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  My blog was filled up. I'm too lazy to clean it out. So I started a new one. |
| What is it about Christmas movies? We've seen them all at least once, some too many times to count. But we still want to see them again, with old friends, new friends, with strangers. Or see them on the big screen after so many years on a TV screen. In the theater you have an audience who knows the film almost by heart, yet they still laugh, and ooh and ah at the same time. Tonight I hope to see Home Alone. I just watched it on TV a few weeks ago. I had forgotten how funny it was. Tonight our Downtown, which turned Main Street into an outdoor mall with a lot of quaint shops and big community areas, is having a Grand Illumination, followed by a free showing in the old movie theater (circa 1932). They expect over a 1000 people, so I may not be able to get in. I would pass on that particular movie, but my 90 year old father wants to see it. He might not be able to navigate in that kind of crowd, either. We'll see. Closer to Christmas, they'll be showing White Christmas for $7. Granted you can see it at home for free on many channels. But I saw it a few years ago in that same refurbished theater, and it was much more exciting on the big screen with all the long time fans. When that woman is tapping those red heels in a close up shot, the big screen mesmerizes the way the small screen can't match. And as we all filed out of the theater afterwards, there was that communal cheer that made you feel the spirit of the holiday. A lot of smiling, happy people in one confined space forced you to be jovial. There are quite a few versions of A Christmas Carol, most quite good, each having its own perspective. The musical version is Scrooge with Albert Finney. They showed Scrooge on campus when I was in college; the whole campus seemed to be dancing and singing after it let out. The comical version is Scrooged, but I wouldn't recommend that for kids. Then there are the TV versions which are okay, even a Mickey Mouse version. I'm fond of a black and white Christmas in Connecticut, starring Barbara Stanwyck. Newer versions have been done, but aren't as good. I love A Christmas Story. I've only seen it on TV, but I loved Daren McGaven even when I was a kid (in a pure, wholesome way). I could watch that movie over and over. I love the leg lamp, the voice of the narrator, that cute little blond boy with the glasses. My dad and I watched Holiday Inn the other night, still in black and white. There's Elf, The Santa Clause, Santa Claus 2 (I think there were 3 with Tim Allen-they're all great), Christmas With The Kranks -based on Grisham's Skipping Christmas, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and a few others. They're all worthy of watching over. The ultimate is probably It's A Wonderful Life. There are a lot of Christmas movies. They aren't all worthy of being called classics. There was a Santa Claus moving starring a very handsome Kevin Sobo; it made me take notice. A slim handsome guy turning into Santa, but I've never seen it shown again. Hallmark does a lot of Christmas romances, and shows them several times every year. They aren't classics either, and aren't really for kids, even though they are clean enough for kids to watch. Love Actually was not a Made for TV movie, and it stars a lot of good actors, but it's a little rough for kids to watch. Yet it is becoming a classic for some people. |
| We had a full moon tonight. The three year old discovered he was the life of the party when he repeatedly dropped his pajama bottoms and bent over to a full room. |
| On Vacation in November. |
| Today I took a trip to the National D-Day Memorial with 11 friends. It was a beautiful fall day for the trip. The memorial is located in a rural area in honor of all those from Bedford County, Virginia, who died in World War II. They lost more men per capita than any other county in the country. The memorial, on the other hand is for all those who participated in Operation Overlord, which included D-Day. There are monuments and plagues to others who participated in the planning and execution of the operation which turned the war around. Recognition is given to all the allies, not just Americans. Full size flags from every country flies in the wind atop the hill. Busts of all the leaders can be found in this great expanse. I loved the artwork. The primary focus is The Gray field and the beach replica. There are bronze statues of marines crawling in the water and sand and coming onto the beach. There is a two story high wall above the "beach" with cascading water. Bronze soldiers are climbing the cliffs. You can find the ramps on either side and walk up top and look at the top soldier face to face. I got dizzy looking over the side at the detail in this work. Just beyond that is a tall arch recalling the Arch d' Triomphe. And there's still more to explore! A grizzly but fascinating statute of Death heads the "Parade" walk. Each side of the base is in a different language. Keep going and there is a Purple Heart monument to all who have been wounded in any American war. There are temporary exhibits of army vehicles, ship bells and anchors, and helicopter propeller blades. The airplane had been removed and nothing was in its place today. There is a nice size garden with a statue of Eisenhower. You can opt for a guided tour with a knowledgeable person, or you can explore on your own, which is what I chose to do. A lot of older people visit it, because they were there when very young or knew someone, or their fathers were the war. I saw very few young children, but it was sort of cold until early afternoon. I don't think preschoolers would get much out of it. Third grade and up could appreciate it. Beautiful mountains surround it. This time of year, the plants are dying back, and it looks ready for winter mode, despite the colorful trees. Despite its beauty, it's not a place to celebrate or have fun. It's a place for reverence. A place for learning, for showing respect and thankfulness. If you know the background, a little of the orchestration of this operation, of the genius and tactfulness of Eisenhower, you will appreciate this memorial. And like me, you may be fascinated with the artwork. |
