When I heard that Linda Evans had written a new book, I couldn’t wait to read it. Like most people, I’d seen her on the Big Valley in the 60’s and, of course, Dynasty inj the 80’s. Her new book, Recipes for Life, kept me company on a long day flying back home from an emotionally draining trip to see my parents. My dad’s mild stroke following hip surgery had been upsetting and exhausting, to say the least. Reading Recipes for Life was the perfect anecdote for my trip home.

In the 60’s, Linda Evans was everything most young girls wanted to be, me included, and it was fascinating to read the behind the scenes memoir of those years. Nowadays, Linda Evans is everything the baby boomer woman wants to be. She’s had a terrific life and she wears it well, still looking as beautiful as we all wish we did. Instead of slowing down in the second half of her life, Linda is involved with life, has many passions she enjoys and seems in a much better place spiritually than when she was young.

Recipes for Life takes a unique approach to the writing of a memoir since Linda loves to cook and believes “one of the greatest gifts you can give to someone is to prepare their favorite meal.” Interspersed within the pages of her book are recipes she’s used and loved for years, many from famous friends like Barbara Stanwick’s Hobo Fillet, John Wayne’s Crab Dip, which also makes a terrific omlete the day after a party, and Dani and David Janssen’s Cesear Salad Recipe, plus many others.

I especially loved the recipes from Yanni’s family in Kalamata, Greece. His mother Felitsa’s Appetizer Meatballs and Yorgo and Linda’s Pesto sounded so delicious my mouth was watering.

If you’re looking for a tell-all book where Linda Evans dishes on her co-stars or ex-husbands and bears her own secrets and everyone else’s, you won’t find that sort of book here. Admirably, Linda has not one bad thing to say about anyone she’s known, including two ex-husbands and their previous wives, or her boyfriends, who include Greek musician Yanni, whom she was with for nine years.

Linda Evans certainly had reasons in her life to be bitter. When husband John Derek famously left her for 15 year old Mary Cathleen Collins, later known as Bo, she was devastated. However, instead of letting this define her life, she see his betrayal as a blessing because if she’s stayed married to Derek, she’d never have starred in Dynasty. She even counts among her friends Bo Derek and Ursula Andress, John Derek’s first wife as well.

What I did found most fascinating in Recipes for Life were the stories Linda Evans has to tell about working with Barbara Stanwick, who took the young girl under her wing, Lee Marvin, Paul Newman, David Janssen and other great stars of the past. Married to filmmaker/photographer John Derek and later to Stan Herman, she also became friends with the Hollywood elite and hosted many a party for them, cooking her favorite dishes.

One story really showed the kind of person Linda Evans is. While on Dynasty, she was supposed to share a passionate kiss with Rock Hudson, but after many, many takes, Rock just could not give her more than a peck on the lips. Linda and Rock Hudson had met years before and they were casual friends, running into each other at parties and social events, and no one could figure out what was going on.

A few weeks later, it came out that Rock Hudson had AIDS and in refusing to give her a passionate kiss, he had been trying to protect her, as back then, no one really knew how AIDS was actually spread. Even though some of Linda’s own friends avoided her after it came out, in case she now had AIDS too, she continued to be supportive of Rock Hudson and others who had the disease which caused such fear in Hollywood.

In Recipes for Life Linda Evans comes across as a genuinely likable person who seems content with the twists and turns of her life, having arrived at a place where she’s happy.  It’s ironic too that in using delicious recipes to tell the story of her life, Linda is appearing not only on talk shows to discuss her book but cooking shows, like Rachael Ray, where she recreates some of the dishes from the book.

If you’re looking for a light-hearted cozy read to curl up with by the fire this winter, or perhaps a gift to give someone in your life who likes nostalgic Hollywood, pick up a copy of Recipes for Life: My Memories by Linda Evans.

I read about two birthdays recently that made me feel nostalgic. Cheerios cereal is now 70 years old the the cleanser, Bon Ami, which was green before it was in to be green, is celebrating it’s 125th birthday. Isn’t it funny that with all the newer, fancier versions of these two products out there, that people still prefer the old standards.

In the days before the thousands of sugary cereals that get kids attention today, Cheerios was one of the staples in our house. According to USA Today, one of every 8 boxes of cereal sold today is still Cheerios. My daughter is 24 now, but when she was a baby, I always kept a baggie full of Cheerios in my purse as a snack and to entertain her when we were out and about. Now my own daughters do the same with their kids. Cheerios are still the go-to snack choice for toddlers.

Of course, over the years, the advertising slant has changed somewhat. now Cheerios are touted as a food to help you lower cholesterol and beloved by mom’s for it’s low sugar content. When Cheerios first came out, nobody thought about such things.

