There will always be ones who feel like Family

The other night I was listening to a podcast on YouTube, "The Jim Masters Show".  He was interviewing Gary Frank, who played son Willie Lawrence on "Family".

Family aired on ABC, Tuesday nights at 10pm from 1976-1981.  Critics praised the show and it won it's share of Emmys.  But the show tackled a lot of heavy subjects at the time (breast cancer, divorce, homosexuality) that the network never liked.

Anyway, Gary is 75 now, born in October 1950.  Listening to the interview (a long one, 2 hours) I found it both comforting and sad.  Gary's a withered figure now, bordering on frail.  He claims he was an alcoholic and chain smoker until he turned his life around at age 67.

Gary went on to do guest starring roles on other shows until retiring from acting in the 1990s.  But he spent his childhood in a poor, abusive home and to this day identifies more with his twentysomething character Willie on Family, then his self in real life.

He makes no apologies for it, and is both grateful to be part of that wonderful show, and heartbroken still that it was canceled by ABC in 1981.  He talks of every cast member like they were his real family.  He deeply loved his tv parents Doug & Kate Lawrence (played by James Broderick and Sada Thompson) and says they treated him like a son.

FYI, James was the real life father of actor Matthew Broderick and died of thyroid cancer just one year after the show ended, in 1982.  Sada died of natural causes in 2011.

Here's how the Lawrence family's home looked in 1977, and how it looks today.  A real house in Pasadena, it was rented for the show's 6 episode miniseries.  But when the network decided to make Family a series, they built a duplicate of the home's interior to make it easier for filming.

I suppose I'm sharing this for a couple reasons.  For one, Gary Frank has released his autobiography (using the picture of himself that sat on the Lawrence family's piano for 5 seasons, for the book cover).

I'm sorry to say I won't be reading his book.  He admits it's a pretty tough read, and holds nothing back.  I think I've heard enough.

The other reason I'm sharing this here is because frankly, I'm surprised I didn't do so years ago.  Family just happens to be in my Top 5 All-Time Favorite tv shows.  Did you watch this show?  Bonus points if you loved it too.  

Even though I had 5 brothers & sisters, I grew up watching this show alone.  Like I said earlier, it aired on Tuesday nights in the 1970s at 10pm.  My older brother was watching his own tv in his own bedroom.  My younger sibs were all in bed by that hour.  Back then, our retail mom worked 2 nights a week, usually Tuesdays & Thursdays, and didn't arrive home until after 10pm.   So I pretty much watched (and dearly loved) this hour-long drama on my own.

I have to say, as much as I loved my own mom, I dearly loved Sada Thompson as Family's mom and still do.  I wish more than anything she could've reprised her role.  She wanted to, but ABC was never interested in any reunions or tv-movies.

I own the first 2 seasons on DVD, but they never released the entire series.  FYI, that dvd set at the top is now an expensive item.  But the very good news is, the entire series is available to watch on Tubi.

Last night I watched Season 1 Episode 2, "Mondays Are Forever".  (Kate has a lump in her breast and suspects it's cancer.)  The show was not only ahead of it's time, it was a wonderful time capsule of the era--on Saturday nights, the Lawrences enjoy sundaes while watching The Mary Tyler Moore Show.  And youngest daughter Buddy's best friend is moving to Detroit, but Buddy can't phone her.  Why?  Because it's long distance and the charges are 16 cents per minute.  

I miss Family, I miss Mary Tyler Moore too--but I sure don't miss those old phone bills.

Happy Mother's Day to my favorite working mom

This is a Mother's Day card my dad made for Mom sometime in the mid-1970s.  (Her name was Linda, but he always called her "Line".)   On the card, she's wearing her red Fisher's Big Wheel smock.  It had a large white button pinned on the front that displayed her name and the caption "We're Big on People".

When Fisher's Big Wheel came to our hometown in 1972, we were all excited.  It was our first big department store.  We had a GC Murphy's and McCrory's, but those five and dime stores were small-fry compared to this.

It was right around my 11th birthday that Fisher's opened for business, and on Opening Day my mom took a couple of us kids to check it out.  We walked out of there with Mom holding a job application. 

