Martha Hyer

            On Sunday morning my left knee was slightly less sore and a little more flexible. It still hurts to put my knee against the floor. 

            I finished working out the chords for "C’est rien, je m’en vais, c’est tout" (It’s Nothing, I’m Done, I’m Gone) by Serge Gainsbourg. I didn't work them out exactly for the instrumental break because it goes on for too long to not be boring. I ran through singing and playing the song in French and English and then uploaded it to my Christian's Translations blog to prepare it for publication. I might have that done tomorrow. 

            I weighed 85.1 kilos before breakfast and that's the heaviest I've been in 27 days. 

            I got up to page 796 in David Copperfield. David's wife Dora dies. Mr. Peggotty and his niece Emily are going to start a new life in Australia. It is decided that the cure for the financial worries of Micawber and his family are for him to go Down Under as well. Dickens has used Australia before as a kind of far away heavenly unlimited bank machine for characters to either disappear to or to suddenly appear from. 

            I weighed 84.9 kilos before lunch. I had rice crackers with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of orange juice with limeade. 

            In the afternoon I went out for a bike ride. Pedaling was still difficult but not as bad as yesterday so I went around the block twice. 

            I weighed 84.2 kilos at 16:15. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 17:20. 

            I got up to page 849 in David Copperfield, so there are only thirty some pages left. David's friends leave for Australia, including Martha. David travels three years in Europe and spends a lot of time in Switzerland. He realizes that he should have married Agnes long ago but now they are so much like brother and sister he doesn't think they can go beyond that relationship. 

            I grilled four hot Italian sausages and had one on Bavarian sandwich bread topped by chili sauce, Dijon, and horseradish with a beer while watching season 4, episode 15 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            Tracy Richards, the richest woman in the world, decides she wants to buy the Clampett house. She storms in without an invitation and thinks Jed and his family are domestics. She tips them $40, says she's buying the place and leaves. Jed thinks she's trying to pay that amount for the place. When she realizes her mistake she comes back to negotiate with Jed but he's not interested. That's interesting considering that in this season alone there have been a few occasions when they've been willing to leave the house behind and go back to Tennessee. Tracy is angered by Jed's refusal because she is used to getting whatever she wants. 

            She decides to start seducing Granny, Elly, and Jethro. She takes them for lunch at her penthouse and gives Granny and Elly each a fur coat. She gives Jethro her sports car and makes him think they are sweethearts. They are waited on hand and foot in her penthouse and they like it. Now they want Jed to sell but then they change their minds. Jed goes to talk with Tracy and she tries to seduce him. He enjoys the attention but then Jethro walks in and is jealous. Granny and Elly return the furs. Jed says he's not selling and she tells them to leave. 

            Tracy Richards was played by Martha Hyer, who I profiled in my blog about four years ago but not extensively. She was born into a rich and religious family. Her first film role was a small part in The Locket in 1946. She co-starred in Down Three Dark Streets, Showdown at Abilene, Battle Hymn, Wyoming Renegades, The Battle of Rogue River, Francis in the Navy, Mister Cory, Paris Holiday, Houseboat, Once Upon a Horse, The Big Fisherman, The Best of Everything, The Last Time I Say Archie, Wives and Lovers, The Carpetbaggers, The Sons of Katie Elder, Some May Live, The Happening, Ice Palace, and Some Came Running, the latter of which earned her an Oscar nomination. Her last film was Day of the Wolves in 1971. 

            

            

           For the fifth night in a row I found no bedbugs.