The Broadway Melody/ All Quiet on the Western Front

Bessie Love and Anita Page star in the 1929 Academy Award Best Picture winner The Broadway Melody. This is about two sisters Hank and Queenie who want to make it into show biz. When they are offered a chance at an audition it does not go well, and the man running the show only wants Queenie. Queenie tells them that she will not work with out her sister there, so Hank is offered a job as well. As the show advances it is made clear to Queenie that if she does not "play the game" her sister will be out. Hank cannot understand why Queenie is hanging out with the stage people, and tries to force her into better choices.

I did think that the best characters in the movie was the unnamed wardrobe maker, and a drunk that they kept calling Unconscious.

The movie was very sweet, funny, and the costumes were amazing. The movie shows how innocent the time was, the sisters show affection to each other in ways that today would be not sisterly. Yes, it was in black and white but I think that made it more real to the time.

All Quiet on the Western Front won the Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 1930. This movie amazed me for the fact that it won. The story follows German WWI solders from home to the front, back home, and ultimately to death. This movie was not about the characters, it was about the harsh conditions of the military, and the physiological affect that war has on the men. It is about pain, hunger, fear, death and the despair that follows the 19 year old who is the one being followed.

This movie was an anti war movie at a time when in nine years the world would again be at war. I know that there are talks of remaking this movie. The talk is that Daniel Radcliffe will be in it and that it will still be a WWI movie.

The book All Quiet on the Western Front and its follow up both written by Erich Marai Remarque were banned in Nazi Germany.

Our next two movies will be 1931 Cimarron staring Irene Dunne and Richard Dix, then 1932 The Grand Hotel staring, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, John and Lionel Barrymore.

My New Ride

I got it off of Cragsl!st for $25. It needs a tune up, new seat and new hand grips to start. When I get the money I am going to have it repainted. The picture does not show the color very well, but it looks like someone dropped it in Pept0 B!smo. It is that pink.

I know that the new grips are going to have streamers on them, I will be attaching a basket and getting a bell or horn as well. Yes, the front tire is a white wall. I am just not sure what color I want to go with. There are several in the liking orange, yellow, bright green, and I am sure that there are a few others.

I am reading again, I have missed it. For some reason I have not wanted to pick up a book. Oh I have gone thought the motions but have not enjoyed a book in quite a while. That changed on Saturday night. I read in 3 hours a book called Where Angels Fear to Tread, by Thomas E. Sniegoski. It was a light fun read, and now I want to get back into books.

Wings

The first movie that we should be watching on the Best Picture list is WINGS with Clara Bow. It looks like it would have been a good movie. However, it is not out on DVD so when it is released if it is released I will watch it.

Reading the link the plot of the movie seems to sound familiar like it has been done and re-done.

We still have not picked the date to watch the first two movies but it is hard trying to get schedules lined up for the first run.

My kittens are fun. I love watching them play and run about the house. I just wish that their claws were not so sharp. They will learn I hope.

I made my first ever gumbo. I made chicken as it has to last me most of the week, I like the way it turned out. Even up here in the NW I managed to find a spice shop that had File Powder. I did want to try to make it close to the recipe that I found. It is spicy, and filling and oh so yummy. The one thing I think I did wrong is my rice. I used sticky rice, but I do like it so I think that is what matters.

A New Year

I have just been lazy in my writing, and in my reading. To be honest on my days off I have not wanted to do much of anything. I have been going to the gym, but instead of losing weight I have been gaining. I think this is because I do not eat enough, but I do not know how to eat what I need to. I am not going to turn this into a weight loss blog. I know that many people do and find it helpful, I just don't think that will work for me. I have, however come up with a plan to get me writing again.

Some of my friends and I are going to have a movie night once a month. This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time, two years. We are going to watch in order ALMOST every movie that has won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, I say almost because the first movie is not yet out on DVD.

WINGS won in 1928 and it stars Clara Bow. The movie is about WWI and would be an interesting one to see. When it becomes available it will be watched even out of order. The other movie that I will not be watching is one that is one that gets shown on TV a lot and when I was a kid every time it came on my mother made us watch it. I still get tension headaches thinking about that movie, so for that year a runner up will be chosen to watch in its place.

