"Life is lived forward, but understood backward. It is not until we are down the road and we stand on the mountain looking back through the valley that we can appreciate the terrain God has allowed us to scale.” Jill Savage

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Simple Pleasures



I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all. - Laura Ingalls Wilder


The smell of fresh laundry.

Be sure and visit some other Simple Pleasures at A Collection of This and That by Dayle.



Happy Birthday to Maureen McCormick-

McCormick and fellow Brady Bunch cast member Barry Williams had a sporadic romance, their first romantic kiss happening in the summer of 1972 while filming the Hawaiian episodes.

In her autobiography, McCormick wrote that her grandmother died from syphilis in a mental institution, having gotten the disease from her husband who had caught it in Europe at the time of World War I (he committed suicide a week after his wife's death). McCormick's mother had contracted syphilis in utero and McCormick dealt with a life-long but unfounded fear she would also get the disease. Hence, she later said her favorite scenes in The Brady Bunch were those which called for her to cry, since this allowed her to show feelings drawn from those fears.

McCormick met Michael Jackson socially in 1973.

Following the cancellation of The Brady Bunch McCormick went through years of addiction to cocaine and Quaaludes which harmed her career. McCormick later claimed she had sometimes traded sex for cocaine. She flubbed an audition with Steven Spielberg for a part in Raiders of the Lost Ark, showing up high on cocaine and sleepless for three days. Having lost her reputation for reliability in Hollywood, a producer threatened that she would never work as an actress again. She had two unwanted pregnancies, both of which ended in abortion. She also dealt with bouts of depression and bulimia.

On March 16, 1985 she married Michael Cummings, who had never seen or heard of The Brady Bunch. They fell in love upon meeting in a church.McCormick and Cummings have one child, daughter Natalie Michelle, born May 19, 1989. The family lives in a Southern California suburb, northwest of Los Angeles.

After her marriage, McCormick went through a series of interventions, stints in rehab and experimental therapies. She says treatment with psychologist Eugene Landy, who had also treated Brian Wilson, set her back. Although she began to get sober after marrying her husband, McCormick still suffered from depression and paranoia. McCormick once threatened to jump from a balcony in front of her husband. She and her husband were at first wary of medication, but McCormick has been treated with antidepressant medication such as Prozac since the 1990s. McCormick also said she was helped by her friendships with former Brady Bunch cast members.

In April 2007 on the TV series Dr. Phil McCormick talked about a family dispute, accusing her brother of both elder abuse and alienating their father from his other children to gain control of his finances.

Maureen wasn't very Brady - was she?

19 comments:

Ms.Daisy said...

Hi Chatty,
Really enjoy your blog...and I love the smell of fresh laundry - reminds me of when I was a kid and we line dryed everything!


~Jean

Mevely317 said...

Love this LIW quote!
What memories this brought back! Now, I'm trying to rewind my "sniffer", back to the Good Old Days :)

Jane said...

Oh, the Brady Bunch was another show that I remember watching as a kid. Enjoy your Thursday,

Jane

Susan said...

Hi Sandie...Yup, I like the smell of fresh laundry, too. Susan

Debbie said...

I love the smell of fresh laundry, especially when it's been outside.

I also LOVE your quote. It's one of my very favorites from my favorite historical person.

And Maureen? I didn't know most of that. Isn't it sad?

Patti said...

That Laura Ingalls Wilder quote is one of my favorites. I think I have it on my sidebar.

I especially love to line dry sheets!!! There is nothing quite like getting into bed and lying on fresh, crisp, sweet-smelling, line-dried sheets.

I used to love The Brady Bunch....still do, actually. My daughter also loves it. Yes, it's corny, but it's sweet, and it was a functional family, unlike most of the families on sitcoms today.

Have a lovely day,
Patti

Jennifer Oberth said...

Love the Laura Ingalls Wilder quote. I keep meaning to read those books of hers!

I love autobiographies.

Did not know all that about Maureen McCormick. Dang! At least she seems to be trying to get help and sounds like she married someone good and supportive. (Not destructive and enabling.)

Dayle ~ A Collection of Days said...

My sister and I used to play hide-and-seek among the laundry, back in the clothesline days. Such sweet simple pleasures. Thanks for linking up. Love that Ingalls quote.

Knitty said...

This is probably un-American of me, but I never liked the Brady Bunch and I'm not against otherwise sweet, corny or sappy sitcoms and movies.

I hope Maureen's problems are under control and remain that way for her and her family. Child stars rarely make it to adulthood with problems.

Cindy said...

Love the smell of fresh laundry. Of course is my favorite is curling up into clean sheets at night that smell like the great outdoors. Nothing better. :)

Skoots1moM said...

mmmmmmmmm fresh laundry

Pam said...

I loved the Brady Bunch and knew McCormick had a lot of problems but didn't know about her grandmother. Hope she is doing well now. The smell of fresh laundry is a wonderful thing. Thanks for this good informative post!

http://nannykim-nannykim.blogspot.com/ said...

speaking of the smell of fresh laundry, I just finished bringing in the sheets from the line and making my bed!

Mollye said...

You are so right. The simpler the better. In every aspect of life. XXHugs, Mollye

Joan Hall said...

I too love the smell of fresh laundry. My mom used to hang clothes outside - I miss that clean smell.

Blessings,
Joan

ocmist said...

Nothing like the smell of freshly dried on the line laundry!

I loved to watch the Brady Bunch, but don't recognize the actor/esses names, so don't know which one you were talking about. I know several of them had problems as they grew up.

Sr Crystal Mary Lindsey said...

Yes, there is nothing like the smell of fresh laundry, dried in the fresh air. I still do it....It blows in the breeze and takes 2 days to dry sometimes in the colder weather.
'Little House on the Prairie' is special to me. I have read all the books, own and watched many of the series and went to see Laura's Rocky Ridge farm. What amazed me the most was that Laura was under 5 ft tall and Almanzo was only 5'4" yet they never let their height deter their work..such an inspiration to all. xx to you.

Hootin Anni said...

If only I could have a clothesline in my yard...oh to have the fresh outdoor fragrance on my bed linens!!!! Around here, in this subdivision, it's against the covenants to have laundry dried outdoors. SAD!!

Melanie said...

I enjoyed your post. :)
I love hanging my clothes and I love to read Laura Ingalls Wilder's books!