 Nostalgia, DVDs, old movies, television, OTR, fandom, good news and bad, picks, pans, cute budgie stories, cute terrier stories, and anything else I can think of. Contact me at theyoungfamily (at) earthlink (dot) net . . . . . . . . . .
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» Wednesday, December 31, 2008
3 Hours to the New Year...
...in Holiday Harbour.
I wish to all a happy, healthy and successful 2009! Looks like it's going to be a lovely day for the Tournament of Roses Parade tomorrow. Labels: Holiday Harbour, New Year  » Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Okay, Candy, You Asked for It...
...photos and shopping and other things in Holiday Harbour.
» Sunday, December 28, 2008
Music to Soothe...
Herein begins my second and last week off. James has Monday through Thursday off, so he is downstairs doing some modeling for a change. I just finished up with the Christmas things I DVR'd and am vacillating between "Holly" on the Sirius XM channels and the Dish Christmas channel. Holly is fine in November until Holiday Traditions starts on Black Friday, then I usually alternate between that and the Holiday Pops channel.
Sadly, Holiday Traditions ended Christmas Day and the Pops channel is back to everyday music. It's not just the newer music I don't like on Holly or the Christmas Channel—I like "Christmas Eve Sarajevo" and "Christmas Canon" and "I Believe in Father Christmas" and several other new compositions, and, alternately, my hair stands on end listening to older stuff like "Pretty Paper" and other bluesy Christmas things—but Holiday Traditions and the carols on the Pops channel are just more to my liking. Yet wonderful things like the Philadelphia Brass doing "Silent Night" and Bing Crosby's "I'll Be Home for Christmas" show up on what's left, too. At least I haven't heard that unbelievably tripey "Christmas Shoes"! I'm sitting here trying to figure out where the frippin' time went. Who put the wings on Chronos' feet this holiday season? History: On The Hoof and On the TV...
...one historical site and several historical specials equals more Christmas enjoyment in Holiday Harbour.
Labels: Christmas, errands, history, television Distinctive Signatures
James is playing one of his Christmas gifts, the Steve Canyon DVD set. This series was broadcast for one season in 1958. The theme song is by Walter Schumann, but the incidental music in the episode is done by Nathan Scott, who, six years later, would take over the musical chores on Lassie.
As when I heard Scott's score for the film X-15, I could pick up right away who wrote the score without even checking the credits. It's like John Williams; you can hear a piece of music and immediately know it's his. Scott uses lots of brass, with stings and emphasis in woodwinds, mostly flutes and clarinets. It was used to great effect on the forest ranger episodes on Lassie, to depict the majesty of the wilderness. works really well for Steve Canyon as well. [Aieeeeee! At the end of the first disc of Steve Canyon is a long list of aid and acknowledgement names...and there last of all is Brad Linaweaver. Is the man everywhere???????] Labels: music, television » Saturday, December 27, 2008
Wooden You Like...
Egads!
Jay Leno isn't kidding; NBC is desperate! Tonight they're rebroadcasting the opening of the Beijing Olympics.
Labels: television Wish
The gifts are bought and wrapped, the after-Christmas shopping is done. Nothing to bake, nothing to buy.
You know what I want until that alarm rings on January 5? I want the time to go s-l-o-w-l-y. I would like to look at my watch and say, "Is it only one o'clock?" I want the frippin' time to stop moving like a sled down the Matterhorn. Oh, it slows down at work all the time. But I want it to do so when I can enjoy it, when I can bury my nose back in my book and know I have four hours more of a blissful afternoon to enjoy it. It's an irony of life that when you're a kid time moves like the proverbial snail, but by the time you reach your fifties you might as well be on one of those Japanese express trains. I wish I could put a governor on the clocks when I want. I even want our party to go by slowly, so I can savor being with friends. In the meantime we have eaten breakfast, shredded and tossed some trash, cut coupons, and James is wrestling with something in Photoshop. It's supposed to be hot out today, in the low 70s. Tomorrow a cold front is supposed to go through. Let's hear it for a cold front! :-) [Wow, what happened? The weather lady was going on and on about how it was going to be about 70°F today, and she even bet it would top that number...now the forecast says 56! Of course it's 57 already, but...much better numbers!] » Friday, December 26, 2008
Frog Hunting
I finally killed a frog this afternoon.
(You know the saying "If the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long"? When I used to hang out on alt.recovery.clutter, we started calling any task we didn't want to do "a frog.") My sink in the bathroom was slow draining again; in fact, it had been for a while. It seemed every time I wanted to take care of it, there was something else that needed doing first. It got to the point that it was the Christmas cards or the gift mailing or the wrapping, etc. or the drain, and of course the Christmas event took the forefront. So I cleaned it out today. Someone asked me once how I did it. First I clear off the sink area and put some water in the sink, then plunge it with the plunger. Ugh! All sorts of soap scum and hair comes up; you collect the slimy black stuff with a paper towel and dispose. Then I use a box of baking soda and a gallon of white vinegar instead of harsh chemicals like Drano. You put the baking soda down the drain and follow it with application of the vinegar. It causes a chemical reaction that clears away the remainder of the blockage. Then you apply the "coop de grassy," as Bugs Bunny would say (or is it Daffy Duck...LOL): a pan of boiling water. Then you clean and disinfect the counter and you're done. More Christmasy matters in Holiday Harbour. Labels: chores » Thursday, December 25, 2008
» Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Forty Years Ago Tonight
Marketing in the Morning... Wow!
I didn't realize the Orphan Trains ran this late into the 20th century.
He Rode the "Orphan Train" Across the Country" Labels: history » Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Window Shopping...
» Monday, December 22, 2008
Forty Years Ago This Week
I remember watching all this live on television. How I miss those great space missions!
Apollo 8 Astronauts Remember Historic Voyage Labels: history Driving Myself Crazy... » Sunday, December 21, 2008
When the Wind Changes
There's good news and bad news. The good news is that it got cold again. The bad news is that it will be warm again by the end of the week. Pity. I had such a good sleep—finally!—last night.
First, of course, we had to make it through another cloudy, humid day on Saturday. Since we were going to be out all day today, I didn't want to spend all day shopping, but we ended up doing so anyway. James always gets some little aircraft for a couple of his co-workers, so we went to Hobbytown to get them. While we were there, I bought another animal for the library tree: an Airedale to be Junket: The Dog Who Liked Everything Just So (by Anne H. White). We also stopped at Cost Plus World Market to get a tiny jar of clotted cream for Christmas day breakfast. We visited the hobby shop for a while. On the Saturday before Christmas they always have some goodies for the regulars. We brought home a nice slice of sugar-free chocolate mousse cake. Borders had a 40 percent off any book coupon, so James wanted to get the newest "1632" novel. Unfortunately, the Borders at Parkway Pointe didn't have it, but we had it reserved at the store in East Cobb. I bought Christmas cards for next year. We stopped to get gasoline at Costco and then went inside. I'd had only a bowl of oatmeal, a cup of mandarin oranges, and a plain junior Wendyburger all day and by now it was four o'clock and I was so hungry I was getting lightheaded. We noshed on a couple of samples, got the milk and some lunchmeat, and stashed the things in the insulated bag and walked to Fresh2Order for supper. Finally at home! After a brief sit, I had to wrap all the gifts we were bringing with us tomorrow. I wanted to get that done so we could sit down and watch Get Smart, which we've already had for a week. Netflix is going to think we ate it. :-) I wasn't quite ten years old when the original Get Smart series appeared. I knew the star of the series, Don Adams, only as a voice—a character on a television series I couldn't watch because it was on after my bedtime (Byron Glick on The Bill Dana Show) and of cartoon character "Tennessee Tuxedo." I fell in love with the series the moment it appeared. Don Adams was the first actor I ever had a crush on. I can still remember Max and 99's anniversary (November 16). And when Time-Life released the series with all the trimmings last year, I was first in line with the money in my hot little hand. Needless to say, I was very ambivalent about the movie. I knew of any comic actor Steve Carrell could probably carry Maxwell Smart off. On the other hand, I'd read about the script, and there was a lot not to like in it. So I was pleasantly surprised when we finally played it last night. Now, nothing will ever live up to the series for me. And so many of the stunts in this movie were totally unbelievable. Nobody could live through that crap; it was like a Warner Brothers cartoon (which was quite apt since this was produced by Warner Brothers). One minor one is when Max keeps shooting himself with a tiny arrow. About a half dozen of them go into various parts of his face and hands and there is no blood and no marks. The rest are more outrageous. If you could get past the cartoon junk, and the fact that one of the bad guys is telegraphed practically from the beginning of the film, it wasn't bad at all. Even Agent 99, who in the film is a tough, rude cookie who comes around to Max's side in a realistic manner, was better than I expected. Max (who in the film is a clever analyst who writes 700-page reports and speaks multiple languages; he's just not ept as a field agent) has a surprising sweetness and insight to people since he used to weigh 300 pounds and was always the butt of jokes. He manages to get through the movie by showing understanding to several people who are also taunted because of their weight. Alan Arkin is quite funny as the Chief; I read that several people were angry because he said he never watched the series. The Max/Chief dynamic is different in the film, so it was probably best that he didn't. The filmmakers also tucked references to the series almost everywhere: there are two gags right out of the series, photos and references here and there, Hymie the robot appears at the end, and all three of the cars featured on the series appear in the movie, plus Bernie Kopell (Siegfried) has a cameo. And the puppy who plays "Fang" is adorable. I also loved the two computer geeks, Bruce and Lloyd, who were Max's friends. A pity, though, that they had to turn nebbish Larrabee into a jerk. Anyway, I'm going to try to hunt up an inexpensive copy. Later on, on chat, we had our eleventh annual joint viewing of the Remember WENN Christmas episode. This was Jen's first time and, as they say, a good time was had by all. You know I'd never noticed the poinsettias on Mackie's tie???? Anyway, this is the way Sunday usually works. We stay up late Saturday night, but even if we end up in bed by three a.m., James wakes up some time right around nine a.m. and I murmer, "Where are you going?" and he says, "I can't sleep." This morning, the morning we were heading down to Warner Robins (and we had to go cross town to pick up his copy of 1635 to boot!), he didn't wake up until 10:10! So we had to scramble to get ourselves and the gifts (thankfully all packed for transport) and some Christmas CDs into the truck. By the time we got on the freeway south it was almost noon and I was dreading going past Southlake Mall, the shopping center in McDonough, and the Tanger Factory Outlets. There were cars backed up on a couple of the ramps, but no stop-and-go traffic whatsoever. Talk about a sign the economy is on a downturn! Anyway, we had a nice trip down, relaxed at James' mom's watching the Patriots' game (wheee! look at the snow!), exchanged gifts after Sabra and Jason showed up, and had a late dinner of spaghetti and salad. The "kids" had to leave just before four to get a new water heater installed, and we left to spend a couple of hours shooting the breeze at Ann and Clay's house (and coping with three excited dachshunds!) before hitting the road again at six. Listened to more CDs, then I remembered to turn on the new Sirius channel which will be broadcasting from today through Christmas: it's called "a Bing Crosby Christmas" and appears to be all radio shows starring Crosby and concerning Christmas (or at least close to Christmas as one of the things we heard was a radio presentation of The Bells of St. Mary's). Arrived home to have some soup and watch What's My Line? and just chill out. » Saturday, December 20, 2008
