Anyone wanna read a book??

On 2005-03-15 13:23, Unga Bunga wrote:
Well Ben,
It looks like this book is history.
I can't find a single bit of info on the net about it. Do you remember the name of the author and publisher?
I can't read the photo info. If I find it, I will buy it and submit it to the TC reading pool.

UB, the book is "How Daddy Became a Beachcomber" by Ben's aunt Marilyn Hedley, illustrated by her sister Flo Ann. You can go to your local library's Reference Desk & request it from the San Diego Public Library via Inter Library Loan. San Diego has 2 copies of the book, one of which is currently checked out to me.

This book must be rare. I have looked in every online used bookstore I could find and can't locate a copy anywhere. Anyone know how many were printed and what they are worth?

I don't know how much it'd cost to buy it, but I've only found 16 copies in libraries in the US, & I don't think there're any copies in libraries overseas.

freddiefreelance wrote:

San Diego has 2 copies of the book, one of which is currently checked out to me.

Watch out freddie, you never know where or when Big Brother maybe watching.

Arlington, VA Uses Cameras to Tow for Overdue Library Books
Arlington, VA and New Haven, CT are using a new camera technology to tow cars with unpaid parking tickets or overdue library fees.

Arlington, Virginia has taken the next step in automated camera enforcement. Next month, it will expand its use of "BootFinder," a camera device that scans license plates of parked cars and compares it against a database of unpaid fines. If the car's owner is listed as delinquent, the car can be towed -- and if the owner doesn't pay within 10 days the car is auctioned.

Currently Arlignton's program focuses on unpaid car and property taxes, and the city's one camera has collected $90,000. In March, however, any unpaid fine is fair game, "anything from late park and recreation fees to overdue library books."

New Haven, Connecticut has towed hundreds of cars and collected $500,000 with its BootFinder. Bridgeport is ready to get on board as well.

The system uses a $25,000 camera mounted in a laptop-equipped minivan and is capable of taking a thousand photos every minute. Arlington County Treasurer Frank O'Leary told the Washington Times, "We're just always looking for new ways to skin the cat."

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/01/196.asp

[ Edited by: DawnTiki on 2005-03-22 12:20 ]

We were lucky and found a copy at an online bookseller......

The groovy thing is that it is signed!

It is a wonderful story, very colorful and descriptive. Makes me want to get rid of everything (that's not Tiki) and move back to the mobile home.......

Very cool Bongofury.

My Aunt, FloAnn Norvel (Hedley) passed away 2 weeks ago. She was the illustrator and the oldest of the 4 Hedley sisters. She was the one who signed most of the books (Marilyn, the author, was on the USO tour with Raymond Burr at the time of the release of the book).

Rest in peace Aunty Flo. Say hi to Eli for me.

p.s. Just before she passed away, all 4 sisters were together and they were reading the article in Tiki Mag that Mrs. Boo wrote.

If anyone out there wants to say something like a letter or what not to the surviving family, please e-mail me. Do not PM. I will forward the po box/ addresses. They would be very stoked if they heard from this generation.

Mahalos,

Bamboo Ben

EMAIL ARTICLE LINK TO ARTICLE PRINT ARTICLE

Article Last Updated: Thursday, June 09, 2005 - 7:55:29 AM PST

Flo Ann Hedley Norvell

When Flo Ann Hedley Norvell died on May 27, 2005 her family and friends got a great shock. Healthy all her life, she had never taken as much as an aspirin. Always there for the people who needed her, she was suddenly gone.

Artist, activist and teacher, Flo Ann was born in Shawnee, Okla., on Oct. 22, 1928, the first of four daughters born to Eli and Malcolm Hedley. Later, the family moved to Seminole, Okla., an oil boomtown, where Eli opened a grocery store.

By 1938 when Flo Ann was 10, the oil was pumped out and Seminole was part of the Dust Bowl. The wind was blowing the topsoil away, and the grocery store had seen better days.

