and OUT like a lion...

Add "snow" to your list of four letter words, the really naughty ones that would have gotten your mouth washed out with soap as a kid. We've had snow for nearly four days in a row...and I would like to point out that, theoretically...it's SPRING. Hello! So far the only evidence of Spring is the part of our fence that is now in the neighbor's yard. Around here, it ain't Spring until gale force winds blow and we make a call to our insurance agent. I thought this latest destruction might be a good omen, the wind ushering in warmer temperatures and a reprieve for the neighbor's daffodils. No go.

Today I woke up to snow,again. I'm so glad the door to my room was closed because I used some blue language to express my appreciation to Mother Nature for the April Fool's joke. By noon the snow had passed...along with the urge to pick up car pool in my thermal underwear and take hot chocolate intravenously.

Oh, and another bonus to the unseasonally cold temperatures...

I would have posted much, much earlier but the weather messes with the internet connection, taking me back to 1995 when "online" refered to an alternate method of drying laundry.

Warmer days are ahead...warmer days are ahead...say it with me now...

Gone With the Wind
Movie
Trivia

Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O'Hara) was British. From the moment she read GWTW she was convinced she was meant to play Scarlett O'Hara. The movie's producer, David O. Selznick conducted a country wide talent search to find the perfect Scarlett. Filming had already begun when Leigh came to the set with her lover, Laurence Olivier and their U.S. film agent...who just happend to be Selznick's brother...David O. took one look at Vivien and, as they say, the rest is history.

Clark Gable (Rhett Butler) did NOT want the part. He had done another period drama which had been a dismal failure. He came off looking like a fop. He also felt that the book was so popular, that everyone would have a preconceived idea of what Rhett should be. He didn't think he could live up to everyone's expectations. In the end, the money sealed the deal. Gable was trying to obtain a divorce from his second wife so he could marry Carole Lombard. The money went to pay off his wife.

Olivia de Havilland (Melanie Hamilton) was under contract to Warner Brothers studios. GWTW was to be released by MGM, a competitor. Olivia wanted the part of Melanie but her studio boss, Jack Warner, refused to lend her to Selznick. Warner told her that the part of Melanie was beneath her and that she should try for Scarlett. Olivia made a lunch appointment with Jack Warner's wife and the two of them double teamed him until he relented.

Leslie Howard (Ashley Wilkes) was also British. He didn't want to play Ashley. He felt he was too old. At the beginning of filming he was 45 and Ashley was supposed to be in his early twenties. Selznick bribed him by offering him a part in a film that he was interested in.


This picture was taken on set during the filming of GWTW. David O. Selznick had a copy sent to Margaret Mitchell. When her husband, John Marsh, saw the photo he quipped that Olivia de Havilland looked like his wife did while she was writing the book.

In like a Lion...

One thing about living in the intermountain west...Mother Nature kind of jerks you around this time of year. The grey gloom of January and February is broken in March by tantalizing previews of springtime splendor. Even the crocus (which my dad always called "hopeful" flowers) are fooled into creeping tenatively out of their hibernation to explore the open air. But current weather conditions are enough to send anyone back into a dormant state. We got more snow yesterday and temperatures have dropped. You come to expect this kind of yo-yoing around here. I'm sure it won't be the last snowfall before Mother Nature makes the switch in seasons. But that's ok with me because before you know it...I'll be complaining about the heat!

Guess the trampoline set-up was a bit premature

This blog entry could very well be titled "stupid stuff that I care about...but nobody else does," but since it's my blog, I'm ok with that.

This month's book club pick is MINE!! and it's Gone With the Wind. My all-time-super-duper-absolutely-most-favoritist-book-ever-written pick. It was the first real book I read (I was 10). By the time I graduated high school I'd read it eleven times. My obsession started with the movie. I still love the movie, but the book! The book is so much more. To see the movie and not read the book is like eating cheesecake without caramel sauce. It's like visiting Paris without seeing the Louvre.

