Oh Coleen. We Could Have Told You...

Doubtful, but do any of you remember my silly rant from early January? Here it is if you missed it...

Rant Post

My sweet bloggy friends were so supportive but yes. I was chastised by some anonymous folks who felt I had a cold, downright icy heart...okay. Perhaps I was harsh about one Ms. Britney Spears, IF she does, in fact, have a mental disorder. And yes, I do have pity for her but more so for her poor children who have been caught in the maelstrom. 'Nuff said again. But I also wrote about one Coleen Sullivan, former news anchor on a local Dayton television station. Beautiful and oft described as brainy, she left her job and the US for one Earl Spencer. Oh, and the Earl was still married to wife number two. Oh, and she had just given birth to his 5th or 6th child (I have lost count). Wife number two came along after he dumped wife number one for some other lovelies who he also dumped along the way. Does anyone else here see a pattern? And Coleen was described as "brainy"? Whoa. Coleen flew to England and interviewed the Earl of Rat about the Diana exhibit due to come to the Dayton Art Institute. Yes, THAT Earl of Rat. Her brother. Coleen was seen entertaining said Earl of Rat whilst he was in Dayton during the exhibit's opening days. And closing days. Then Coleen flew the proverbial Dayton coop. For England or South Africa...wherever the Earl hung his hat. Now, could we all have NOT seen THIS coming? Heck, I doubt anyone has ever described me as "brainy" but I saw this coming from 3,000 light years away. Since a few of you have asked about this loving couple's status...

From the Dayton press: Newspaper Website reports Earl dumps Coleen Sullivan Staff Report Monday, June 23, 2008 It seems that former WDTN-TV reporter Coleen Sullivan has been dumped. At least that's the word coming out of London on Monday night, June 23, from Daily Mail columnist Richard Kay. "Just 18 months after abandoning his vivacious second wife Caroline for an American TV presenter, 44-year-old Earl Spencer is single again. "I can reveal he has dumped Coleen Sullivan, who moved in with Princess Diana's brother soon after being sent to Britain to interview him. The break-up has stunned friends who thought that the libidinous Earl had at last found the third Countess Spencer," Kay wrote. "Their relationship has certainly followed a predictable pattern. He fell so passionately for the dark-haired Coleen that he left Caroline just months after she had given birth to their daughter Lara — their second child and his sixth. But the couple are no longer living together at his magnificent stately home, Althorp in Northamptonshire, where Diana is buried," Kay wrote. "Coleen was not seen at last week's literary festival at Althorp, which Spencer takes a great pride in. A friend tells me: "She has gone home to America. What else do you expect a girl to do?" Policeman's daughter Coleen, 34, first met the Earl when she visited Althorp in February 2006 to make a documentary about the Princess of Wales for her TV station, WDTN Channel 2, where she had earned a reputation as being something of a pin-up. Within a matter of weeks, Coleen had dumped her American boyfriend of 11 years and, the following October, Charles told Caroline he wanted a divorce." From the British press:

Earl's girl is given the heave-ho! 24th June 2008 Some will see it as the act of a man never destined to find happiness; others will view it as yet more evidence of Earl Spencer's ruthless and selfish streak. Just 18 months after abandoning his vivacious second wife Caroline for an American TV presenter, 44-year-old Spencer is single again. Split: Earl Spencer and Coleen Sullivan have broken up I can reveal he has dumped Coleen Sullivan, who moved in with Princess Diana's brother soon after being sent to Britain to interview him. The break-up has stunned friends who thought that the libidinous Earl had at last found the third Countess Spencer. After the huge sadness he caused by leaving Caroline - "Pidge" to her friends - it was widely expected he and Coleen would marry. "The only difference between this and his previous break-ups is that at least he won't have to pay out a divorce settlement," says a friend of Old Etonian Spencer. Their relationship has certainly followed a predictable pattern. He fell so passionately for the dark-haired Coleen that he left Caroline just months after she had given birth to their daughter Lara - their second child and his sixth. But the couple are no longer living together at his magnificent stately home, Althorp in Northamptonshire, where Diana is buried. Coleen was not seen at last week's literary festival at Althorp, which Spencer takes a great pride in. A friend tells me: "She has gone home to America. What else do you expect a girl to do?" Policeman's daughter Coleen, 34, first met the Earl when she visited Althorp in February 2006 to make a documentary about the Princess of Wales for her TV station, Ohio's WDTN Channel 2, where she had earned a reputation as being something of a pin-up. Within a matter of weeks, Coleen had dumped her American boyfriend of 11 years and, the following October, Charles told Caroline he wanted a divorce. Spencer's sometimes cruel treatment of the women in his life is epitomised by the anecdote repeated from his bitter Cape Town divorce from his first wife, model Victoria Lockwood, the mother of his four elder children. Her lawyer told of how Spencer was reminded by his late father at a birthday party that he should stick with his wife through thick and thin, and he unkindly replied that Victoria "was thin and certainly thick". So what is the reason for this latest split? I am told by a friend that Coleen, who was so popular with male viewers that her TV station was bombarded with e-mails when she quit to move to Britain, "suddenly became unattractive to him" for no apparent reason. "She is very beautiful, but he suddenly went off her," I am told. Adds a previous girlfriend of the aristocrat: "He is no oil painting himself." Shocking isn't it? Nah...