Dear Cold Front,
» Friday, December 19, 2008
"I Could Walk It Blindfold"
[The original title for this post was "Sentimental Journey," but I thought A Christmas Carol more appropriate to the season. :-)]As the words were spoken, they passed through the wall, and stood upon an open country road, with fields on either hand. The city had entirely vanished... Urgh. Last night was not conducive to sleeping. even with the fan on and a breeze coming from outside I was hot and sticky. It might explain my mood today, which has been seesawing between happy and depressed, sometimes at a speed which would cause whiplash. My original plan for today was to bake wine biscuits, but damned if I was going to make the house any warmer. I had noted Wednesday when I took photos of the library tree that it was still looking rather thin at the right side, so I decided to drive into Buckhead to go to Richard's Variety Store. The last time they were there, they had had a Zorro figure, and the character of Zorro, although made very famous by Walt Disney's series, is originally from a book. I chose to go the old route to work, via West Paces Ferry Road. Although the traffic was aggravatingly stop-and-go as it often was on the way to work, I miss going this way; no freeway at all and watching the seasons ripen and then pass on in this neighborhood of large lawns and multiple trees and hedges was always lovely. More "McMansions" are being erected; West Paces, which also is home to the governor's mansion, has always been a high-priced neighborhood, but it gets more pricey every year. Buckhead as I knew it is pretty much gone: they razed all the bars on Peachtree Road and are now excavating for yet another high-rise apartment to join the others like mushrooms after damp days. The ugly yellow-tiled building I used to work in is now all glass and concrete, with a toney restaurant, the Capital Grille, at the top. But on the way down to Richard's, I made a stop at the Buckhead Barnes & Noble and it was if the clock not only had stopped, but had rewound itself ten years. Not much about the place had changed—the graphic novels were in the place of the science fiction books, but the travel books and maps were still at the far window, next to the bargain shelves, the magazines were in the same place, as were the children's books, and the entire place was still overlaid by the heavenly scent of coffee. If I could have broken that wall as in Somewhere in Time, I could have almost walked out the door, gotten into my Neon and driven back to the battered little parking lot on Buckhead Avenue behind our building and parked under the shade of the tree in the middle of the restaurant patio next door. From there I went to Richard's, in the same shopping center where the original Oxford Books was for so long. I remember those Saturday nights going to Oxford at eleven, or even midnight after the Phoenix Science Fiction Society meetings because we just weren't tired and Oxford was open until two! The space is now a lawyer's office. But Richard's remains unchanged, even though the merchandise is of a new vintage. Anyone from fifty years ago could walk in—heck, even Addie Mills would find it familiar—and recognize the metal and wood shelves, the glass dividers, the checkerboard brown linoleum floor, and feel at home. The place has definite "Woolworth vibes," if you know what I mean. Anyway, after searching, and searching, and almost giving up and searching once more, I found one Zorro left in a welter of other figures. Richard's has these bins in the back filled with plastic figures, people and animals, some from history, some from fantasy, some just wild animals: pirates, cowboys, Indians, fantasy figures, knights and dragons, zoo animals, wild animals. Along with Zorro, I got a Little Red Riding Hood figure, a Merlin the magician (for the Sword in the Stone), a wolf (Lobo from Wild Animals I Have Known), and a lioness (how I forgot Elsa from Born Free, I'll never know). I also found 3-way 30-70-100 Reveal bulbs for so much cheaper than Kroger that I bought five. [I no sooner had these in the closet than the three-way bulb in the living room floor lamp blew out completely. How do they know?] Proving that I was now under the influence of Christmas spirit, I drove directly up Peachtree Road and past Lenox Mall and Phipps Plaza in the tangled welter of lunchtime traffic to get to Borders. Had a nice wander about the store, drooled over several history books, sampled some gingerbread/eggnog cake, and bought a gift before heading out to Peachtree Road again. Since I was on this side of town anyway, I decided to stop at the used bookstore on Clairmont Road; went past the old site of Peachtree Garden Apartments and ascertained the site is now something called "Town Brookhaven," which appears to be two more high-rise apartment buildings with really ugly attached parking garages. The bookstore seemed alive with cats today: a calico, a shorthaired black cat, and a longhaired black cat who reminded me of my best friend's cat "Zipper" back during our high school years. I had a great time surveying their collection of series' kids' books from the early part of the century. They have Ruth Fielding, Betty Gordon, Judy Bolton, the Dana Girls, and of course Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, and even books for the younger set like Bunny Brown, the Five Little Blossoms, and of course the Bobbsey Twins. Anyway, I just finished a fascinating folk-study book called Christmas in Pennsylvania, about the unique Christmas celebrations stemming from the heritage of the Pennsylvania Dutch. The book was originally written in the late 1950s and recently updated by Don Yoder, who includes some recommended Christmas books. Noted: Which was why, when I finally strolled by the antique table where they had their Christmas books set out, I did a double take, because there on top was William Sansom's A Book of Christmas—a nice oversized hardbound book with a not-too-tattered dustjacket for only $7.00 (and it was 15 percent off to boot).Of recent Christmas studies by British and American scholars, William Sansom's A Book of Christmas (1968) is a readable treatment of the English and American Christmas celebration, with some comparative data on continental European Christmas customs. The book is written in a pleasant essay style that is a pleasure to read, and the illustrations are in many cases new and rare indeed. Alas, if only the time travel effect from Barnes & Noble was still in effect as I drove home: it would have been nice to be able to turn into the shopping center on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and find Kudzu [the remainder bookstore] or, even better, Woolworths, still there. What I wouldn't give for a Woolworths right now. » Thursday, December 18, 2008
Raise Your Hand...
...everyone who's tired of hearing about the conversion to digital television...
Labels: television Decor Delights » Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Take the A Train Again
Lunch Luck
Great lunch!
Oh, not what I ate. I've had a sandwich bun. No, I had to go out and get some milk. Over the weekend we were in Kroger twice and forgot to get milk both times. (At this point, my friends are pinching themselves over the incongruity of the thought of myself forgetting to get milk...) So I decided to also run to Borders. Their 30 percent off coupon is only good through tomorrow and I wanted to pick up Mercedes Lackey's Reserved for the Cat. I went to the Parkway Pointe Borders and nipped into Linens'n'Things [almost] next door, which has six days to go in its liquidation sale and is literally on its last gasp. There is some ugly framed art left, some sheets, some curtains, a few bed pads, car air fresheners, bits of this and that, and not much more. I was able to find another set of drawer dividers, and for 80 percent off got a lovely fall wreath of fall flowers and berry stalks. Labels: shopping » Tuesday, December 16, 2008
What Happened to the Big Wooden Horse?
To be honest, I'm not sure.
One of our computer-saavy friends suggested I install "Avast!" as it had a Virtumonde killer. I did, and it didn't seem to do any good. In fact, on its first scan, it didn't even find it. However, on Friday it started giving me alerts that it was finding threats. I did as it instructed and vaulted them. All of a sudden, the warning messages I was getting from Windows Updater disappeared and I was able to download all my Windows updates. Apparently this thing had been doing the rounds because one of the Windows updates suddenly swatted another bit of the virus. I rebooted, and my laptop was running faster. However, when I went on Firefox I was still getting the occasional popup and if I went into Internet Explorer I would get redirected to a page that was supposedly a virus-blaster (you had to buy it, natch) but which actually puts another worm on your computer. First I realized that although I had downloaded Firefox 3, I wasn't actually using it. So I fixed my links and got rid of 2. Plus I also went into the Registry as Jerry suggested and cleaned out all the "Browser Helpers" or whatever it was. Avast! isn't picking up any more signs and I'm not getting an IE redirect or a Firefox popup anymore. If it's still there, it's hiding out. No way to know. Labels: computers » Monday, December 15, 2008
School Days
 A very frustrating morning! I had a training class today and was eager to print out and submit the three purchase orders I had done last week. Fat chance. Again, my computer took over 20 minutes to boot up and then it did not want to print on my assigned printer. I finally began to print, but was only able to print two of the three sets of paperwork and had no time to assemble the folders for signature before it was eight o'clock and I had to get to Executive Park.The class was on customer service and the instructor was interesting, amusing and informative, but frankly I could have best served my customers by staying at my desk! There were several things in my e-mail box that I would have loved to have gotten to today which will need immediate attention tomorrow. Leaving Executive Park was fun...not. It took me ten minutes to go less than one tenth of a mile. Thank God we didn't move here last year! When I got home I found a nice surprise: a package from my Cousin Debbie. She had included a Christmas card and two small packages, but the best inclusion were some photos of her daughter's wedding. I set the packages under the tree after I finally set out the manger set. » Sunday, December 14, 2008
I Am Successful (Yellow)
This was a long, long weekend, and Friday was the first of two long, long days. But in the end we had a Christmas tree and proper lights for the village.
