So Long, Bea

So, I had thought I would find a crock pot recipe for dinner, do some work from home, pay bills, maybe post something here, check email, and do a little web surfing today. In that order.

Other than the recipe bit, I seem to be doing everything back-ass-wards, which means I still have bill paying and work to look forward to today. I don't have to do this work from home, so maybe I'll beg off and take a look at it again tomorrow. But the bills do need to be paid. And I really didn't find a recipe that I thought I liked today, so I used three different recipes as a jumping off point to create my own. If it's any good, I'll post it later.

This morning I read the news that Bea Arthur passed away today. Whenever I think of Bea, I think of her character and television series Maude. And whenever I think of Maude, I think of Mom, because she watched the show every week and I watched with her. Even though Mom and I also watched Bea on Golden Girls, Maude is her role that sticks with me.

I don't remember much of the show seeing as how it ran in the 70s while I was still in single-digit age. I do remember that Maude was loud, opinionated, and a lot of the other characters didn't like her or were often at odds with her. It seemed like people on the show were always fighting about something and I couldn't understand why mom liked the show.

I get it now. As I got older I caught a couple reruns of Maude and I began to understand why the show was such a hit, and why it was so controversial. Compared to women today, Maude might actually seem a little bland, but back then she was groundbreaking. I wonder if Maude contributed to some of my opinions about women's rights even if I didn't fully grasp it at the time?

A few years ago, I read Adrienne Barbeau's autobiography There Are Worse Things I Could Do. One of the blurbs ("SEX! DRUGS! ROCK AND ROLL! I'd read this book if she weren't my sister-in-law") on the back jacket made me laugh so I decided to read the book. I hadn't known it when I picked up the book, but Adrienne played Carole, Maude's daughter from her second marriage on the series. I don't tend to read celebrity books, but I was pleasantly surprised by the very candid and humble tone of the book.