Oops, I Did It Again...

...or, should I say, I am GOING to do it again. Yes folks, I am going to rant a little. Alright, so my rant will be more like a fuss really, but fuss I shall. As a reward for putting up with me, I offer up these photos of the neighborhood geese. The sun was so bright this afternoon and these lords and ladies had no trouble enjoying it. Ah, sweet, blissful peace... But peace is fleeting so fasten your safety belts. I am about to raise a bit of fuss. In the tradition of a good old fashioned, no one can do it better than her, wonderful Kari rant, I want to complain! I can hear you asking one another, "What do WE look like? The freaking complaint department?" Aha, no! But you are here and you are my friends so I hope you will tolerate a little vent. I am so lucky to have all of you here... After all, 10s of thousands of people read this blog each day. No? Oh, it's more like 10s of hundreds? Of 10s? 7? Okay, OKAY! So it is just my brother and HE only reads it every other Thursday, except during the month of February. Ah, but I am delusional so off we go... Sympathy. It is a simple word. The fact or power of sharing the feelings of another. To understand their sorrow or trouble; compassion, or commiseration. Sympathy is a social affinity in which one person stands with another person, closely understanding her or his feelings. Sympathy exists when the feelings or emotions of one person are deeply understood and even appreciated by another person. I was recently told that I am a cruel person, a person whose heart holds no sympathy for her fellow man. And why was I told this? WHY you ask? Okay, you probably didn't ask but I will tell you anyway. I am a cruel unsympathetic person because I do not feel sorry for Britney Spears. Hm, I suppose that is not exactly true. I do have sympathy for her if, and only if, she has a true mental illness that has caused her erratic behaviors...her many, multiple and persistent erratic behaviors. Do I feel sorry for her sons? Oh yes, very much so. Those poor little things are the innocent pawns in a very sick game. But beyond that I really do not care what is going on in Ms. Spears life. Do I feel any real sympathy for her because the paparazzi pesters her? Heck, they pester George Clooney too and he has yet to flash them his pantie less bum. Dag nab it all to heck. Um...where was I? Oh, but do I have sympathy for someone who blew through more money in a year than most hard working people will see their entire lives? Someone who, when nearing each proverbial fork in the road of life, made the incorrect choice as to which direction to take? Nope. Oh, but Susie Q. She did all of those things because of her *baggage*. Now, what the heck do suitcases have to do with this? No, B.A.G.G.A.G.E. The emotional kind. Uh, SHE has baggage? The last time I checked, most of us have some sort of baggage. Some have more, some less, some much more serious than others but whether we drag our emotional stuff around in Louis Vuitton or a plastic sack from Walgreen's, we ALL have emotional *stuff* to deal with. So, now one can make any sort of bad decision and never have to take one iota of responsibility for those decisions? Wow. Oh, but of course, it does not work that way with those of us out here in middle America or middle Zambia, Finland or Thailand either. We non-celebrities are held to a much more stringent set of rules. Sympathy? Pity? I have oodles of sympathy for those who truly deserve it. People like the young serviceman who has lost his leg due to an IED in Iraq, the lovely young woman who was brutally raped and left for dead, the child who is suffering the effects of great physical abuse at the hands of those in whom he should have been able to trust. I have sympathy for the young man whose mother and father's lives were taken by a drunk driver, the woman whose husband left her, taking with him all of their life savings leaving her virtually penniless. I have tremendous sympathy for the parents of a 17 year old boy who has been diagnosed with inoperable cancer and has but a few weeks to live. I have great sympathy for people who suffer losses, human and material, to natural disasters, fire and crime. For people who struggle with illnesses, injuries and pain. But the difference is this...none of the people I mentioned asks for sympathy. They wish no pity. They take what life has given them and move forward. Oh yes, there are set backs and the need for help here and there but they never ask for sympathy. Prayers and love yes. Anyone who needs help has my prayers, even Britney, but sympathy?