Friday I went back to Lowes for the bench and the plant table I had seen on Thursday. They weren't all that heavy, so I just tipped them into the back of the car (and paid for it later). I went to Target looking for yellow bulbs. None could be had but I did find slippers for James and myself, so it was a win anyway. Following was an unsuccessful search at Home Depot. I would have kept searching, but I hadn't eaten lunch yet (it was almost two), and I had other things to do. But I was determined to get those yellow bulbs now if I had to mail order them. The white bulbs just do not work on a 1940s village. The white bulbs make it look like there are fluorescent lights, which aren't period. (Reputedly, the most stubborn Italians come from Calabria. I'm not sure why this is supposed to be so, but when an Italian wants to call another Italian "hard-headed," he usually accuses him of being "Calabrese." Lou Monte used to bandy around that word frequently. My mom claimed that, after the Calabrese, the people from my dad's paese—Quarchina—were the most hard-headed. When he got stubborn about something, she would shake her hand at him and mutter "Quarchinese!" Which is why while I'm hunting these yellow bulbs I keep hearing her voice saying "Quarchinese!" LOL.) James hadn't been able to get the tree upstairs Thursday night or Friday morning, so I figured I would prep everything for tree decoration. After eating lunch and watching Rick Steves' European Christmas, I cleared the area and vacuumed, and cleared off the coffee table so I could bring up the box of ornaments and have all the boxes and bags open and ready. In this way I was able to separate out James' airplane ornaments and would be able to put up the little airplane tree in the downstairs hall. First I had to assemble the plant stand. This came with a little metal wrench and no instructions, but it was really easy to assemble. Next came the piece of material we had picked out to cover the stand: a royal-blue yard of cloth with glitter scattered on it like stars in the sky. I had pinked the edges so it wouldn't fray and ironed it smooth. Next came the little silver tree. I placed all the little airplanes and one non-flying object, our Hallmark Snoopy in his French flying ace outfit, on the tree and put a thin, curly garland around the branches. It's red and green, like the navigation lights on aircraft, with gold in between. At the top is a wire star I had. It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself! :-) We had supper in (pizza). James was in a bit of a morose mood (more about that later), but he brought up the tree and I commenced to decorating. This is when I found out I shouldn't have carried those boxes, however light they seemed, because boy, did it hurt after awhile. I started at eight and ended sometime after Conan O'Brien started blathering. In the meantime James was looking critically at the village. "It looks like it's on fire." Yeah...sigh...I know. Earlier I had been surfing the web for yellow C7 bulbs and found a company that supplied them in, of all places, Alpharetta, GA, not far from Fry's. Since we had to go to Fry's anyway for a new computer keyboard and they had showroom hours on Sunday, we thought we would try that. Yesterday we had "Hair Day." The main course was chicken; in an uninspired mood we just brought French bread and some dessert things, but the cake slices and brownie bites were well received. It was Neil's birthday last week, so they had a cake for him, but they had my name, Lin's name, and Oreta's name placed on the cake as well, for the rest of the December birthday crowd, which was sweet. We left a bit after one and James dropped me off at home to go to the hobby shop. I wanted to tidy up the living room after the great tree trimming—there were fake needles scattered everywhere—so I vacuumed the living and dining room and also the stairs and swept the foyer (again), and then took some ibuprofin and lay down for a nap since we were going to be out late. About 5:30 we left to drive out to Birmingham for Shari's Christmas party. We didn't go last year because gasoline was so expensive, and since we usually only see her once a year, we had missed it. Neither of us had eaten dinner, so we made one brief stop on the way for a single Wendy-burger, but that was only stop on a road which is mostly pretty bleak except for a couple of large shopping centers after you get west of Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville. It was a great party. Shari's co-workers, theater friends, and family all come to this party, so it is a great mix of personalities. Plus she loves to cook—her fantasy is to open a combination teashop/bookstore—so we are well fed as well. We had a good time, but by the time midnight came we were both about to turn into pumpkins, and I was becoming a sneezy one to boot. You see, the Butlers have cats, and Shari has cats, and the combination of two households with cats played hob with my allergy. So my eyes were itching and watering as James drove home accompanied by some Yuletide radio programs: Fibber McGee and Molly doing early Christmas shopping, Phil Harris and Alice Faye encountering a Christmas miracle, and a dramatic playlet called A Daddy for Christmas where a wife tries to make her husband into something he isn't. We arrived home at 2:30 and went directly to bed, as you can imagine—even James slept late this morning! We were so late getting started (and then we had to stop at Kroger again) that we decided to go to the Christmas store first, as we tend to dawdle when we're in Fry's. This isn't a "Christmas store" per se; it's a lights and tree display business in an industrial park that has a very small, plain "showroom floor" with different models of trees and some garland. So I bought a box of yellow C7 bulbs (they only had opaques, not clear, darn it—I wanted to try both) and we also bought a blue Moravian star. When we drove up to my mom's right after we were married, we were driving through North Carolina and noticed that so many of the houses there were decorated outside with the white Moravian stars. James and I thought they were so pretty! Naturally we jumped at the chance to have our own, especially in a color that matched the blue lights out front. Picked up the new keyboard and a couple of other things, including something to put away for Valentines Day, at Fry's, then came home. James assembled and put up the light immediately. It's very pretty, if a subdued blue next to all those bright blue mini lights and LEDs! He also assembled the bench tonight. It's not only nice looking but nicer than it looked in Lowes, and appears darker, too, which was what I wanted. I had soup for supper to soothe the last of the allergy symptoms, since I've had a nagging cough and sore throat all day. I was wondering why it made me so queasy when I realized what was bothering me was an odd smell. It turned out to be coming from the newspaper, from the Michael's ad, specifically. I don't know what they printed the ad on, or with, but it literally stank. I finally had to cut the coupon from it and ask James to take the paper out with the trash. I can still catch a whiff of whatever it is from the coupons. Ugh. Whoever printed these should be forced to smell burnt honey all day. We watched a cool special tonight on TCM: The Age of Believing, about Walt Disney's live-action films. Several of the actors from the films appeared, including "little" Karen Dotrice from Mary Poppins and Thomasina, Kevin Corcoran, Hayley Mills, and Glynis Johns, who looks damn wonderful for 85 years old! And as for those yellow lights, they look Just Right. :-) (The reason James was in such bad spirits was that late Friday afternoon everyone at work got an e-mail announcing a 10 percent pay cut effective the next day. Merry Christmas indeed...) Labels: Christmas, decorating, events, parties, shopping, sickness » Thursday, December 11, 2008
All Around the Town
Oooh, what a birthday gift! There's a new book of Valdemar short stories out and there's a new Valdemar novel coming out...wait, it's already out! Funny, I haven't seen it... (Sadly the reviews don't look like much.)
As the mice say when approaching a piece of cheese, let's start from the top. :-) (Apologies to Rankin-Bass.) Well, first there was a nice late sleep, and then hot oatmeal. Then I went off in hunt of yellow nightlight bulbs and blue garland. The blue garland I found at Garden Ridge—but boy has this place been scalped! (Not to mention getting depressing: they already have the spring stuff out. Ugh!) They had one small bookcase-sized rack with Christmas bulbs and all C-9s and that was it. But blue garland they had, and some candle ring wreaths for two doors downstairs, plus I found two decorative boxes. They had a box of $1.99 DVDs and in among the collection of cheap cartoons I found a Bob Hope USO show and also The Christmas That Almost Wasn't, which is corniness itself, but also 1960s nostalgia wrapped in a big bow (besides, it's Paul Tripp). (I also had a run of luck on DVDs at CD Warehouse; I found an inexpensive copy of Prince Caspian and also the DVD of the Radio City Music Hall Spectacular.) I also picked up a couple of things at JoAnn and then went to Lowes. Lowes had a set of "gold" bulbs, which I figured would be too dark (and they were), but they should hold things until next year. I know someone sells yellow bulbs and I may find them yet. I also stocked up on suet for our voracious flock at the feeder. But it was Borders that provided the real surprise: the new Valdemar short stories book and a DVD called The History of Christmas. It is actually four History Channel presentations: Christmas Unwrapped (which I had recorded), a documentary on Santa Claus (it may be the Biography of Santa Claus), something called It's a Wonderful Time to Be Weird (odd Christmas decorations and customs), and Christmas Tech. When I got home I had some luscious leftover turkey thigh with some bread for lunch, put on the Radio City DVD, and then set about decorating the mantel. As I said, the "gold" lights are too dark, really orangy, but it's better than the white, which I felt was stark. If nothing else, I think Bronners sells actual yellow bulbs. I could always mail order them for next year. I also sat and watched The Christmas That Almost Wasn't, which comes with the original Italian titles, but is in English. Anyway, I finished decorating downstairs (the lighthouse and some extra geegaws here and there). All that's left is the tree. I forgot to mention that I have finally found my bench! I want a nice simple bench for the foyer, one you can sit on to put on a pair of shoes. All the benches I have seen were too fancy-shmancy with a price to match. Well, there is a nice, simple country-looking bench at Lowes for about $68. Best of all, it's on sale for 25 percent off! They also have a wooden plant stand that would be perfect for downstairs. When the mailman came, more riches! My 40 percent off season 6 set of Make Room for Daddy had arrived, as well as the book The Christmases We Used to Know, published by Reminisce and containing stories from the magazine previous to 1996. I found it on e-Bay for a couple of dollars. Labels: books, Christmas, decorating, shopping » Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Miracles Do Happen!
