woodstock went woof!

 

Thanks, Ivan of the League of Savannah Bloggers, for posting this on fb for me to 'borrow'!

Little Woodstock just found out from his beagle buddy that this is the day when people eat turkeys as well as several other types of winged creatures.

The little bird didn't miss a beat.

"Woof!", he said!

(smile!)

How clever of him!

I had a little bird for my feast, but not of whatever variety that the 'Peanuts' character is.

Mine was a Cornish game hen and I ate every bite!

What's that, it looks like it's upside-down?

Well, that's because it was!

That's how the cajun chef, Kevin Belton, had said to do it on his "New Orleans Kitchen" show.

Start it right side up for about 30 minutes, then flip it over, to keep the juices basting that breast meat.

Worked like a charm!

Speaking of television shows, guess what was on today?

A marathon of "The Partridge Family"!!!

Hahahaha hahaha!

Very nice inside joke, Antenna TV!

When I told me ex about it, he thought it was probably just my perspective, but he was sweet enough to not word it that way.

"Wouldn't it be more appropriate at Christmas?"

(smile!)

He and Amy were off to her boss's house for a more traditional feast, like on this bird's kin.

That is one enormous turkey!!!

Apparently, it's the first float in the Macy's Parade every year!

I'm glad I woke up in time to catch it, though I have no idea why I had awakened so early.

It wasn't even 9 AM yet! 

I don't usually wake until 10.

I'm chalking it up to right place, right time.
(smile!)

 

While I was waiting for my bird to cook, I was texting with family and friends, sending and receiving greetings of the day!

Mi amiga Barbara had been the first, last night before she went to bed - lol!

Sherry Moore was the first today, and I promptly 'borrowed' hers to send out as my own!

"May your Thanksgiving be filled with laughter, love, and delicious food!!"

Out it went through the ether, to my brothers Smitty and Tony and to my first niece Christina in Hinesville!

To cousin Penny in Tallahassee, cousin Bev in Augusta, cousin Sharon across the river in North Augusta! 

To Aunt Babs in Glennville, stepmom Bonnie in Alabama, and Jeff the ex in Michigan! 

To mi amigas Sandy and Carolyn!

To Dawn and the bfe and the bfrb and Christa and Sue G and Jackie!

And back to me the greetings and love and virtual hugs came!

I am so blessed...

and so very grateful to have so many who love me...

on this day of Thanksgiving.

i thank You, God.

(smile!)

not the elf you are looking for

This movie is so sweet and full of good spirit!

"Elf" is my favorite Will Ferrell movie, primarily because he stays in character as a good-hearted resident of the North Pole.

And here's the amazing thing about this 17-year-old film: the older actors in it are all still living!

Bob Newhart and Ed Asner are both 91 years old, but alive and kicking!

James Caan, at 80 years of age, still looks much as he has for a couple of decades now.

How refreshing!

I guess the reason that has made such an impression on me is my music of choice.

Much of the time these days, I have the 1980's Music Choice playing on the tv.

That means I've become aware of how many of my favorite artists from that decade have already departed Earth.

Eddie Money can no longer "Take Me Home Tonight".

Tom Petty is "Learning To Fly" in some other locale.

Michael Jackson is no longer the "Man In The Mirror".

Prince is racing his "Little Red Corvette" elsewhere in "Purple Rain".

David Bowie's entreaty to "Let's Dance" will have to wait for another time.

Chris Cornell, I still have not "Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart".

Yes, that last one is not music of that decade, but it's been on my mind...

so, there.

Maybe it's because of my 4th viewing of "GOTG" last night - as my 55th movie since 27 August! - that had the music of my youth playing in the jukebox of my mind.

I almost went to see it again tonight, but I'll try for tomorrow.

Instead, I popped over to Publix, with visions of little Cornish game hens on my mind... and I found one!!!

Just one, too, buried under a pile of ducks and geese.

