movies — Page 28

Lazy Sunday

December 17, 2017 at 9:08 am by Claudia

A slow morning. I’m feeling a bit ‘foggy’ and I think I need another cup of coffee STAT.

We had dinner with Rick and Doug last night and will spend some time with them on Christmas day. Our social life is stepping up as several mutual friends are coming to visit them in the next few weeks, so we’ll get to see them as well. I’m a girl who loves her solitude, but I also love seeing old friends, and Rick – being much more social than I – will force me in the best possible way to come out of my cave.

I didn’t run errands yesterday as I realized I would just go nuts with the weekend shoppers everywhere. I’ll do that tomorrow when they’re all back at work and at school.

The production company of Escape to Margaritaville found a great apartment for Don. It’s just a few blocks away from the theater and it has a separate bedroom and a good amount of space. It will be such fun to have a little NYC pied-à-terre for the run of the show – however long that might be.

I moved these two pieces of Roseville over to this bench because they were in the path of the Christmas decorations. I sort of like them there. They may stay.

A closeup of the gifts under the tree in Caroline’s house. I wonder what is in that Paris bag? Hmmm.

It will be a lazy day today; reading, doing some laundry, that kind of thing. Oh, we watched Singing in the Rain last night. I never tire of that perfect movie musical. Brilliant.

Happy Sunday.

Batteries and Movies and Minis

December 16, 2017 at 8:55 am by Claudia

I’ve been sticking close to home while the remnants of this ‘whatever-it-is’ are still hanging around. I’m finally feeling stronger and have more energy, so I was looking forward to getting out and running some errands yesterday. Don left the house first, then about 10 minutes later, I went out the door, only to find that the battery on my car had died. It was unbelievably cold out and I tried and tried, but I finally went back inside and texted Don and then called our emergency road service. About an hour after that, a guy arrived who jumped started the battery and then I spent the next hour at Mavis Discount Tire (about two miles from our house) where they replaced the battery.

Curses! Since my dad gave us this car, I had no idea how old the battery was, so my instinct was to just get a new one and then the guys at the shop confirmed it was bad, so now it’s a done deal.

A day spent on car problems is never a fulfilling day.

More pictures of Caroline’s abode. There are some pine boughs on the cabinet by the door.

Another view of the den.

Caroline drinks her coffee in bed.

Caroline’s new shoes, some macarons from Ladurée, and some Jane Austen.

One of the very first pieces that I purchased for the dollhouse. The wood was dark and shiny, like a lot of dollhouse furniture out there and the cushions were white satin. I painted and aged it, and then I reupholstered the cushions.

For those of you who are newer readers, this was a rescue dollhouse. I bought it for $30 and it was in pretty bad shape. It had been assembled incorrectly and there was water damage on the bottom floors. I rehabbed the whole structure inside and out and then proceeded to decorate it. It took about six years. I didn’t rush it and it was a sharp learning curve, but I really enjoyed the whole process. And so many of the pieces came from friends and blog readers. It’s a true labor of love.

Anyway, if you’re new and you’re curious, there’s a dollhouse category on the navigation bar just under the title of this blog. You can click that and read the whole story. I’ve also built and decorated a house for Don (his mini studio) which I gave him on his 65th birthday. And I’m starting, but just barely, a modern structure.

We watched one of my favorite movies ever last night – The Shop Around the Corner, starring Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, Frank Morgan and a host of great character actors. I can’t begin to estimate how many times I’ve seen it, but let’s just say I know every inch of it. Then we got caught up in the next movie, Holiday Affair, starring a young Janet Leigh and Robert Mitchum and Wendell Corey. The real star, to Don and me, was the young boy who played her son. He was incredible – such a natural screen presence!

We couldn’t get over how honest and charming his work was. So, after the movie, I googled his name – Gordon Gebert – and found out that he had gone to become an architect and has taught architecture at City College in New York for years. He’s married to a professor at Vassar, and lives just across the river from us in Poughkeepsie! Go figure! It’s so nice to read about a child actor who grew into a well adjusted adult. If you haven’t seen this movie, you should watch it someday just to see his performance.

Okay. Have to go and run those darned errands!

Happy Saturday.

Random on Monday

April 3, 2017 at 9:43 am by Claudia

• I took a photo of my view this morning and realized I hadn’t turned the calendar to April. So I started over. My usual cluttery desk; eye drops, filofax, coffee cup, pens notes to myself all over the place.

• Yesterday was sunny and in the upper fifties. That may not seem very warm to some of you, understandably, but to me? Oh joy! I actually felt the warmth of the sun on my back. I didn’t do much, but I did start to clean up the porch. And I took the two white chairs (which had been stored on the porch) back to their home on the Funky Patio. Today promises to be at least partly sunny and a bit warmer than yesterday. I have some errands to run and I aim to stop and feed the horses for Don. He really misses them. I think I’ll send Don some pictures.

• The honey bees are back. They seemed a little wary of me – maybe they were surprised by a human! They weren’t there last week, so they’ve just reestablished their home in the catalpa. I spoke to them and told them they had nothing to fear from us. Hopefully, they’ll behave. All that being said, I am very happy when I see bees of any kind. We need them.

• The Manchurian Candidate was on TCM last night. It has always been a chilling and brilliant movie, but at this time in our country it’s more powerful than ever.

Quote from one of the characters: “I despise John Iselin and everything that Iselinism has come to stand for. I think if John Iselin were a paid Soviet agent, he could not do more to harm this country than he’s doing now.”

Hmmmm. “paid Soviet agent…” This has always been one of my favorite movies, but last night’s viewing was the first time I’d watched it since that man came to power and I was riveted.

• Egg cups that live in the den: