Surprise 78th Birthday Trip

We flew to San Francisco for Lunch

Although she loved geography,  my mother hadn't traveled much until I began to take her on trips whenever I could in the 1980s. I wanted every birthday to be special for her.

~Daughter, Morgan St. James

On her 78th birthday I told her I was taking her to lunch, but we had to leave early.

She questioned why that was necessary, and I came up with some BS excuse because I had a very special lunch planned for her. Little did she know that we were flying from Los Angeles to San Francisco for lunch at Fisherman's Wharf. I knew she loved Chinatown, too, so after that I planned to go from the Wharf to Chinatown, do some shopping,  finish with and early sushi dinner at Yamato's Restaurant on California Street in Chinatown, then fly back to L.A. 

Yes, I know sushi and Yamato's are Japanese, but the restaurant actually was in Chinatown right across from a McDonald's restaurant I'd decorated. Because I made several trips to San Francisco related to decorating McDonald's restaurants back then, I'd become friends with the sushi chef. No matter how much time went by between visits, he always greeted me as "Decorator Lady from McDonald's" and made special dishes for me. I thought she would enjoy that.

As we headed for LAX, she asked where we were going, and when I pulled into the airport she said, "Honey, are we going to the Theme Restaurant?" That was a big Space Age looking restaurant at the entrance to LAX.

I shook my head and said, "Good guess, but no. I know you've only been to San Francisco a few times and loved it, so I thought it would be the perfect place to have lunch."

Her eyes widened. "Lunch? We're going to fly to San Francisco for lunch? I can't believe it."

"Believe it!"

In her circle of friends it would have been a rare occurrence for someone to fly to San Francisco just for lunch and I knew she'd really have something to talk about at the Senior Center. Tears filled her eyes and she told me how special I'd made her birthdays. Her 75th was a weekend spent in Las Vegas with VIP treatment from the general manager of the Flamingo Hotel, 76 was New Orleans where she was up on stage dancing with the club owner (see the chapter in "Can We Come In and Laugh, Too?" for that story).

We caught a cab to the Wharf and  walked around, watched the seals and walruses on their platform in the bay, peeked in shops and generally had a great time. Then it was time for our Crab Louis at Alioto's on the world renowned Fisherman's Wharf. I joked that the restaurant was almost as old as she was--not quite, but almost. Mom was born in 1909 and  Alioto's had opened in 1925. She was in "seventh heaven." With lunch finished, we walked to the cablecar stop and I helped her hop on a cablecar, Destination: Chinatown.

After an afternoon of walking around--she was a great walker, better at 78 than me at 48--we went to Yamato's where I hoped my friend the chef would offer his normal greeting. The minute we appeared in the entrance he called out, "Greetings pretty decorator lady from McDonalds. And, who this beautiful lady?" (referring to Rosetta). I introduced her as my mother and he raved about how much he liked making special dishes for me. Mom was beaming.

She'd never had sushi but was ready to try it and he prepared a feast. After that day she asked if we could have sushi on several occasions. It didn't matter how old Rosetta got, she was always game to try something new. Maybe that's where I get the spirit of always being willing to  try new things. However, if she didn't like something, she didn't forget, either. Once I recommended a restaurant and she said she'd eaten there twenty years before and wouldn't go back because the service was awful. 

After being catered to by my friend, the sushi chef, we took a cab to the airport, and that's when I got a big surprise. Our return tickets were gone! I dumped the contents of my purse on a counter, but there were no tickets and the flight we'd planned to take was sold out. I told them we had reservations, and the agent actually saw the bookings, but without the tickets we were out of luck. I had no idea what had happened, unless I'd somehow dropped them and perhaps two people were enjoying a free flight to L.A.

We had the agent check other airlines and found we could buy tickets for a flight that was leaving shortly on the old commuter airline Air Cal. Mom and I hustled to their terminal only to discover a long line waiting to check in or buy tickets. We begged people to let us through the line so we could buy tickets for the flight in time to board it. Mom smiled sweetly as I pleaded.

Maybe it was her snow white hair or her captivating smile, but whatever it was, everyone let us get in front of them until we reached the front of the line. We just made it onto the flight and when we landed in L.A. she gave me a hug and said, "I can always count on you for something unexpected for my birthday. I love you, honey." That was worth everything! 

CAN WE COME IN AND LAUGH, TOO? is filled with humor and inspiration -- stories covering everything from growing up in as the youngest of ten children in a zany, early 1900s family to using laughter to get through some of the curves life threw her way. Thousands of copies have delighted people all over the globe. Why not get your own copy or give it as a gift. Available in Kindle and paperback. Amazon Select members borrow it FREE.

WHEN ROSETTA WAS IN HER MID-80s, SHE REJECTED A SUITOR WHO WAS "TOO OLD"

He was too old for her!

Up until the mid 90s Rosetta was a familiar face in the Pico/Robertson area of Los Angeles. She never learned to drive and went everywhere by foot or bus. Occasionally, she would spring for a taxi. Until she was nearly 89, most mornings she  walked from her apartment at Sherbourne near Olympic to the shopping area on Pico--about a mile walk each way. It was good aerobic exercise, and probably contributed to her good health and youthful attitude.

As Rosetta took her daily walk, always with that great smile lighting her face, she frequently stopped to chat with some of the many friends she'd made along the way. By the time she was 86, it seemed as though one older gentleman waited  in the same spot every morning until she passed 


Finally one morning he struck up a conversation, then walked along with her. After several mornings he asked her out for dinner, but made the mistake of calling it a "date." Much to his dismay, she said she just wanted to be friends. Undaunted, he still waited for her every day. At last she agreed and they had their "date."

It was hard to hold back my chuckles after I asked, "Mom, you said he's a nice guy. I never hear you talk about him anymore."

"Well, honey, he's just too old for me. During dinner he me told he's ninety. Okay he still drives, goes to the gym every day and is a fine-looking fellow--tall and erect with a good head of silver hair, and he's really funny, but what do I want with an old man? She lowered her voice, "Besides, I think he's looking for a sex partner. So, it was a dilemma. You see, I'm too young for him, but I'm too old to be anyone's sex toy."

The poor old gent continued to hound her to no avail. That's all for today. Thanks for following this blog. ROSETTA'S DAUGHTER, MORGAN ST. JAMES

 Love Rosetta? Read her funny and touching memoir. CAN WE COME IN AND LAUGH, TOO?

Excerpt from CAN WE COME IN AND LAUGH, TOO?

Via Photoshop Rosetta was the model for Flossie Silver
 and her own father (at about the same age) the model for Sterling Silver
 in the Silver Sisters Mysteries

CAN WE COME IN AND LAUGH, TOO?

Our household was strictly Orthodox Jewish, which included several traditions. I learned to read Hebrew at a very young age and my father would settle back in his favorite chair while I read the Hebrew newspaper to him. Now that I’m old, I can’t read a word of Hebrew. I can’t explain why that is, but as an adult I definitely didn’t get involved in religion much. Maybe that’s why I’ve forgotten Hebrew, but I can still speak Yiddish.  When I do go to temple, it is either Conservative or Reform and I usually only go on the Jewish High Holidays. After my sister Jean and my brothers got married, my sister Edna and I were the only ones still at home and we knew we wanted to be part of the modern world.

My father was a very kind, gentle person and had a great sense of humor. Mama loved to laugh, but not like my father. She was much quieter. He did all the grocery shopping because my mother never had a chance to get out of the kitchen. Cooking for at least twelve people every day was a full-time job. 

RESPONSE TO KINDLE PROMOTION OVERWHELMING

Rosetta is on TOP-Again!

Rosetta Schwartz 1909-2006

That's her at the top of the heap back in in the 1920s during a day at the beach. Her sister Edna is the one on the left.


The response to the free Kindle edition of Rosetta's memoir on June 6-7 was overwhelming. In two days nearly 5,300 copies were downloaded followed by many more people buying copies from Amazon for only $2.99.


Rosetta almost made her 97th birthday, but If she had lived long enough to see this response and realized how many people will now read her stories and tell their friends and relatives about her book, she would have been ecstatic. After all, when she was approached and asked to write about her life, her answer was, "But I'm  not a writer, Honey."