A couple of years ago, we put a new sink in our kitchen and the manufacturer actually recommended Bon Ami as the non-scratch cleaning powder to use. My mom used to use this eco-friendly cleaning powder back before chemicals, when every thing was eco-friendly-we just didn’t know it then. I hadn’t used any in years before the new sink’s appearance but now I’ve converted back to this old standby because I’m trying to use less toxic chemicals around my home.

I’m not the only one either. More and more people are switching back to good old Bon Ami for its lack of harsh chemicals. This 5 generation, family owned company now sports other eco-friendly cleaning products, including dish soap, liquid and powdered cleansers and an all-purpose cleaning spray. This nostalgic company has moved into the future with Facebook fan pages, a newsletter, a community forum and more.

Cheerios has kept up with the times too. The Cheerios website boasts recipes, a coupons and promotions section, mention of a Facebook page and Twitter account.

It does my heart good to see how products from my youth and even further back, have withstood the test of time, despite the fact that “new and improved” products are being invented almost hourly.

The number of years these products have been around, becoming even more popular as the years go on, also illustrates how things come in full circle. When I was a kid, pretty much every cereal was low sugar and good for you and no cleansers had harsh chemicals in them. As I get older, it makes me feel good to know that younger generations have come to value, and even demand, products that don’t destroy our health and our environment.

So Happy Birthday Cheerios and Bon Ami! I hope you’re both around another 70 years and 125 years, respectively. I’m going to head over the the Bon Ami community forum and see if I can find some good cleaning tips.

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When I was growing up, my teenage crushes weren’t on musicians like the Beatles, although most of my

World Series 2010 National Anthem

friends loved them. My secret passion in high school was the Los Angeles Dodgers, and watching Sandy Koufax pitch was the highlight of my life. I was raised on the West Coast and back then, all you got to watch was the Saturday game of the week and play off and World Series games, unlike today when you can watch any team, any day of the week.

I would have given anything to go to a live World Series game back then and seen Sandy Koufax pitch in person. I even had a scrap book of newspaper clippings that is probably still floating around my parents house.

Since those years, we’ve become Texas natives and have gone to quite a few Texas Ranger games. This year was THE year for the Texas Rangers. We went to one of their playoff games against Tampa Bay and it was a thrilling experience! In this particular game, they didn’t start losing til the 8th inning so the crowd was wild with every pitch.

Fast forward to now. The Texas Rangers are actually going to their first World Series appearance ever and my daughter’s boyfriend managed to get four tickets. I had a chance to go but, of all things, I also have airline tickets for my semi-annual visit to see my parents in Oregon. When I made the airline reservations, I never dreamed the Rangers would actually make it.

Rangers in the World Series 2010

I looked into changing my airline reservation and it was going to cost over $200 to change it - a rip off by the airlines, by the way! I gave up the idea for a while but then my son-in-law (who would have gotten my ticket if I didn’t go) convinced me I should go ahead and do it and hang the cost. He said they’d even pay half as a Christmas present. My husband also wanted me to just pay the money and change the ticket so I could go to the World Series with him - what a nice guy!

This morning I checked with my parents to make sure they wouldn’t mind my putting off my trip. After all, even the World Series isn’t worth upsetting my parents for. However, they too were very supportive, as long as I came at a later date.

So, here I am, $273 poorer but going to the World Series, game 4. If there is any justice in the world, the Rangers will sweet San Francisco and I can actually see them win!

I think in life, sometimes you just have to go for it and hang the monetary cost! You can’t put a price tag on some of life’s most thrilling experiences and I think this is going to be one of those experiences for me.

Every once in a while, a wave of nostalgia hits for the good old days. We were watching Warehouse 13 the other night and two main characters went back in time to the early 60’s, a time of pill box hats and sleek hair-dos (reminding me that the blow dryer was the best thing every invented). A time when women were relegated to the typing pool and called “sweetie” and “honey” by their bosses. Yes, I do get nostalgic for the “old days,” for me the 50’s and 60’s, but sometimes I read a book or see a TV show that makes me remember what it was really like, the good and the bad.

We watched the first season of Mad Men, which I liked because it took place in the 60’s (after the first season we gave up as the show seemed too depressing). In Mad Men we see men drinking and smoking way too much because nobody had ever said these things were bad for you. Heck, even pregnant women were smoking and drinking! People smacked each others kids to discipline them and nobody cared.

From watching Mad Men, you’d think a woman’s only choice was to be a stay at home mom who ended up on a  psychiatrist’s couch, taking Valium and feeling “unfulfilled” or going to work in an office where men talked down to her and treated her like she was part of the entertainment.

I guess I was lucky to be born in 1950. I had the fun of growing up in the 50’s but by the time I was out in the world in 1969, life was changing for women. Reading the book, “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett, brought back some memories of the “good old days” which are thankfully over now.