Right place, right time.
My odometer reading of 215060 bears that out.

Good thing I didn't linger at the cinema for a second movie!

By the way, I had a nice conversation with the three-person crew at the cinema before "Elf".

(I'll be seeing them again tomorrow when I go to see "The Croods:A New Age" in the Big D room.) 

Things were pretty slow there.

I had one of the five cars in the parking lot. 

Seriously - just five cars were there.

Anywho, I was telling them about my sending out Thanksgiving cards instead of Christmas ones... you know, "because this year has been so whack"... and, to my amazement, none of them gave me that 'grandma is using the new slang' look. 

Guess I did it right. 

(smile)
Now, I need to get this little bird thawed so I can cook it in the morning!

(smile!)

a different tack for a year that was whack

Every year, about this time, I always look forward to making my Christmas card list and sending paper hugs to those I know and love.

Not this time.

With 2020 being so out of the norm, a change was warranted.

This time, family and friends are getting Thanksgiving greetings as well as a 'newsletter' ripped from my blog's headlines.

The hug is coming early for them - 

and they'll be able to follow my ramblings, should they choose to do so.

That'll be a little different perspective for them, and maybe a new tradition for me.

Love for them...

love for me...

i thank You, God.

a christmas cactus for tina tuesday!

Yep, yep, I have a new plant!

That's it, my very own Schlumbergera Buckleyi, which is like a miniature of the huge ones Mama had.

Speaking of her, that Christmas tree brooch belonged to her and is one of the prettiest pins I own.

The red pullover, with the fireworks embroidery on the front and dark blue binding, was Mother Pat's.

As I keep saying, I am never alone.

(smile!)

For lunch today, I was actually in very good company with old friends!

Sue had invited me about a month ago to join her and Monica and the stars finally aligned!
I'm sure the folks at Jalapenos wondered if we had moved in... 

we were there three hours!!!

This was the first time we'd been together in years, so we had a bit of catching up to do, and a bit of reminiscing, too.

(smile!)

After all, it had been Sue that took me to Okinawa in 2004, allowing my heart to finally reboot after Mama's death in 2001.
Today, I returned this Japanese doll to her, to give to her daughter born later in 2004, now sweet 16.

She was elated to have t for her oh-so-girly girl!

(i thank You, God, for the heartfelt suggestion that raised such good memories for both of us.)

I'm glad I had it for her; Sue had brought the plants for Monica and for me, based on a remark I'd made on fb about the cactus.

It was good to have something for her to take home from our meeting today!

 

Now, I'm off to dance once more with Star-Lord!

"Guardians Of The Galaxy" is ending its two-week return on the silver screen and I'm trying to catch it twice more.

Including tonight's viewing, that will make five times that I've seen it during this run!

Plus, this evening's movie will mark it as my 55th since the the cinemas re-opened!

Right place, right time, all day.

What a glorious Tina Tuesday this has been! 

thnks 4 gvng LSD

Rather than on a rooftop with a drone, this third and final Lounge Around Sounds Variety Hour had four of the musical numbers shot at Akie's family's home... 

and were sans McDuck.

Not even the cardboard image of him from the Halloween show.

The songs were "Bad Self Portraits", "Hypothetically, Yes", "Can Somebody Feed Phil", and "Thank You For Being A Friend".

That last one was my favorite, although I was quite mistaken on its origin.

I had "The Golden Girls" theme in my head as a Carole King-penned number, but it isn't.

I guess I confused it with "You've Got A Friend", her song on the Tapestry album, which I had since I was in middle school.

(Thanks, Bridget, for trying to set me straight when I made comments to that effect.

My apologies for the mistake!)

The two middle songs were new, with one being written for a tv show.

 

In fact, here's Phil Rosenthal showing he is quite capable of feeding himself - hahahaha!

This was one of the cooking segments, with him making one of his specialties: Daddy's Famous Peanut Butter And Jelly Sandwich.

