Weblog 318
March 18, 2012~ 12:00 am
Saturday was St. Patrick's Day and thousands turned out in Pittsburgh to show off their green and gather downtown to watch the second largest St. Patrick's Day Parade in the country-- and to catch a glimpse of Vice-President Joe Biden, who walked the entire route. (I told Wayne it would have been more appropriate had he staggered the whole route... LOL!!)
And me??? I was deep in slumber and couldn't have cared less what a horde of drunken gawkers were doing on sunny St. Paddy's day.
It was a quiet work week. Each day opening more totally to the warmth of early spring. When I'd get home from work, I mostly browsed sites with old photos, staring.....staring into eyes from nearly a century ago, or better... most without names to affix to their arresting faces. This one
was so movingly beautiful, all I could do is gaze in awe of such tender innocence. Goodness! How could such a captivating face remain unnamed? Most of the photos were found stashed inside of antiques people picked up, treasures of someone long gone, and were discovered like old memories without connection. I think the most winning little tyke was this one
whose full-cheeked look simply melted my heart. As always, I get lost in studying the faces of the past, and when I realize that now they're simply faces without names, it tugs at something inside. So I put them up here, hold them under the light and say- "LOOK! Just look at these wonderful faces. They were alive once, same as you and me."
We visited Holly, Gary and the grandkids on Saturday evening. Kay and Bill and both dogs were VERY happy to see us. "Those dogs are gonna go CRAZY now," Bill called to me from the front yard as I was crossing the street toward him. "Why, Bill?"
"Because they'll be so happy to see you. They'll go nuts," he said, which made me grin- (hoping just a bit of that frenzy was shared by both kiddoes.... and it was. Bill wanted to play war, so I strolled outside with them. He chose the Korean War (don't ask me why) and my part consisted of handing him the football when he said, "Let's fire the Howitzer"- and I'd hand it over. Then my job was to yell "FIRE!", and make a 'BOOM!' sound. (The dogs, of course, joined in, and chased it down. Bomb or not..... they were goin' for it!)
The evening was balmy and pleasant. The pizza arrived via FIRE TRUCK. (Holly and Gary's neighborhood has a program twice a year- in spring and fall - in which the local fire department pitches in and delivers pizza. If you have a working fire alarm in your house, the pizza's free.) They came last fall too, so this time it wasn't free, but it was five dollars off. However the kid's DID get to climb into the fire engine and look around and enjoyed it immensely.
Holly's yard is just terrific for kids: it's completely fenced in (thanks to Gary and his dad and a lot of hard work) and makes a perfect place for playing and for dreaming. (That's what I remember MOST about this time of year when I was little, the discovery of the world again after its long winter's sleep.) Like this little gal, roaming her family's farm....
who probably stopped to study a caterpiller or some new spring bloom jutted up brightly from the soil. It was a nice night, all round.
I don't know what kind of mood I've been in...... it sort of shifts from 'sleepy/ennui' slipping into agitation. I guess I'm just sensitive to the changing seasons. (Tonight, for instance, I have a fan directed at me as I type... one going in the living room, and yes, the air-conditioner turned on low in the bedroom: if there's one thing I despise, it's trying to sleep and get comfortable in a too-warm house. I won't miss the ice and snow, but I'll always miss the cooled down house temperature.)
Because I'm looking forward to Wayne and I getting hitched in mid May, there's an undercurrent of excitement to everything. I feel FRIVOLOUS and ready to dance- (not 'really', just metaphorically) and I feel the WORLD can see my excitement because inside.....
I look just like that. (Yep. Another of the those wonderful old photos, and that one- oddly, is called 'circus girl named Gloom'... and it makes me laugh.) When my son Matt was about 3 years old he was DEEPLY attached to a green, long-haired stuffed mouse he'd named 'Gloom'; I've been partial to the name ever since. Like the gal in the picture, it makes me happy. Strangely happy.
March 22, 2012~ 5:00 am
Yesterday, I gave myself a little gift. There's been an old RCA TV at work, sitting atop a refrigerator in the common kitchen, that has a VHS tape deck built into it. It's BEEN THERE for ages. Last week, someone put it on the table with a sign on it, "I'm homesick. I have been here so long that I don't even remember where I belong. Please take me back home before I am relocated to the landfill." LOL!!! I wrote my name beneath, and said I'd love to have it if no one else claims it.
One of my co-workers was kind enough to carry it out to my car yesterday, and I brought it home with me. I manhandled it down the carport steps, up the porch steps, up to the second floor and put it in my bedroom, and IT WORKS! And guess what I watched first thing yesterday afternoon??
My VHS, double tape copy of that old 1967 favorite of mine! I was in HEAVEN! There's nothing can pick up the spirits better than watching Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave (with those unearthly, deep blue eyes) and singing along with a musical I know like the back of my hand.
