Shall We Sew?

 

Apropos: Rose and I named the dress form Scarlett

Weeks ago, I started making costumes for my daughter Rose. Up until the last minute when I had to leave for a writer's workshop in Santa Fe a week ago, instead of singing "Shall We Dance," I hummed Shall We Sew … duh-duh-duh-duh.

Opening night was last night for Lubbock Moonlight Musical's production of The King and I, and Rose plays Anna. 

Shall we dance? One, two, three and

Granddaughter Ava loves to play dress up. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

For the skirt, I started with this formal, removed the bodice, added a waistband and an underskirt.

 Shall We Dance costume was the hardest dress I ever made, remade or fitted.

 And when I finished, I felt like dancing. duh-duh-duh-duh.

Making a mess: my husband says I excel at it.

While Rose and the rest of the cast swelters in the record-breaking heat––I am very sad about the heat––I sit at 7300 feet in Santa Fe, the last day of a writer's workshop with Lauren Winner at The Glen. More about that later.

Whether I am more sad about the heat or missing opening weekend, I cannot decide. The King and I has performances tonight and the next two weekends, Friday and Saturday night, 8:00 p.m. at Mackenzie Park. I intend to be there. 

Directed by Gerald Dolter and Musical Director Jacob Miller, come see this classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical performed by a great cast and orchestra.

Happy 4th of July in Livingston, Montana

Even houses get decked out for the 4th of July

I love a parade. And so do millions of other people. Especially in small towns do people turn out to watch a parade. This year I got to watch the rodeo parade in Livingston, Montana, which reminded me so much of when we lived in Pampa, Texas. 

We picked a spot in the shade of the Post Office to watch the parade.

Crowds gathered in 90 degrees heat long before the parade started.

Let parade begin 

Woody, a real beauty

Kids line the street, scrambling to collect candy 

One of the first entrants, I wonder how long this Cub Scout lasted.

We would never have made it to Montana from Texas driving these cars. But wait, pioneers rode in wagons and on horseback. 

Bagpipe players in Montana? Life is filled with surprises.

 
Twirlers and majorettes from 1957 until now marched in their school colors. How cool. 

"Mothers, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys." Yeah, right. 

20 Mule Team Borax? No. Outfitters.

Who dares dissent? Or argue with Betsy Ross?

A unicycle or a tri-cycle? Yes, he can ride and juggle.

A mad hatter

This horse is walking backwards.

The flavor of the Old West, cowboys and Indians

Patriots and Old Glory, and an old movie theater, too

Oodles of vintage cars in pristine condition …

… but this '55 Chevy had fuzzy dice

Clowns floated by

A skunk bug made a big stink 

Is it over?

Come back next year. We just might. 

Gone With the Wind Turns 75

Although disputable, the date June 30 marks the anniversary of the publication of what many consider “the great American novel, one that Time magazine placed on its ALL TIME 100 novels list, and a book James Michener said “It’s the shortest long novel I have ever read,” Gone With the Wind. 

I loved this book when I first read it the summer before my junior year in high school, and then again about 10 years ago. This occasion serves as reason enough to read Gone With the Wind for the third time, with enhanced appreciation for the book, the movie and the captivating story of both.

An interview with the Ellen F. Brown, author of this book may be watched on this CBS video. But skip this if it you don't want to watch the commercial

Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind, A Bestseller’s Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood––a book about the book––appeared this spring, its release timed to coincide with the 75^th anniversary of the classic literary novel. While this book does summarize the process of Margaret Mitchell writing the novel (10 years to complete), this book focuses more on the book’s publishing saga as well as the making of the movie, and the lengths Margaret Mitchell had to go to protect her literary rights.

The Life Is in the Book

Both publication and the making of the 1939 movie, which won numerous Academy Awards including Best Picture, occurred in record time. 

 “In less than a year," Ellen Brown writes, "Mitchell had gone from unemployed reporter and housewife to proud parent of an imminent bestseller. Her reference that spring [1939] to the book as her first and only child was an apt one. Since the contract’s signing, she had spent approximately forty weeks bringing the manuscript to full term. Like any first-time mother, the thirty-five-year-old author was nervous. And, as with parenthood, no matter how stressful the pregnancy, the biggest adjustments were yet to come.”