My devotion to GWTW has been profound. When I was leaving home for school, I took my GWTW movie poster with me. Seeing this my dad said, "I bet cha by the time your first child is born, Gone With the Wind won't be as important to you." I took the bet, but made it for only five bucks because, although I denied it at the time, in my heart I knew he was right.

Authoress Margaret Mitchell at the Reminton portable typewriter she used to write her book

Who Knew? Who Cares? ME!

Margaret Mitchell...

...took 10 years to write Gone With the Wind. She started in 1926, it was published in 1936

...was a journalist, which was considered a "man's profession" in the early part of the last century

... knowledge of the Civil War was based on the oral history she received from her mother, grandmother and Civil War veterans who were frequently invited to her Grandmother's home for Sunday dinner

... was 10 years old before she found out the South lost the Civil War

...kept her manuscript a secret, covering it with towels when friends stopped by. Sometimes friends sat on the novel (unknowingly) because the apartment she shared with her husband was so small

...named her heroine Pansy O'Hara originally

Familyfest 2009

We have successfully survived another family reunion. Due to budget restraints, which we will blame on our new President, we all headed to a family cabin and lots of snow. Some of the highlights included: spinning out and getting good and stuck in said snow, internal bleeding, five BLUE stitches and plenty of shared viruses. There was gaming galore, excellent food and good conversation. We sledded, skied and parked our fanny’s in front of the theater screen to relax. Special thanks to Matt and Moo for fulfilling my life long dream of becoming Jon Bon Jovi, ala Rock Band (an experience which previously would have required a transgender operation, massive amounts of plastic surgery…and hair extensions). My rendition of Living on a Prayer caused alarm in my children and prompted my sister-in-law to ask, “Who is strangling a chicken??”

Family Birthday Party

Kissin' Cousins

Snow Time!

Oh what fun it is to ride...

Me and Dad 1969

How do I blog this?

My Dad has been gone for six years now and I have to say that I am profoundly grateful for the brain’s ability to store memory. For the past few years it’s acted like a rolodex of the very best moments with him. I can rifle through, pull out a choice experience, close my eyes and relive it again. So even though my goofy, cynical, wise, and at times irreverent Father is no longer with me physically he’s never really that far away. My Mom says she likes to think of him as with her, just in another room. So, he’s around. Out of sight but never out of mind. Love you Dad. Always.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Things Keeping Me up at Night

1) Child #1, child #2, child #3. They take turns with their cold-weather ailments, nightmares and stall tactics, making a full nights sleep a distant memory...uh, when exactly do I get to sleep again?? Anyone? Anyone??

2) That weird clink-clank sound that happens every night at 2:30 a.m. I suspect the duct work but haven't completely ruled out the supernatural...

3) Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility...I'm going through a major bonnet phase

4) My bladder. The very second I find the sweet spot in my bed, all warm and cozy under my down comforter and...ping! Nature calls--grrrr

5) The nagging thought that after my husband burns down our home when his ethanol still explodes...I will have to live with my mother!

6) How do I raise my boys to become responsible, hardworking, honest, sensitive, non-perverted men, when popular culture preaches the exact opposite?

7) The fear of falling asleep and having that dream...the one where I'm pregnant again and I don't know who the father is. Actually...I kind of like that dream.

8) When my kids are all in school and I FINALLY decide to rejoin the work force...will anyone want me? Will I be able to speak in complete sentences? Will I know how to get along with grown-ups? What if the interview is over lunch and I reach over and cut up the interviewer's meat? Maybe I should forget the whole idea and stay home and dust...

9) What's with the injustice of aging? I sacrificed a lot of my youth having kids and taking care of my family. Why is my reward a slow metabolism, extra padding and sagging...everything?

10) My sister-in-law's phone calls which bring up so many questions that I'm thinking about our conversation until 2:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m., 4:00 a.m....