| A group of friends were complaining about the lack of color in the trees last week. Some of them live in the country and drive into town. The leaves are falling without turning. But today my yard has color. There are reds and amber and yellow. A neighbor has a brilliant red tree by the road. So the colors are just late. Of course, we had a hard downpour this evening, so most have probably fallen now. We've had a few chilly days, but most days have still felt nice. Shirt sleeve weather if you're working outside. Poison ivy weather, too. The itching has stopped after almost two weeks, but the raised red rash is still there on my arms. The mosquitoes are still out. Some people are babe magnets, but I'm a mosquito magnet. The holly tree is jammed with berries, not red yet, but not green any more either. They're actually a funny shade of brown-orange. Soon we'll have more red than green on that tree.  As for my herb garden in pots on the deck: the basil is gone. Even the dead woody stems smell good when you break them off. The sage looks better than ever, but that won't last. I grow more sage than I can use, but can't find anyone who wants some. I use a lot of it fresh. It will survive the winter and won't even need covering. Same for the chives, which have begun to wither around the edges. I've used more of those lately and am trying to dry some. The parsley wasn't looking great the more I harvested it. I moved it out of the frost under the eaves of the roof, so it's still hanging on. But some yellowing leaves tell me it's too cold at night to hang on much longer. The tarragon was looking bad in the summer, but I trimmed it back and it made a revival. It's up next to the door under the overhang, so it's looking good, too. I'll put some in the infuser as soon as I have time. I think the rain tonight means no frost. I need to bring last year's poinsettia back inside and find a closet for it to start reddening in a few weeks. I've never been successful, but I'm not giving up yet. I killed all the orchids I had indoors, so there may be room for the dill I'm trying to bring in. I thought that was gone. I tossed off many of the bigger plants that had turned brown and stiff, but they must have shed some seed before I did. New plants came up! This late in the year! I like to cut it up in chicken salad and other dishes. We started a pineapple plant. I don't know how many times my mother tried, only to see it rot. My husband and I tried, too. I guess his mother had done so, as well. This summer, I stuck a top on an old pot of dirt. Dad and I have watered it. We have been shocked to see that it took root and has been fairly sturdy. I'm bringing it in tonight, if the rain lets up. I need an indoor plant area. The windows in the guest bedrooms downstairs are protected from direct sunlight by an overhang, but get lots of light all day. We have them all jammed full of strange plants we've had for years. I need somewhere new for the pineapple and herbs. I got some new gardening gloves. When it dries up, we're back on leaf raking detail. We have tulip bulbs and crocus to plant in an area, my 90 year old father spent the last 3 weeks clearing out. (That's where I got m poison ivy.) It keeps him moving. We love to watch the birds, too. We have cardinals year round. I can see one nesting in a branch outside my living room window over the patio. That tree looks awful and needs to come down, but who wants to lose the birds?    |
| It's almost time to head out to the pumpkin patch. I know mine is the most sincere in the neighborhood, if not the whole town. I'll miss out on tricks or treats, but it will be worth it if The Great Pumpkin comes to see me! I have had the misfortune of sticking my foot in my mouth more than once when talking to children I don't know. You should not ask a child with whom you are not acquainted what he or she is going to be for Halloween. The kid stares awkwardly and gets a little nervous, until Mom speaks up and says, "We do not observe Halloween." I apologize and move on. I never pry. There are a variety of reasons including religious ones, so no use embarrassing the kid. I'm sure they feel left out of this childish ritual. I have noticed that many adults have not grown up and still celebrate the day, more than previous generations. It's a good excuse for costume parties. I never cared for the blood and gore part. But I think it's okay to dress up in scary costumes because it helps us to reduce our fears. If we can dress like Freddy Kreuger, then we don't have to be afraid of him. Frankenstein is just a lot of make-up and trickery. As for other costumes, like Smurfs and Raggedy Ann's, it is just plain fun to be creative and dream up this stuff. It's fun to make people laugh. By the way, I saw an article today about "what to do with leftover Halloween candy"' What is that? Leftover? If you plan right, you can have treats for a week! The only leftovers I can ever remember were the year my dad was into Starburst. He grew tired of them, so a year later, I threw them out of the candy jar. Actually, sounds good that we didn't need the candy jar that long. So, if you have leftover chocolate or caramel Halloween candy at your house, come on over to mine with your treats.   |
