So, like, does the name "Tuesday Weld" ring a bell?

A cousin in New Orleans just sent me an email with jokes like, one of life's mysteries is how a 2 pound box of candy can make a woman gain 5 lbs., God doesn't give babies to older women because they'd forget where they put them, and my mind not only wanders, sometimes it leaves completely. Things like that.

I told her I could relate. Tonight, for the first time, I went to Wednesday night choir practice at this church I've been visiting up the street. For various good reasons, I was 15 minutes late, which I hated--I feel so rude walking in late, especially the very first time. But I decided to go anyway, since several friends had invited me and said it was fun, not strict.

I knew the room number and opened the right door. I saw no risers, pianist or organist, just a young man in his sock feet in front of people in rows of padded chairs. I wondered if I'd interrupted a class, since the quiet was deafening as they all turned and looked at me.

I got a flash of inspiriation for a brilliant entrance line: "What's today?"

My friends tittered and said hello and the director said, "Wednesday. This is Choir. Welcome," and started directing again from behind his little electronic keyboard. Oh, okay.

A friend handed me some music and I joined in, in spite of the fact the only glasses with me were my sunglasses on top of my head. I knew I had had my readers with me when I left home.

Talk about your mind leaving completely, I should have gone out to look for mine.

Anyway, as it was, I told some sweet young thing who never even heard of Tuesday Weld that I was Wednesday Weird.

Okaay.

And when I got back to my car, my reading glasses were hanging attached to my seatbelt where they had launched themselves from my neckline.

At least, I do make a joyful noise! Especially when I find my reading glasses.

To refresh your memory, Tuesday Weld starred in many movies, but the ones I loved were The Cincinnatti Kid, set in New Orleans, and that sweet Soldier in the Rain, both with '60s heartthrob Steve McQueen. (Not to forget his dramedy,"Love with the Proper Stranger" with Natalie Wood. Trust me, the ending is a pleasant surprise.)

The Baby Boomers enjoyed some good movies. And a nostalgic tv show about the 'sixties ran for eight years, much later--in the 'eighties and 'nineties. Baby Boomers and everyone else loved it. "Among the awards bestowed on The Wonder Years were an Emmy for best comedy series in 1988--after only six episodes had aired--and the George Foster Peabody Award in 1990. TV Guide named the show one of the 1980s' 20 best.

That's why my book is set in the '60s. Baby Boomers are retiring, will have time and money to read. They deserve some good, healing stories about their life and often difficult times.