Richard Jewell was falsely accused of planting a bomb at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Do any of you remember the post that I wrote about him? If not, you may read it just here. (I also wrote a post earlier about him. If I am able to link to that one, I will come back and add it later.) Clint Eastwood has directed a film about him and it will be released on Dec. 13, 2019. Just looking at the trailer, it looks as if it might be a good film, a respectful film. I hope so. I should say more about him here but I just hope you will read the post that I wrote in 2016 that I directed you to above. I titled that post "Unsung HERO at the 1996 Summer Olympics". One thing that I have not mentioned in my writings about Richard Jewell is that I am a native Georgian and ...this is hard for me to express...but he could be a cousin of mine, or some relative, he sounds just like my male relatives. And listening to the actor doing the Southern accent, I just want to say that it sounds as if he has nailed it. (I must admit that very often actors will WAY overdo a Southern accent and get it so horribly wrong that it will illicit a laugh here at a theatre.) Now, I am very critical of films which you know if you read my blog but before I start speaking of a film which I really haven't even SEEN yet, I want to say that we must not forget that this movie is about a real person who suffered greatly. There might be Oscar buzz about this and great tributes paid to the actors and director but we must not forget the real people behind the story. (His poor mother, how much she must have suffered!) Diabetes is listed as the cause of death for Richard Jewell but I cannot help but think that all the trauma that he went through with the feeling that the whole world was against him must have contributed to his early death at the age of 44.
November is moving along just as quickly as October did! Besides having a few health problems, now our computer looks as if it might "pack it in". That is what the Brits say! (Or my Brit does anyway.) Do any of you have an Instagram account? I have one but I don't do very much on it. (I am lucky to be able to get to my blog these days.) One thing that I wish that I could do on there is something called "Nonfiction November". For one day of this month, you were asked to have a "shelfie", showing your shelf full of nonfiction books. Another day, you were asked to show your "must-read". Wish I had time to do this! I think I might have mentioned to you that I don't like to read fiction very often. I am the QUEEN of nonfiction! And please, don't tell me that about a nonfiction book that reads like fiction! No, no, no! A well written book reads like a well written book, thank you very much! I love books written by journalists...they have a very straightforward style of writing that I find very appealing. Remember when I told you about re-reading "The Nearest Faraway Place", about the Beach Boys? The author was Timothy White, a rock music journalist. I also read the book "Murder In Coweta County" by Margaret Anne Barnes. (Another journalist!) This book is based on a true story set in the late 1940's in rural Georgia. It was made into a TV movie in the 1970's with Johnny Cash and Andy Griffith. June Carter Cash (Johnny's wife) was also in the film and her performance was truly astounding to me! I will really have to do a post just on that book alone when I have more time and energy to write about it properly.
So many books on nonfiction that I can tell you about! And besides my nonfiction books, I also prefer films that are based on true stories. It's all nonfiction for me! Do YOU have a favorite book that is non fiction? Do tell me! Remember when I told you about the lakes being drained at Panola Mountain State Park? It has now been re opened. The lakes are not as they were and the dam is ...well, it is functional but not very beautiful. Those small trees that I have in the photo above? They are gone now and lots more were cut down also. Can't really see why it was necessary for so many to be removed. I do mourn the loss of trees. I miss the lakes...I suppose now, it is considered a wetland area rather than a lake. At least, we did see the great egret again when we were there... Wish I could show y'all our photos when we walked this past weekend at the trail at Panola Mountain State Park The hickory trees were golden in the sunshine! Why can't I show you the photos? This dang computer won't let me! What time is it? Time to get a new computer! Recently, I listened to a CD with all kinds of songs that my son had made for me years ago. He titled it "Crooners". One of the songs is "Duke of Earl". Enjoy.
November! We have our autumn now in Georgia and the leaves are showing their true colors. During some of my sleepless nights lately, I have been re-reading a book, "The Nearest Faraway Place" by Timothy White. I have told you about this book before in a post several years ago. Hey! I just looked and I mentioned the book back in 2013. You may read it here. (I didn't own this book but I spoke of it with such longing that my dear son searched for it and gave to me as a gift!)