I only watched the first half, but I'll finish it up this evening, chomping popcorn and being whisked back in time to the 'King's Court' theater in Oakland where I went with classmates when that movie was first released. (I'd already worn out my long-playing stereo record of the Richard Burton, Julie Andrews Broadway version at that point. I'M A CAMELOT FREAK!)
Oh, I have SCADS of old VHS tapes to watch- (as well as trips to Gettyburg and Matt's graduation from West Point) and on and on. I'll just let the memories wash over me like ocean surf and swim through the years, quite happily in my bedroom with my little tape-playing TV. (I'm just so tickled that it works so well!) Sometimes, life just bestows an unexpected gift. When that happens, just float with it, bow.... and be very grateful. :)
March 23, 2012~ 8:00 am
I finished watching the second half of 'Camelot' last evening and there I was, propped up in bed... sobbing. LOL!! I've never had that kind of EMOTIONAL response to the film before, but like many things as we age- our perception of films and what we read into them, changes -sometimes deepens with the years.
Being SUCH a fan of Julie Andrews as Guinevere, I recall vividly how lovely I found Vanessa Redgrave in the film, but how 'not quite right' I'd viewed her performance. This time... I was blown away
by her sensitive, nuanced, and completely real portrayal that gave Guinevere a truly three dimensional presence, instead of someone simply 'iconic'- and nothing in the world equals young Redgrave's sudden sunlit smile for showing pure joy. Even Franco Nero, whom I'd previously considered a 'pretty boy' chosen solely for his physical attributes, does put forth a very believable, moving performance, even given the 'priggishness' of Lancelot's character. Both of them are sooooooooooo beautiful to look at.
And how LOVELY that those two, who did indeed become lovers during the film 44 years ago and had a son a year later, never forgot one another. As a matter of fact, their on-again, off-again commitment has been renewed and they married in 2006. (Something I hadn't realized until I did some searching online.)
How wonderful!
There's always been something magical for me in anything connected to the Arthurian legend. And perhaps, even in imagination....... no one has ever created a 'look' to the actual 'round table' to equal the one in this film.
It's spectacular. And now that I've watched it again, I'll continue to muse....."I wonder what the king is doing tonight?" Deep in my fantasies, the king lives on and on.... the 'once' and 'future' king.
***
(Return To Weekly Archives)
Saturday was St. Patrick's Day and thousands turned out in Pittsburgh to show off their green and gather downtown to watch the second largest St. Patrick's Day Parade in the country-- and to catch a glimpse of Vice-President Joe Biden, who walked the entire route. (I told Wayne it would have been more appropriate had he staggered the whole route... LOL!!)
And me??? I was deep in slumber and couldn't have cared less what a horde of drunken gawkers were doing on sunny St. Paddy's day.
It was a quiet work week. Each day opening more totally to the warmth of early spring. When I'd get home from work, I mostly browsed sites with old photos, staring.....staring into eyes from nearly a century ago, or better... most without names to affix to their arresting faces. This one
was so movingly beautiful, all I could do is gaze in awe of such tender innocence. Goodness! How could such a captivating face remain unnamed? Most of the photos were found stashed inside of antiques people picked up, treasures of someone long gone, and were discovered like old memories without connection. I think the most winning little tyke was this one
whose full-cheeked look simply melted my heart. As always, I get lost in studying the faces of the past, and when I realize that now they're simply faces without names, it tugs at something inside. So I put them up here, hold them under the light and say- "LOOK! Just look at these wonderful faces. They were alive once, same as you and me."
We visited Holly, Gary and the grandkids on Saturday evening. Kay and Bill and both dogs were VERY happy to see us. "Those dogs are gonna go CRAZY now," Bill called to me from the front yard as I was crossing the street toward him. "Why, Bill?"
"Because they'll be so happy to see you. They'll go nuts," he said, which made me grin- (hoping just a bit of that frenzy was shared by both kiddoes.... and it was. Bill wanted to play war, so I strolled outside with them. He chose the Korean War (don't ask me why) and my part consisted of handing him the football when he said, "Let's fire the Howitzer"- and I'd hand it over. Then my job was to yell "FIRE!", and make a 'BOOM!' sound. (The dogs, of course, joined in, and chased it down. Bomb or not..... they were goin' for it!)
The evening was balmy and pleasant. The pizza arrived via FIRE TRUCK. (Holly and Gary's neighborhood has a program twice a year- in spring and fall - in which the local fire department pitches in and delivers pizza. If you have a working fire alarm in your house, the pizza's free.) They came last fall too, so this time it wasn't free, but it was five dollars off. However the kid's DID get to climb into the fire engine and look around and enjoyed it immensely.