~Coleen and the slimy rat~

Now on to another with whom I refuse to sympathize. Coleen Sullivan. The former anchor of our local NBC affiliate is romantically involved with Princess Diana's younger brother, Charles. The same folks who felt I was eerily despicable NOT to sympathize with Britney's problems, were aghast that I held no pity for the former newswoman. I ran into Coleen once or twice. She admired my dog. She is stunningly beautiful. I enjoyed her on my evening news. But the last time I checked, she was a grown woman. She knew, when visiting the Spencer home, Althorp, prior to the Diana exhibit making an appearance in Dayton, that the Earl was married and that his wife was expecting a baby. She knew this when she began her relationship with the Earl. "But Susie Q! He is a slimy rat and charmed the poor girl right into his wicked love trap." Hm...now, Charles the Earl may well be a rat, slimy or otherwise. That is not up to me to decide. But well educated, career news journalist Coleen, a poor defenseless woman who was led astray by the deviant British Earl? Come on. Save your sympathy cards please. Whew. Well, I don't know about you but I feel ever so much better. However, there is just one more thing I need to fuss about. This morning, as I dried my hair and applied a little mascara to my wispy, too, too blond eyelashes, the television droned mindlessly on in the next room. I paid scant attention to it until I heard this statement from a, so called, designer and stylist to the stars. "I find the clothes that plump gals wear sorely lacking in panache and trendiness. Too many of them wear jeans and trousers WITH elastic pieces. UGH! But, if hard pressed, *I* will *allow* them to do so but only if they cover their waists with a shirt, jacket or sweater." Whew. All of that advice for free! But you see "Mr. Stylist To The Stars", I did not ask you for your advice and I really do NOT need your consent (or that of anyone else for that matter) to wear something with elastic. Or lacking panache. It fact, I refuse to but anything WITH panache. And the stars actually LISTEN to this guy? No wonder so many of them have problems. For that they get a little of my sympathy. A quarter of a teaspoon full. More or less. So now my dear blogger buddies, my fussy rant vent has come to an end. (Grateful cheers are heard across the globe) I hope your week is going nicely and that you are staying well. Smile as often as you can and give a few of them away to others. Oh, and if you see a pantie less George Clooney, give me a call. Collect.

Ooh, The Plot Thickens...

The Earl and Coleen Wilbur, The Earl of Flight Orville, The 2nd Earl of Flight

Oh but the British tabloids are having a field day with this little romance. The Earl is being touted as the biggest philanderer known to man and has been labeled as, "Slimy Spencer", or by the more affectionate title, "The Love Rat". It would seem that whilst The Earl was visiting us corn fed cow punchers in the Midwest, his wife was about to give birth to a child. Make that his second wife. The one whom he met whilst still married to his first one. You know, the one the tabloids say he cheated on numerous times? Uh huh. That one. Old what's her name.

Now, our Coleen flew to England to interview The Earl a year ago just prior to the opening of the Diana exhibit at our art museum. Oh, and just prior to the Earl's wife giving birth to their child. And, just prior to the subsequent divorce of the Earl and the new mum. Are you following any of this?

Wasn't this all a story line on "Days of Our Lives" a few years back?

Of course the British tabloids have gotten a few things wrong. Shocking I know but true. They listed our Coleen as "a high level television executive in Los Angeles". I guess that saying she was the anchor of a news program in Dayton, Ohio was just too, too provincial. Boring even. Dayton? Where is that? What? In the middle of a goat pasture?

I am sure that the US tabloids will pick up the story eventually. For now though, they are much too worried about Britney's lack of underwear, Anna Nicole's fatherless babe and some female alien skeletons being discovered in George Clooney's back yard.

Now, according to WDTN's general manager, Ms. Sullivan actually has about 6 more days of work left on her contract but doubts that she will be back. Back to fill that seat with her sassy little bum. Okay, so that last sentence was in my brother's words NOT the general manager's but you get the idea.

Our paper has had a lot of fun with this story. Why, just today they published an article where one columnist opined about how she, and many other area women who met The Earl, were not considered *dump the old lady and date the new chick* material. They are however, considering beginning a support group for women The Earl dissed.

There was also a tidbit about how one British columnist stated that seeing the world through the eyes of The Earl must have seemed terribly attractive to a girl from "someplace called Dayton".

Does anyone remember that it was here that the Peace Agreement on Bosnia-Herzegovina was signed? The one initialized at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio on November 21, 1995 and signed in Paris on December 14, 1995. The agreement is known as the Dayton Peace Accords. Uh huh. That Dayton. Those poor VIPS were forced to bed down with the pigs and chickens I hear. Humiliating.

Dayton's own invented...let's see now...take a deep breath...

