Kathleen Nolan

            On Friday morning I worked out the chords for the third line of “On fait des rêves” (We Keep Dreaming) by Boris Vian. 

            I continued to work out the chords for “China Doll” by Serge Gainsbourg while repeatedly listening to the extract on Apple Music. I’ve settled on common chords for both the verses in the extract and so tomorrow I’ll add them to the unheard verses. I might have the song finished on Saturday. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the first of four sessions. I think I’ll take the Martin to The 12th Fret in the east end on Tuesday to get the action lowered. 

            I weighed 87.5 kilos before breakfast. 

            I cleaned some of my Kramer electric guitar with Q-Tips and alcohol. There was an area under the Floyd Rose system that was all black and I thought it was dirt. It started partially coming off but I started to suspect that it was meant to be there. It turns out it’s a cushioning foam just in case the whammy bar causes the system to tilt back and click against the body. 

            I took the Kramer to Li’l Demon Guitars and Gian raised the action. He also glued the fret down against the end of which my high strings were getting snagged. He didn’t charge me anything. My amp still hasn’t been repaired after 17 days. There’s another guy who fixes the amps at a different location and he hasn’t brought it back yet. 

            I weighed 87.4 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and on the way back I stopped at Freshco to buy petroleum jelly (although they don’t call it that anymore). I also grabbed a couple of bags of cherries. 

            I weighed 87.4 kilos at 17:30. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:15. 

            In Movie Maker I  saved a copy of my August 19 song practice project as “Là-bas c'est naturel (electric)” and isolated it from the other songs. The audio was far behind and usually I have to very gradually edge the audio and video into synchronization. But after cutting a few big sections from the audio timeline it accidentally fell perfectly in synch with the video. I adjusted the audio balance so it’s mostly from the interface but a little from the camera. I added a fade to black. I’ll add a couple more effects tomorrow and publish it. I’ll see if I have time to upload it to YouTube. 

            I continued to search for Greta Garbo clips to fit my line “restless days of hopeless sleep” for my “Angeline” music video. There is one scene in Ninotchka that might work but she’s not all that restless. I’ll keep looking but if nothing else turns up I’ll settle for that one. 

            I scanned fifteen slides from the second half of the final box. Most of them are from the shoot I did of my daughter’s Aunt Susan climbing at the top of the pipe fittings of a giant tent frame. I vaguely recall that the tent was set up for an event in the park behind my daughter’s mother’s house. I think we just snuck in and did the shoot. I don’t know how I talked Susan into doing it because it looks dangerous. Plus she’s wearing a short dress. It looks like I was shooting while climbing as well. There are ten slides and one negative left and then I’ll have no more use for the scanner. I need to buy an external hard drive for all these photos. 

            I had a potato with gravy and the last T-bone steak while watching season 3, episodes 5 and 6 of Bewitched. 

            In the first story Gerry O’Toole, who says she’s a friend of Darrin’s Irish great aunt comes to visit. Gerry turns out to be a beautiful young woman. She is suddenly terrified when she thinks she hears a cat. After dinner Samantha takes out her knitting to repair one of Darrin’s sweaters but Gerry says she already fixed it before dinner. Samantha finds the knit job unusually expert. Darrin takes Gerry out to the patio and then Samantha’s mother Endora appears to tell her that no human could have done that kind of weaving. Then she reminds her of what kind of non-human hates cats. Samantha realizes that Gerry is a wood nymph. Endora also reminds her that the only thing a wood nymph hates worse than a cat is a witch. When Samantha gets Gerry alone she confronts her and demands to know why she is there. Gerry explains that her family of wood nymphs’ job is to look after Darrin’s descendants. Endora says it’s not true. Samantha and Gerry face off until she makes cats call from outside the house. Gerry is terrified and promises to tell the truth. She says it’s the curse of Kilcarney County that’s brought her. In the 15th Century Darrin’s ancestor Darrin the Bold slew Rufus the Red in a duel. Rufus was kind to the wood nymphs and so they put a curse on Darrin and his descendants. Samantha asks Endora to send her back in time to save Rufus and lift the curse. Endora warns her that her powers won’t work in the past but Samantha says it’s the only way. Samantha arrives in the 15th Century as a servant in Darrin the Bold’s castle. As soon as Darrin sees Samantha he starts grabbing her and chasing her. She has to constantly fight him off. Meanwhile back in the present Darrin is being chased by Gerry. In the past Rufas the Red arrives with his men and asks to set up camp on Darrin’s property. Darrin says he’ll have to pay and so Rufas challenges him to a duel within the hour. Samantha goes to see Rufus and starts measuring him and when he asks why she says it’s for his death shroud. She says all of Darrin’s challengers need them. Then Samantha goes to Darrin, who starts grabbing her again so she has to kick him. She tells him that she overheard Rufus’s men talking. She warns him not to fight Rufus on foot because he’s killed hundreds of men that way and he’s killed even more on horseback. Darrin gets word that the duel is off because Rufus has agreed to pay. Darrin grabs Samantha again and she calls for her mother to bring her back. Samantha tells Gerry the curse is lifted. Gerry wants proof and so Endora makes Rufus appear before her. It turns out that Gerry and Rufus are lovers and so they are overjoyed to see each other. Samantha sends them both happily back to the 15th Century. Nymphs though are Greek and not Irish. The British Isles equivalent for wood nymphs would be faeries. 

            In the second story Samantha’s Uncle Arthur makes a return visit. We learn for the first time that he is Samantha’s uncle by way of being Endora’s younger brother. They do not get along and fight whenever they see each other. Arthur moves in with Samantha and Darrin and begins to spend a lot of time with Tabatha. He uses magic quite publicly while walking Tabatha, shocking Gladys Kravitz. What shocks her even more is the fact that Endora has decided to move into the neighbourhood to protect Tabatha from Arthur’s influence and conjures a big house in the vacant lot across the street. Arthur keeps vanishing the house and Endora keeps making it reappear. Finally Samantha has had enough and lays down the law on both of them. She says they’ll either have fight somewhere else or try to get along if they stay. They do decide to try to get along. We learn that Endora was an only child when Arthur was born ad she resented him for the intrusion. They were on opposite sides during the Civil War. Arthur was with General Grant because he had more booze. They both leave but now Samantha has to deal with getting rid of the house. Gladys calls the cops and they investigate the house. As soon as they leave Samantha makes it disappear. 

            This was the first appearance of Sandra Gould, replacing the late Alice Pearce as Gladys Kravitz. 

            Gerry in the first story was played by Kathleen Nolan, who first appeared on stage at one year of age on the Showboat Goldenrod. She was born into a family of actors and performed on the Goldenrod for twelve years in her family’s troupe, the Circle Stock Company. She sang on a St. Louis radio station. She played Wendy in the original Broadway production of Peter Pan. Her first TV appearance was on the Philco Television Playhouse. She played Liz on the sitcom Jamie. From 1957 to 1962 she played Kate McCoy on The Real McCoys. She then starred in the McHale’s Navy spin-off Broadside. In 1975 she became the first female president of the Screen Actors Guild and served four years.