That night at dinner, Mom told Dad about the store and how she was hoping to get a job there.  Dad (in a half-kidding manner) said "Now Liney, no wife of mine is going to get a job..."  and Mom said "Then go find one paying double so I don't have to!"   

   The inside of Mom's card

I swear to God I remember this--after the dishes were cleared, Mom was sitting at our kitchen table filling out her application, and where it said 'Age' (yep, back then they could ask for it) she drew an arrow pointing to the side and wrote "I believe women are like fine wines, we improve with age."  

She showed it to Dad and asked what he thought and he said "Oh sure Line, they'll like that" and winked at me!  I didn't say anything but thought "You blew it, Mom."

Apparently, Fishers liked it just fine--they offered her a job and she worked there for 23 years.  Happy Mothers Day Mom, and to all the other awesome moms out there.   

A puffy face, pioneer rigatoni and you've come a long way, Baby: Jennifer Grey in her own (sometimes dirty) words

I just got a haircut (which was long overdue) and I'm feeling downright civilized again.  I can't say I'm too happy with my puffy cheeks here, they are pretty sore and swollen right now.  But I suppose things could be worse.

This past Saturday was a mostly good day long covid wise, until sunset when the inflammation in my temples and cheeks sprang into action.  I awoke Sunday morning feeling better, only to have those same symptoms returning at noon and hanging around until 7pm before mysteriously vanishing.

Long covid is a strange and persistent animal, but I'm convinced I'm heading in the right direction.

Speaking of long covid, shortly after I was diagnosed in March 2024, I was filled with regret:  "If only I hadn't asked Typhoid Susie for that ride to Giant Eagle, I wouldn't have gotten infected..." 

I began watching videos on YouTube of people expressing regret for various things like getting bad tattoos (or worse, getting Lasik) to see how they cope, and that's when I saw an interview with actress Jennifer Grey, talking about her infamous nose job.  She said it changed her looks so much, Hollywood dropped her like a hot potato.  She said it was probably one of the worst decisions she'd made in her life.

The interview was for her book Out Of The Corner.  You know where that title came from, Patrick Swayze telling her father "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" in Dirty Dancing.

I put my name on the waitlist for the e-book at Carnegie Library, but after waiting two years, went on Barnes and Noble last week and bought my own copy for $7.99.

She doesn't waste any time getting down to the business at hand.  There's a 20 page prologue before Chapter One, where she discusses the surprise success of Dirty Dancing in 1987.  Why wasn't she being offered more acting roles?

She was convinced to get a minor nose job which made it fuller but less long (that's it on her book's cover).  She absolutely loved it and was soon offered a movie role right away.  But one year after that, cartilage began to grow on the tip of her nose.

When she returned to the same surgeon in 1990 to have it corrected, he went too far and she came out with a different face.

Filled with panic and despair, she was shocked to discover no one recognized her.  Invited to the Golden Globes, she approached other celebrities and was treated like a stranger.  Her plastic surgeon even admitted he'd never seen such a radical change in someone's features.

End of prologue.  The book is 310 pages long and I'm currently at the halfway point.  But for the first 140 pages it's only about her privileged upbringing, growing up with a celebrity father (Joel Grey) and living in big apartments in New York City or on the West Coast, in Malibu.  I'm not a prude by any means, but boy did she have a wild youth, especially her teenage years!  Everything is sex, cigarettes, booze, sex, "blow" (cocaine and she stresses she only snorted the primo stuff), more sex, Studio 54 while living with her fortysomething hairdresser at age 17 and getting every STD in the book.  

I never thought I'd say this, but frankly I'm sexed out.  Where's the acting career, the girl I fell in love with in Dirty Dancing?  Okay, I just started Chapter 21 where it's now 1984 and she lands her first acting gigs in The Cotton Club and Red Dawn.  Finally!  

I didn't know Jennifer was 18 months older than me, she just turned 66 in March.  Wow.  I can still remember my sister Shawn coming to visit me in 1987 and telling me we were going to see this movie Dirty Dancing.  Last night I watched it (probably for the first time in 30+ years) on Peacock and was surprised how charming it still was. 