It rained all day, although it never again did get as dark as this morning when the Christmas lights switched on! The humidity made the entire house sticky and the noisome odor of burnt honey persisted until I lit the gingerbread candle.
Oddly, they are talking about this rainstorm having a snow chaser! It snowed in Houston and in Mississippi. Since I was using a computer today that actually works properly, I was able to do three orders and get two others prepped to go. As afternoon wore on, I pulled out my Christmas cassettes. Had a nice variety of music, with Mannheim Steamroller, a brass album, a Revels album, my London Weekend Christmas tape, and others. And then the miracle appeared. James called and said they were "overbooked" for telephone coverage during New Year's week, so he could take Monday through Wednesday off if he wanted. Well, cool! "And When the Sky Was Opened..." How it does rain! Oh, we need the rain. Lake Lanier is drying up again, even though we received more rain than last year. But goodness, what a racket and what a mess. It's so warm we had the windows open, but I had to close half of them because they were awash in water. The racket from the rain thundering through the downspouts and drumming the deck floor is deafening. Every once in a while comes a rumble of thunder and Willow is clinging as close to me as she can. It was so dark before James left for work that the sensor tripped the timer outside and the porch Christmas lights came on.(Gosh, look at the radar! This storm system stretches in a big diagonal line, from New Orleans all the way to Prince Edward Island. What a whopper!) The acrid scent of the burned honey still hangs over the house, especially around the microwave. James boiled the lemon skins in a cup of water in the microwave last night (we have heard this is an air-freshening tip), and it barely has touched the scorched scent. And I thought the burned smell of popcorn was bad! Now I know why they tell you not to let the sugar scorch the pot if you are making candy. Ugh. I have left the kitchen window open despite the rain since it's right next to the microwave, and have the microwave door open. » Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Cloudy Days and Ways
Lordy, what a day. Sunday the high was 48°F, today it got up to 65 and was humid and sticky, the sky overcast and low all day except for a few moments midmorning when the sun broke through. My coughing slowly faded during the morning—unfortunately it was replaced by painful bathroom visits by the time lunch came. Gah. This coupled with the glacial movement of my computer today—it took me an hour this morning to get the damn thing to work properly—meant I only got one order finished instead of the three I anticipated. At least I got them started. Phooey.
Thankfully the rain held off until after rush hour. I was able to come home and decorate the miniatures ornaments tree in the foyer. Made some rice for supper just before James got in. Tiresomely, the stupid Trojan is still on my laptop (there is no truth to the rumor that Firefox 3 isn't affected by Virtumonde), although I have some advice to treat it. (Thanks, Jerry!) It doesn't bother me much when I'm surfing; I can just close whatever pops up. But it has disabled Windows Updates and also AVG making its scheduled scan every night at ten. Last week a co-worker gave me a lemon. Tonight James used it to make a sauce for turkey thighs. He wanted to add some honey, but it was crystallized, so he put it in the microwave to soften. He set the time for too long. Oh, god...the honey burned. I mean burned black. It even bubbled up and charred. There was acrid smoke everywhere. Good thing it was warm out. We threw open all the windows and vented with two fans and it still took the smoke about an hour to clear. There's still a nasty smell near the bedrooms where we didn't have the windows open. I have a coffee-scent candle there now. (James ended up using some other honey and supper was quite good!) » Monday, December 08, 2008
Well, This Sucks
The power supply blew out on my desktop. Boy, did that stink! James is installing a new one. We'll see if it fried the motherboard or not.
I am still with Virtumonde on the laptop, despite following Daniel's directions. (Later: New power supply worked. However, it hasn't helped my keyboard. A few minutes after I wrote a note on it, several of the letter keys quit working completely. We have a spare keyboard, but I like this Microsoft one.) Labels: computers Who Let That Big Wooden Horse In?
My laptop appears to be Trojan'd by something called "Virtumonde." The last time I used the laptop was Friday. When I booted it up yesterday after we got home I noticed it was running slowly. At one point my icons all disappeared, and Windows kept saying I didn't have Updater running. Well, I do, I just don't have it on automatic updates. I have it tell me what updates are available and then I install them. When I checked automatic update, it was indeed on.
Anyway, when I surf on Firefox I get other websites just pop up. I know they are about to open because suddenly something is asking me about setting a cookie; I always do this to say no to sites I don't want to set a cookie. Then a web page pops up. It can be anything from sports to porn sites to search sites. I have a couple of things I do do in IE because it just works better on those sites and that's when the problem really starts (my research shows me that part of this Trojan hangs out in IE files). It says I have a virus and I should download something called "Antivirus 2009." Of course I don't do it because I know nothing about this program. It probably plants more spyware on your computer (according to research, that's what it does). But you can't even stop it. Even if you hit cancel you get popups. And you can tell they're not legitimate because they're full of typos. One even says "You need to install this if you want your PC to remain unsoiled." "Unsoiled"? ::snort:: When it first started last night, James said, "Run AdAware." I did, and it pinpointed the Trojan. But when you tell it to remove, it doesn't. I even uninstalled and reinstalled AdAware to make sure I had the latest version. I ran AVG on it; the first time it didn't even see anything. The second time it found something, which it said it removed. Still the same problems. A friend says he uses Avast and that has a squelch for this "Virtumonde," but I downloaded it and it scanned the entire machine before it started up and didn't even indicate anything. I set it to scan again and it's scanning stuff like peer-to-peer applications, or stuff like IM and MSN Messenger and all this other communications stuff, none of which I have on the laptop. I don't even have an e-mail client on it; I check mail on the desktop or via a website if I'm on the laptop. I'm pretty sure I got this Trojan via a group I read on Yahoo, not from downloading anything in e-mail. I'm quite flummoxed. Labels: computers » Sunday, December 07, 2008
On the Second Weekend of Advent...
...thespians, tours, and travails (with lights, joints, and cyber snoopers) in Holiday Harbour.
Labels: Christmas, events, Holiday Harbour What About That John Charles Daly Announcement?
History tells us that thousands of Americans were listening to a concert when the voice of future What's My Line host and then CBS newsman John Charles Daly broke in with "We interrupt this program..."
Well, that's not quite how it went. Here, from a 1999 NPR broadcast, is Robert Trout's recollection of that day: Pearl Harbor Anniversary (Trout says it seems surprising that all broadcasting was not cancelled and full coverage given to Pearl Harbor. That's because at that point there was very little known, what news there was was being filtered or censored, and radio newsmen didn't get on the air like they do today and blather the same thing over and over. They reported when they had news.) Labels: history » Saturday, December 06, 2008
Sigh...Ain't It the Truth?
» Friday, December 05, 2008
Labels Are Only The Beginning...
» Thursday, December 04, 2008
Where Does The Time Go?
I feel like Sam Levenson's mother. Summer crawled by, then all of a sudden it was October and then November, and now it's December and before I know it it will be January and then February and by the end of the month the trees will start to bloom and I wouldn't have had a chance to enjoy the cold weather at all and it will be sucky summer again. I've barely any Christmas decorations up and here it is December 4!"Today psychiatrists would call Mama a compulsive housekeeper. "She would get up at 6 a.m. mumbling, 'Here it is Monday, before you know it Tuesday, and Wednesday just around the corner, and Thursday running into Friday, and I haven't done a stitch of work yet.'" (Sam Levenson, Everything But Money) "How fast the earth spins!" Labels: events Gloom and Groom Grey, heavy skies, temps in the 40s, wind rattling the brown leaves left on the trees, rain spattering and pattering on the deck and the sidewalk; such a gloomy day that after I finished eating lunch Willow abandoned any pretense of being companionable and has retreated into the warm den of her crate. I should put the fire on, but while I'm working I can't enjoy it, so I have settled for lighting the gingerbread candle. So here I sit as I "groom" purchase requests so that they become neat little purchase orders, and while orders are building or things are printing, I whisk the last bits of Thanksgiving and fall away, so the house may be groomed for a Christmas makeover.I watched "Lassie's Gift of Love" at lunchtime while whisking things away since the incidental music has been running through my head since last night and I could hardly resist its siren call. As an adult I can note all the "things not right" with the scenery—I know the "snow" is wet soapflakes (you can see it dripping off the trees) and the woods are a soundstage and the cave where Lassie finds the wolf cubs looks fake—but it always works its magic and by the time Ruth utters the last line "It's the happiest night of the year," my eyes are misting up. "All is well." Labels: Christmas, decorating, television, work Decorating One Step at a Time... » Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Speared
I don't believe it. Now Today was waffling about Britney Spears this morning, and one of those innumerable celebrity shows was blaring stuff about her birthday party. I mean, is she dying or something? Is this her last birthday ever? Why on earth is there so much fuss about a person's birthday party?
Labels: television » Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Tick--VG!
There! The cars are registered. I decided to pay them with my Amazon card rather than my Borders card, to get the points up where I would get another certificate. Surprise! I already had enough points, so I have sent off for a $25 Amazon credit and am building a new set. Yay. Also finished signing the Christmas cards (and the Hanukkah cards—I found the cutest Hanukkah cards) and am pretty much done with the letter that goes in with some of the cards. Just need to print it out on the stationery I purchased.