There are some movies that I never heard of, and some that I have never wanted to see but as they are on the list they will be watched. One of the girls want to watch more than one movie a night and this does make some sense as there are more than 80 movies on the list.

If we do that the first two that we are going to see is the 1929 THE BROADWAY MELODY staring Charles King, Anita Page, and Bessie Love. The second one is the 1930 ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT staring Lew Ayers and Louis Wolheim.

I do think that this will be fun.

What I Have Been Up To

The Girl

The Boy

My Honey came up for a very short visit this week. It was so wonderful to see her. We had hand dipped corn dogs, wandered about town. I even got her to drive my car. After the first few jerks she got the hang of a stick shift very well.

I got all but two Christmas items taken care of today. I need to get Honey her gift still but she knows that it is going to be a combo Christmas/Birthday gift. The other thing I need I forgot when I was at the store. Word M*rket is right by the gym and I can pick up the last piece for my friend T there.

One of my best friends got me a new pussy. I don't know yet if she has gotten me the girl or the boy. They are only 31/2 months old, so I have them currently living in the litter box closet. I do take them out to play with, hold and pet. However, they are a bit shy and have only been here 2 hours. I will leave them in there tonight so that they know it is a safe place to go and hid if needed. Also this will give them a chance to get use to the different smells, and sounds of their new environment.

The shelter had named them Ariel and Sebastian. That is not going to do. I will be looking for names for them. The markings are so similar that there is no doubt that they are litter mates.

I hate coming up with titles

I know I have not written anything in months. It is not that I don't want to it is just when I sit down to write all of my ideas seem to go out the window.

I have had ideas on health care, books, gay marriage, things that have been happening and not happening.

I guess right now I just feel lazy, I am going to try and do better and get into a habit of writing again.

Drunk Drivers

I have, thankfully never lost a loved one to a drunk driver. I have known a lot of drunk drivers and in knowing them I think that the drunken driving laws of my state need to be changed.

With the advent of cell phones there is no need to drive drunk, buzzed, or high. The laws are too lenient. We have vehicular assault that is when a drunk driver hits someone and injures them. We have vehicular manslaughter that is when a drunk driver hits someone and kills them.
Vehicular assault needs to be changed to attempted murder, and vehicular manslaughter should be premeditated murder. I know that these might sound harsh, but think about it.

With all the ads, news stories, campaigns, and even books there is no reason for a person to go out get drunk and then drive. There is enough information out there to show the potential of what could happen.

Knowing that a person is going to choose to have a few then drive home that is premeditated. Thought out, planed. I have taken care of some drunk drivers who actually think what they did was funny. It is not funny; there is nothing funny about risking the life of someone else. One of my patients had been in jail for vehicular assault, got out, got drunk and hit someone else.

The laws need to be harsher. Cab, bus, or call a buddy for a ride.

Mermaid

Most of the time being in a long distance relationship is OK. Phone calls, email, video chats help. We play games together, read to each other so that we are sharing things and learning what we like and don't like.

Sometimes, this time being in a long distance relationship is like that picture. Curled up alone, in a safe place with a few treasures for company. The memory of being held, the pearl a moment of laughter. The passions of getting together. Yet, the knowledge that what is wanted needed is just out of reach. So tonight I feel like that mermaid. I know that in the morning it will be better, it always changes like that. From everything is fine, to a feeling of loss so deeply that only crying makes it better.

So tonight I miss Honey so much that it hurts. Tomorrow I will miss Honey, and it might not hurt.

Burnt

I have been sick enough that the doc put me on an antibiotic and another pill the size of a horse. He also put me on leave from work so what does a girl like me do with the weekend off? I go to pride!

I did not think that I was going to get to go as I was to have worked. I should not have gone. Because of the antibiotic I am just a little sun sensitive. Well, I am anyway being , a night shifter Irish, and from the Pacific Northwest.

Lets just say the first reaction people have when they see me is OUCH! I don't think that my shoulders are that bad but I do know they are the color of fire engine red.

