a back stage Johnny

On Friday, in Lawrence, there was a meet-up of the Huff + 1 lunch club. Back to the usual membership, Marti decked out to the nines, and me bringing 2 cameras to be sure I got at least one picture of her in her black dress with pearls. She shined, I snapped, no one complained. It was glorious.

There are any number of restaurants to go to on Massachusetts street in Lawrence, but one of our favorites is Merchants Pub and Plate, where you can make a reservation (it's busy on Fridays in downtown Lawrence!), the food is always outstanding, and they have a nice crisp sauvignon blanc on the menu.  

Because Sister and I are going to The Cotswolds, and Marti's father hails from England, we had things to discuss. Starting with Agnes Rosina King - Marti's grandmother who was a woman of the stage, and Marti's grandfather who was a "back stage Johnny". I have told you about her grandmother before and how she was a showgirl. But this week Marti brought with her a listing that Rosina had compiled of all the venues where The Mikado played in 1884. How fabulous to hold something like this in your hand and consider what Agnes must have been thinking/doing when she made this list that she kept tucked in a prayerbook. We also discussed Agnes's brother Gunning King who it turns out was a painter of great renown. 

When I told Marti how much I enjoyed thinking ahead to what we would do and see she said "anticipation is sometimes sweeter than realization" - a quote from Percy Mayberry Franks. So true. 

We discussed how Nancy and Jennifer came by their names, and this might have involved the story of a former friend of Marti's who was known in later years to venture out of the house, early in the morning, in her nightgown. We also discussed how one must NEVER pull up in the driveway and honk the horn when picking up a Huff girl for a date. 

Finally, as we were almost ready to go, Marti had us all on the floor laughing (guffawing actually) when she recited this old tongue twister for us...

Marti catarty
Ti-aligo farty
Tea-legged, Tall-ag-ed,
Bow-legged Marti

Then she repeated it with each of our names and we laughed even harder.  By this time it was 3pm and the restaurant was clearing out so no one minded a foursome of ladies, clearly having an extremely entertaining lunch. 

I am coming up with a list of questions now for our next outing... stay tuned. 

Comments

[Chris Oliveira]

Did she make that up? 😂

[carol]

Chris, No - it's something they used to say when they were kids, like our version of carol carol bo barrel, fee fi fo ferrel, banana fanna oh ferrel, carol....