EDIT:  I'm in the second half of Jennifer's book, discussing her acting career and backstories to Dirty Dancing, and it is much, much better.  She really is a good writer.

Finally, I thought I'd show you what I had for dinner Monday.  A couple weeks ago I decided to stop watching The Pioneer Woman's cooking show, but not before making her homemade pasta sauce and loving it.  She only uses crushed tomatoes (which I had a hard time finding, but got 2 generic cans), adding tomato paste, brown sugar, olive oil, garlic, peppers, basil & ground beef.  I cooked it for 2 hours and filled 4 freezer bags of the stuff, and added one of them to a pot of cooked rigatoni.

Throw in a garlic breadstick, some lettuce with some Bleu cheese dressing... yep. 😋

A forgotten letter from Mom, and a thanks to Dad

When I was looking through my shoebox of old photos for my family's years at Reeseman's Park, I came across this thank you note from my mom that made me tear up a little.  I have no memory of it, but I'm very glad I held onto it.

My mom always had the nicest stationery (and a real love for nature and hummingbirds) and the most beautiful handwriting.  In this letter, she was thanking me for my contribution to Dad's headstone, and her Mother's Day gifts.

There's no date on the note, but when she congratulated me for passing my driver's exam, I knew when this was written.  I wasn't able to get my driver's license at 16 like most kids, because I was diagnosed with epilepsy a couple years prior.  In the state of Pennsylvania, you had to be documented seizure free for a certain amount of time (2 or 3 years, I can't remember) before you could drive.

My final seizure was in Nov 1989, when I was 28 years old.  By the time I was eligible to get my license I was in my early thirties and had learned to get by in life without the need for a car.  But when Dad passed in February 2001, I told my mom at his funeral that as soon as I got back to the city I was going to sign up for driving lessons and have a car by that summer.

I kept my word and got my license (and a car) 4 months before my 40th birthday.  I was able to start driving back home on a regular basis, and got to spend a lot of weekends with Mom. 

Sad to say, but it was Dad's passing which motivated me to learn so Mom wouldn't be so alone.  Here is Dad's headstone (with his mother, my Grandma Morris directly behind his) in our family's cemetery.  My mom's headstone is now besides Dad.

Love you, Mom & Dad.

The Reesemans Years: A small look back for posterity's sake

In the spring of 1985, my oldest brother Duke was living in Washington DC and my sister Shawn & I were working and living in a small house in town, back home in Waynesburg Pa.

There were still 3 kids at home—our brother Steve, and two sisters Donda-Lin & Courtney.

One day, Mom called Shawn & me with some exciting news; they were moving out of the old farmhouse and into a brand new mobile home.  What!   

My sister Shawn on the front porch at Reeseman’s, Aug 1995

After years of scrimping and saving on Mom’s part, they bought a brand new mobile home with a room sized ‘tip-out’ giving them a double-sized living room.  

They managed to secure a corner spot on the perimeter of Reeseman’s, a large mobile home park halfway between the farmhouse and our high school in Jefferson Pa.  Dad installed a porch and shed on their lot, and Mom planted flowers everywhere.  My mom was very, very happy.  Every time I made plans for a visit, Mom would say "Doug, bring your laundry home!  We have city water now, we've got all the water you need!"  

(Growing up with a shallow well, we never seemed to have water.  I never brought my laundry to their new place, but it was funny and generous of her.)

Just months after moving there, my brother Steve graduated high school, married and moved out.  One year later in 1986, our sister Donda-Lin did the same.  Shawn moved back in with them.  

They lived there from 1985 - 1999, before Dad talked Mom into moving to a house in the country again.  But I know my mom was very happy there with her compact place and city water, and I was surprised she let it go.

I have hundreds of family photos, but only a dozen of the Reeseman years.  I wanted to share them here as they are so few and I miss those times with my family so much.  We got together at Reesemans often for holidays and family things, but shortly after they moved from there, Dad died and then Mom a couple years after that.  All of the kids went their separate ways.   

So if you'll indulge me... here's the few photos I have from those years at Reesemans.