The title of the book is from a song written by Carl Wilson. And HE got the title from a magazine article written by Shana Alexander, from Time Magazine. Anybody remember Shana Alexander? She used to be in 60 Minutes in the 1970's with the Point/Counterpoint segment and it was made even more famous with Chevy Chase parodying the male viewpoint on Saturday Night Live. (And yes, I am so old, I still call it that...nowadays it is just SNL.) Anyway, Shana Alexander was a really interesting person. She was a great journalist and a very good writer. (I read her book that she wrote about Jean Harris, the woman who murdered the Scarsdale diet doctor, "Very Much A Lady". I thought it was very well written.) Shana Alexander's father was Milton Ager, a well known songwriter...he wrote the music for "Happy Days Are Here Again" and "Ain't She Sweet". (He also wrote "Everything Is Peaches Down In Georgia". You know I love the sound of that one!) Now, back to the Beach Boys and Carl Wilson. The Beach Boys originally consisted of the brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson along with their cousin, Mike Love and a friend, Al Jardine. Sadly, Dennis died in 1983 and Carl passed away in 1998. When Brian Wilson withdrew from the group in the 1960's, Carl took on the role of band leader and musical director for the group, both in their live performances and also in the studio. Some of their biggest hits were with Carl singing the lead..."Good Vibrations" and "God Only Knows". One of my favorites with Carl as the lead vocal is the song, "I Can Hear Music". (And Richard just told me that it is one of his favorites too!) Listen to it and let me know if you like it as much as we do!
Okay, now it is time for bed!
(Clock at the Langham Hotel in Eastbourne, England)
(If you click on that link above, it should take you to the hotel's website and you will see nice views of the rooms.) Upon arrival in England, my father-in-law had a book waiting for me. (Normally, I might not have time to read very much but because I was under the weather while there, I read the book from cover to cover!) The book was "Celebrity Hotel" by Neil Kirby. I loved this book! Neil Kirby started out washing the pots and pans as a 15 year old at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. His charm and very hard work meant that he worked his way up and became the general manager of this famous hotel in London! Since 2005, he is a hotel owner and it is the Langham Hotel!
"Celebrity Hotel" mentions a great many of the celebrities that stayed at the Grosvenor House Hotel while he worked there but for me, it was the life story of Neil Kirby that I found fascinating. For one thing, he is a runner, he has participated in several marathons and a great many of them for charities. (Not sure why runners are so interesting to me...but remember my admiration for Louis Zamperini? And Eric Liddell from "Chariots of Fire"?) Of course, there is also a great deal that Mr. Kirby has shared with us about the running of a hotel and also the design of the hotels. And by design, I mean right down to the furnishings. Look at the color of the cushion above! And then...I also had to take a photo of the wood and the red fabric in the bar. (Read the book and you will know who gave him this advice, the color red with the polished wood!)
(If you have never seen "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid"...watch it!)
Lovely framed photos of celebrities were on the walls of the bar and there were stained glass windows in the restaurants and even in the restrooms (toilets in England!) The framed artwork on the walls made it more like an art gallery than a hotel lobby, truly lovely pieces.
Can you see that this is a stained glass window of a lifeboat? And just beneath that window, a box where you can put money to donate to the RNLI. (Royal National Lifeboat Institution, you may read more about it here.)
This would be typical of Neil Kirby and a very nice touch, I think. Now, if you happen to be in Eastbourne and want to find the Langham Hotel, it is the one with the Victorian bathing house right in front. When Neil Kirby bought this hotel, he told me that he bought the bathing house with the hotel! Yes, my friends, I actually met Neil Kirby and spoke with him, yes indeed! In fact, I got one of his books myself and he autographed it with the sweet inscription, "To Richard & Kay"! (I have a great fondness for autographed books, did you know?) Did I get a photo? You know I did!
There! It is my dear husband and father-in-law beside Neil Kirby on a very sunny day in the lobby of the Langham Hotel. I snapped this photo myself and just before I took it, I said," here are the three lads from Croydon!" (Neil Kirby is from Sanderstead, which is very close by, I think. Hey, I am a Yank, what do I know?!)
(Eastbourne is amazing...all the hotels are across the street from the beach. ALL of them! Therefore, there is nothing to spoil your view of the sea.)
Can't you just picture Hercule Poirot having a drink here? Mais, oui!
You know I did! Make mine a Pimm's with full fruit! Thank you, Neil Kirby for your lovely book and taking the time to speak with us. My father-in-law was most impressed that I had the nerve to go up and talk with you but after all, I am an American and we can get away with things like that!
Look! I was pleased to see that this bowling club is sponsored by the Langham Hotel. In fact, I have read that Neil Kirby has donated a great amount to charities! For me, he may have met a great many stars and millionaires but what impresses me is how much he has given back! Hey! I found something in a magazine about him...it is called "Pearls of Wisdom" and you may read it just here.
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Friends, once again I am sorry that I have haven't been able to blog very much lately! I hope I am getting better now. Finally!
