Outdoor Wednesday: City Squirrel

Outdoor Wednesday is hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. To see many, many more outdoor photos or to post some of your own, please visit her blog.

Out on the balcony the other day, I was playing around with the telephoto feature on my camera and managed to capture this little critter. I could just barely see him with my "naked eye," but his silhouette really popped out at me when I trained the camera on him. Those buildings in the background are miles away. Isn't digital technology wonderful?

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Wordless Wednesday: Hotel Tree Dressed for Autumn

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For more Wordless Wednesday offerings,
please visit the website here.

Such a Gorgeous Award!

OK, I have to start out by apologizing to Smiling Sally, the gorgeous blogger who awarded me the Gorgeous Blogger Award last week. I'm very grateful for the award and flattered she thought of me. And I've been meaning to post my "six things about myself" list, but somehow real life and wonky Internet connections (and a really wonky memory) just keep getting in the way. So, here it is – just a little later than planned. I've done something like this once or twice before, so some of these fascinating facts may be repeats.

1. My memory isn't what it once was (see above). But then, neither is my body, for that matter.
2. I'm part Welsh, part English, part German, and possibly part Dutch and American Indian (Cherokee, I think).
3. My first pet was a chicken who drank himself to death. My most recent was a tabby cat who lived to the fine old age of 23 years.
4. I'm a terrible cook, but a pretty decent baker.
5. I don't much like the color orange. Except on oranges, of course. And on tabby cats.
6. I've eaten snails, rabbit, rattlesnake, and squirrel. It all tastes like chicken. Except the snails. They taste like snails.

And I'll be passing the award on to six other worthy and gorgeous bloggers as soon as real life settles down a bit. Thanks again, Sal!

Friday Fill-Ins #150

Haven't done a Friday Fill-Ins in many weeks, so thought I'd drop back in. This one seems to be a repeat of one of last year's FFs, and you can see my answers to that one here. Tried to come up with some different responses this time, so here goes:

1. The last band I saw live was _____________. Well, as I said last year, this is a tough one. I really don't go to that many live music things. If a symphony orchestra counts as a band, I suppose the last one of those I saw was most likely at a Kennedy Center concert of some sort back in the '90s. Pretty sure I haven't seen any live music performances at all in this century!

2. What I look forward to most on Thanksgiving is (aside from having someone else do the cooking?) the University of Texas / Texas A&M football game on TV (Hook 'em, Horns!).

3. My Christmas/holiday shopping is all planned out but not finished yet.

4. Thoughts of pumpkin pies, pecan pies, sweet potato pies, and mincemeat pies fill my head. Can you tell I haven't had breakfast yet?

5. I wish I could wear this nightie and robe all day, but sooner or later I'm gonna have to get dressed. Bummer.

6. Bagpipes are, as they say, an acquired taste. I love 'em, but I know they make some people want to torch the piper and his pipes.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to possibly dinner out and then new episodes of "Medium" and "Numb3rs," tomorrow my plans include probably waiting around all day for M to call from Chicago, and Sunday, I want to have a nice relaxing day at home, and get some reading done!

Outdoor Wednesday: Big Sky Country

Outdoor Wednesday is hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. To see many, many more outdoor photos or to post some of your own, please visit her blog.

Just got back from spending a couple of days in Shenandoah National Park. It's a little later in the year than we usually go to the park; a lot of the trees are already bare, and those that remain aren't all that colorful this year (not enough rain at just the right time, I guess).

But it was still a fun visit, and the scenery was still beautiful even if not as spectacular as in years past.

We stayed in the Skyland section, which has some of the highest elevations in the park. It's my favorite place to stay because of the wonderful views, at all times of year.

These are a few shots I took from the terrace of our "cabin" – and even though the days were hazy and the colors were muted, I think you can still see why they call it Skyland.

Outdoor Wednesday: The Morning After

Outdoor Wednesday is hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. To see many, many more outdoor photos or to post some of your own, please visit her blog.

This photo was actually taken right after Halloween last year, in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, and I think I may have posted it on my blog before. But it still makes me smile. And I still think that guy on the far right looks exactly like I look every morning just before I've had that first shot of coffee.

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Happy Halloween!

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Wordless Wednesday: Pumpkin Twins

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For more Wordless Wednesday offerings,
please visit the website here.

Vintage Thingies Thursday: Little Lulu Comics

Vintage Thingies Thursday is hosted by Suzanne at Coloradolady, and as she says, "Thursday is the day to showcase your vintage treasures and to share your special things with everyone." Please visit her blog to find out more about VTT or to participate yourself.