My brother-in-law Bobby, me in the back and my pretty sister Donda-Lin at Christmas, in the 1990s.

Bobby & Donda-Lin’s baby Drew looks about a year old here, I’m guessing this is sometime in 1994.  Drew and Dad were very close.

Dad is giving Drew a piano lesson, 1995.  I just love this photo, Drew was curious & sweet as can be.

Here’s myself on the left, my brother Duke, our brother Steve with his sons Stevie and Eddie, and Dad.  This is the only photo I have of the Morris men together.

My brother Steve from behind, Dad, a 3 year old Drew and our Grandma Morris, Christmas 1996.  Where did the time go?

My (always photogenic) sister Donda-Lin enjoying our Mom's new "art" couch.  That thing was super comfy, I miss it still.

Here's my youngest sister Courtney in her acid washed jeans, outside the front door

Grandma Morris and me, my birthday, Halloween 1996.

Here's Mom & Dad's dog Frankie (who Mom insisted was our brother).  He was a sweet little guy, and after Dad & Mom's untimely passing was adopted by my sister Donda-Lin and her family, where he lived a long time.

I wasn't going to share this one, but oh well--home for Christmas, in my Superman sleep-clothes.  (Mom supplied me with that red smock for my cape.)

And finally, I wanted to share this one with a funny story.  The night before Thanksgiving 1993, I came home for the holiday weekend and saw no bags of food or such on the kitchen bar.  I asked "Where's the stuff for tomorrow?" and Mom said Donda-Lin wanted to prepare the entire dinner, and would be arriving with everything.  

I said "But she's 10 months pregnant!" and Mom said she couldn't talk her out of it.  Sure enough, Donda's car pulls up outside and she comes clanging into Mom's house, giant with a baby and carrying all these pots and pans.  I said "Donda what the hell!" and she started laughing and yelled at Mom that I was going to make her water break.

Sure enough, an hour or so later--her water broke.  Shawn, Mom & Donda-Lin rushed to the hospital and Donda gave birth to her daughter Drew Thanksgiving morning.

The End

A dirty secret no more, the return of Barb Wire & a paper sack for retirement

20+ years ago, I worked alongside Mike Cullen, a guy my age who was single like me.  He was also twice as good looking, in much better shape and dressed twice as nice.  He even had better hair than me.  Normally I avoid guys like this but I loved Mike.  He was a rascal, but kindhearted too.

One time he told me we should sign a pact.  Whoever dies first, the other would enter the deceased one's home and remove any embarrassing things.  A key to get in and location of the nasty stuff would be supplied in advance.

I didn’t really have anything but didn't want to let Mike down, so I said I had some adult stuff on an old laptop in my bedroom closet.  When I asked Mike what he had, he just laughed and said I'd find everything hidden in his oven.  Surprised, I said "Don't you cook?"  

He just smiled at me and said yes, but not in the kitchen.  

Anyway, it seems that every time I put something in my oven I think about Mike because of the nasty stuff I've been hiding in mine.  About 5 years worth of grease and grime.  How did I let it get this bad?  I bought rubber gloves, large sponges and oven cleaner a couple months ago, but was waiting for the weather to warm so I could tackle this with an open window and plenty of ventilation.  So with Spring arriving this week... ta-da!  

I thought this would take about an hour and I wound up spending almost 3.  But this turned out better than I hoped for.  Y'know, I have an air fryer in my cupboard (a small one).  I'm going to try and cook more with that going forward, every chance I get. 

A couple days ago I ran up the street to Kuhn's to get some eggs and other things.  When I walked down the dairy aisle, I saw Barb--aka Barb Wire--looking at the cheeses.  I wrote about this woman last August, she's in her upper 70s, maybe 80.  She always wears the same thing; a skin-tight black jogging suit and black baseball cap with her ponytail coming out the back end.  She's pretty fit.

The woman has some peculiar issues though--the first time I met her at the Senior Center last summer, she asked me if I grew up in the city or somewhere else.  When I said in the country, she snapped "I think you're too soft to be a country boy!  I think you're a liar!"   