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7/10/2005

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The Hedleys went west in an old Ford with a mattress on top, like so many other families from Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma. They went as far as they could, to the beach in Palos Verdes, Calif. There they leased an abandoned part of the Royal Palms Country Club from Seor Sepulveda. It had a flagstone dance floor ringed with huge palm trees and large stone fireplaces built into the cliffs facing the ocean. They built a house out of driftwood and called their new home The Cove.

At that time, in the 40s, all kinds of useful stuff washed up on the beach. There were parts of boats, giant uprooted redwoods from up north, glass fishing floats and nets from Japan. Soon the whole family was beachcombing. Eli Hedley was inventive, and FloAnn, being the oldest, was soon helping him make all kinds of interesting creations from things they found on the beach. They sold what they made in Hollywood department stores, and this trade soon evolved into a Polynesian-theme decorating business that Flo Ann helped with until her fathers retirement in 1974.

Flo Ann Hedley and Russel Norvell met in kindergarten in Seminole. Twenty years later, on Feb. 12, 1953, they were married on the Coast, down at The Cove.

Flo and Rusty moved to Japan. Their son, Cove, was born there while Rusty was in the Navy. Surrounded by the beauty of the country and the work of its artists, Flo Ann took it all in, absorbing the graceful Japanese interpretation of beauty.

After Japan, the Norvells came back to California, where Flo Ann started teaching. They moved to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico and lived there awhile. They lived in London and Cadaques, Spain. In Spain Flo focused on oil painting and did some of her best work. Back in the states, she taught art and English when they lived in Manhattan, Connecticut, Tennessee and New Jersey.

Flo and Rusty came to back to California in 1979, this time to the Mendocino coast. They lived in a tent first, then in a trailer and finally in an honest-to-god house that Cove built. From her Mendocino home Flo Ann launched a series of art shows, including a 99-piece show at the Unitarian Church in San Francisco. She also published a childrens book, The Great Big Box Book. But the driving force of her life on the coast shifted toward citizen activism. She was determined to help protect the ocean and the environment.

When the Department of the Interior wanted to allow drilling for oil off the Mendocino coast, she believed that this would lead to pollution and eventually a major spill. She helped found Ocean Sanctuary to block the plans of the government and the oil industry. Later she realized a more national approach was needed, so she joined the Sierra Club. With Sierra Club members she launched several projects to protect the coastal environment. She created posters and flyers and ran letter-writing campaigns to government officials. She collected signatures for petitions, designed mass mailings and used her charm and some arm-twisting to get things done.

Many will remember getting her unique Christmas cards. These were drawn with a spare and joyful pen and ink line with a some clever collage material and were always humorous.

Flo Ann was a member of the Christian Science Church in Fort Bragg were she was a clerk, reader and usher. She will also be remembered by her many friends there as a dynamic Sunday school teacher.

She was always cheerful, and she had a generous spirit. Many people here have occupied themselves with cherishing the world around them, and Flos work will be taken up by someone else, but the unique attributes she brought to her world are gone with her and wont be seen again.

Flo Ann Hedley Norvell is survived by her husband Russel Norvell; son and daughter in-law, Cove Norvell and Lorraine Ardaiz; granddaughter, Elizabeth Norvell and grandson, Christian Jaggli. She is survived by her three sisters: Marilyn Gozzano, Bungy Hartshorn and Charlotte Ba Hedley, cousin Billie Lou McCune, many nieces and nephews (11), brothers-in-law Phil Norvell, Bill Norvell, sisters-in-law Sheila Turner and Norma Norvell.

There will be a celebration of Flo Anns life at the Abalone room of the Little River Inn Sunday, June 12 at 2 p.m.

RETURN TO TOP

A little slice of history goes to the pie in the sky. We'll miss the crap out of you Flo.

