Why?

Harry Lorrayne, the great American memory showman and frequent guest on the Johnny Carson Show over many years, died this week, well into his nineties.  I bought one of his books in the 1970s and learned a method to reel off the states of the US  in alphabetical order both backwards and forwards.   

During a wakeful moment at 3 am last night I read his obituary in the New York Times and revisited the list of US states…within 15 minutes I was able to recite them backwards and forward again - doing so helped me fall asleep like counting sheep!

The list of states is below and, if you follow my albeit very personal and cryptic imagination below, you may be able to discern the vivid and cryptic associations that I use to name all the states which means I can reel them off, anyway which way you like!

You may like to attempt it before reading the list below…one way to keep the onset of mental fragility at bay…

''The Alhambra (Alabama)was bathed in sunshine as a huge meringue shaped cloud drifted overhead (Alaska) and, a little further on, cast a shadow over an arid zone (Arizona) to the north, where an ark (Arkansas) was stranded with a fawn sawing on deck which called (California) out the three colours of the wires of an electrical plug - green, brown and yellow - (Colorado) which wires were cut instantly (Connecticut) and fell into a Tupperware dish (Delaware) which quickly filled with Flora (Florida) and sat on the seat of George Benson’s (Georgia) car as he drove on a highway saying ‘Howdi’ (Idaho) to three, ill Catalan boys, (Illinois) all wearing Native American feather head dresses (Indiana), who handed over an IOU (Iowa) in exchange for cans of coke (Kansas) and fried chicken (Kentucky) which was quickly consumed by Louis Armstrong (Louisiana), sporting a lion’s mane of hair (Maine) which fell off his shoulders and dipped into a dish with Brazilian pasta (Massachusetts), eagerly devoured by my great nephew Michael (Michigan) as he drove his Mini (Minnesota) with a lovely young lady beside him (Mississippi) sipping on a whiskey sour (Missouri) which she handed over to a female Canadian Mountie (Montana) who, casting off her bra (Nebraska), rode to the Neverland Ranch (Nevada) from which the actress Susan Hampshire (New Hampshire) emerged wearing a lovely cashmere jersey (New Jersey) and carrying a tray of tacos (New Mexico) and York ham (New York) which was quickly snaffled by my close friend, Caroline, pointing to the north star (North Carolina) before flying off in her DC-3 airplane (North Dakota) on high (Ohio) and landing on a musical stage where the chorus sang ‘Oh, what a beautiful morning’ (Oklahoma) as the principal actors made an origami model (Oregon) of Penn St. station (Pennsylvania) hosting a rodeo (Rhodes Island) in which my friend Caroline was also appearing, before she dived downwards this time deep into the sea (South Carolina) in her Dakota plane (South Dakota) where she discovered a pair of tennis shoes on the ocean floor (Tennessee) being put on by John Wayne (Texas) before he hooked up a U Haul trailer (Utah) to a wagon with a vermouth advert on its side (Vermont ) which Virginia Wade (Virginia), the British tennis star, drove to The Whitehouse (Washington) where, in the West Wing, she met someone who looked just like her (West Virginia), before her cousin (Wisconsin) arrived and they all unfurled a big banner emblazoned with the one word ‘Why’!'' (Wyoming).


* Alabama
* Alaska
* Arizona
* Arkansas
* California
* Colorado
* Connecticut
* Delaware
* Florida
* Georgia
* Hawaii
* Idaho
* Illinois
* Indiana
* Iowa
* Kansas
* Kentucky
* Louisiana
* Maine
* Maryland
* Massachusetts
* Michigan
* Minnesota
* Mississippi
* Missouri
* Montana
* Nebraska
* Nevada
* New Hampshire
* New Jersey
* New Mexico
* New York
* North Carolina
* North Dakota
* Ohio
* Oklahoma
* Oregon
* Pennsylvania
* Rhode Island
* South Carolina
* South Dakota
* Tennessee
* Texas
* Utah
* Vermont
* Virginia
* Washington
* West Virginia
* Wisconsin
* Wyoming