The secret, apparently, is the sliced bananas, cut as coins rather than lengthwise slabs - hahahaha!

I think Elvis would approve if it were grilled - and that's what I told them in the comments!

Three of the bandmates provided recipes, too.

Akie had shepherd's pie, starting with leftover beef stew.

That made it nearly 'instant'!
So I threw in my two cents' worth, mentioning the 'instant' Easter Soup I made for dinner tonight.

Seriously, it only took twenty minutes to make it!

Next time, I need to make sure the horseradish is fresh.

It was very grainy, as it had expired in 2018 - lol!

Calabrese's focaccia bread looked quite tasty, and I think I could even smell it through the computer!

My favorite coking segment, though, was this one, with Rachael making pancakes with oat meal.

Not that the food itself sounds so appealing.

No me gusta 'oat meal'.

I loved the concept of dancing to celebrate a recipe that worked right!

So, what about McDuck?

No view of him in a kitchen, baking up a storm?

Nope, a frayed knot, y'all.

(Maybe it's the sailor in me, but I like that pun!)

There were two songs taped on Akie's front porch, but this was from the better one, with the trumpet man "standing in the yard" for a divinely slow version of "Still The One". 

Love that 1976 tune from Orleans!

That would be the rock musicians, not the city.

McDuck's sole solo was the story time segment, and that was quite short as some folks thought the tales were too long.

Say what???

This one was about all the "extra" stuff that this year had, but it was the ending that was the tastiest morsel for the soul.

For his children, he said, 2020 would be remembered fondly as "the year they all spent at home with Dad".

Wow.

Now that is most def something for his entire family to treasure.

Thanks, McDuck, for that silver lining!

Right place, right time.

I sure hope Lake Street Dive will have more of these shows.

(smile)

weeks 10 and 11 (but not 12)

After the flurry of movies seen this past week, I realized something today.

I had mentioned naught of the hits of the preceding two A*List weekends.

My, oh, my, how had that happened?

I guess my brain had flittered to other flowers!

(smile!)

Perhaps much like this little butterfly would do!

As I recall, it had belonged to one of my maternal great-grandmothers, most likely Granny White (Grandpa's mom), though the truth may differ.

From Austria, it is stamped "Ges. Gesch" (Gesetzlich Geschutzt) in its gold-tone brass backing, making it a copyrighted design.

Granny White died when I was in high school so she cannot share the tale of how she came to have this petit point blue and white beauty with its blue rhinestone-studded antennae.

I don't recall tales of family serving in the military during World War I, nor have I heard of any of my ancestors having ever traveled to Europe.

I thank my time in the Navy for making me as well-traveled as I am.

If Granny White kept a journal, the story of the brooch being gifted to her might well have been an entry.

I do not know that to be the case, though.

My plan is to gift the pin to my first niece for Christmas.

I know it will hold meaning for her.

Perhaps her German-born boyfriend or his mom can tell us more about its origins.

Yes, that will make for lovely conversation!

I'm so glad I 'found' it in my jewelry box on Saturday.

I have the 'back from the past' movies of the last few nights to thank for that.

Well, not really, right?

(smile!)

i thank You, God.

 

So, where was I... yes, week 10.

I only caught one film on that pre-election weekend, "V For Vendetta", but I saw it twice, once with Kevin and then with Carolyn.

Such good conversations in the parking lot afterward, too!

Especially with Carolyn, as she and I had stayed for the 15th anniversary post-film chat with one of the Wachowski sisters (who were brothers back in 2005).

Quite enlightening for this timely movie I remember so well!

 

Surprisingly, neither of the two who watched the film with me had ever seen it.

I'm glad they finally had the opportunity to see it on the silver screen!

I'm doubly glad to have had their treasured company!

Right place, right time.

It was just pure happenstance - even though I know there are no accidents - that I had mi amiga's presence.

That had been a very busy weekend for me!