Airplane Ejection Seats Artificial Hearts Artificial Kidneys Automobile Air Bags Bionic Organs Carbon Less Copy Paper Chrome Plating Computerized Aircraft Loading System Double Glass Windows Electric Cash Registers Filter Cigarettes Fixed-Focus Headlights Frost-proof freezers Fuzzbuster & Radar Detectors Glass Photographic Negatives Ice Cream Cones Instant Blood-Glucose Level Testing

Are you still with me?

Laser Weapons Liberty Engines Night Serial Photography Nuclear Powered Pacemakers Quick Process Malleable Iron and Room Air Conditioners... Whew! Okay...now, another deep breath... Isolated Home and Farm Electric Lighting Systems

Stepladders Microfiche Collapsible Portable Cribs Human Heart-Lung Machines Motorized Wheelchairs Pull Tab and Pop Top Beverage Cans Ice Cube Trays with Ejector Mechanism Movie Projectors, Movie Cameras, Movie Film and Movie Theatres Continuous Ink Jet Printers Automobile Starters

Price Tag Affixing Machines Lighted Scoreboards

Ethyl-Leaded Gasoline Official Building Mail Chutes Electrically Stimulated Ambulatory Motion Cash Registers Gas Masks Portable Breathing Resuscitators Computing Scale for Butchers and Grocers AND Parachutes...oh, and that little thing

called THE AIRPLANE. Thank you Orville and Wilbur, the Earls of Flight.

And, we culturally deprived folks round these parts also call these people our own....

Erma Bombeck ~ Writer

Paul Lawrence Dunbar ~ Poet

Allison Janney ~ Actor

John Jakes ~ Writer

Dorian Harewood ~ Actor

Milt Caniff ~ Cartoonist

Nancy Cartwright ~ Actor

Norman Vincent Peale ~ Evangelist

The Ohio Players ~ Musicians

Cathy Guiseweit ~ Cartoonist

Mike Peters ~ Cartoonist

Phil Donahue ~ Television Host

Rob Lowe ~ Actor

Chad Lowe ~ Actor

Kim Deal and The Breeders ~ Musicians

Joe Eszterhas ~ Writer

Martin Sheen ~ Actor

John Lithgow ~ Actor

Ming Tsai ~ Chef/Television Host

Jonathan Winters ~ Actor

Richard Crenna ~ Actor

Rick Derringer ~ Musician

Gordon Jump ~ Actor

Gary Sandy ~ Actor

Don Novello ~ Actor....

and from the athletic world...

Nick Mangold

AJ Hawk

Mike Schmidt

Edwin C. Moses

Mike Nugent

Roger Clemens

Dan Wilkinson

and

Kirk Herbstreit

I am probably forgetting something or someone but I am sleep deprived remember?

Yeah, we Daytonians are a shabby lot. Terribly unsophisticated it would seem. Unworldly. Snot nosed and grimy faced. Naive. A simple folk.

Okay, I need to add another log to the fire or my steam powered computer will falter.

And the chickens need milkin', the cows are alayin' and the

outhouse needs, well, more paper. I think I will dig up some of those tabloids. They must be good for something. Right?

Thank you all for being so sweet and for continuing

to keep good thoughts for us! I am much better today...or

trying to be! I am back to being feisty so

that is a good sign. Isn't it?

Have a great day all!

Hugs,

Suzie Q

Oh Wow! Will Dayton Be Invited?

That is Coleen Sullivan, who, for several years, was the co anchor of Dayton's Channel 2 evening news.

Yep, she is just beautiful. I have met her (albeit briefly) a few times over the years...at a couple of fundraisers and at the grocery store. She lived near us and often shopped where we do.

She also seemed to be a very genuine person. Very down to earth and great with children.

She very recently announced that she would be leaving WDTN and return to her hometown of San Francisco. Hmmm....but what was the REAL reason?

The Britsh tabloids picked up the story recently and then the local news pounced on it. The WDTN anchors chose last night to read Coleen's statement to the Dayton viewers. Yes, it is true. She and Charles (the Ninth Earl Spencer to you and me) Spencer are *in a relationship*.

They met when Ms. Sullivan went to Althorp to do a piece about the Diana exhibit which was headed to our very own Art Museum. It WAS amazing. I attended 3 times with 3 different groups of friends. Grace was entranced...

The Earl charmed everyone that met him in Dayton and seemed to enjoy his time in our little neck of the woods. Now we know why!

Of course the tabloids are having a field day with this story and are leaking all sorts of drips and drabs of deep, dark, gooshy mud. Aw heck. What do I know?

They are 2 grown ups I reckon and know their own minds and hearts.

Still, I am wondering if this means that everyone in Dayton will be invited to a wedding if there is one? What? Unrealistic? Nah....Grace is more than ready to be a flower girl!

I will polish my heels just in case.