The Help takes place in 1962, when I was 12, but some of the attitudes of 62 were certainly still around in 1969. In my opinion, the Help is one of the best books to come around in years and I think every woman of every age should read this book to see how far we’ve come since the early 60’s.

My life and Skeeters were very different, but yet there were parallels. She went to college at a time when a woman’s only goal for higher education was to catch a husband. I joined the Navy, which was an odd thing to do at a time when all the males I knew were fighting hard to come up with ways to stay out of Viet Nam but even with Viet Nam, many women joined up to find a husband.

Nowadays, when single women with children or couples with children go off and serve in Iraq and Afghanistan for months at a time, but in the 60’s and 70’s life in the military was much different. Many of the women, sad to say, still joined up to find a husband. Back then, the only way out of the military was to get pregnant and I hate to think how many people are in the world today because their mother wanted out of the service!

Looking back, I’m not sure really why I did join the military. Not patriotism, but more like a yearning for adventure and a desire to experience life outside the little town where I grew up. I used to have “pen pals” among some of the guys fighting in Viet Nam when I was in high school but I’m not sure if I really thought much about that aspect of joining up. I never personally experienced any of the anti-Viet Nam sentiment was because when we wore our uniforms to travel (which we were required to do) everybody thought I was a stewardess. They only wanted flight information, not to hound me about an unpopular war.

Women in the military were supposedly treated equally to men, but back then many jobs were closed to us and we had to work twice as hard as any man in the jobs we had to measure up. A few old Chiefs called us “honey” and we had very, very few roll models for career service women. Many of them were washed out alcoholics that we certainly didn’t emulate.

I was lucky growing up in that my father always told me women could do anything they wanted to do and as a World War II Marine, he totally supported my going into the military. Looking back, I can see my dad was a man way ahead of his time in that aspect.

I try to tell my daughter about life “back then” and how lucky she is to have so many choices in her life. Of course, to her the 50’s and 60’s are ancient history, but I’ve tried to pass on that lesson my dad taught me - she can do anything and be anything.

So, while I enjoy a good book or TV show about the 60’s and the good old days, I think they are best left to our memories of them. In memories, you can choose to remember the good - your favorite 60’s song, an old boyfriend or girlfriend, cruising the strip on Friday nights - and forget the bad - which is - well, I’ve already forgotten! There are a few advantages to getting older - the memory isn’t what it used to be.

I just discovered a terrific website where you can find out, not only what happened in your birth year, but in the decade of your birth. I was born in 1950. All About Eve won best picture, Judy Holliday won best actress for Born Yesterday and Jose Ferrer won best actor for Cyrano de Bergerac.

Beat the Clock and Jack Benny were on TV and the song Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy topped the music charts in my birth year.

The credit card was invented the year I was born too. In the 1950’s people mostly lived on the cash they had, which wasn’t always much but they weren’t in debt either.

In 1950, Snoopy the cartoon character, Jay Leno and Stevie Wonder were born the same year as I was too.

There is some info about the decade of the 50’s too when the economy was on the upswing and the Cold War and Anti-Communism consumed the news.

Reading about what happened in the year and decade I was born brought back some great memories! Not the Cold War part, of course, but looking back, even the Cold War seems kind of tame compared to terrorism. At least we knew who the “enemy” was then.

I look at the 1950’s as the last time of innocence for young people. I was a teen in the 60’s and by the end of that era, there was the Viet Nam War, drugs and a social revolution going on that forever changed that youthful naivete we used to have.

What happened the year you were born? Just click here and type in the year you’d like to revisit.

I was a teenager in the 1960’s and still love listening to the music of the 1960’s. Petula Clark, Herman’s Hermits, Gary Lewis and the Playboys and the Dave Clark Five were some of my favorites back then. I even got to see Gary Lewis and the Playboys in person, wearing my white go go boots, of course!

The late 60’s were a good time to be a teen in a small town. We spent our weekends at the skating rink where they had a dance with a live band from 10pm to midnight. We cruised the strip when gas was still 25 cents a gallon and cigarettes were 25 cents a pack. Smoking was about the worst thing you could do to “rebel” and be cool.

There were a lot of good things about the 1960’s. Back then, we thought there was nothing much to do but looking back on it now, it seems like the last time when kids were allowed to be naive and innocent as they grew up.  Most mothers still stayed home with the kids, my mom made most of my clothes and I actually loved them! No name brands, no expensive toys like iPods and cell phones. We put a dime in our shoe every time we went out so we could always call home for Dad to come and pick us up if we got into trouble.

If you’re feeling nostalgic, you should check out the 1960’s hits on YouTube. Listening to that music takes me right back to those years, which seem to get better and better the older I get.

I loved this video, which covers music from 1965 to 1969, the exact years I was in high school. It shows random images from those years, like album covers, to go along with it.

Enjoy! YouTube also has music videos from other eras too so it’s easy to find your favorite.