Sunday, February 28, 2010

Thoroughly Modern Millie

Watched the last third of Throughly Modern Millie, a movie with Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore, Beatrice Lillie and Carol Channing, and James Fox, of all people. Reminded me of my grandmother, who we all called Nonnie. Nonnie loved Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore -- thought they were the bees knees. Nonnie only took us kids to a few movies when we were kids: The Sound of Music, Gone With The Wind, Fun with Dick and Jane, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Lady Sings the Blues. I remember when my sister Joyce and I saw Gone With The Wind. Nonnie read the ad for the Kiggins Theater, which was showing a special night of Gone With The Wind. She said we had to see it and that it was one of the best movies ever made. Nonnie actually sort of met Clark Gable when she was staying at some sort of cabin resort. She and a friend were driving up to the entrance and a man came running out. They stopped and he stuck his head in the car window and said, "Carol?" They recognized him and said they were sorry but Carol wasn't in the car. He was very disappointed that Carol wasn't there. Obviously it was Carol Lombard he was waiting for. I read on the net that Gable used to fish in the Grants Pass area, which is where Nonnie lived at the time.
So we went to see Gone With The Wind and that was the start of my sister's and my love of the film. The dresses Scarlett wore in the later scenes were so gorgeous, all those rich reds and blues. Wow!

My grandparents took our whole family to The Sound of Music.  It was shown at the Fox Theater in Portland. I had never been to a theater where there were ushers and to my child's eye, such opulence. The theater was so beautiful, red velvet curtains, gold leaf, comfy chairs. I thought I had died and gone to movie heaven. Theaters now-a-days are so scaled down and minimalized in their decor. Kind of sad to me.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Day one

Thought I would try my hand at blogging. Don't know if anyone would want to read my daily musings but what the heck?

Today, I am reflecting on the rain. When it rains here in Eastern Oregon, it doesn't rain much. However, we have had a number of rainy days this month. All of which remind me of Eugene and how much I miss the green and the rain. Don't get me wrong, I love the Hermiston area but the lack of rain is occasionally sad to me. Rainy days remind me of snuggling up on the couch, wrapped in the afghan my mother-in-law made me, reading a book while the cat sits on my lap, listening to soft music and the rain beating on the roof. To me, that is bliss.