Extraordinary Stories

1944 (1) Act of kindness (12) Acting (2) Adoption (4) Adventure (766) Advertisement (6) Africa (1) Aging (14) Agriculture (47) Airplanes (9) Alphabet (5) American Red Cross (1) Americana (116) Amish (43) Ancestry (5) Ancesty (2) Animals (43) Anniversary (4) Antigua (10) Antiques (14) Apron (1) architcture (1) Architecture (36) Art (175) Art? (8) Arts and Crafts (69) Athletics (6) Automobiles (40) Awards (7) Banking (2) Barn raising (2) Baseball (103) Basketball (3) Batik (1) Beaches (89) Becoming A Citizen (1) Bed & Breakfast (2) Bee Keeping (6) Beer & Breweries (2) Bikes (3) Birds (9) Birthdays (34) Blindness (1) Blogging (5) Bookbinding (5) Books (12) Boxing (2) Brother Steve (12) Buisiness (3) Business (5) Canals (1) Cancer (14) Candy (30) Caribbean Islands (9) Caribbean Villas (15) Cats (5) Caves (1) Census (1) Chesapeake Bay (61) Children (28) Chocolate (4) Christmas (57) Church Adventures (122) Cigars (1) Circus (3) Civil Rights (8) Civil War (6) Classic Cars (7) Climate Change (5) Clubs (1) Coin club (2) Coins (1) Collections (73) Comedy (3) Comic Books (5) Commercials (1) Comnservation (2) Conservation (41) Covered Bridges (3) Craftsmanship (12) Creamsicle the Cat (11) Crime (16) Crisis (312) Cruise Travel (6) Crying (1) Culture (4) Dancing (1) Danger (16) Daughter Brynn (58) Daughter-In-Law Barb (7) Death (5) Death and Dying (65) Destruction (2) Donuts (1) Downsizing (2) Dunking (5) Easter (3) Eavesdropping (1) Education (48) Energy (15) Entertainment (165) Entrepreneurial (62) Ephrata (1) Etchings (1) Eternal Life (4) Facebook (5) Factories (4) Fads (6) Family (261) Farming (37) Father (42) Father Time (68) Favorites (88) Firefighting (1) Flora and Fauna (28) Fond Memories (490) Food and Cooking (171) Food and Drink (111) Football (16) Forgetfullness (3) Former Students (10) Framing (30) Friends (359) Fruits and Vegetables (3) Fun (4) Fundraiser (6) Furniture (1) Games (7) Generations (3) Gifts (1) Gingerbread houses (1) Giving (8) Globes (1) Golf (3) Good Luck (2) Graduation (1) Grandkids (136) Grandparents (3) Grandview Heights (29) Great service (3) Growing Old (8) Growing Up (187) Guns (2) Handwriting (3) Hat Making (2) Hawaii (49) Health and Well Being (61) Health Care (4) Health Hazards (110) Heartbreak (7) Heroes (26) High School (142) History (777) HO Railroading (4) Hockey (4) Holidays (134) Home construction (7) Horses (2) Housing (3) Humorous (71) Hurricanes (1) Ice and Preservation (2) Ice Cream (8) Inventions (34) Islands (4) Italy (12) Jewelry (3) Job Related (62) Just Bloggin' (56) Just Wondering (19) Juvenile Diabetes (5) Labor (3) Lancaster County (542) Law Breakers (8) LDubs In-Laws (3) Lefties (1) Libraries (1) Life's Lessons (175) Lightning (1) Lists (72) Lititz (18) Locomotives (1) Lodging (1) Love (4) Magazines (2) Magic (1) Maps (2) Marching (2) Market (5) Medical (161) Memories (28) Middle School (3) Milk (2) Minorities (1) Money (3) Mother (54) Movies (6) Mt. Gretna (1) Music (118) My Brother (19) My Wife (260) Neighbors (7) New Year's Day (5) Newspapers (4) Nicknames (2) Nuisance (3) Obsolescence (5) Occupations (2) Old Age (1) oldies (1) Pain and Suffering (12) Panama Canal Cruise (13) Parish Resource Center (14) Patriotism (3) Penmanship (1) Pets and Animals (99) Photography (220) Pizza (1) Plastic (2) Playing Trains (2) Poetry (2) Politics (27) Polution (3) Postal Service (2) Predators (2) Presidents (11) Pride (4) Printing (81) Protesting (3) Public Service (65) Questionnaire (1) Quilts (1) Race relations (6) Rain (1) Reading (4) Records (2) Religion (10) Retirement (4) Revolutionary War (3) Robotics (1) Rock & Roll (4) Rodents (2) Saints (4) Sand (1) Scouting (2) Sex (1) Shakespeare (1) Shelling (2) Shopping (24) Simple Pleasures (122) Slavery (6) Small Towns (4) Smoking (1) Snickedoodle (1) Snow (1) Son Derek (27) Son Tad (33) Son-In-Law Dave (27) Soup (1) Spices and Herbs (1) Sports (139) Sports and collectibles (1) Spring Break (1) St. James (2) St. Martin/Sint Maarten (306) Stained Glass (3) Stone Harbor (4) Story-Telling (26) Stragers (2) Strangers (4) Strasburg Railroad (1) Stress (3) Stuff (4) Suicide (2) Sun (1) Surfing (1) Tattoos (4) Teaching (49) Technology (90) Television (6) Thanksgiving (2) The Arts (6) The Beach House (62) The Flag (1) The Future (5) The Shore (78) This and That (23) Timekeeping (7) Tools and Machines (25) Tours (2) Toys and Games (31) Track & Field (1) Tragedy (8) Trains (19) Transportation (18) Travel (16) Trees (2) Trending (2) TV Favorites (23) Underground Railroad (10) Unit of Measurement (1) USA (2) Vacation and Travel (545) Vehicles (80) Vison and Eyesight (2) War (14) Watches and Watchmaking (5) Weather (48) Weddings (3) White House (1) Wisdom (3) Yearbooks (12) York County (3)

