Who goes there? Please leave comments so (An Aries Knows)!
you fall in love with all and every
you fall in love with one and only
you fall in love in a minute and life time
you fall in love you fall ©
Tiny poem inspired by a stranger whose photographs, art, and philosophy have forged a path through my soul for five years. He is not the “you” in the poem.
“Tell the truth. Sing with passion. Work with laughter. Love with heart. ‘Cause that’s all that matters in the end.”
Photo © Paul Redmond/Getty Images
“Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”
Inspired by another Word Search Puzzle, I pulled books from my shelves that feature some of my favorite cartoon characters. I think for most of the early part of my life, Peanuts would have been the cartoon or comic I knew best. Since I’ve featured Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and friends many times, many ways on this website, I don’t feel at all bad that I don’t have any Peanuts books. (I do have a set of cartoons I took out of one of my mother’s books from the 1960s, but I’m not sure where those are.) My Christmas ornaments, old refrigerator magnets, and many other random items feature Peanuts characters. Even the housewarming present our realtor gave us when we closed on Houndstooth Hall was…
As an older child, I read the comics in our Sunday newspapers: Dagwood and Blondie, Beetle Bailey, Family Circus, Prince Valiant, Mary Worth, Dennis the Menace, Pogo, Heathcliff, Garfield, Boondocks, For Better or Worse–the list could go on, because I read all of them in the paper, even the ones that weren’t funny or I didn’t really like/appreciate at that age. OH, and the Love Is couple!
When I became friends with Lynne at age twelve, I was introduced to comic books, because she had so many: Archie and the full Riverdale cast, Casper and Wendy, Little Lulu, Richie Rich, Pink Panther.
Later, these became some of my favorites, which is why I have books of several: Doonesbury, The Far Side, Bloom County, Calvin and Hobbes, and Foxtrot. Some of of these, and some from the categories listed earlier, I still read via my Instagram feed.
Below is the puzzle that started me on this topic, and from its list, I read these (not already mentioned): Cathy, Dilbert, Mutts, Hi and Lois, Marmaduke, and maybe a couple of others.
Do you still read or follow cartoons, comics, or the funny papers? Which are your favorites?
Last night as I was falling asleep, forcing myself not to think about the chapter in the Neverending Saga that has given me so much trouble, my brain suggested, “Fix the chapter BEFORE the one you’re working on.”
So I went back and eviscerated that chapter. Time will tell if it was the right choice, but I pondered my next move, next chapter while I played this game.
I finished in record time because author names will always jump out at me. If they’re there to find, that is. I worked longest looking for “Bronte,” until I finally glanced at the word list and realized Bronte wasn’t on it.
Something is wonky with our cable today. Since Tim isn’t home tonight, Tom and Eva went to his place to watch the Alabama-Georgia football game with Pollock. Meanwhile, Debby’s watching it at her place. I was in the mood for a little baking, so I took them both a sampling of my results.
Sausage and cheese balls are an ideal snack for football viewing. I have a big salad to eat, but I’ll definitely eat some of these, too.
Time for me to get back to see if changes in Chapter 14 will help my progress on Chapter 15.
It’s so hard to watch the updates on Hurricane Helene and think of all the friends and family we know and love in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. Coastal living and climate change are a scary combination.
Hurricane Helene view from International Space Station/X via Reuters
ETA on 9/28: Asheville, North Carolina, photos show unthinkable damage from flooding.
Recently I read an article featuring a well-known actor/director/filmmaker because I’ve always loved not only watching movies, but learning about the creative and business aspects of making them. This particular article wasn’t about this person’s celebrity but was more focused on how independent film processes, particularly marketing and distribution, have changed from last century to this one. The way I use this kind of information fictionally has included many facets of filmmaking, especially in the Neverending Saga in all its iterations through the decades. Sometimes my writing spills over into fictional television and live theatre. But primarily, the Saga includes two independent filmmakers woven into many of my other characters’ plotlines.
Including August 10, the day I decided to spend the rest of summer watching RomComs (mostly on my own DVDs, but at least two streaming), until September 22, when I declared RomCom Summer at an end (44 days?), I watched fifty-nine movies. It turned out not all of them were romantic comedies, and some were sadder than I remembered. Two of them I’d never watch again; that reflects no judgment as to their merit. Odds are all movies can’t appeal to me, and both these movies were first-time views for me.
In normal times, I wouldn’t dream of watching that much of anything–movies, television, videos, or even listening to podcasts (I rarely do podcasts; I’m not sure why). However, these weren’t normal months, and rather than constantly berate myself for the reasons why I couldn’t/wouldn’t write, I scheduled those movies around appointments, errands, dog care, household and family responsibilities, and a few hours-long phone calls with a couple of friends.