Ah, Allergies...
Allergic and Wheezing, But Still Keeping Pets
This is the same thing Dr. Freedman told my mom so long ago: there is no such thing as a "hypoallergenic" pet. You are not allergic to the dog's hair; you are allergic to the dog's dander. It doesn't matter if it has curly hair or no hair or is only single-coated. However, medications have changed. Perhaps if we'd had non-drowsy allergy medications like Claritin, I could have had a dog as a kid. But it just wasn't around then, and the stuff I did have to take knocked me flat. There are also certain precautions you can take. Never touch your face and eyes after petting a dog or cat; always wash your hands instead. (People always looked at me funny when, even at the age of eight, I would go straight to the bathroom to wash my hands if I petted a dog or cat. It was the price I had to pay for any contact at all.) No hugging the dog or letting him lick you. If the cat (or the dog) sleeps in your lap, you have to change clothes and make sure the "pet saturated" clothing is washed before you wear it again. I can't hug James after Willow has sat with him in his chair, because he's been "dogged." :-) Claritin (and previously Allegra and Seldane) have made things so much easier. I remember when I used to visit my best friend on Saturday nights when she was home from college on the weekend. She had a dog and two cats. I would get home, wait on the enclosed but unheated back porch (even in the dead of winter when it was in the 20s outside) and knock on the back door. Mom would bring me a change of clothes and I would change out there on the dark of the porch. The clothes would stay on the porch all night to air out then they would be washed. Once I had my clothes on I would go directly to the bathroom and wash my hands, arms, and face again, and I would take my allergy pill before bed (because if I took it then I would conk out asleep within a half hour). Sometimes I still had an allergy attack the next day, but it was the price I paid for visiting with Mitzi, Twiggy and Zipper. Slowwwwwly I Compute
It's as if when the clock hit 11 the bandwidth narrowed to capillary size. All of a sudden applications were opening, closing, and printing in sloth time. As of course this occurs at the same time I am printing out new orders, it is freakin' aggravating.
When we're at the hobby shop, Rusty or Corley or one of the other guys always apologizes for swearing in front of me, or won't tell an off-color story because I am there. I wonder what they would say if they heard me swearing at this benighted piece of outdated computer equipment with its crappy Microslop applications! Labels: computers » Monday, December 01, 2008
[eyes roll]
Isn't Good Morning, America a news show? Or at least didn't it start out that way?
Obviously they aren't any longer, because I have been "treated" to a series of commercials this evening where they are trumpeting about tomorrow's "event": celebrating Britney Spears' birthday. God, what rubbish. Labels: television We Have A Winner...Uh, Winter...
My gosh...it's sleeting out...wish it would stay this cold for Saturday!
Labels: weather Retention is Great
Evidently I was paying attention in both government and economics class in high school.
Civics QuizYou answered 28 out of 33 correctly — 84.85 % Tip o' the hat to Daniel. Labels: quiz Another One Bites the Dust
I've been steadily cancelling credit cards I seemed to have accumulated through various sources (including the MBNA one I ended up with because I was sick and made the mistake of answering the phone and said yes just to shut them up and get myself back to bed). Looks like I won't have to cancel the Circuit City one—it's gone. Another one down.
Labels: events Nothing Worth Dying For
Wal-Mart Death Preventable, Union Says
Was WallyWorld partially responsible? Maybe—wasn't there and don't know. But I do remember the last and only time we went to a big box store for a deal: it was so long ago that we considered getting a VCR for $70 a real deal. We joined a line of chatting, friendly people in line at 5 a.m. Best Buy employees were helpful; they passed out maps of the store and coupons for the limited items. And then, WHAM! when the doors opened, a bunch of people who weren't even waiting in the line jumped the line and pushed their way in ahead of everyone who'd been waiting. The Best Buy security guards couldn't do a thing about it; there were just too many rude bastards who had to be first. They couldn't be bothered to wait and they couldn't be bothered to be polite. That new computer or PDA or DVD player was just too damn important. So maybe that WalMart didn't have enough security, but if people had bothered to be polite and in control, it wouldn't have happened in the first place. It just gets worse every year. Do parents teach their kids self-control anymore? It's all "I want, I want, and I don't care what I have to do to get it!" It's just STUFF, people! It's not worth hurting anyone over. Labels: events » Sunday, November 30, 2008
Sunday Dark and Light
It was still grey and gloomy as Sunday dawned. After a leisurely breakfast, we took a quick trip to Kroger for my sandwich bread and bananas for the work week. $50 later... (LOL. We had coupons and they had paper towels on sale.)When we got home we began the Christmas decorating! I placed the candles in all the windows and set up the timers (they're all on timers so I don't have to worry about them), and replaced all the autumn wreaths and swags on the doors with Christmas wreaths, and placed the garland—and the mistletoe (heh)—over the archway to the rooms and over the door to the deck (and put the bird garland on the deck door). When I finished this, I decorated the porch...no lights yet, just the little tree with the blue lights, and the Santas in the big rockers. The garlands are badly faded by the strong sun that hits our porch in the afternoon. If I can find more blue garland somewhere I need to replace it. I also put out the little reindeer and candy cane and welcome bell stakes in the beds, and the plastic candy canes on the railing. Sadly, the latter are looking a bit worn. I also put up the Old-World Santa banner, the wreath on the front door, and the mailbox cover with the Christmas birds.James also assembled the stool I bought, which is perfect for the little woodland tree and rustic Santa figure, and tested the little pre-lit silver tree he bought to showcase his Hallmark airplanes. The "needles" are holographic and the white lights will highlight the little planes perfectly. By the time we finished, it was 3:30 and we decided to go to Borders and have a treat: we had a BOGO beverage coupon for the cafè. When I was hanging the wreath on the front door, I noticed the sun had come out, and what a difference from the morning when we emerged from the garage! The clouds were scudding away and the sky was a brilliant blue. I felt quite good as we reached the shopping center and went darting into Pier One looking at some beautiful glowing red lacquered trays before we went into Borders and settled down at one of the tables to drink our Cocoa Trios. They weren't scalding the way hot chocolate is usually served and I felt like we were a couple of kids at the malt shop sipping down our drinks. Evidently my stomach has not settled down yet from Thanksgiving Day. Even the richness of the coca upset it, despite having eaten my oatmeal fine this morning and having taken my Prilosec. I came home with a sour taste in my throat and very hungry since I hadn't really had any lunch. James thawed the rest of our homemade turkey soup and we had it with elbow macaroni; a very mild dinner that just added to the sour taste. I had to swallow a couple of Gas-X tablets to get the bubbles to go away. It took until ten o'clock for it to fade. In the meantime we watched several episodes of What's My Line?, including one in which Bennett Cerf acted as the moderator. One of the guests on that episode was Henry J. Kaiser. I piped up, "Hey, my dad had one of your cars!" And we belong to his HMO. :-) Ended the evening and began the Christmas media season with our two favorite British stories, the "Silly, But It's Fun" episode of The Good Life (wherein Margo sends back the Ledbetters' entire Christmas provisioning since the tree is six and three quarters inches too short) and the All Creatures Great and Small story "Merry Gentlemen." I always marvel at the writers for this series. None of the stories that comprise "Merry Gentlemen" were originally Christmas stories in the Herriot books, yet they have become a seamless whole in the episode. I love this episode: it's like going home and being enfolded in warm arms. I especially love the cleaned-up dining room—the wallpaper and the wall sconces and the C6 lights on the Christmas tree and Helen standing in the dark with just the light of the tree on her face all remind me of my Papá's house at Christmastime. And I love the churchbells at the end. I never hear churchbells any longer. If you do hear them, they are the tinny artificiality of automatic carillons. All sorts of noises out there these days, thumping cars and loudspeakers at car dealerships, and no room for the happy call of churchbells... Labels: Christmas, decorating, television, weather » Saturday, November 29, 2008
Rainy Days and Saturdays
Which described today perfectly: it was grey and misty and as the hours progressed the mist lowered until even the shorter buildings lost their upper stories. By the time we got home, it was foggy and damper than ever.
In the hours we were out, we were pretty busy. First we attended to business and got James' truck inspected. From there we headed toward Books-a-Million via Dallas Highway, so we stopped at the Avenue at West Cobb and strolled about the Linens'n'Things. I'm a regular shopper at Linens, if not a profligate spender there, and I'm sorry to see it go. James got some new cookware and I bought some snowflake towels for the bathroom for Christmas. I also bought James a new John Scalzi book using my Barnes & Noble coupon. From there we went to Books-a-Million. Bought a couple of magazines and a Jan Brett book on remainder (I love her beautiful illustrations!). We also stopped at Michaels, where I was lucky to find a pinking shears for a reasonable amount of money (thank you, coupon!). We nipped next door to PetSmart to see what dogs they had for adoption. There was a dog Willow's size there, almost all brown, and his tag said he was a Pomeranian-mix, too! He didn't have all the fuzz, though. We stopped at the hobby shop for a while, then were feeling peckish after an early breakfast and no lunch. If you eat at Longhorn before four o'clock any day but Sunday, it's still the lunch menu and prices, so we did that for supper. After that we stopped for gas and for milk and things at Costco. James appeared behind me with a big rectangle and said "Happy anniversary!" Oooh! It's twelve new episodes of Rick Steves' Europe on DVD, along with a book called Europe 101: History and Art for the Traveler! Yummy! We made one more stop, Hobby Lobby, before coming home. Since it was a holiday weekend, we celebrated by watching...movies! I had Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull waiting for tonight. Well, that was...underwhelming. After all the bad press I said I'd pass judgment when I saw it myself. It wasn't...terrible. It was just...silly. Shia LaBouef (whatever) was surprisingly good and it was nice to see Karen Allen again, but frankly, she acted half the time like she was stoned. Everything was "light." There was a joke in everything. The other films were drama with bits of comedy. This was a comedy with action parts and special effects. Frankly, I'm glad I only sprang for the one disk version. I put Kit Kittredge on afterwards and enjoyed that much better. It made no claim to be anything but a nice family film and it was. » Friday, November 28, 2008
Golden Thanksgivings and Black Fridays...