| Ya-a-a-ay! I got to see Mary Chapin in concert Sunday night. It was not a huge crowd, because it was an old movie house theater. But it was a full house. Every seat was sold in advance! And it was a lengthy one. The warm up band was all girls, Laura Cortesi and the Dance Cards. Laura writes a lot of her own music, plays the fiddle and guitar and sings in a wide range. They are hard to classify. Capable of doing a hoe down number or bluegrass, they are not really a country band, but not pop by any means. They are very versatile and talented. Apparently, they are big fans of Carpenter and enjoyed touring with her for about a month. For live entertainment, they are a great little group. Carpenter is celebrating 30 years of making music professionally. Her tour for this year is winding down for a winter break. Her pianist has been with her since the beginning. One guitarist has been with her at least half that time. There are only two others, one terrific drummer and another younger guitarist. Her other regular on stage doesn't perform. He's her guitar tech, Brad, and tunes her guitars during her numbers, so that she has a freshly tuned guitar for each song. That's part of the show. When she's done taking her bows, she quickly turns and hands off a guitar to Brad who is now mid-stage, ready. It's a smooth and fast move, well-rehearsed. I haven't seen pictures of her lately, so I was surprised that her hair is so long, and still so blond! And she's shorter than I expected. But that deep voice is still pure. The show starts off song after song without interruption. Then she starts to talk like most performers do between numbers. She doesn't get political like some. She stays focused on performing and on the music. In smaller venues, she lets people ask questions. (Or backstage later, like at our place, the people with the really pricey tickets can gather for photos and brief talk.) She told us one guy asked if the guitars were real or just props. A lady asked if she believed in alien life forms on other planets. (Really, you'd ask a singer that?) Another asked if a particular song was a real song or if she wrote it. So she told us the next number was "a real song, and, yes, I wrote it, d--- it." She thanked the audience for supporting live music. There is something special and intimate about the interaction between the audience and the performer that just isn't there on a CD or telephone. Mary is still at the top of her game. Everyone enjoyed the show. So glad that we got the thrill of hearing her live. Great time. |
| I admit it. I am a TV addict. I have finally decided that it's a hobby ,and I am making mental notes about the actors and the plots. That excuses an otherwise a couch potato pastime. You have to find ways to justify what other people might judge as worthless uses of your time. In my love of old westerns, series and movies, I have noticed the frequent use of a gun handle on the back of someone's head. Apparently, this was a useful device by writers to delay or endanger a character the show could not allow to die. Sometimes the victim would be blinded, temporarily, or have a short bout of amnesia or just lie helpless until the bad guy escaped. A slight twist on this was to have the man, or sometimes a woman, be thrown from a horse or racing carriage and strike his or her head on a rock with the same results as the gun handle. The character of the Virginian, the man with no name, was struck on the head several times a season. It's a wonder he could walk after a few years. There were different writers and directors for the shows, and it looks like they didn't keep track. In real life, a person would have a struck of varying degrees of intensity with only partial or no recovery. Another one who was frequently struck was Matt Dillon. How? He was 6'7". He too should have endured more than temporary blindness or memory loss eventually. Yet both recovered 100% every time and quickly without rehabilitation. Both continued to solve problems, fight crime, and manage the books without a problem. In fact, Matt recovered from his partial blindness when an outlaw knocked his feet out from under him. The jolt of falling to the ground (he did not hit his head again) instantly restored perfect vision. At least two women on The Virginian hurt their heads from falling. Elizabeth was blinded, just like the Virginian in another episode, and relied on a stranger to help her, putting her trust completely in that person. But sight gradually came back to both. Another woman, a guest star, had a shock, then fell from a horse. As she healed, she became confused and filled in her amnesia with fantasy and the Virginian. Most other shows I've watched eventually had the hero or heroine have a head injury, but never permanent damage. In real life, being thrown from a horse can kill or damage a spinal cord, as in Christopher Reeves' case. I don't see this as much in crime shows. Then again, I stopped watching them because they are too detailed and graphic. I think they feed the imagination a little too much, and weirdos want to go out and do the same thing better. So I challenge you as you watch crime shows, dramas, and westerns, to notice when people are struck on the head. If a person is knocked unconscious, they aren't just going to have a headache the next day. There will be lasting damage. Is the problem with writers who don't have knowledge of this, or is it a director thing? They change books and stories all the time for screen adaptation. I want my shows to be more believable. |
