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The First ‘A Favorite Thing’ Saturday

August 31, 2012 at 8:15 pm by Claudia

Welcome, everyone!

Time for our very first A Favorite Thing Saturday! I’m so glad you’re here. The idea for A Favorite Thing grew out of a recent post where I shared photos of my great-grandmother’s syrup jug. I often do that sort of thing around here and it got me thinking that a weekly get-together in which we could share a favorite thing might be a neat idea. You’re not limited to an antique or something vintage, it could be a car or your lawnmower or your mixer or your local beach….

I’ll start the party off with this:

Not easy to photograph, the darn glass kept reflecting me and my camera. In this shadow box frame is a brooch my late brother gave me. He fought a long battle with lymphoma in the late eighties and early nineties. In 1988, he drove out to visit me in Philadelphia, where I was living at the time. Dave wasn’t necessarily a demonstrative person, though I knew he loved me. One day, while he was staying with me, I came home from work to find a present waiting. He’d been out walking around and found this brooch in a shop. It was perfect for me, as I wore a lot of black and red in those days and I loved jewelry. I wore it often, thinking of my brother every time I put it on. He died in 1991. I was so afraid of damaging or, even worse, losing the brooch that I decided to frame it.

It’s so striking that it works as a piece of art. It lives on the wall in our guest room. Thank you, Dave.

Now, what do you have to share?

The nuts and bolts:

You can link up any time from this evening through Sunday night. Make sure you put in the URL of your post. If you’re unsure how to do that, just click on your post title after you’ve published it and copy the information in your browser address window. Come on over, paste the URL info into your link info and there you go! If you have any questions about it, drop me an email and I’ll help you out. (When you copy your post URL into the link, make sure that http:// only appears once, otherwise the link won’t work.) Also, please link back to this blog on your post. That way those that read your post and are interested in reading more can do so.

One of my concerns about link parties is that the very reason for them has somewhat gone by the wayside. They’ve become so big and there are so many of them that many bloggers don’t take the time to visit other blogs. They are a way to meet new bloggers and share with each other and the only way to do that is to visit each other. So, please, take some time to visit everyone over the next few days. No rush. Stop by, introduce yourself, and leave a comment. It’s the neighborly thing to do.

Have fun, everyone!

Sunflower Update and Some Thoughts on Older and Quirky

August 31, 2012 at 9:02 am by Claudia

Better late than never:

Still petite in size and looking gorgeous; may I introduce you to Sunflower #1?

I can’t tell you how happy this makes me. Sunflower #2 is taller but still not quite ready to open.

Next year, I’m planting even more. Of course, I planted a lot this year and the seeds turned out to be Purple Hyacinth Bean Vine. And no, I didn’t mix them up. That will always remain a mystery. Anyway, my plan is to have a long row of these beauties in front of the dog corral. They make me smile.

May I take a moment to speak my mind about something?

You know I love old movies. The other night, we watched Ball of Fire (directed by Howard Hawks) starring Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper. It’s absolutely one of my favorite movies, based on the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story. Last night, we watched Lady for a Day (directed by Frank Capra) starring May Robson and a great supporting cast. If you’re unfamiliar with May Robson (who was 75 when she made this movie in 1933) and you get a chance to watch her in a movie, run, do not walk, to your television. She was such a wonderful actress. In those early years of movie making, she was already considered ‘elderly.’ Nevertheless, she played one of the lead roles, surrounded by a cast of wonderful character actors, most of them middle-aged or older and quirky.

In Ball of Fire, the supporting cast, including the men playing the equivalent of the seven dwarfs, were all wonderful character actors, none of whom were pretty and young. They were in nearly every scene of the movie. And those roles, those actors, were essential to the plot. They contributed to the fabric of the movie. It couldn’t have been made without them. Same with Lady for a Day. If you watch any Frank Capra movie, such as It’s a Wonderful Life, or It Happened One Night, you’ll always see lots of interesting character actors both middle-aged and elderly.

In those days, moviemakers thought those sorts of actors were interesting and compelling. They assumed that the audience would find them so, too. They were right. Even in television, up until the last 20 years or so, older actors and character actors were everywhere. Imagine: All in the Family had two lead actors who were middle-aged. That would never happen nowadays.

No, now we have to have young, pretty people everywhere: in print and on the screen. If there is a supporting role for a character actor, it’s very brief and there are few close-ups. How often do you find an older actor in the lead? An older actor who isn’t also beautiful? Almost never. What about character actors? They get very little screen time. The only major filmakers that I can think of offhand who use character actors consistently and with great respect are the Coen brothers.

When did everything we see become dominated by young and pretty? When did we become so shallow? I have a feeling that the Big Corporations who now run the major television networks and movie studios have a little something to do with that. It’s all about money nowadays and apparently money is only generated by shallow, inane, young and pretty.

If you look at the television series and movies coming out of Britain, you’ll see a host of interesting roles for quirky and older actors written into plots and given lots of screen time. I suspect it might be the same for other countries, though I can’t say for sure. This myopic view of what’s marketable seems peculiar to our country.

We are not a country that honors and esteems the older generation, are we? And when did anything other than pretty become something to be avoided at all costs? I’m fed up with it. And I’m sad about what we seem to value. I don’t watch much television any more. I don’t watch very many new movies. I find it all rather shallow and depressing.

Give me an older movie any day.

Or a good book.

In Other business:

Remember to leave a comment on my book review if you’re interested in winning a copy.

A Favorite Thing starts tomorrow! I’ll put the post up this evening around 8:00 pm est, along with instructions on how to link up. I do hope you’ll join in on its maiden voyage. I’d so love to have you take part.

Happy Friday.

Scoutie Misses Her Friend

August 30, 2012 at 7:53 am by Claudia

Dear little Scout is having a hard time processing the fact that Riley isn’t here. At first, I think she thought he was just away for a few days. After some time passed, she became increasingly more agitated. She has long stretches of time where she seems fine. But then, suddenly, she’ll get up, go to a rug, start pawing and scratching at the rug and then she’ll walk around the room a few times in a very agitated state. The ‘pawing’ of the rug is something she’s done before, but never this much and never this obsessively. When that happens, I call to her and tell her to come and I pet her and soothe her, telling her everything is going to be alright.

She positions herself on Riley’s rug and looks at us. She wants to know where we are at all times. She follows me to the bathroom and peeks in the door – something Riley used to do all the time. She’s 13 now, actually 13 ½, and I see her slowing down, getting tired more quickly.

I don’t even want to go there. Not after what we’ve just been through.

She knows that a member of our pack is missing. She can’t figure out where he is. So we are spoiling her, coddling her, soothing her; doing everything we can to help her through this sad transition in our family life.

We take her on car rides.

She loves the view.

So do I.

Now you see why the organization that rescued her named her ‘Smiley.’ She, at her best, is pure joy. We want to get her back to her best.

I know many of you have been through this particular situation: trying to help the dog that is left behind cope with the loss of a friend. Any tips? Anything that worked for you?

A couple of you shared this quote with me about losing a beloved pet:

“It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them, and every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are.”

I love this. I can only hope I become that generous and loving.

On another note: I posted a book review yesterday (scroll down 2 posts) and I didn’t get permission for a giveaway until later in the day. This comedic thriller is such a great read. I really recommend it. If you’re interested, leave a comment on the post. In order to give you extra time to comment, I’ll pick a winner on Sunday.

And don’t forget the party that starts this Saturday.

The First ‘A Favorite Thing’ Saturday

Sunflower Update and Some Thoughts on Older and Quirky

Scoutie Misses Her Friend

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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