Oh well, I did get to pet a lot of dogs, see kitties on leashes and one guy with a bunny. Gotta love Pride.

Alive

Yes, I am alive. No, I have not given up on blogging. I have just had a lot of things going on in the past month or so. Much of it has been good fun things.

In early May I flew down to CA. Honey picked me up and we drove to San Jose to see The Eagles play. The concert was wonderful, it was three hours of just The Eagles. There was no opening act just them, they did take a 20 minute break half way through the concert.

On Saturday we got up late drove around lost looking for the Winchester Mystery House. We decided that for all of the size of the house the mystery is that it is imposable to find. I did learn that the T.V. shows do not give the house justice. That place it beautiful. The house is beautiful and Mrs. Winchester did things back when she was living that was unheard of for her employees.

On Sunday we drove into San Francisco and when to the Science Museum. There I saw upside down jellyfish, sea dragons and beautiful butterflies. The best part of those three days was spending them with Honey.

I knew leaving her that time would not be bad as in a few weeks we were both going to go to Tucson for a week. My son graduated from high school with honers and after the ceremony, the three of us spent most of the time we were there doing touristy things. Honey, K and I went to the botanical gardens, San Xavier mission, Tucson Sonora Desert Museum, shopping, and Colossal Cave. Now, we did not do all of this in the same day. When we went to the mission the keys to the rental got locked in the car and we had to wait for AAA to come and pop the lock.
That time leaving was harder. I am still working thought that leaving, I know that part of it is because my whole family lives in Tucson and I am the only one in Oly. I also know that Honey and I have yet to have plans for when we are going to see each other again and that makes the leaving harder.

This month I have also turned 40 and then I got sick so sick that I had to go to the doc and get an antibiotic. So I am still alive, there is a lot of stuff going on, working through, and as I start to work on things I will be here more.

Last Saturday of the Month

There was a line outside of the bar, not for entry but for the hot dog stand that takes up a small part of the store front. I knew that I should not have worried about the way I looked in my new outfit that I was understated. That alone is and understatement, in line waiting for veggie dogs were two people dresses up as hot dogs. Across the street were walking mushrooms and giant ladybugs. Little girls with butterfly wings, and little boys dressed up as dogs, cats, alligators.

I got downtown at the end of the Procession of the Species. That is not what I went down there for but next year it looks like I might go. The procession looks like it is a lot of fun. No, I went down there to go to Jake's on 4th. The last Saturday of the month is the drag queen show. I have never been to one before and so I meet some friends down there. One of the girls got there at 5pm when the show does not start until 8 at the earliest. If you are not there by 5 you won't get a table and ours was right next to the stage. It was loud and it was fun.

I love going to Jake's, watching the show was great fun. But watching the crowed was even better. There were queers of all kinds there, leather, skinny, not skinny, buff, buxom, straight, and the list goes on.

As well as the Drag Queens there were three Drag Kings, and they were well, wow! Some of those Queens have smoking hot legs, in face one of them had legs almost as good as Tina Turner. What I want to know is how do they get those legs.

The show lasted until 11ish and I left when the floor opened up for dancing. I do love to dance but I told someone that I would drive them to their car as they had to park blocks away and I got one around the corner.

I got home ate some sweet potato fries as I was craving them and was asleep by 1am. The only thing that would have made the night perfect was if Honey could have been with me.

This + That

So this past week at work was one for the books. It was the usual same old thing, whiny knees, and hips. finding out that a 88 year old who was "OK" when they came in goes into a SNF (skilled nursing facility or nursing home) because they were just holding on at home then the anesthesia pops their dementia into the for front of their lives.

What made the week so worth reporting was what happened to me. I was leaving a PT room when I felt something poke me on the underside of my tata. I went into the bathroom to investigate and found that my under wire had broken and poked through the fabric.

That was not going to work for the next ten hours. So I did what anyone with my training would do. I stole some foam tape and fixed it.

When I got the chance to go downstairs and talk to the nursing supervisor I asked her not to laugh at me. She got the giggles, when I told her that if the foam tape did not work I was going to have to go home and change.

