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 |  I've maxed out. Closed this blog. |
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This is a way of making myself write something coherent and grammatically correct almost every day. I'm opinionated and need an outlet. I'm also prone to flights of fancy. Thanks for stopping by. |
| Things are kind of dull. Summer TV continues to bore. My American goldfinches were only here one day. The indigo buntings were on the back porch for just a few days and haven't been back. The eggplants and peppers are growing. One big zucchini came was harvested from the garden. I saw a tiny bit of The Music Man over the weekend. Now I can't get the songs out of my head. It's one of my favorite musicals. I think I know almost all the songs, so it doesn't take much to trigger them. I've been humming "Madam Librarian" all week. Tonight I experimented with a funny pan we have had for a decade. It might be the second time I've used it. The bottom is like a Bundt pan, only thinner metal, with a more shallow hole. You fill it with water and place it on an electric stove. The next tray up is sort of like a double boiler, only a double boiler comes with no hole. Then there are two options for the next tray, and a big domed top. So steam is the most important element. I thought the water would boil away too soon, but it didn't. So what I tried was store bought zucchini, cut up with garlic cloves. I put in a pinch of tarragon, sprinkled ginger and turmeric, and put one scant tablespoon of water to avoid sticking. I knew fluid would eventually cook out of the zucchini. I placed sliced carrots on the tray above it. I didn't need a lot.Then put on the dome top. When I checked, everything was getting tender, the water level was fine, and the stove top was still clean. The zucchini had about a quarter cup of fluid, and that steam had carried the flavor of garlic and spices up to the carrots. I sprinkled salt and sesame seeds on the zucchini. It was all delicious. Easy to cook and clean up. Healthy, too. |
| One old movie I saw recently starred Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, and Eli Wallach. It was black and white from 1961, called The Misfits. I'd heard the name, but had never seen it or heard about it. They were chasing wild horses,mustangs, like cowboys, but using a pickup truck and a plane. They had no intentions of "breaking" them and selling them. They wanted fast money, which meant selling them for dog food. Immediately, I found this appalling. Apparently, so did Marilyn's character after she found out the whole story. Speaking of Marilyn, she did a great job. She was sexy without throwing it in your face or acting overtly stupid. If anything, she played a naive part. Her character was an ex-stripper, but she was conservatively dressed for the role. In real life, she was going through alcohol and drug abuse. Many close up shots had to be done in a softer way to hide the problems. She was in and out of detox during filming. Her marriage was crumbling. It was hard to understand Montgomery's character. He was a rodeo rider with a lot of baggage. Gable played an aging cowboy, and evolved by the end. Eli played the bad guy as usual, purely mercenary. They were all attracted to Marilyn, but she stayed with Gable. It took me a long time to figure out who Eli was, since he wasn't listed on the program. This was years before The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, his most famous movie. He was thin and unwrinkled. I kept wondering if it was a young Larry Storch, who I've only seen in comedies, or a young Robert Vaughn. Then the voice hit me. He was still playing the cynical, greedy role. I took the title to be about the people at first, and, of course, it was in the end. But they called the wild horses "the misfits". Both the people and the horses didn't fit into a changing world. With the exception of one horse, both groups managed to survive. Excellent movie. The script writer was Arthur Miller, who was married to Marilyn. Gable had a heart attack right after filming was finished and died 10 days later. Marilyn died the following year. So it was the last film for both. The movie was not a box office hit. Only in retrospect has it found its place. |
| My brother had an idea about a man we know who is thinking about retiring, maybe. . . some day. He thought we should get his ideas about his work down on paper before it's too late. Some of his customers might like it. So I'm running one small section up the flag pole: Two customers had a conversation among themselves one day. One lady said she had been following Mr. Harry for over 20 years. The second one said that she’d been following him probably more than 30 years. The first lady remarked, “Well, I hope for our sakes, he’s going to Heaven!” The Best Part Mr. Harry’s favorite thing about the meat business has been the customers. He’s enjoyed the wholesale years getting to know caterers, chefs, and restaurant owners. He knew businesses, not just in town, but all over central part of the state. He always had tales about his fellow employees. He became attached to people and felt compassion for them. He loved to repeat their funny stories about where they came from. He played lots of jokes on them, too. He would tell the stories of that, and how each one cussed him out. Eventually, they all would forgive him and keep on going with their own tales. He liked his retail customers, too. His favorites were the children who shopped with their parents. As the years went by, the kids would stop coming in. Then on trips home from college, they’d come in and speak to him. He was always thrilled to see them and catch up with them. One had a pet nick name for him. Many would come back as regulars with kids of their own. |