I've been sorting through photos lately, and discovered some shots of my comic book collection. It's mostly in storage right now, but I thought I'd share a few pix, since these books are definitely "vintage thingies."

One of my first literary heroines was Lulu Moppet. Created and initially drawn by Marjorie Henderson Buell (who signed herself "Marge"), Little Lulu first appeared in the 1930s as a single-frame cartoon in the back pages of the Saturday Evening Post Magazine. Well, I'm old – but that was just a bit before my time. I first met Little Lulu in the 1950s, in the comic books produced by the Dell Publishing Company. I've always thought of Lulu as one of the first feminists in children's literature. She was a tough little lady – plucky, resourceful, and imaginative. She was also very funny.

I loved the stories and the artwork. And the covers were always one of the greatest attractions – many of them with wonderful seasonal illustrations such as these (click on photos to enlarge):













































But my favorites were always the Dell Giants issued several times a year, especially at Halloween time. They were bigger than the regular monthly comics, and more costly – a whole 25 cents as opposed to the regular 10 cents I usually had to pay. And they also had great covers, as you can see. (Sorry about the quality of the photos – most of these were taken years ago, before I went digital.)

Weekend at the Movies and Monday Movie Meme: Gran Torino

A Novel Menagerie hosts Monday's Movie every week, and invites everyone to "write about any movies, television or big screen, that you’ve seen over the past week." This week, the suggested topic is "Your Favorite Movie of All Time." But if I got started on my fave of all time, we could be here for weeks. So I'll just say a few words about one of the movies I saw this weekend. Well, it did feature one of my favorite movie stars of all time.

The weather was pretty awful around here over the weekend. Messy and cold outside – but inside, that made for perfect movie-watching conditions. Also perfect football-watching conditions, but we won't get into that.

Our Netflix film of the weekend was Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood's film from last year.

Gran Torino

USA, 2008

MPAA Rating: Rated R for language throughout, and some violence.

Written by Nick Schenk and Dave Johannson
Directed by Clint Eastwood

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, John Carroll Lynch

Synopsis (from RottenTomatoes.com):

[T]he story of a grizzled Korean War vet's reluctant friendship with a Hmong teenage boy and his immigrant family. . . . Eastwood stars as Walt Kowalski, an unabashed bigot who never heard a racial insult he didn't love. Bitter, haunted, and full of pride, Walt refuses to abandon the neighborhood he's lived in for decades despite its changing demographics as he clings desperately to a mindset long since out of step with the times. When his Hmong neighbor Thao tries to steal his prized muscle car as part of a gang initiation, Walt is forced to grapple with the world around him. . . . More than simply a racial morality tale, however, GRAN TORINO is about the unlikely bonds that people form to navigate the subtle complexities [of] every day life. . . . GRAN TORINO explores the challenging yet rich new world that can open up when individuals let down their guard, even if for just a moment. Estranged from his family and his church, and without any sense of personal peace, Walt offers all that he has to Thao and his family, namely wisdom and protection. When tragedy strikes the family, Eastwood allows a little classic Harry Callahan to poke through, but the surprising finale posits a hero that Dirty Harry would never have the guts to be. It's a potent symbolic gesture to Eastwood's own growth as a storyteller.

My Thoughts:

I've liked Clint Eastwood ever since I first saw him as Rowdy Yates in the old Rawhide TV show when I was a tot. A lot of his movies are a little more violent and raw than I really like, but I usually enjoy them just because of Eastwood's presence. Even so, I was a little dubious about Gran Torino because of the racial conflict aspect – and these days I tend to shy away from any film or book described as "gritty," "symbolic," or a "morality tale." At my age, I've had just about all the grit, symbols and moralistic preaching I can stand. So I wasn't certain about the movie, but I figured – hey, it's Clint Eastwood after all.

And I wasn't disappointed. Eastwood manages to find an enormous amount of humor and pathos in Walt's bigotry and insularity, without pulling any punches about its crudeness or offensiveness. And the developing relationship between Walt and his new neighbors is very appealing and fascinating to watch. The supporting cast is terrific, and includes quite a few new faces (well, new to me anyway). Both Bee Vang and Ahney Her as the young brother and sister deliver wonderful performances; and I especially loved John Carroll Lynch as Martin, Walt's barber and sparring partner in racial slurs.

I know I'm probably one of the last people on the planet to see this one, but it's definitely got my recommendation.

Did you see any interesting movies last week or over the weekend? If you've got anything to recommend, just leave me a comment or a link to your post.