Holly's yard is just terrific for kids: it's completely fenced in (thanks to Gary and his dad and a lot of hard work) and makes a perfect place for playing and for dreaming. (That's what I remember MOST about this time of year when I was little, the discovery of the world again after its long winter's sleep.) Like this little gal, roaming her family's farm....
who probably stopped to study a caterpiller or some new spring bloom jutted up brightly from the soil. It was a nice night, all round.
I don't know what kind of mood I've been in...... it sort of shifts from 'sleepy/ennui' slipping into agitation. I guess I'm just sensitive to the changing seasons. (Tonight, for instance, I have a fan directed at me as I type... one going in the living room, and yes, the air-conditioner turned on low in the bedroom: if there's one thing I despise, it's trying to sleep and get comfortable in a too-warm house. I won't miss the ice and snow, but I'll always miss the cooled down house temperature.)
Because I'm looking forward to Wayne and I getting hitched in mid May, there's an undercurrent of excitement to everything. I feel FRIVOLOUS and ready to dance- (not 'really', just metaphorically) and I feel the WORLD can see my excitement because inside.....
I look just like that. (Yep. Another of the those wonderful old photos, and that one- oddly, is called 'circus girl named Gloom'... and it makes me laugh.) When my son Matt was about 3 years old he was DEEPLY attached to a green, long-haired stuffed mouse he'd named 'Gloom'; I've been partial to the name ever since. Like the gal in the picture, it makes me happy. Strangely happy.
March 22, 2012~ 5:00 am
Yesterday, I gave myself a little gift. There's been an old RCA TV at work, sitting atop a refrigerator in the common kitchen, that has a VHS tape deck built into it. It's BEEN THERE for ages. Last week, someone put it on the table with a sign on it, "I'm homesick. I have been here so long that I don't even remember where I belong. Please take me back home before I am relocated to the landfill." LOL!!! I wrote my name beneath, and said I'd love to have it if no one else claims it.
One of my co-workers was kind enough to carry it out to my car yesterday, and I brought it home with me. I manhandled it down the carport steps, up the porch steps, up to the second floor and put it in my bedroom, and IT WORKS! And guess what I watched first thing yesterday afternoon??
My VHS, double tape copy of that old 1967 favorite of mine! I was in HEAVEN! There's nothing can pick up the spirits better than watching Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave (with those unearthly, deep blue eyes) and singing along with a musical I know like the back of my hand.
I only watched the first half, but I'll finish it up this evening, chomping popcorn and being whisked back in time to the 'King's Court' theater in Oakland where I went with classmates when that movie was first released. (I'd already worn out my long-playing stereo record of the Richard Burton, Julie Andrews Broadway version at that point. I'M A CAMELOT FREAK!)
Oh, I have SCADS of old VHS tapes to watch- (as well as trips to Gettyburg and Matt's graduation from West Point) and on and on. I'll just let the memories wash over me like ocean surf and swim through the years, quite happily in my bedroom with my little tape-playing TV. (I'm just so tickled that it works so well!) Sometimes, life just bestows an unexpected gift. When that happens, just float with it, bow.... and be very grateful. :)
March 23, 2012~ 8:00 am
I finished watching the second half of 'Camelot' last evening and there I was, propped up in bed... sobbing. LOL!! I've never had that kind of EMOTIONAL response to the film before, but like many things as we age- our perception of films and what we read into them, changes -sometimes deepens with the years.
Being SUCH a fan of Julie Andrews as Guinevere, I recall vividly how lovely I found Vanessa Redgrave in the film, but how 'not quite right' I'd viewed her performance. This time... I was blown away
by her sensitive, nuanced, and completely real portrayal that gave Guinevere a truly three dimensional presence, instead of someone simply 'iconic'- and nothing in the world equals young Redgrave's sudden sunlit smile for showing pure joy. Even Franco Nero, whom I'd previously considered a 'pretty boy' chosen solely for his physical attributes, does put forth a very believable, moving performance, even given the 'priggishness' of Lancelot's character. Both of them are sooooooooooo beautiful to look at.
And how LOVELY that those two, who did indeed become lovers during the film 44 years ago and had a son a year later, never forgot one another. As a matter of fact, their on-again, off-again commitment has been renewed and they married in 2006. (Something I hadn't realized until I did some searching online.)
How wonderful!
There's always been something magical for me in anything connected to the Arthurian legend. And perhaps, even in imagination....... no one has ever created a 'look' to the actual 'round table' to equal the one in this film.
It's spectacular. And now that I've watched it again, I'll continue to muse....."I wonder what the king is doing tonight?" Deep in my fantasies, the king lives on and on.... the 'once' and 'future' king.
(Return To Weekly Archives)
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