What a great analogy because books, like children, take on a life of their own. 

Check out this link to an early review of Gone With the Wind, published on July 6, 1936. Nobody, including the author, the Macmillan publishers or readers could have known how far the wind would carry this great story.

Read it and weep.

Please read it and don't settle for watching the 4-hour movie, even though the David O. Selznick production stands on its own merits.

Boys in a Tent

Should have known I was in for a treat when grandsons Beau and Beck arrived. Their mom said, "They dressed themselves."

Shirts and ties and sweats. Flip-flops and clogs. Their individuality shows. Their smiles make me glad.






At last, the search for the lost tent ends. And I knew when I grabbed my camera, a blog post would follow.

Space, the final frontier.

Spontaneous pose captured by a quick click.

"Cheese"

Vantage points. I wonder how I looked to them?

Beau on the left, Beck on the right

Scout from behind

What next?

How do we get in?

This is a little tricky.

"We're in here."

Can you see? "I'm sideways."

"We didn't get enough sleep in the real night."

"We didn't get enough sleep in the real night." I love the way these boys put words together to express their thoughts. I don't think their parents ever get enough sleep in the real night.

"We're in our own igloo … This is for outside when it is snowing."

"If there was a storm, there would be no sun."

Plenty of sun around here though. Lubbock, America made the national news last night as an emblem of the drought in Texas. Reporting only .88 inches of rain so far this year, unprecedented since 1927, even Houston has received half of its normal rainfall to date.

Meanwhile, Memphis is drowning as the mighty Mississippi River flexes it muscles, flooding beyond its banks threatening cities all the way to New Orleans.

Thankfully, these boys in a tent remain free from adult anxieties. They don't watch the news.

Still for about 5 seconds

The Royal Wedding in Pictures

"She wore the dress. The dress didn't wear her."

The Royal Wedding: Official Programme

The Official Royal Wedding Website

In the midst of our own family BIG-0 birthday celebrations for my husband and youngest daughter, The Royal Wedding took a recorded rather than live action priority. Wedding streamed from the Royal Channel on YouTube, this link lets you select portions of the coverage to replay.

Yes, I watched as much coverage as I could while baking and otherwise preparing for a house full of guests, my own version of bed, bath and body and beyond. I have no servants.

Still, I wanted to blog. I wanted to quote speeches and search for pictures that displayed the day's events from start to finish. Having visited London and walked through Westminster Abbey where so much English history is memorialized, I had plenty of scope for the imagination.

Here's a summary then of what commentators called "the wedding of the century," which of course means this century. Do the math. Nothing for the next 88 years can top this occasion. Apparently billions of people agree.

These are the best pictures I found, "The Big Picture" at boston.com

Other coverage noted as follows:

The Telegraph Coverage of the Wedding

ABC News photos of the Royal Wedding

The Reception Dress and other links via AOL

Wedding of the century indeed or perhaps, but such a statement made me think of a recent American Idol live broadcast when Jennifer Lopez referred to James Durbin's performance as the best of the night, and he was only the second person to perform. Or while awaiting the Royal Couple's much anticipated balcony kiss, one talking head predicted a "Hollywood style kiss full of passion" between William and Catherine. Ooops.

Chuckle and nod to hindsight when we climb out on a limb and carry our own saw.

Here's a link to Time magazine's Mad Hatters, also called "13 Ridiculous Royal Wedding Hats." I love hats.

Favorite quote: “When Princess Elizabeth, now Queen Elizabeth II, married Philip Mountbatten in November 1947, Winston Churchill welcomed the wedding as 'a flash of color on the hard road we travel.'”

Crowds gathered and behaved

Apparently billions of people agree that Prince William and Catherine's Royal Wedding brightens the current world scene, a flash of color set against the gloomy backdrop of killer tornadoes on this side of The Pond, earthquakes in various places as well as ongoing wars against terrorists.

Although unlikely that I will return to this topic, I do want to go on record: the wedding was SPLENDID.

We the people love our fairy tales.

And I hope that the prince and his bride live happily ever after.