So here for your enjoyment is a pic of the patch job, and yes it did last all night.

Bragging Rights

Camlin has a great post on music and it gave me the idea to put up some bragging rights.

I don't often post about my son, but her post gave me the idea so if you want to blame someone...

My son is now 18 and going to graduate High School in May. When he was in the third grade he came to me and said he wanted to learn to play the saxophone. Being the mother that I am I said no. I made him play the clarinet. He hated it and me, for years and year. He played that clarinet up until his 3 year of High School.

There were times in band when he was the only clarinet player, because all the cool kids played sax. I did not care. Play the clarinet.

Then when he was a Freshman he wanted to not tell the band leader that he played the clarinet, he wanted to tell him that he played the bagpipes. So me being me looked at the boy and said you can play the bagpipes you just have to get a few thousand dollars and lean how to work the bellows.

He of course said I can't play them. Me being me I went out and bought a chanter. That is what is used to practice the pipes so that a thousand dollar instrument is not ruined. I handed it to him, along with the book of sheet music and told him to play me a song.

Boy: I can't.

Me: I spent $40 on that thing if you don't play me a song I will chase you around the house with it until you do.

He picks it up and what do you know he can play it.

Boy: MOM MOM I can play it!

Me: DUH! I made you play the clarinet because if you learn to it you can play most woodwinds.

Boy: Cool!

Well, the boy went to his new HS and learned 3 years of guitar in 6 months. So he now plays chanter, clarinet, guitar, bass guitar very well. He can play sax, tin whistle, harmonica, and a few others.

Sapphistries

I am reading a book called Sapphistries by Leila j. Rupp . While it is written some what like a text book with the foot notes and the indexes, it is a fascinating read. I have been taking my time with it, enjoying all of the little bits of information that is there and that is not there.

What is not there is more fascinating than I would have thought. There is just enough history to know that women have a history of loving women. I am up to the chapter 4 it is called In Unlikely Places (500BCE - 1600CE). There is very little on women in this time frame but what is there is an eye opener. One Bavarian nun wrote to her lover and there is just enough of it left to tear my heart.

I feel what this nun wrote hundreds of years ago the longing, the desire, the pain. These are the words that this woman wrote sometime in the 1300-1400: . . .

It is you alone I have chosen for my heart....
I love you above all else,
You alone are my love and desire...
When I recall the kisses you gave me,
And how with tender words you caressed my little breasts,
I want to die
Because I cannot see you.

Mabon

I need some help from people out there who have had cats before. I am ready to take Mabon back to the pound. I have never had a cat so I don't get what is going on with her and I have had it. She will only use her litter box twice, then if she has to go she will go on the floor. Yes, I do scoop it out every morning, and yes I am using the same litter I have sense I first got her.

If something does not change in a week she will be going back on Saturday. Oh, and she has checked out with the vet. If I catch her going to the bathroom on the carpet she will then again use the litter box.

Oh, and she has checked out with the vet. So, if anyone out there has any ideas at all can you let me know. Maybe, I am just not meant to have a cat.

Monarch Park Pics

I Love this Dragonfly.
She was one of the last to be seen on the path out of the park.

Can you spot the diver?

This one was hidden in the Monarch Maze.

I just could not pass up getting a picture of this little girl playing with the butterflies.

Hidden behind a giant croquet set I found this path.

Flower bed. Nuff said.

Monarch in the park, at the entrance to the bird houses.

Posting

I am a sporadic blogger at best and this winter I have been at my lowest in blogging at least I think that I have. That is mostly because I don't have a lot to talk about. I work, I sleep, I sleep, I work, I go to the library and grocery shop. Wooohooo exciting stuff.

That I have decided is going to change and it started last time I had a run of days off. I know that I live in one of the most totally awesome parts of the country if not the world. So I am going to start doing the things that I have wanted to do but have always put off.

Last week I went to Monarch Park. It was a wonderful drive out there. The sun was out and it was just warm enough to have the window down on the car. The fresh air felt good, as did seeing the start of spring.