What better actor to portray the famous American inventor than the wonderful American actor, Benedict Cumberbatch! I am kidding! Of course, Benedict Cumberbatch is British. And anybody else remember that we learned from one of the geneology shows that he is related to King Richard III? Anybody? Not to worry if you don't know that, you do now! On our flight to England, I watched a film with Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightly, "The Imitation Game", based on the true story of Alan Turing and his team during World War II to break the radio code of the Nazis. If you have never seen that film, I highly recommend it! (I had seen it before, but it was well worth watching again.) Thomas Edison! In the days when we used to play the game "Trivial Pursuit", whenever there was a question about inventors, I would always say, "Thomas Edison" and nine times out of ten, I would be right! I think I have read that he had 1093 patents, the most famous ones, being the light bulb, phonograph and movie camera. I have written of my fascination of inventors before, so you can be sure that I would like to see this film about him. To have Benedict Cumberbatch as Edison...well, that is perfectly fine with me! The film title is "Current War" and is about Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse. (I do hope that the film is not one of those that have been...you know, "made to be edgy for modern times", in Hollywood fashion. We will see.) Of these two films, I will be honest with you...I know for sure that "The Imitation Game" is worth seeing. Y'all let me know if you see this new film and what you think of it!
This was at the British Library in London which I also highly recommend! If you would like to read more about it and the exhibition that it is connected to, you may do so just here.
Still have lots to tell you about our trip to England! I am doing much better now. Thanks for all your well wishes. Here, I am walking by the sea in Eastbourne...it looks cold but it wasn't, just windy and cloudy. It was over 90 degrees in Georgia on this day in late September, so I was very happy to be beside the sea and to feel that nice sea breeze...
Feeling under the weather and need a soothing hot drink? This is what I do... squeeze the juice of half an organic lemon into a cup. Add 2 big tablespoons of local honey. Be sure to angle the cup so that if you have any drips of honey, it will be on the side where your lip will go. (Yes, I do think of everything!) Leave the spoon of honey in the cup...pour boiling hot water into the cup. Stir. (See, all that honey on the spoon? It is now in your drink!) Leave just long enough to cool so you don't burn your goozle out! (Wow, that is memory from my childhood...that is what my Dad used to say to me! Anybody else remember that word?) Now, my Dad would tell me to put some WHISKY into that drink, I am sure! That leads me into a song...and it is perfect for this post because besides having this cold/bronchitus problem, I also had a little fall this week! I am okay, just scratched and scraped up a bit. I fall down but I get up again!
Hope to be back with my blogging soon. If I have left comments on anyone's blog and they don't make a bit of sense, just blame the drugs!
Hello everyone! I have not been able to blog recently because Richard and I have been in England! It was almost impossible to get to a computer but I was able to write that last post "Here Comes the Sun" while I was there. I have so much I want to tell you! For now, I have to ask you...have you ever thought to look up the meaning of the word "windfall"?
Windfall: (noun) 1. An apple or other fruit blown down from a tree or a bush by the wind. 2. A piece of unexpected good fortune, typically one that involves receiving a large amount of money. "windfall profits" Are you like me and the only thing that you think of is the second meaning here...the one that involves "windfall" in terms of money? While we were in Eastbourne, there were some rather windy days. One day when we were walking to town, we came across this....
Can you see the handwritten sign? It says, "Conference Pears". Why are they called that? It is because they are a cultivated variety of the European pear and it was developed in Britain by Thomas Francis Rivers. It won first prize at the National British Pear Conference in London in 1885! So, Conference pears! Now, you can see the rest of the sign....
Windfalls. FREE. The wind had knocked the fruit off the tree (windfall) but it was also a piece of unexpected good fortune for us! I wasn't greedy, I only took one! Would you like to know what I did with it? I chopped it up along with a Gala apple. (If you are in England, make sure you eat apples while you are there, they are wonderful!). Okay, that is one Conference pear and one Gala apple chopped up...I put that into a pan with a spoonful of sugar and cooked them until they were soft, just before they were cooked, I mixed in one tablespoon of strawberry conserve. (Conserve is what we Americans would call preserve.) Now...that delicious mixture was spooned over Cornish vanilla ice cream for a fantastic dessert! The next time we walked by this house, you know I left a note thanking them and ...well, after all, I am American and I wrote this recipe for them! I wonder what they must have thought when they saw my note? It was delightful to come across those free pears and I enjoyed the sign just as much as I did that one pear! Richard and I enjoyed our time in Eastbourne and then we spent a few days in London at the end of our stay. As I told you at the beginning of this post, I have so much to tell you! It is just typical of me that of all photos that we took...beautiful scenic views of the sea in Eastbourne and the famous monuments and churches in London...it is the photo of the free pears that I have shared with you first!
There are women who can walk in the wind and their hair looks gorgeous...I am NOT one of them!
