The cruise ship from Holland was a littlecramped and we didn't even have any Betty Neels on board!
At Casa van Voorhees we are no doubt sitting around the unlit fire (as Mijnheer van Voorhees loves to blow out the pilot light every spring and neglects to light it again until I goad him beyond bearing) and sipping on apple cider (the van Voorhees are insatiable in their love of apple cider), avoiding football (because my Mijnheer is not at his best discussing football knowledgeably) and wondering when dinner will be ready.
We don't know what The Great Betty would have thought of Thanksgiving (classy because it's all about gratitude and humility and eating things not out of tins or trashy because it's just another boorish American holiday--such a quandary!) but I thought this would be a fun chance to name our Betty-related blessings (Oh! Oh! Me first! Me first!):
I'm thankful for a great group of fellow Bettys. What a fun year this has been! The Founding Bettys didn't know we'd be meeting all of you when we kicked around the idea of starting a blog last year. Really, if we had twenty visitors in a year it would have been the bee's knees but every comment and every lurker (let's find a nicer Betty-name for that) gives us a lot of inspiration and drive to keep going (when the last thing in the world you want to do is read another book and blog about it (It happens.)). And you Bettys keep it entertaining and tempestuous (Who can forget the Great Turban Divide or the late unpleasantness over Betty's character names? I call it the Fabian Fracas. (Yes, that is a hill I will die on)).
And you?
I add my own thanks for our beloved fellow Bettys. When Betty Keira and I were kicking around the idea for this blog we had no inkling that there were others like us...devoted fans of The Great Betty who would be willing to read our drivel and add their own points of view. Thank you so much for giving us that little extra push that we needed to stick to this project.
ReplyDeleteI also want to say thanks to Betty Keira for giving me my first Neels to read and telling me that I had to read a few before passing any sort of judgement on whether or not I liked them.
Thank you.
Thank you all so much for this blog. I am soooo glad I found it!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI've been a BN fan for a very long time!
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!
I'm thankful for all of you Bettys, too - what fun this is! I've been a Neels fan since the 80s when her books were coming out a few times a year as they were published by Harlequin. I'd get them on the local Bookmobile every other week, always excited to find a new Neels! Now, they are all old friends, who've led me to new friends here. How cool is that? Somehow I think Mrs. Neels would be happy to know about us all, even if so many of us are crass Americans!
ReplyDeleteBTW, don't know if I've ever identified myself beyond "Silly 'Ma," but I'm Betty Cindy. The Silly 'Ma thing came from the first name our grandson called me when he was just starting to talk. Silly mmmMa. (To distinguish me from his other grandmother, who can be much sillier at times, but hey, I must have been having a good day!)
Well, I've been a fan of Betty Neels' Canon for longer than SOME of you have been alive (looking at YOU, Betty Keira!).
ReplyDeleteI remember finding them as a teenager (40 years ago, now) and adoring them. More than once, I would reread them in chronological order. (I'll admit I gave up, or failed, once there were several dozen of her books to get through.) I've also cataloged them more than once -- which sounds stupid, but some of those databases were pre-computer, and I'm bad at filing things...
So more than anything, I'm very thankful for Betty's books. She had a distinctive voice, and it never got hoarse or lost to laryngitis.
I'm also thankful for this blog -- which I stumbled upon by accident last February. I might *wish* you were only doing one book a week, but I can't blame you for feeling that three years of your life might be a longer sentence than the crime of enthusiasm merits.
I just wish this blog had coincided with any of the times I was determined to reread the entire Canon. Instead, it's coincided with my feeble efforts to write books of my own. I would so much rather be reading Betty, and this blog!
There once were some Betty's American
ReplyDeleteWho thought up a blog esoterican
They have read the Neels canon
Critiqued books with abandon
And created a thankful BettyFan .
Grateful-in-rhyme, BettyMary
"crime of enthusiasm"--BING! We have a winner!
ReplyDeleteAnd Betty Mary--WAY to rhyme American with esoterican!
>>>WAY to rhyme American with esoterican!>|<<<
ReplyDeleteThanks for noticin', but I didn't have a ton of choices and it had more syllables than alley can!
This is totally off topic but who makes up the security word wannabees? I just had to type endosopm, and that's so like something I don't want to know the meaning of.
Betty Mary, letting her inner Eeyore take over.
Betty Barbara here--
ReplyDeleteWay to go Betty Mary. You are obviously this blog's unofficial Poet Laureate. I am in envy of your poetic skills, as my ability to write any sort of poetry is pathetic.
However, one teeny quibble (sorry, my inner editor has seized control of the keyboard):
Bettys, American = our Founding Bettys, whom you are saluting.
Betty's American = Larry, the rich American of poor driving skills and low morals, who is always on hand to run off with various fiancees or first wives!
Re: those pesky verification words--yeah, you are right--you can encounter some really scary almost words!
Gah! Those verification words! I feel like just to post a comment I have to go through an inner dialog similar to the one which airs whenever I walk past a dime on the ground--'Is it even worth it?!'
ReplyDeleteBetty Barbara here--
ReplyDeleteBetty Mary, I just want to tell you that I have successfully wrestled the inner editor away from the keyboard and back into her cage. I don't know know if it was the pecan pie or the promise of new!shiny!red pens that did the trick, but she apologizes for correcting your poem and promises not to do it again.
Betty Keira--my question about that dime on the ground is never "is it worth it?" but "can I bend over and pick it up without throwing out my back?"!!