I got some great pics of the park and some of the country side. Next time I plan on going out to to Mima Mounds.

Friday

Friday I went to the library. I love going to the library when I have the time to brouse the books and see what I am going to find. I found a book called Celtic Astrology How the Mystical Powers of the Druid Tree Signs Can Transform Your Life by Phyllis Vega. The book looks great, I have flipped through the pages and can't wait to read it.

I did read the tree sign for Honey she is an Birch, and mine is a Hawthorn. However, it makes me gag reading the book. The thing is I work in an almost sent free environment, none of the staff wears perfume, they have to smoke 3 floors down and about 1/2 a block from the hospital. That means that by the time they get back upstairs the smell is almost gone.

This wonderful book that I so long to look at smells like old cigarette smoke. It is so bad that just opening the pages makes me want to gag and my eyes start to water and get itichy. I am going to have to take the book back unread and hope that in a few weeks I can get it back and see if I can read it then.

This is only the second book that I have been unable to read that I have gotten from the library.

The Eagles and other stuff

I have not been here in a while and I know that as a sporadic poster I can do better. I don't know if I will try or not.

Last week was not a good one. I injured my shoulder at work, and on the 18Th will start physical therapy. The worst thing about this is not the pain or even the worse much worse sudden pain when I sneeze, it that I cannot get any over time. Not to mention that with the pain came good old Auntie Flo, and this time she was in a weepy, self pity mode.

Then to top it off the heater in my car has been sporadic is not working at all unless I get on the freeway. I will one day have to get that looked at. It is really strange the fan works just fine I just don't get any heat unless I am going over 40mph. Whatever...

I am going to be reloading my iportablemusicplayer in a few days so I am loading all of my Cd's onto my laptop. I need a bigger laptop. I am finding a music treasure that I did not know I had.

Also a big thing has happened with Honey and myself, no we have not broken up. We have both come to the conclusion that even if I move down to where she is at we will not be able to be together the way that we want to be. Her mom is well, her mom.

The other big news that I have is that on April 30Th Honey and I are going to see The Eagles in concert. Wooohoooo!!!! I can't wait and all of this excitement is not about seeing The Eagles, most of it is about seeing Honey again. November seems so far in the past.

Time to try and get in a nap.

Ranch House BBQ Yummy

I love me some good food. I really don't care what kind it is as long as it is fresh, tasty and yummy. So this past week a friend of mine and I went to the Ranch House BBQ. All I have to say about that place is OMG!!

OK, I will say a bit more about it. I will try to get my facts right but I might get some wrong it is not deliberate it is just because it is midnight and I need coffee.

First some history of the place. The Ranch House is run, owned by Amy Anderson and partner Melanie Tapia who has won several awards for their BBQ and has also been on the Food Network. They have competed under the name Mad Momma & the Kids, the awards include national, state, and they have even gone on to the World Championship in Ireland in 2000.

They opened the restaurant in 2004 about 10 miles or so out side of Olympia heading down HW8. Then in December 2007 disaster struck. The restaurant was taken out by a mudslide, still just inside Thurston County the ladies were not on the FEMA list for help, and the sites insurance did not cover "land movement". Many people were ready to say good by to the restaurant.

Just days after the disaster the Governor Hotel in downtown Olympia gave lease free the use of their empty restaurant space, and a fund was set up at a local bank to help with the rebuilding.

Feb, 2009 they were able to reopen on the original location, and the place is going strong. What does this have to do with food?

When I ate there I had the brisket sandwich with a side of coleslaw with vinegar and a side of beans. I could have licked the bean pot clean if they had let me back in the kitchen and beans are not my favorite. Also H and I split a platter of garlic cheese fries my mouth is watering just thinking of them. I was the only one who was not listening to how full I was and ordered a slice of home made BOURBON PECAN PIE. I died and went to BBQ heaven. I will be going back there are a lot more items to try.

If I were a food critic this restaurant would get 200 stars out of a possible 10. So anyone who is heading up this way wants a good place to eat and does not mind a short drive Ranch House BBQ is the way to go.