During this time, I’d also picked up two word puzzle books. Though I flipped through them and picked puzzles at random, over time, I realized I was defaulting to movie-related puzzles. Between the two puzzle books, there are many more movie-related puzzles remaining, as well as tons of other subjects, that I haven’t done, and this at least was slightly less passive entertainment. While I did film-related puzzles, I was also thinking of future writing for my Saga characters.
In fact, to deal with my frustration over daily news stories, I actually created my own puzzle. It took a few hours over three days, and I won’t share it in a public forum, but behind a cut, I will share the movie and theatre puzzles I completed from these books. You’ll likely see future completed puzzles if I relate them to photos I have or activities around Houndstooth Hall.
She’s tiny, but look at the size of that acorn Tom found in the yard this past weekend. Guess we’ll be having plump squirrels this autumn.
So I can be sure you’ll all sleep well tonight, even if I don’t, here are the rest of the movies I watched from my British Cinema Collection–that you’ve been waiting to hear about, right? =)
Dramatized from real historical events, in 1997’s Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown, after Queen Victoria’s beloved husband Prince Albert dies, she goes into seclusion at Windsor Palace. The nation, Parliament, her court, and her family all want her to come out of mourning. Her staff suggests that the Scotsman John Brown, stable master, a favorite servant of her late husband, come from Scotland to ease her back into life. They regret it when a deep bond develops between the queen and the headstrong, opinionated Mr. Brown. The relationship brings upheaval to the palace and scandal to the country. I’d never seen this movie, and I loved it. Judi Dench can’t go wrong, and Billy Connolly, musician, comedian, and actor, is well cast. A great movie for an Anglophile like me.
I first saw 1995’s Restoration in Montrose’s River Oaks Theater. I’m not sure if I’d heard good things about it, or whether I went alone or with someone, but the movie mesmerized me and I’ve never forgotten it. It stars Robert Downey Jr. as Merivel, a seventeenth century medical student, who only reluctantly uses his gifts because he’s more interested in a life of debauchery and a place in the royal court. There’s a great supporting cast: Sam Neill as the king; Polly Walker as Celia, favorite mistress of the king and object of Merivel’s obsession; David Thewlis as Pearce, another doctor who recognizes Merivel’s skills and urges him to keep studying and practicing medicine; Meg Ryan as the tragic Katherine who helps Merivel find his humanity when he’s banished from the royal court; Ian McKellen as Will Gates, who does his best to take care of Merivel, and so many more. Oh–Hugh Grant plays a portraitist, because what’s a British movie without Hugh Grant? If you like historical movies with lots of costumes and scenery, this is a good one.
1994’s Tom & Viv is a really sad movie, but I’m glad I watched it. It’s based on American poet T.S. Eliot (who became a British citizen) played by Willem Defoe, and Eliot’s first wife, Vivienne Haigh-Wood, played by Miranda Richardson. Both are heartbreaking in their roles, but Rosemary Harris playing Vivienne’s mother Rose became my favorite character in the movie. (She also played the grandmother in My Life So Far, and was one of my favorites in that film, too.) Both Tom and Vivienne struggle with a variety of physical and emotional illnesses. It’s not a happy film, and it shows how abysmal medical care was for women during the timeframe of the movie (1914 to 1947) (though as Miranda Richards points out in an interview, some things haven’t changed). Maybe not an easy watch, but if you like biographies, turn-of-the-century films, or stories about literary figures, this is good–just very sad.
Last one is 1999’s An Ideal Husband. Some of the reviews for this one are less than enthusiastic, but I’m not a critic, and I was grateful for the levity of characters at cross-purposes after watching Tom & Viv. An Ideal Husband is set in London in 1895 and adapted from Oscar Wilde’s play of the same name. Rupert Everett shines as determined bachelor Lord Goring; Julianne Moore plays the treacherous Mrs. Cheveley, who causes all kinds of problems; Jeremy Northam plays Sir Robert, an ethical man with a threatening secret from his past he’s trying to keep from his upright wife, Gertrude, played by Cate Blanchett; and Minnie Driver, who plays Sir Robert’s younger sister Mabel. Some of my favorite performances came from Peter Vaughn as Phipps, Lord Goring’s manservant, and from John Wood, who plays Lord Goring’s father Lord Caversham with great, fractious dialogue between the two.
I’m glad I finally viewed all the movies from this collection, but the autumn equinox officially began today, and summer’s over, so…maybe no more movies for a while. What’ll I talk about next?