But I haven't seen her since September, so I figured I'd let bygones be bygones and say hello.  I walked up and said "Hello Barb, do you remember me?"  She turned around and frowned, and said "You look familiar..."   I told her I used to be a regular visitor to the center but haven't been there since last fall because of health issues.  She said "How did you know it was me from behind?  BECAUSE YOU WERE CHECKING OUT MY BEHIND!"

Sigh... I'm looking forward to returning to the center, hopefully this summer.  I'm not so much looking forward to that. 😣

Finally, I've had this paper sack with "For retirement" written across its front for umpteen years in my old apartment's storage locker and now my current one, and I honestly can't remember what I put in here.  

It's pretty heavy, I'm guessing a stack of books.  I decided it was time I opened it up and took a look.

Inside were unopened dvds of Babylon 5, a sci-fi tv series from the 1990s that I've never seen.  There are 5 seasons in here, plus a box labeled Babylon 5 Movie Collection.  

When did I buy these?  According to Amazon, they were purchased in November 2007.  It's a little kooky that I can remember conversations with my friend Mike from 20 plus years ago, but draw a blank when it comes to these dvds.  

Are there any sci-fi fans out there that have seen and liked this show?  Is it worth watching?  These hologram boxes are pretty cool, but there's so much here and frankly I feel done with 90s television.  I don't know what the me from 2007 was thinking. 😐

The Next Ten Movies I've Enjoyed Again & Again

After the positive feedback from my recent movie blog The Top Ten Movies I've Enjoyed Again & Again I thought I'd strike again while the iron's hot.

If you recall in that post, I mentioned my list was more like 20 movies, but thought it was too many for one blog-post.

I want to stress these aren't necessarily what I consider the best films ever.  I saw a horror movie in 2020, Saint Maud that I consider a masterpiece--but I couldn't sit thru it again. 

These movies are 'wonderful comfort movies', that I enjoy revisiting whenever I can.

So in ascending order...

10.  Every time I watch Butterflies Are Free (1972) I'm struck by Edward Albert's portrayal of a young blind man.  It's flawless. He's a 20 year old aspiring musician, living on his own for the first time (in a very slummy apartment in hippie-San Francisco) and Goldie Hawn lives in the adjoining unit, an aspiring actress who spends most of the movie in her underwear eating his food.  She's wonderful.

I love when Goldie takes him shopping for some far out threads, but there's a scene where she pretends to move on and Edward's world is suddenly very dark again.  It makes me tear up every darn time.  Goldie won an Oscar for her performance but Edward Albert deserved the prize.  I'm glad I own this on dvd.

9. Breaking Away (1979) is about 4 young men from blue collar lives who just graduated high school with no idea what's next--except for David who loves his Italian bicycle, singing opera and dreams of becoming a professional bike racer--in Italy.  His father (Paul Doolie, God bless him) is a used car salesman in Bloomington Indiana struggling to understand what happened to his boy.  

This coming of age drama was released one month after my own high school graduation, and like these four boys I knew college wasn't in my cards either--at least not yet.  But it's poignant and original, and after all these years this movie still resonates with me.  

8.  This movie bears the distinction of being the first thing I recorded on a vcr when I got one in 1983.  (I think it aired on Sunday Night at the Movies but I can't be sure.)  It's The Final Countdown (1980).  I replayed the recording so much I wore out the tape.

The USS Nimitz is a nuclear aircraft carrier in 1980 (102 aircraft, 6000 men) that is mysteriously thrown back in time to 1941--right before the Japanese are set to attack Pearl Harbor.  The captain (Kirk Douglas) must now decide if he should use his vessel (which contains more firepower than the US & Japanese fleets combined) to stop one of the greatest attacks in American history. 

I'm not into war movies, but I do love time travel stories--and I love this one.  Also, this movie is unapologetically patriotic.  It's like a Navy recruitment film, but it works.  Watch this just once and you'll want to enlist, I guarantee it.

7.  I miss Jill Clayburgh.  I can't believe she's been gone since 2010.  The first time I saw Starting Over (1979) was the night of my 18th birthday.  I'd been on my own for a few months and this cheered me up so much.  After Burt Reynold's wife Candice Bergen announces she's leaving him to pursue a "disco songwriting" career, his brother (Charles Durning) convinces him to leave a slushy New York City and start over in slushier Boston.