Oh yes she was. The book came about because I turned one of her favorite phrases around and used it on her: "You can do it." And, she not only wrote Part I of the book, she did it with a flair for comedy in a tightly written memoir.    

                        Morgan St. James

From Part II: 

I remember when Aunt Rosetta walked into a room it was painted with sunshine.  Soon that room overflowed with laughter. Laughter is contagious and let me tell you Aunt Rosetta was the primary carrier.  Even though she is no longer with us, I know that she is spreading sunshine and laughter somewhere.  

Nephew Sandy Schwartz, her brother Charlie's son 

Rosetta commented on the economy and homeless people back in 1989

Rosetta's book is available in Kindle and paperback.

Chapter Sixteen, the last chapter in Part I focuses on the economy and the homeless problem.

Editor’s Note: This was, of course, written in 1989 when Rosetta was 80 and not much has changed relative to her “Last Word”. Rosetta even wrote to President Bush and asked why they couldn’t do something like the WPA to help out the homeless problem. Barbara Bush wrote back that she would discuss it with George, but at least she did get a White House reply.

 SIXTEEN

 Last Thoughts

I cannot conclude my memoir without mentioning my opinion on the subject of street people in this generation. During my parent’s generation as well as mine, no matter how tough it was to get by at times, you did not see street people sleeping on sidewalks and in doorways. It was bad enough when you saw adults doing that, but now you see families with little children on the streets with no place to live.

When my parents left Latvia, a part of Russia, to settle in the United States, they didn't have much to back them up. They were newlyweds, and my father had two brothers living in Chicago. One of them was willing to accommodate my parents by letting them live in his apartment and was happy to put them up until my father was able to find a job and an apartment.

This is how the majority of foreigners that came to America from Europe and other continents solved the problem. Living on the streets was unheard of. People helped each other out. The only really bad times I can remember when we lived in Chicago, Illinois, was during prohibition days with Al Capone as the head of the mob. It was a time of great corruption in my city and my husband also had to pay protection money to the gangsters to stay in business.

I’m afraid this present generation not only has a bad drinking problem, but in addition to that a bad narcotics problem is killing our young people. Teenagers are so addicted to dope that they cannot support their habit and so many have committed suicide. It's not only the teenagers, but unfortunately this problem also includes the rest of the age groups. They rob and kill to support their habit, and eventually become street people. How is this all going to end? The answer as I can see it is that we have to stop the Central American and South American countries from shipping these narcotics into America.

As for work, after the Great Depression there was the WPA and it put people to work rebuilding our country. They could earn money which allowed them to hold their heads high while taking care of roads, bridges and more. Maybe that’s what we need today.

Kindle edition of Rosetta's book FREE today and tomorrow at Amazon

1920s - Rosetta at the beach with her banjo

This is a great chance to download a FREE copy of the Kindle edition of CAN WE COME IN AND LAUGH, TOO? on April 19, 20 and 27. After that it goes back to $2.99. If you're an Amazon Prime Member, you can borrow it free at any time.

Don't have a Kindle? Just download the free Kindle ap on your computer or your SmartPhone and read bits of Rosetta's stories whenever you have time. It will bring a smile to your face.  She always found the humor in every situation. Here is an example that isn't in the book.

In 1983 when Rosetta was 74, she was the passenger in a car that was hit broadside in the passenger's door. She wound up in the hospital with gashes, bruises and a broken arm. Despite it all, there was a smile on her face. She pointed to the deep gash held together with stitches that had miraculously missed her eye. "See, honey, the guy upstairs was watching out for me. Otherwise I might have had to wear a patch and then I'd look like a pirate."

Later, after she had been released from the hospital a few days later, her daughter suggested that it would be better for Rosetta to come to her house to convalesce. Well, Morgan lived about 30 miles from Rosetta's apartment which would take her away from her friends and beloved sisters Edna and Jean. "Thanks, honey, but I'll be fine here."

"But, Mom..."