| Egad! It's that sugary time of year again. We dutifully bought our bags of candy on sale last week, and we stayed out of it until today. There was nothing else to snack on. I'm tired of apples every day, so I caved. I had 3 mini Twix, then hid them from myself. I have pencils left over from something, but kids don't really want just pencils. Or stickers. They want candy! We don't get many trick or treaters because everyone in our neighborhood has a long driveway. Unless the parents drive the kids up, they only go to houses of people they know. It really is more fun when you walk around like they do on the TV shows. Like I did when we were kids. We covered a lot of territory back then, but that was in town. It must really be rough on kids in rural areas. Who sees their costumes or gives them junk food? We don't like to send anyone away empty handed, so that means we always have leftovers. That also means extra teeth brushing, more calories. Will I really walk an hour to work off one mini chocolate bar? Who's kidding? I did finally learn to throw the bags in the freezer. Then in January, we can sneak out a little chocolate. I won't see the kids in my family before or on Halloween. They live too far away to come at night. Sunday I'm taking my dad to see Mary Chapin Carpenter, so I told them not to come by. Maybe they'll send some pictures. And I'll save them a spooky pack of treats. So the candy companies make a rise in income. We spike our glucose and A1C and risk cavities. But it feels nostalgic and right to have some jack-o-lanterns, goblins, and candy and watch The Great Pumpkin. Some warm spiced apple cider helps, too. Today's kids are making memories, while we savor our own. |
| Aren't all those clever gadgets for household use exciting? I have learned long ago that they seldom live up to your expectations from the TV or magazine ads. My grandmother and mother had Vegematics and other devices that stayed put with suction cup bottoms so you could use both hands to maneuver your fruits and vegetables. The suction part never worked. You could end up with a pile of food and plastic parts on the floor. And there was the storage of the different type blades. There were so many pieces to be washed. It was less cumbersome and time-consuming just to do it all by hand. I was tempted by all those ads for non-stick pans, "Gothic steel" or copper bottom. We did find a copper skillet in the discount store "as seen on TV". It did work great for a while and cleaned easily. I used it frequently; eggs flipped easily and left little residue for cleaning. However, with many washings, it doesn't work as great as it once did. The research articles indicate it begins to release copper particles into your food. I did some research this week and found that T-fal ceramic skillets give you the most bang for the buck. They're not cheap, and they're not perfect. Cephalon was the next best ceramic lined skillet, about double the price of T-fal. The very best was stainless steel, more than twice the price of Cephalon, and it wasn't perfect either. The test was on hundreds of skillets to come up with a final four, the 4th being stainless as well. I have a half dozen skillets, so I'm not going shopping, even though I'm not satisfied with anything I have. I've seen some recipes calling for a "spiralizer". I didn't know there was such a thing, so I checked it out. They run from $20 up to $100, some manual, some electric. However, I haven't seen any up close and personal, so I fear the old Vegematic routine, with long noodle like veggies all over the counter and the floor. I want to make my own ice cream. Too many store versions of ice cream just don't taste that good. I try to make sure it doesn't say "frozen dairy dessert". I'd like to experiment with my own. However, the makers vary in price and size. With my extended family, a two pint thing that costs $85 is hardly worth the effort. I've seen one that can be both manual and electric, but that just seems like a maintenance problem. A manual one would give the children a good lesson in hard work and patience paying off, and understanding how the churning and freezing work together. The electric one would be faster. I need at least a 6 pint size. I don't want to pay over $200 for something I'd only use five or six times a year. The real reason I don't invest in these items is storage or the lack thereof. I've already given away a hot dog cooker, a pizza cooker, and an electric peeler that my mother had. (They were gifts; she didn't purchase them.) I tried them first and just didn't like them. They were taking up space I needed for other things. I'd like to have a food processor, but where would I put it? I have a rice cooker and a vegetable steamer-Mom's- and they work great. But I can't keep them handy, so I don't use them. I'm toying with the idea of donating them, not because they aren't good. I just don't have enough space. I do cook a lot and like to experiment. My kitchen is tiny with little counter space. I keep sodas in the garage and Dad's chips and hard candy in the dining room. I have some antique dishes that I don't use, but can't part with. So I only "window shop" the gadgets. I have to remind myself, "No More". |
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