Charles wants to fix Burt up with their friend Jill Clayburgh--who is dubious of Burt the first time she meets him, let alone all the baggage he comes with.  And then his ex-wife decides she wants him back... did you know this movie was written by James Brooks of The Mary Tyler Moore Show?  

I feel the need to watch this every couple years, and every time Candice Bergen breaks into her hit song "Better Than Ever" to a stone-faced Burt Reynolds I burst out laughing.  It's so good!

6.  I can't remember the first time I saw Moonstruck (1987), but boy did I fall in love with Cher here.  Cher plays Loretta, an Italian bookkeeper on the brink of middle age who is swept off her feet by her fiancé's younger brother Nicholas Cage.  The film is laugh out loud funny, but when Cher agrees to attend the opera with Cage, gets a glorious makeover and meets him at the Met... his look is priceless and so is hers.  It almost stops my heart every time.

5.  I'm going to say something that will bring the house down.  I am not a fan of Singin' in the Rain.  I'm not.  But I am a huge fan of Gene Kelly, and in 1944 MGM loaned him out to Columbia Pictures to star in Cover Girl (1944) with Rita Hayworth & Phil Silvers.

MGM later regretted this--the movie was a huge success.  I'm talking Oscars.   

Three pals dream of hitting it big, so what happens when one of them becomes a Broadway star?  "Make Way for Tomorrow" steals the show, but I LOVED the Broadway finale with giant sized 1940s magazines--Vanity, McCall's, Coronet, Woman's Weekly just to name a few--all with a living cover girl.  

My God this movie is awesome.  I'm glad I own it on dvd.

4.  Betty Hutton is picture perfect as Annie Oakley (sorry Judy Garland, originally cast) in Annie Get Your Gun (1950) as the real-life Wild West Show gunslinger.  I just loved how her jaw dropped every time she saw handsome Howard Keel!  And of course, "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun" & "Anything You can do I can do Better" are show-stoppers.  Did you know this movie was unavailable until 2000 because of music right disputes with Irving Berlin?  It was worth the wait.  Note: Bobi, thank you for reminding me of this one--it's my third favorite musical. 😊

3.  Jimmy Stewart is a photojournalist with a broken leg, in that marvelous run-down Greenwich Village apartment.  Thelma Ritter is his home nurse.  And Grace Kelly the socialite is in love with him!  Yes it's Rear Window (1954) and I've probably seen this 15 times, easy.  

Here's a fun fact--my first time seeing it was at our local theater in 1983, after Universal Studios bought & released 5 of Hitchcock's movies he had squirreled away for 30 years.

It was released on RCA Videodisc a year later.  I snapped it up and probably watched it 10 times with my sister.

Note:  Steve from Toronto, thanks for reminding me about this one! 😊

2.  How many times have I seen the best Star Trek movie of them all?  Countless.  I first saw Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn (1982) on a date with a very Trekkie woman named Amy and the moment Spock died, she literally screamed "Noooo!!" in the theater.  When I frantically whispered "Amy--stop!" she cried "Have you no emotions!!"  I swear to God, I'm not making that up.  

Fyi, when Leonard Nimoy died in 2015 I cried like a baby.

 1.  Wizard of Oz (1939)  Judy Garland, I am yours forever.  The End.

Finally, if I didn't give Honorable Mentions to The Graduate, When Harry Met Sally & every Charlton Heston movie between 1968 & 1973 (Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man & Soylent Green) I'd have to make a third list and we don't want that, do we? 😏

Thinking out Loud: The storm before the calm (well, I hope it's what it is)

Before I say anything else, can I offer a couple small apologies... my first is for another blog post with my big head at the top.  I just don't have much of an outside life at the moment.

The second is for the content that follows, which I'm sure is going to be more of the same old / same old.  I feel the need to write, but I don't really have anything to write about.

Ever since my long covid relapse last September (why) I've been dealing with "swollen face mornings", then inflammation in the eyes & mouth that subside a bit around sundown.  