Love- the Boo's

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Boo's ~
I'm so sorry to read of your Aunt Flo's passing.
It sounds like she had quite a beautiful and extra ordinary life.
Although I didn't know her, after reading the book I feel like I did (in a very small way).
Thanks for putting the book out there in Tiki Central-land.
Giving the readers a little peak into the fearless life of the Hedley's.
To see a family "choose" to live their lives on their own terms filled with courage, creativity and LOVE.
What a legacy!

[ Edited by: DawnTiki 2005-07-10 20:23 ]

Sorry for your loss, Ben, it seems she had a rich life with mostly good health and happiness. I'm sure your children will appreciate the connections.

Now selfishly, I would love to read this book.
Who has it?

Ben,
I am very sorry to hear the bad news.

Pablus, I sent the book to Jungle Trader last month,
Mahalo,
Al

I have it, BUT, it will be going to the Drunken Hat and Tikicleen now.
I just made another copy of the book and sent it to someone per Boobam Ben's request, so there will be another one floating around the Jungle.
What a delightful life they had! What a delightful book.

Pray for our Brother Stentiki aka Arty and Tina. He has run into some bad luck with his body and needs all of our prayers and thoughts.

OK, I'm going to request the book from the San Diego Central Library again, and this time I'll Xerox it, send it to Pablus, & we'll have another copy in circulation.

Stop trying to make me happy.
I want to complain and grumble.

I cain't read enyways, cuz mah eyes r givin out.

(Hey thanks, ff. I owe you now.)

On 2005-07-13 13:14, pablus wrote:

Stop trying to make me happy.
I want to complain and grumble.

You can complain about how long it takes me to get this done, it'll probably be next week before they ship me the book, then I'll have to wait 'til Saturday to copy it, then I'll have to find a big envelope & stamps... (on a related note: FZ, I'm printing tracklists & shipping those CDs tomorrow... :D )

On 2005-07-13 13:14, pablus wrote:
I cain't read enyways, cuz mah eyes r givin out.

(Hey thanks, ff. I owe you now.)

Well, I didn't expect much from you, you are from Tampa. :P

Rev. Dr. Frederick J. Freelance, Ph.D., D.F.S

[ Edited by: freddiefreelance 2005-07-13 13:46 ]

Are there still copies floating around out there somewhere??
I'd love to read this and I haven't been able to find one on e-bay or amazon and I've been looking for months.
Mahalo!!

I'd love to know who the book has traveled to since it went into circulation on TC.

Hmmm, I never got it.
But I'd love to read it still.

There's one around somewhere.

Regarding the splendid person that Flo Ann Hedley Norvell was (and still is in her art),she, Rusty, and I taught at the same school in Tennessee at about the same time. The Norvell house had 20-25 of her paintings on the walls and I bought seven of them . I have posted two of the oils on my website which is http://www.risinghouse.com/ My hope is that you enjoy them as much as I have over the years... I wrote Flo Ann five years ago telling her of this delight in her art.

Flo Ann Norvell's paintings must interest a good many people judging from the e-mails and calls about the seven that I own that I have received. Rather than try to describe the five that I didn't show in the first posting of her art on my website, I have put all seven up on my site which is http://www.risinghouse.com/.

The book seems to be available in reprint form here http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~37319.aspx
I just hope it's an authorized reprint and the family isn't getting jacked.
I still need to read this book!

Aloha Mr. Hand

[ Edited by: theded1 2006-12-18 08:25 ]

On 2006-12-18 08:24, theded1 wrote:
The book seems to be available in reprint form here http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~37319.aspx
I just hope it's an authorized reprint and the family isn't getting jacked.
I still need to read this book!

---

Aloha Mr. Hand

[ Edited by: theded1 2006-12-18 08:25 ]

Aloha Ded1,

This IS THE AUTHORIZED ONE. Get it and read it! You'll dig it! It's all good!

I ordered it! Can't wait to read it, been wanting to for a long time!