Between the Savannah VOICE Festival with their Halloween treats on Friday and Saturday, and the birthday party for four of my great-nieces, it's truly a wonder I was able to see any movies at all!

What a great blessing to have a weekend so filled with the company of those I love!

i thank You, God!

The next weekend found my AMC A*List dance card full again!

Sir Sean Connery had just passed and the cinemas were honoring three decades of his work - hooray!

The first I saw was of his 007 persona in 1974's "Goldfinger", capturing him when he was just 31 years old.

I actually prefer his 60-year-old self in "The Hunt For Red October", which is one he'd said he so enjoyed as he wasn't playing a spy.

I'm sure that was a very nice change of pace - plus, it was a fabulous story of Russian and American navies!

So, spies were present, but he wasn't one of them.

(smile!)

In between those two movies that nicely bookended my weekend at the cinema, I had seen the one already discussed - a dour number - and an uplifting - in multiple ways! - kid flick, "Toy Story".

Hard to believe that one is celebrating its quarter-century mark this year!

If not for 2020 being a pandemic year, I'm sure there would have been a great ballyhoo for it.

Perhaps the studio will make up for that in 2025 when the movie hits its third decade.
And what do I have in these two photos?

Birthday cards spotted at the CVS between the kid movie and the second Connery!

Right place, right time!

Most magnificent!

(smile!)

nutcracker on 42nd street

The closest I can get to live theater, much less the much-beloved musical variety, is via the Fathom events at the cinema.

Sure, there was the one-act at Savannah State six weeks ago... but that was certainly not a musical.

The last musical I saw was "Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" and I had known it would be the last for a while.

I guess I had not realized that I may be waiting until some undefined date next year.

Sigh.

Perhaps it's appropriate that the coffee mug souvenir from the Moscow ballet is not well-lit in this photograph.

After all, the stages are all dark now.

I have tried not to dwell on such things, as they are out of my control.

It's important to not be obsessive about things I have no power over.

However, I've been a bit melancholy this morn after last night's outing.

Not that the event was sad - far from it!

"42nd Street, The Musical" had been filmed during the live production on-stage in London and then released to the cinema on May 1, 2019.

Last night, an encore screening was held at the Classic 11 - and it was absolutely worth every penny of the fifteen-dollar fee!

Tap dancing! Singing! Costumes!

And a friend from the past, Monica, was there to share it with me!

She had seen my post on fb about the nearly-empty cinemas and dared to come.

This was her first time at the cinema since they closed in March.

This was my fifty-second film since they reopened in August.

And why wouldn't I be making the most of this one source of entertainment that wasn't predicated on my being glued to a small screen at home?

To those who present the argument that there is a vast assortment of events via fb live or youtube or zoom or other such programs, I say "enough".

I truly have grown weary of those.

Venturing forth to the cinema is as close as I usually get to human interaction these days.

The restaurants are only safe if I am the only one at my table, as I live alone.

Ever since I pointed out to Carolyn that less than three feet separate diners at the same table, I have heard nothing more from her.

She lives alone, too, and dining out has always been a preferred entertainment for her.

Sigh.

I miss live theatre.

I miss late-night, post-movie, discussions over food with folks I know.

I miss being in the mix of theatre and dance and concerts.

Still, I insist on being a busy, vibrant, woman.

I insist.

Today, I'll be attending another Fathom event at what was once Wynnsong.

That will be an actual film, but it's a beloved musical, one that Mama shared with my first niece on countless occasions... and that I hope to share with her this afternoon.

If not, I know I'll be seeing her on Friday and I just had lunch with her this past Friday, so life is magnificent in that direction. 

i thank You, God!

As for company today, mi amiga Barbara may be joining me for her first cinema outing since March.

Here's hoping she will!

Oh, one more thing.

I've finally realized another difference between opera and musicals!

Musicals have dancing!!!

Yet another reason to love them.

(smile!)