A couple of ice packs or cold washcloths get me thru the night until bedtime at 11:30.

Last Friday (the same day I posted my movie blog) things went off course and there's been a lot of flare-up in both of my temples.  I'm trying to remain optimistic and hoping it's a looney last push of sorts before dying out completely.  

Would love to see it gone by summer, keeping my fingers & toes crossed.  I'd appreciate it if you could do the same. 😉

Y'know, it just occurred to me that I'm now the same age as my Grandma Morris was in this photo.  (Around 64 1/2 years old.)   

This was the night of my high school graduation in June 1979.  That's my Grandpap Morris in front, Grandma, myself, my beautiful Mom & my very dark Dad in the rear.  

Gosh this seems like a hundred years ago.  

Here's a strange little story.  For years my grandpap carried a little leather coin purse in his front pocket.  He passed away 3 years after this photo was taken, in October 1982.  (He was 71.)  

At the viewing the night before the funeral, I asked Grandma if I might have his coin purse after all was said & done and she said "Of course McDougall, Ace would love for you to have it."  

We parted company, and went off to talk to other friends and relatives.  A bit later, Grandma came over and took my hand, and pressed something into it.  I look down, it's Grandpap's coin purse.  I said "Aw, thanks Grandma!  I didn't know you had it with you."  She just smiled but didn't say anything.  She walked back over to Grandpap's open casket to talk to Uncle Kenneth (Grandpap's brother) and it hit me.  He always carried it with him.  

To this day I wonder if Grandma fished it out of Grandpap's pants pocket when no one was looking.  I'm pretty sure she did.

FYI, after I finished school and moved to the city, I carried it every day in my own pants pocket.  I'm retired now, and don't have much use for coins, but it still sits on my dresser next to my billfold.

Right now I'm waiting for someone from Maintenance to come to my apartment.  This past weekend, I had my kitchen window open and the wind was gusting in, and I had my window blind stretched out as I was trying to clean it when SNAP!  The string broke.

I reported it on Steiner's website, and was told to expect someone on Tuesday.  They said "You may be charged if a replacement blind is necessary."  

Charge me, charge me!  This blind has too many layers of grease & grime!

Well, I was just informed my guy is running a couple hours behind schedule and I'm starving, so I went ahead and prepared my Early Bird dinner.  

Pasta with dried herbs (basil & parsley) with ground turkey meatballs, steamed broccoli and chopped cocktail tomatoes.  Shaved parmesan cheese over everything.  It's pretty tasty stuff.

Finally, here's my new window blind--the timing couldn't have been more perfect, I'd just finished washing up my dinner dishes.  I thought I'd have to beg for a new blind, but Manley brought a new one with him.  I like this one, there's no drawstring--it's very sturdy and you just push it up, pull it down.

That's it for now--thanks for letting me share my day, everyone.

The Top Ten Movies I've enjoyed again & again (Mary Poppins isn't one of them)

I can remember the first time I went to the movies.  It was with my Grandma Morris, who took my sister Shawn and myself to see Mary Poppins.  We were both too young.  I remember being confused by the giant faces and booming voices, and my sister (almost 2 years younger than me) wouldn't stop crying.  

That was 60 years ago, and since then I've seen a few thousand movies.  That's not an exaggeration. I've written over a thousand movie reviews on my blog's Movies page since 2008 alone.  

Like anyone else, I've seen a lot of good films, bad ones, some real gems and the rare masterpiece.  (I'm thinking about you, Elephant Man.)

But there are a few movies--a small number--I've watched and rewatched so many times, I've lost count.  I'm not saying they're the best I've ever seen, but I will sit down and watch these in their entirety every chance I get.  So in ascending order...

My Top Ten Movies I've Enjoyed Again & Again

10.  For as long as I can remember, The Ten Commandments (1956) has played on network television around Easter and I think last year was the first time I missed it.  (ABC aired it a week ahead of schedule because of basketball--basketball!)  It's an all night, commercial laden affair and leaves me feeling like a certified Christian afterward.  I'm not fooling around.  It stirs something in me, every time.