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The "Return to the Movies" Story

It was an ordinary day. We had just returned from the movies. Saw "It's Complicated" with Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. Movie was about Jane (Meryl), mother of three grown kids, who owns a thriving bakery, and has an amicable relationship with ex-husband (Alec). And then ..... it's complicated. Just loved the movie. Kind of a chick flick. Not more than a dozen guys in the theatre. But hey, the movies are fun for Carol and I. When we were first married over 43 years ago we used to go to the drive-in as well as the "regular" movies often. Then came kids and loss of revenue for any extras. To show you how long ago that was, the last movie we saw for many years was "10" with Bo Derek. That was in 1979. Movie about a guy named George Webber (Moore) who spots Jenny (Derek) at a bar while on vacation with wife Samantha (Julie Andrews) and ends up having an affair with her. Can still visualize Bo Derek jogging down the beach in Mexico, her beaded and plaited cornrow hair flying in the wind. In the end George and Sam get back together and make love to Ravel's "Bolero." Actually our first venture back to the movies was in 2006 when we went with our friends Jerry and Sue to see Daniel Craig as James Bond in "Casino Royale." Really surprised how theatres had changed. My own recliner chair with nice arm rests, cup holder and plenty of leg room. Seats were elevated so nobody was in front of you. And the sound ........ when the movie started, the action shots made you feel you were in the action. Loved it!! We recently went to see "When in Rome" which was about an NY art curator who goes to Rome to attend her sister's wedding and fall in love. Another chick flick. We went because we wanted to see Rome again. Went a few years ago to Italy and enjoyed it so much that we wanted to relive our adventure. Big disappointment! Most of the movie was NY scenes. BOO!! Did enjoy "Blind Side" with Sandra Bullock who won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Movie about Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) who was known as "Big Mike" and came from impoverished beginnings to be adopted by Sean (Tim McGraw) and Leigh (Bullock) Tuohy and eventually play football for Ole Miss. Pretty neat true story. Oher now plays for the Baltimore Ravens. Actually, the same thing happened in Lancaster. Conestoga Valley football coach Gerad Novak and his wife Gina became guardians for high school freshman, Kevin Kelley, whose mother had to move from the area. Kevin wanted a more stable life and agreed to stay with the Novaks, where he fit right in. He, also, is a star football player and will be playing college football at Div. III Bridgewater, VA. They recently went to see the movie together and saw a re-run of their last 4 years. But, my most favorite recent movie has to be Julie and Julia. Meryl Streep plays chef Julia Child and Amy Adams plays Julie Powell who aspires to cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child's cookbook. She plans to do this in one year and describes the challenge in her blog. The movie inspired me so much that on the way out of the theatre I told my wife that I'm going to write a blog about my life stories. I'm more than halfway through the year and still have many more stories to share. Hope you are enjoying them as much as I am writing them. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Girl on top left is Bo Derek with cornrows while bottom left is Gerad and Gina Novak Kevin Kelley.

No comments:

Post a Comment