» Thursday, November 27, 2008
 Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at Schuyler's Roost...uh...Autumn Hollow. LOL. This morning I was about my annual Thanksgiving tradition: trying to find a newspaper. Food Depot—no. Publix wasn't open and there were no vending boxes in front. Little gas station at Pat Mell and Olive springs—no. So I went to QT. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has got wise. Always this daily paper was the same price as the other dailies: 75¢. Today the big fat Thanksgiving paper was $2 like the Sunday paper. Labels: holidays, Thanksgiving » Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Oh...Under The Heading of "You've Got to Be Kidding..."
When I was in Big Lots today, there was one of those pompous store announcements, this one that the store would be open on Thanksgiving Day (gosh, I'm sure the employees are giving thanks for that!—not!).
The speaker continued talking about having a big meal and getting together with relatives and friends and then all going to Big Lots and getting some great bargains, concluding with (I kid you not), "That's what Thanksgiving is all about!" Needless to say, I was a bit...stunned? appalled? incredulous? Yeeesh. Labels: shopping One Treasure Left
We had potlucks for supper, saving up for the goodies tomorrow. :-) After Jeopardy I put on a couple of DVDs: History Channel's Home for the Holiday: The History of Thanksgiving and Travel Channel's New England Thanksgiving. I'm a bit puzzled as I thought I had a Thanksgiving special with Al Roker.
I finished up with my favorite: The Thanksgiving Treasure, the second of the four Addie Mills specials. This sequel is almost as good as the original, with Addie befriending a sour old man who is feuding with her father. As in the original, it's all the little touches which make this extra special: Addie and her best friend bicycling out to the country to pick cattails for a harvest bouquet and telling each other corny riddles, the 1940s classroom lined with tempera paint Thanksgiving pictures and the typical Thanksgiving mural in the back of the room, the cute little radio program the schoolkids are rehearsing for the Thanksgiving assembly, Addie having to negotiate with her nosey little cousin, the windswept and November-bleak Canadian prairie that stands in for the windswept and November-bleak Nebraska prairie. Add to that Lisa Lucas as Addie with her heart in her eyes, Barnard Hughes as the misanthrope who thaws ever-so-slowly, and Jason Robards as the puzzled, gruff father...what you have is a classic. Deserves a DVD release of its own. Labels: DVDs, television Giving Thanks Early Didn't intend to go out today, but I had to vote in the runoff election. Was at the Austell government office about an hour. Everyone in line was pleasant, and I whiled away the time reading Crusader Nation, which I'm enjoying very much. Since I was in that direction anyway, when I was done I visited the Dollar General and the Big Lots on Austell Road. Found some thermal socks for James and bought Willow a treat: a small box of fortune cookies. Willow loves fortune cookies, or anything that crunches. No luck with the table, though.I wasn't intending to go into any grocery stores today, but I had a few cans of soup I can't eat anymore because of the acid reflux and I thought I would put them in the Can Bank box at Kroger. Well, when I got there the store wasn't that crowded, so I got a cart and walked round and bought some canned goods, baking mixes, a pack of tuna, other little things, and then left it all in the Can Bank box. I really want to do this a few more times before Christmas. And I still wish they had a Can Bank collection box in the store all year round. Labels: shopping » Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Linda and the Blustery Day
I was awakened by Willow barking and James saying "You'd better get up; Scott is here."
Sadly, it wasn't Scott Sherwood. LOL. Scott is our exterminator. You see, when it got so cold last week, I walked into the kitchen and found a roach on top of the stove waving its little antennae at me. Smush! Telephone call! I was really freaked out because I hadn't seen a roach in the house for over a year, and here we have a Christmas party coming up soon. Yeah, I know they're probably coming in (a) because it's cold and (b) because we're still in drought conditions, but it doesn't mean I don't want to do anything about it. So Scott spritzed behind the refrigerator and the stove, and sprayed in the garage and near the water heater and on the deck. Well, I don't know what he put in that spray, but about three hours later (after I watched Nature and gave up on Today...LOL) I went into the kitchen and found a palmetto bug upended on the floor in front of the stove, waving his legs. Smush again! Got the laundry finished and the bed made and cleaned the bathroom downstairs, but felt I needed a little more exercise than that. So I went out to Hobby Lobby. I got a kick out of the sign that said "Fall items, 90 percent off." The fall items left were on a cart. Can you say "Cleaned out"? I was still looking for a small table for downstairs. I know what I'm looking for but I haven't seen one yet; what they call a telephone table. I have seen them, but they are built deeper than I want. I may go back to get the cute red one I saw at Ikea, but I won't put it at the foot of the stairs where I need a smaller table. Hobby Lobby has furniture, but nothing suited, and I even looked at plant stands at Lowes, where I went to pick up another bag of safflower seed, but they were too rickety. On the way home I stopped at WalMart, since I definitely don't want to go there tomorrow or over the weekend! We needed the low-carb tortillas, and I picked up a few other groceries, as well as a folding tray that I can use for the table in a pinch. It's a nice dark color and with the cloth over it, James thought it was a table. Since it's a tray, it will be useful after Christmas as well. Before I drove into back the garage, I swept it out. This is not the best thing to do when the wind is gusting up to 20 mph! I started chivying the dead leaves and scattered bits of paper toward the doors, only to have the wind blow it back. I finally closed the doors until I was ready to gather up the papers and toss them, then swept the rest of the stray dirt and leaves back outside where it belonged. The wind had been rattling and banging things outside since last night, when the cold front swept the last of yesterday's rain away, but it gradually died down over the afternoon. Then vacuumed, brought the laundry up, cleaned the stairs and swept the foyer...golly, where did the time go? Oh, Please, Guys
Joyce Scardina was on Today after the "affordable sweater" thing (she's the gravelly-voiced lady from Sea World who also appears on the Tonight Show occasionally), with "wildlife the first European settlers were familiar with": a pileated woodpecker, a beaver, a horseshoe crab, and a wild turkey (what beautiful iridescent feathers on his back!). Geez, can "Hoda" (who the heck is "Hoda," anyway?) and Kathie Lee act more "girly"? I know from reading that beavers have a rather noticeable scent, but do they have to keep going on and on about it? They duck when the woodpecker flies and don't want to pet the turkey (he's a bird, already; they're soft!). Get a grip, girls! You sound like a pair of second-grade girls faced with a boy and a frog.
(After this was over, we were treated to the hosts of Atlanta & Company talking about the series The Real Housewives of Atlanta...aieeee....let me change the channel...never mind rotting my brain; this is going to rot Schuyler's brain...) Labels: animals Say...What?
I've just finished watching a Nature I had on DVR and Today was still on "real" TV. Came up in the middle of "Today's Style" and they were talking about "affordable sweaters" for these "tough economic times." The first sweater that was modeled was $200! The second was "only" $75, but, to provide the right "look," was paired with an embroidered tank overshirt that was about $250. The other sweater was $99...this is "affordable"???? Holy cats!
Labels: clothing Howl From the Past
I recorded Nature last night; it was an offering called "The Wolf That Changed America." The story was a familiar one which I had read years ago, in a Whitman edition of Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton, but the special set it into a context I had not known.
Seton was born in Canada and grew up considering wolves as vermin, as most people in the 1800s did. In 1893, he traveled to New Mexico to try to claim the amazing bounty of $1000 for a super-intelligent wolf the ranchers called Lobo, who led a pack that was decimating the growing herds of cattle and flocks of sheep increasing in the countryside as the wilderness became domesticated. Seton considered himself a wolf expert (he'd written what was considered the manual of wolf eradication) and was astonished when Lobo outsmarted him again and again. Then Lobo found a mate, a white wolf called Blanca. Seton cleverly trapped Blanca and then used her as bait to catch Lobo, who missed her so much he became careless. Seton found Lobo next morning, the wolf who had evaded traps, poison bait, and all sorts of pursuit, caught with a trap on each leg. But Seton found he couldn't kill Lobo and brought him back a captive to his camp, where the wolf died, "of a broken heart" as Seton stated. From then on his attitude toward wolves changed: he never killed another and championed the cause of all wildlife, national parks, and the visiting of nature (and leaving it as it was!—he was one of the founders of the Boy Scouts). I always found the story of Lobo powerful and sad. Even as a child I understood the ranchers' impulse to protect their livestock, but wondered if the extermination was necessary. Discovering that the story had been a turning point, not only for Seton, but for all naturalists, brought the tragic tale I read when I was nine or ten to a better ending. Labels: animals, television » Monday, November 24, 2008
"Yo-Ho, Dick! Ho, Ebenezer!"
