Author: Mrs Walley

Annette Strang Walley and Keith Warren French – 1955

This is a 78-RPM vinyl recording of my Mom, Annette Walley (Nee: Strang), singing, and my Dad, Keith Warren Walley, on piano. The bird is Mom’s, brought from home and placed in the recording studio. Mom is 16 and Dad is 17. The recording was made in Long Beach, CA in 1955. Thanks to Tom Gordon… Continue reading Annette Strang Walley and Keith Warren French – 1955

At Williamsburg

There is a placeWhere quiet streetsAnd verdant scenesRefresh the soulAnd calm the mind. There is a placeWhere brick-laid pathsAnd cobbled streetsWere trodden smoothWith patriots’ solesThat would not know defeat. There is a placeWhere once a manStood up and said,”Give me liberty -Or give me death!” There is a placeWhere “Young Hot Colts”Met [at] night, upstairs… Continue reading At Williamsburg

There is a feeling that I like best

There is a feeling that I like best

When I come into the kitchen of my nest

And Reid is making a model

Or painting some trees or a flower

And Lance is rearranging the wires

On one of his ‘lectronic devices

To give a new gadget more power

Or maybe they’re laughing with Lucy

Or Gilligan or Elizabeth Montgomery

Or thrilling o’er one of Lassie’s adventures.

And I am making them Ovaltine

And hot oatmeal if it’s morning,

A grilled cheese sandwich or a crisp green salad

And I feel them waiting with quiet love.

© 1976 Annette L. Strang-Walley. All rights reserved. (Redlands, CA, January 1976)

Where Opera Began for Me

My first-born, Reid, asked me if I knew how I’d heard Opera for the first time: radio broadcast, 78-RPM record played by my Mother at home, or a live performance? After much thinking, I’m pretty sure it was in 1949, when I was 10, while watching a film with my Mother, Dr. Pearl Marie Sampson.… Continue reading Where Opera Began for Me

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Categorized as Music, Opera