9.  Spencer Tracy calls Elizabeth Taylor Kitten, she calls him Pops and Joan Bennett is the very definition of a nonplussed wife & mother.  It's Father of The Bride (1950) and this is post-WWII upper middle class America at it's finest.  My gosh I love this movie so much.  It's as laugh out loud funny as it is sweet, a real time capsule of an era we'll never see again.   

8.  Growing up in the 1970s, To Sir With Love (1967) seemed to air every other week on the Sunday Afternoon Movie.  Never tired of watching it, I still don't.  Sidney Poitier, fit and wise and elegant, instructing a class of unruly East London kids on the subject of adulthood.  I loved Lulu before I knew who Lulu was.  One of the best movie title songs, and one of the best movie endings--ever.

7.  I love Bette Davis, love all her films.  But Now, Voyager (1942) is my favorite and I've seen this one more than her other films combined.  From her start as the lonely spinster Aunt Charlotte, to becoming the chic darling of Boston society, her love of Paul Henreid and all their delicious smoking... when Charlotte Vale says "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars."  I swear to God I swoon every time.  It is that romantic.

6.  Remember Flip Wilson's line, "The Devil made me do it"? Every couple years I'll see Rosemary's Baby (1968) pop up somewhere and something compels me to watch it in it's entirety.  Casting Mia Farrow was a stroke of genius, and while many of Ruth Gordon's admirers say Harold & Maude is her finest work, I disagree.  She is nothing short of brilliant here.  This movie is a dark, dark masterpiece.

5.  When Young Frankenstein (1974) opened at my local theater, my best friend Dan was supposed to meet me out front and didn't show.  My mom had dropped me off and said she'd be back in 2 hours.  I didn't want to go in alone, but it was late, cold and pouring down rain.  The theater was packed and I had to sit beside a long haired college type.  We laughed so hard together I thought I was going to have a stroke.  Madeline Kahn and those lightning bolts in her hair... God how I miss her!

4. One late night in December '77, Mom and I were up watching tv when a trailer for The Goodbye Girl (1977) came on.  We both thought it looked good, and Mom asked if I'd be too embarrassed to see it with my old mother.  (I was 16, she was 37.)  We did right after Christmas and both got a big kick out of it.  I loved this pair so much, and every chance I get to see them again I'm taken back to that first watch with Mom, who is now my own Goodbye Girl.

3.  In the summer of 1985, my 10 year old sister Courtney asked me and our sister Shawn to take her to see Back to the Future (1985).  Shawn said sure, I said I didn't want to.  Shawn asked why not.  I said "Because I don't like that show 'Family Ties', and I don't like that kid who plays Alex Keaton.  And I can't stand that trailer they keep playing where he learns his dad is a Peeping Tom.  Shawn said "You're going, and you love Michael J. Fox and you want to be him!"

I later learned Michael J. Fox and I were the same age, only 3 months apart.  So we went (along with my friend Brenda, who I invited to tag along) and as the movie played I knew right then it was destined to be a classic and in my Top Ten Favorites for Life List.  And for the record, while I don't want to be Michael J Fox, I do love the guy.

  

2.  In the fall of 1970, MGM re-released George Pal's The Time Machine (1960) and my older brother Duke and I went to see it at a Saturday matinee.  Rod Taylor as the handsome, inquisitive time traveler--he was terrific.  And I loved his co-star.  No, not Yvette Mimieux--the time machine!  I sat there utterly gobsmacked, and this has been a yearly watch for me ever since.

1.  "You're psychotic!"  "No, I'm employed..."   I've seen and loved every movie with Dustin Hoffman. Tootsie (1982) is hands down my favorite.  (The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy & Kramer vs Kramer are all tied for second place.)  I love this film so much it's crazy; I've probably seen it 30 times.  At the end of the picture, when Jessica Lange tells Dustin Hoffman "I miss Dorothy..."  my God, I do too. 

Love the cast, the story, the hopeful ending.  I just watched it again 2 nights ago on YouTube.   

PS.  The list of movies I watch again & again was closer to 20, but I knew it was too much for one blog.  So I hope you liked this, Part 2 may be coming soon.