| I hate phone solicitors. I know they're just trying to make a living. They work on commission. But it is a lousy job. Their employers make a larger percentage than they do. I hate having most or all of my contribution go to their organization instead of the designated charity. I don't mean to be mean, but I just hang up on these people now. I can't tell the scammers from the real thing. I don't have time to do the research while they are on the phone. I don't want to waste time arguing. I hang up. Too many bad organizations and outright thieves have ruined phone solicitation. The honest ones will just have to find some other way. They won't get anything over the phone from me. I encourage others to be just as hard hearted. Give to charity, but only to ones you trust and have researched. |
| Have a joyous day as you reflect on the meaning of freedom. |
| I'm excited about cowboy weekend. INSP is showing westerns all this weekend for the holiday. I don't know what that has to do with July 4th, but I guess it is special programming for them. I hope to see some old movies I haven't seen in a while, maybe a John Wayne western. I'm going to a last minute get-together at a nearby friend's house Saturday night. She lives on the side of a mountain, so we'll walk up the hill in her subdivision and watch the city fireworks from a distance. But she's a good cook, so we'll have a nice dinner first. One guest uses a walker, so it won't be like getting exercise. I will also go to my subdivision parade in the morning. It's about 5 very long blocks that circle around in the middle. This year they're having fire trucks. Kids decorate their bicycles. Parents pull kids in wagons. People get out their old convertibles or collector cars and hang red, white, and blue ribbons. It progresses slowly, of course. It lasts about half an hour, tops. They serve hot dogs, free, by the pool to residents only, but I always pass on that. That's at the far end and would require a car ride. We don't join the pool, but the picnic is for everyone. I'm just not into hot dogs enough to go. I've had my share of traffic on the 4th, so I prefer to stay close to home. I've been stuck in downtown DC, trying to get out to the suburbs to my car, while the subway kept breaking down. It was hot; people were packed in like sardines. People stood holding onto the overhead rails with one hand, holding dearly to coolers and bags with the other. It made you think, "Don't you wish everybody used Dial?" I'll never do anything like that again. My quiet version is much more to my liking. I had planned to sit on the hill with my Dad near the house. I invited him to go with me to my friend's, but he declined, so I'll have to cook for him before I go. He'll be watching the celebrations on TV when I get back. I'll flip to a Western on the other TV. |
| I think old films are becoming my passion. I saw Peter Sellers and Britt Eckland, his wife, in The Bobo. Not one of his greatest, I'd say. The story came from a much earlier book, which I have not read. The movie script presents a very implausible plot. The movie is in English, but the setting is in Spain; everyone has an accent, but they come across as French or Italian. I can see why it was not critically acclaimed. I don't think a modern remake would work without a major overhaul on the story line. Britt Eckland isn't bad as the beautiful young woman who loves only rich men and knows that she is beautiful. She's not overtly trashy as in today's movies, but is very confident and knows her beauty gives her power. She revels in luxury and attention. I don't know enough about her to know if she ever did anything except beautiful, sexy femme fatale roles. On the other hand, Hawaii, starring Julie Andrews and Max Von Sydow, was wonderful and stands the test of time. I did see this decades ago, but remember the good parts and appreciate some others more. This was Ms Andrews first non-musical movie, and she was stellar. Von Sydow's character is despicable at the beginning, difficult to love at the end, but he has the most developed role, By the end, even though you might not have loved his personality, you admired him and realized he was a better man than all the more tolerable characters. This, too, came from a book. James Michener is a marvelous author who teaches in his stories and does tons of research. I'm sure the book reveals so much more than the movie. Watching the people dying of measles was heart-rending. Seeing how the people who came to liberate the islands profited from it was an eye-opener, too. The three main Hawaiian characters are excellent actors, but they never claimed much fame. The Ali Lui (queen) was terrific. The handsome young man died with all his dreams and hopes crushed, and the viewer feels the loss. Yet, the movie wasn't really about the Hawaiians, but about those well-meaning people who invaded their islands. |
| The deer ate all the green beans in our small raised garden. It seems that deer in cities and subdivisions just outside the city have gotten tame. They aren't afraid of us and think our yards are for their enjoyment. They aren't even bothered by traffic or dogs. You can try various cloth traps and things that are supposed to irritate them, but they get used to it and go in the garden anyway. I read that Coast soap shaved into pieces and distributed around the garden will keep them away. I tried it, but the soap melted in the sun and didn't stop anything. On the other hand, we do have little eggplants and green peppers growing in pots on the back porch. The pots are high up on railings and you have to go up steps or a wheelchair ramp to get to the porch. So far the deer and other critters have stayed off the porch. The squirrels, the birds, and the insects have them all to themselves. I also have chives, dill, and flowers on the porch. It was hard to pick the strawberries before the birds got them. These are regular green peppers. I know that when planted in pots, they aren't as productive as when planted in the ground. The eggplant was bred for patio boxes, so we'll wait and see what they do. I don't expect any great size to them. So now we're discussing the costs of tall fencing, or something that shocks, versus just eliminating the garden and all its work. If we do the latter, I will certainly miss those home grown tomatoes. Nothing in the store comes close to one grown by you or a neighbor. |
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