Rosetta held up the arm enclosed in a big white plaster cast. "Look, if you're worried about anyone breaking in, I've got the best weapon possible. I'll just hit them over the head with this cast. It's really heavy, you know."

Rosetta was a "fountain of wisdom" - She just didn't know it

Rosetta considered herself an ordinary woman. Having begged to be allowed to go to high school and take a commercial course back in 1923 when most kids from poor families went to work as young as ten or twelve years old to help support the family, Rosetta and her sister Edna were the only ones of ten children who were able to convince their parents to allow them to continue their education.

That wasn't where her thirst for knowledge ended. She always was an avid reader and possessed a keen sense of what was obvious and what was right. 

Her grandson Scott said it best. When he enrolled in the engineering program at University of Alaska in Fairbanks he was definitely challenged. His preparation in math was beyond poor -- it was disastrous, so he had to work very hard to learn what he should have learned in high school. Many times he was ready to give up, but it was Rosetta to the rescue. Here is a small excerpt from what he wrote in Part II of Can We Come In and Laugh, Too?

"I always knew I could get re-energized by Grandma. The next year, I skipped the year of trigonometry and the year of geometry courses and went right into the full on three-semester Sequence Calculus course, My professors allowed me to make this quantum leap as I was already using some of the three untaken math courses in the engineering coursework.

Initially, I thought I was going to die. However, my twice per week calls to Grandma were just the right medicine for academic anxiety. She always found a way to remove my stress and replace it with hope and courage. It was a gift that she had, for which I am forever grateful. With her encouragement, I was able to hold my head above water in all those subjects and even got B and A grades in them."

As the years rolled by, Grandma was there just as she promised. The courses got a lot more difficult and I can assure you that she knew nothing about differential equations, fluid mechanics or properties of materials; however, she knew exactly what to say to point me in the right direction. With a loving dose of encouragement, I was recharged and ready to take on the world.

Even when Rosetta was an old woman, while her friends watched the "Soaps" on TV,  she loved to watch programs like Face the Nation and Meet the Press to keep up on what was happening in the world. She would tune to any geographical or historical program that caught her eye, and when a country or place was mentioned that she was unfamiliar with, Rosetta reached for the huge World Atlas on her coffee table and looked up every fact about it. She also treasured her National Geographic Magazines and kept many back issues handy to read and refer to.


Life wasn't always "smooth sailing" for her, but Rosetta managed to find the humor even when the situation was dire and went through life with a smile on her face. She was able to transfer the ability to overcome negativity to everyone she came in touch with.

Welcome to the new blog for Rosetta Schwartz's book Can We Come In and Laugh, Too

Rosetta can't write this blog herself, because she passed away in 2006 just before her 97th birthday. When her daughter, author Morgan St. James, convinced to write a memoir back in 1989, Rosetta had no idea that someday it would be a book to be enjoyed by the masses. 

With her normal modesty, she said, "But honey, you and your sister Phyllice are the writers in the family. What would I say?"

"Well, Mom, just write about your life. Lot's of people living now have no idea what it was like back then . You weathered some pretty stormy times and it seems laughter always got you through. By the way, you're wrong. You're a wonderful writer."

She thought for a moment, then said, "Well we always did have so much fun. With 9 brothers and sisters pulling crazy stunts and all the neighbors wanting to come in and laugh with us, I guess I do have pretty much to write about."

So Rosetta took out her spiral notebook and started to write. "Before I tell my stories, and I've got a lot of them, I want to talk about my brothers and sisters. People need to know what they were like to understand that our family was like living in the middle of a three-ring circus."

That was definitely the truth. The calmest one was Jean, the oldest of the brood. Beautiful Jean even graced the cover of an early Saturday Evening Post one time, but that's another story and you'll find it in the book. The others were like a troop of comedians 24/7.

As she takes you through her more than 90 years, future posts will give you more insight into Rosetta, a little silver-haired woman with the strength of steel and the understanding of Soloman. She had the gift of being able to make you feel so special and believe that you could accomplish anything.

Oh, yes, there will also be video of her dancing to rock and roll at age 90 and peeks into her amazing wisdom.

Thanks for visiting, and come back soon.