I've felt like Dick Wilkins and Ebenezer Scrooge, 'prentices to Mr. Fezziwig, cleaning up for the Christmas dance! The towels are done, the clothing is drying, I've hung the Ken Jenkins print as well as the framed WWI/WWII patriotic postcards we bought at the Tennessee Aviation Museum, the downstairs hall is swept and some Christmas/winter things sorted with their respective boxes, moved the long table with the woodland tree/Santa on it since 'twill have to do, cleaned the last of the spilled Frosty off the garage door, and tossed some things away. It's high time for a belated lunch, but not sure what I want.Clear away! There was nothing they wouldn't have cleared away, or couldn't have cleared away, with old Fezziwig looking on. It was done in a minute. Every movable was packed off, as if it were dismissed from public life for evermore; the floor was swept and watered, the lamps were trimmed, fuel was heaped upon the fire; and the warehouse was as snug, and warm, and dry, and bright a ball-room, as you would desire to see upon a winter's night. Labels: chores, decorating No Time to Waste
Will be using up some of my use or lose this week. No lolling in front of the idiot box for me! I did sleep late (9 a.m.). Scooted around the channels and discovered that Dish's holiday music channel is finally on. Nice selection so far. Been putting together my holiday letter to go with my Christmas cards. While I was doing that I've washed the towels and now started the other full basket. I think dirty clothes breed in that darn basket—I just washed clothes Wednesday and there's only two of us.
The only thing we bought at Ikea yesterday was one of those fold-up racks to dry clothes on. I don't dry our regular clothing all the way because James always complained with the other dryer that his shirts came out badly. Usually I toss the still damp clothes on the bed; since the window's always open in the bedroom except when the A/C is on, they dry by nightfall. I'm tired of doing that. I set the rack up in the laundry room and we'll see how they do in there. If not, I will set it up in the master bath, in the tub. Eating some yogurt and planning to go hang the Ken Jenkins pic we bought in Gatlinburg. It's cold and damp, so I won't get overheated lugging in the ladder and doing all that up and down with the level and a marking pencil. A Miracle!
Ah, another sign of Christmas a'coming: that WalMart commercial where all the cashier lights start to play "Carol of the Bells" and blink in time with the music. I'd sure like to see that someday!
No, no! not lights blinking to music—that many checkout counters at WalMart being open at one time! Labels: commercials » Sunday, November 23, 2008
Behind Alistair Cooke
Did anyone catch this on Masterpiece Theatre: The Unseen Alistair Cooke? It was fabulous. After Alistair Cooke passed away in 2004, they found dozens of 8mm films he took of his travels in the 1930s, and many of these are shown on the program, a fascinating glimpse of America in the 1930s. I could have just watched the films all night, but I adored all of it.
Here's a review of The Unseen Alistair Cooke. I wish I'd thought to DVR this. I can catch the repeat on WPBA, but Dish doesn't carry PBA's digital signal, so I'll get a badly framed fullscreen version instead. Bleah. Labels: television Surprises on Sunday I joined Facebook on Friday.I mention this only because it brought me an unexpected surprise: contact with my cousin Debbie. Debbie had sent us an anniversary card and I noticed the return address was different. I said, "I need to save this envelope." Whatever happened, the envelope didn't get saved. Well, last year I had found something special I had wanted to send to Debbie before Thanksgiving. I was going to send it to her old address until I saw the new address—and thought, "What if they don't forward it?" So I quickly asked Debbie what her new address was and had a response last night, so I could slip the gift, already wrapped, into a mailing envelope. So the first place we went to was the downtown post office. Surprise! The parking lot in front of the post office was...gone. It had been dug up with bobcats and was roped off. We just parked at the side and walked to the front door to use the automatic machine, but it was funny watching people drive up and stop dead at the driveway entrance. You could almost see the "What the h---...?" thought balloon over their heads! From the post awful we went to our original destination for the day, Ikea. We hadn't been there in a dog's age and I was looking for a certain small piece of furniture. I wanted something to put my woodland tree and Santa on that was a little higher than the shelf I've been storing it on for now. I found something, too—a stool! After Christmas it could do dual duty as a seat. Except...surprise! they were all out of them. Bother. I saw a couple of alternatives, but I really didn't want to buy a table, although there was a rather cute red one. Anyway, we ate lunch there as well. I had my appetite all set for chicken marsala, but they didn't have any today. Instead for the chicken dish they had a "Sunday dinner," a baked chicken quarter, stuffing, and sweet potato soufflè. Surprise again! Actually, it was quite good, especially the sweet potato, which didn't taste as if someone had dumped the contents of the sugar bowl in it. When we left Ikea it had clouded over quite a lot. We were heading for the Kroger on Whitlock Road since we needed gasoline along with the fixings for corn casserole, which is one of the things we are bringing with us to the Butlers for Thanksgiving dinner. We went through the south loop past Southern Polytechnic, the Cobb County Civic Center, and innumerable other businesses, approaching downtown Marietta, and there, at the right side of the road not three-quarters-of-a-mile from downtown, we were flabbergasted to see three wild turkeys pecking around on the grass verge at the side of the road! One of those times I wished I was lightning fast and could have whipped out my phone in a millisecond. We bought the ingredients of the feast, not to mention more wild bird seed, and then stopped at Lowes for safflower seeds. We arrived home to find another rude surprise: apparently they were having a block party at the trailer park behind us and had a DJ. It sounded like a frappin' rock concert out there he was so loud. Since we had "Sunday dinner" at noon, we partook of "potlucks" for supper. Watched the last part of the third Adams Chronicles disk, with John Quincy Adams as Congressman following his tenure as president. It was at this point he defended the African-American captives aboard the "Amistad." William Daniels, who was John Adams in 1776, plays the older John Quincy Adams in The Adams Chronicles. He made the story very lively, even in the long scene where he was filibustering Congress. I decided to put some of the Thanksgiving specials on that I had recorded after this, so we have watched Thanksgiving Unwrapped and The Secret Life of Thanksgiving. Of course sometime this week I will watch the Addie Mills story, The Thanksgiving Treasure! Labels: DVDs, events, shopping, television » Saturday, November 22, 2008
Simple Gifts...
Life Happens When You Have Other Plans
We ran to Kroger this morning for yogurt and other useful things, then James thought he would have time to run the truck to Carnett's to get an oil change and get the car inspected before he had to go to his monthly club meeting. I'm getting the paycheck that I will be devoting to the car registrations next Friday, and his truck has to have its emission inspection before I can renew.
If you get the emissions inspection, a car wash is free. He had the wash, and then they took the truck to the bay for the rest. We had barely settled when the technician called James. They had tried to start the truck to do the inspection and it wouldn't start. This was baffling because it started fine in the garage and at Kroger. But there it was clicking and not turning over. Anyway, the guy jumped us off and he did change the oil, but he didn't want to do the emissions inspection with the engine cool. Well, if the battery was dead or about to go dead, it would make getting around over the weekend a problem, and definitely for going to work on Monday! So he was planning to drop me off and find somewhere to replace the battery. Now the place we usually go to is closed on Saturday, and the only other place I could think of would be the Sears Auto Center. In short: ugh. Then I remembered we would be passing by Merlin's. We used to go there quite a bit in the past—I remember the day I needed something done to the car, but the exterminator was coming to the house and the critters needed to be out of it, so I turned up there with Leia and Bandit and they didn't mind a bit—but I didn't know if they did batteries, so we stopped to ask. They did indeed, and while we were there James also asked them to replace his left rear tire, on which the tread was wearing very thin. So we got that all taken care of and James was only ten minutes late to his meeting. Ironically, we never did get the truck inspected, since Merlin's doesn't do that. Where Were You?... » Friday, November 21, 2008
Places You Should Eat
(with apologies to Rick Sebak!)
I've recommended this before, but if you live anywhere near a Fresh 2 Order, you really must try it. I have not had a bad meal in this place. Tonight they were out of my favorite, the pork roast, and I had the bourbon beef instead, with wheat-berries. The beef also comes with mixed greens. Usually they are grilled with the beef, but someone forgot tonight, so we just had nice greens with a balsamic dressing. We were both pretty hungry so James had a full bowl of chicken tortilla soup (he says it's wonderful, but I don't do spicy) and I had a half bowl of their creamy chicken vegetable, which was smashing. James has also had both of their chicken dishes and pronounced them delicious. The same could not be said for Costco, but we did go in there twenty minutes before closing! No samples for us! The wind is keen tonight on top of the cold—I took Wil out for a short walk when I finished work and had to keep sticking my nose in my scarf; I actually wore my coat—so we were glad of a close parking place. We mostly bought milk and other staples, but we stopped long enough to drool at the laptop station. They had two netbooks there, an Acer and an HP. The Asus was smaller and resembled James' EEPC, complete with the tiny keyboard, but was only $350; the HP was marginally larger and had a standard-size keyboard, but was $500. Both were under three pounds and came with wireless built in. Too cute! An Icicle in the Works Holy cats, it's cold outside! It's 35°F and dropping like a rock...with the wind chill it's already under freezing. After I got done with my work, I took Willow out, and then for a short walk. Once I got in, the blood rushed to all my extremities and now I'm roasting! I'm glad I refilled the bird feeder all the way this morning (instead of three quarters so the "tree rats" wouldn't get at the seed), so the little guys could stock up before evening. The female downy woodpecker was hanging on the suet just before sundown and she was so fluffed up she looked like a woodpecker toy.
» Thursday, November 20, 2008
Promoting Myself
As of Sunday I am officially a GS-08 Purchasing Agent (rather than a GS-07). (Happy St. Clement's Day to me! It's also "stir-up Sunday," the one before the first Sunday of Advent.)
This is ironic because I am presently struggling with two problems that should be really easy and have turned into a bit of a headache. I'll use the extra money to buy more birdseed. :-) My, those guys are hungry! Bet He Doesn't Come With Violin Music
If you've been watching television for the past few weeks, even cable channels, you may be aware that a new CGI movie from Disney called Bolt was being released today. This is a story of a dog who appears in a television series and who has been led to believe that his superpowers are real. His co-star is also his owner, a little girl. When he is accidentally lost, he has to make his way home, helped by a stray cat and what looks like a really paranoid hamster.
This morning Gene Shalit reviewed the film on TODAY (he liked it), and they happened to show a clip about how Bolt is lost. It looks like he is playing [he's not; he thinks the little girl is in danger], leaps into a box, and is accidentally locked in a van and taken away! Except for his being taped into the box...I burst out laughing and exclaimed, "OMG! It's 'Lassie's Odyssey'!!!!!!" Wonder if someone at Disney is a fan??? LOL. Labels: movies, television » Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Aromatherapy
A chilly, chilly morning. Even the birds kept away from the feeder until the sun was a little higher. We had a new total on brown-headed nuthatches today: six!I worked today to the spicy odor of a café au lait candle. For someone who used to eschew candles, I'm sure losing them a lot. It's the Christmas scents and the coffee. :-) And I still don't trust the things: I light them and leave them on the stove. But I do wish someone made a decent peppermint candle. I sniffed a so-called "peppermint" candle last year. Ugh. Nauseating. At lunch Willow and I took a walk. From the weather report, I thought it was very cold and bundled up in jacket, hat, and scarf. Cold, fiddlesticks. It was nearly 50; I had to unzip the jacket, toss the scarf over my shoulder, and stick my hat in my pocket. After work I finished decorating the house for Thanksgiving—turkeys and Pilgrims in every corner, and pumpkins scattered about liberally. I also designed a nice Christmas wallpaper for my computer with some scans from the Tasha Tudor Christmas book Take Joy!. I used one of the pictures—children around a Christmas tree—and blended it with the wreath on the title page to make it look as if the picture is framed in greens. Still haven't found an image I like for Thanksgiving, though. Labels: birds, Christmas, computers, exercise, Thanksgiving, work » Tuesday, November 18, 2008
"John Glenn Winked at Me!"
I had the news on and it said that for a few minutes tonight it would be possible to see the International Space Station orbiting with the naked eye. You looked to the west at about 6:54 p.m. and found Venus and Jupiter, who are on a diagonal line from each other, and the space station would come up from below and then climb. Well, our front porch faces west, so I bundled up and went outside.
There were a bunch of lights out there, however; it appeared that tonight's landing pattern to Hartsfield-Jackson has the airplanes routed from north to south, crossing between the two stars. But they were moving right to left and blinking...to my surprise I saw a bright dot come out of the trees and climb upward just to the "left" of Venus. It didn't blink, just rose in the sky until it reached the zenith over the roof of the house and vanished. So I think I saw it. Majorly cool! (The title quote is from Space Camp. Trust me, I was just as thrilled as young Andee! <g>) Labels: space How You Know You're Getting Old
You gasp with pleasure walking through a drugstore aisle because they have your medication on sale for $1.50 less than the least expensive place you buy it! (And then you grab two boxes...)
(Wasn't this a "Pluggers" strip once? LOL.) Continued Cold and Windy
I was thinking "A Visit from St. Nicholas" this morning—not because of the Christmas tree in the window at the corner of Old Concord and Powder Springs Street, but due to the line
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,since the gusting wind was scattering leaves across the streets before me in vast herds, a blustery Lassie chivvying botanical sheep. According to weather.com, the temp stood at 32°F (22 with the wind chill factor), although the car's external thermometer stated 34. I still wore my fleece jacket, albeit with a scarf and hat, not the coat. The heater in the car works fine, thanks, as does the one at work. (It's still 78 in here, despite the chill outside.*) Tomorrow morning's going to be the real freeze, predicted down to 29°F. Abandon ship! Abandon ship! Freeze warning! Get a grip, weather guys and gals, okay? * At least it's not as bad as senior year in high school. Seniors had homerooms on the fourth floor at Cranston East, and back then they were chronically overheated in winter while the rest of the school was either a normal temperature or freezing cold on the ground floor—many's the day the homeroom teacher had the windows open because the thermometer in the room stood at 92°F. Cross this with coming in out of a mile and a half walk in 25 degree weather in which you were clad in heavy coat, scarf, and hat with a heavy sweater and a vest over that, and you can see it's sauna time! :-) » Monday, November 17, 2008
Chill Factor
I started my Thanksgiving decorating when I got home from work, with the porch and the foyer. Not much to it as I just add to the fall decor. And it certainly feels like Thanksgiving—hoo-wee! It's 41, 35 with the wind chill factor. North Georgia's going to be in a deep freeze tonight.Since a chill night calls for gingerbread (and since the house did have an overwhelming scent of the pork chops we had for supper), I tried out the Hallmark/Yankee Candle gingerbread candle. It is surprisingly sweeter when it burns, but not overly sugary. A sweet smell to read a Country Living by. Labels: decorating, weather A Nip in the Air
Sure, if you're a Canadian, 39°F is just the opening to a nice spring day.
In Georgia 39°F as a morning temp is greeted with dire warnings the previous evening from every weather report on every television station in the area. You might think the next ice age was on its way. And it's supposed to be 29 tomorrow morning! I leave it for you to imagine the hue and cry this evening. Me, while I had the heater on my feet, I still drove to work with my window half open. Oh, I saw someone with their Christmas tree up, a white tree fronted by a star which changed color (for a minute I thought it was one of those old color wheels)! Good grief. Only a barbituate-addicted sloth could move slower than my work computer this morning...I had a 386 with Win3.1 that used to go faster. Plus the internet connection is bouncing up and down like Magic Johnson manipulating a basketball. There are internet pages I need for backup in my folders before submitting them for signature and it's taken me 90 minutes to print about five pages. Gah. » Sunday, November 16, 2008
A Brrrr Under Our Saddle
The temperature continued to fall yesterday evening, so very chilly that it felt very natural when James went downstairs to work in his hobby room to put "Holly" on, and later the Christmas episode of All Creatures Great and Small while I was on chat—a long nice one lasting until almost 3 a.m.!Well, one of the chat group went out stimulating the economy yesterday—we did it on a smaller scale today. We had to go by Kroger to pick up the few things I couldn't find at WallyWorld, and then we went to BJ's. At BJs I bought a new telephone/answering machine with two extensions (we jokingly call them "puppies"). We only needed one extension for James' room downstairs, but this one filled the bill. The phone we have now still works, but the main receiver's battery died and we are using the extension receiver upstairs instead. These phones are so old that they use special batteries made for the model; even if I could find one it would probably cost as much as a new set. Until we got a new one, I couldn't use the intercom to talk to James if he was working on his models. Worse, I use the phone for our weekly staff meeting since I am teleworking that day. If the meeting ran long enough to drain the battery, usually anything over 30 minutes, I could run downstairs and use the other receiver. But then the battery went dead in the main. I was embarrassed the last time we had a staff meeting and I had to warn them that if I got cut off it was because of the batteries in the phone. (There is also a phone in the bedroom, but you can't plug an earphone into it. I like to be able to take notes and look through my work for any problems I want to discuss with my supervisor during the meeting; hard to do one-handed.) So the new phone has the answering machine feature and the intercom feature on the extensions. It's also wall-mountable, which the other wasn't and it runs on regular rechargeable Ni-CD triple-A batteries rather than expensive proprietary batteries. It doesn't have a headphone plug, but it does have a speakerphone, which means I can leave the headset in the holder during the meeting and no batteries will run down. I also got the shower stall scrubbed out this morning, and then we replaced the vinyl strip at the bottom of the door, which keeps any possible water from leaking out of the shower. It has been torn and dangling for several months, but we just never got around to getting a tool to pry the end cap off and put the new strip on, and since water never leaked out from underneath we had no imperative to do the replacement. The funny thing was that we could not buy this strip separately! It's something that is certain to wear out every couple of years or so, and you would think they would be a dime a dozen, but we had a hard time finding one. We finally had to get a generic "shower repair kit" at Lowes, which included not only the vinyl strip but screws and wall anchors to enable hanging of a new shower door. These were our errands for the day, and we came home to refill the bird feeder, fixing the tension on the window shades in the bedroom, get ready for work tomorrow, read the Sunday paper, etc. We had potlucks for supper and, after the news, switched channels listlessly before settling on Airport. We figured the DVD would look better (it did), so we put that on instead. I love Airport. It's not only an entertaining movie, but there are a lot of nice memories associated with it. It opened in 1970, at the Majestic Theatre in downtown Providence. The Majestic was one of the last of the grand old movie theatres left downtown—it started out life as a vaudeville house—and I especially liked it because almost all the Disney movies opened there. I had probably seen all my favorites there: Mary Poppins, Three Lives of Thomasina, The Moon Spinners, Big Red, Summer Magic, In Search of the Castaways... It had plush seats and a huge ladies' room that was downstairs and a big screen in front of which a big plush curtain still opened before the movie started (it still had a stage as well). My dad had jury duty right about the time Airport opened. He worked as a polisher in Trifari, the jewelry manufacturer, so jury duty was a bit of a vacation for him. He was placed on the trial of a man who was accused of embezzling money from his company. One afternoon, the judge dismissed the jury early, so instead of coming directly home, he decided to go see Airport, since it had one of his favorite singers/actors in it, Dean Martin. He came home raving about it, and was especially tickled with the scene where the priest makes the sign of the cross and slaps the hysterical man who caused all the problems on the plane in the first place. (The bomb wouldn't have gone off had this man not interfered.) He said we had to go see it, and so Mom and I did, and we loved it, too (especially Helen Hayes!). The Majestic closed soon after that—luckily it wasn't razed like the RKO Albee, but became the new playhouse for the Trinity Square Repertory Company; although they demolished the interior and the stage with its beautiful red curtain was gone forever, the beautiful exterior remained. Airport and all those Disney films always remind me of those fun days at the Majestic. Labels: DVDs, electronics, movies, nostalgia, shopping |
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