Elizabeth Taylor: Death of a Perennial Presence

 

Katie Couric opened the CBS Evening News: "Tonight America says goodbye to one of its biggest stars, Academy Award-winning actress, Elizabeth Taylor … If movie stars are America's royalty, then Elizabeth Taylor was queen and her long reign has come to an end."

Treated as the top news story of today, Couric spent more than 8-minutes at the beginning of the broadcast describing the 79-year-old actress––her life, her loves and her career––and another 3-minutes at the end recounting Liz Taylor's work as a spokesperson for AIDS.

The time devoted to this story on national news attests to the power of film, which transcends its medium. Millions of people feel as if someone they knew personally has died. Her UK obituary recounts the milestones of an extraordinary life lived both on and off camera. The NYT posted a summary of her life, stating that "In a world of flickering images, Elizabeth Taylor was a constant star."

I often wondered if she got tired of shining.

Giant, 1956

My favorite Elizabeth Taylor movie Giant captures on film the peak of her physical beauty against the backdrop of Texas cattle, oil and excess.

All three of the movie's stars loomed larger than life in celestial Hollywood, but James Dean died in a car accident before the film's completion. Rock Hudson died in 1985 from AIDS.

"All gone" my mother once wrote in an album under a picture of my dad, my grandfather, an uncle and their friend. My dad died in a car accident when I was 9 years old, and I used to stare at that picture, run my fingers across those words.

Pictures somehow accentuate the loss. The loss of youth, the loss of beauty, the loss of life.

Father of the Bride, 1950

After watching more than a dozen videos on YouTube, this one called "Elizabeth Taylor: A Thing of Beauty" (4 minutes) has wonderful film clips from some of her best movies.

My favorites: Giant (1956), Raintree County (1957), Elephant Walk (1954), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Father of the Bride (1950), National Velvet (1944), and Little Women (1949).

The artist and the artifact, sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.

Pie Making 101

The recipe for this delicious Chocolate Silk pie comes from the Blue Bonnet Cafe in Marble Falls, TX. A family favorite, someone I know prefers this pie to cake for her birthday.

Any excuse to visit the Hill Country will do, but just thinking about the Blue Bonnet Cafe's pies makes me glad that they sell their cookbook.

The last time I made this pie, I failed to take pictures of each step. I do, however, have pictures of how to make a crust, and that's the part cooks fear most about pie making.

For pie crust,  Betty Crocker's recipe, an old reliable made with ingredients I usually have on hand, is an easy one for beginners. If you have a food processor, the Barefoot Contessa's recipe is outstanding. It makes a buttery, sturdy yet flaky crust, but it requires more time and ingredients.

Instead of rolling the dough on a floured board, I roll the crust between sheets of waxed paper. My 8th grade Home Economics teacher in Beverly Hills, CA taught that the secret of a good pie crust is to handle the dough as little as possible.  If you have to gather the dough into a ball and roll it out again, you might as well start over. The crust will turn out tough, not flaky. 

Here's an idea what the combined flour, shortening and salt look like.

With shortening cut into dry ingredients, the incorporated flour should be smaller than pea-size.

Next add ice cold water a tablespoon at a time (2–3 T. for a one-crust pie).

Stir in water with a fork.

Looks about right.

Gently gather dough into ball.

Here's the secret to aid even the most tentative pie-maker. Place dough ball between 2 sheets of wax paper. You can also use Saran Wrap, but wax paper is easier to handle.

Roll from the center out to the edges, picking up the rolling pin each time.

Peel back the top layer of wax paper and then lay it loosely back in place so that you can flip the flattened dough to the other side. This makes it easier to transfer the dough to the pie pan. The wax paper can tear holes in the crust if you haven't loosened it first. 

Loosely lay the crust into the pan and gently press into place, without stretching the dough.

The crust should extend at least an inch beyond the pie pan. Roll the excess crust to form an edge. You can pinch off excess dough from one place and add to thin spots.

Use thumb and forefinger to form the decorative edge of the crust. Sometimes I use the knuckle on my right hand placed inside and then pinch around it with the thumb and forefinger of the left hand. (Here, I'm holding the camera with my right hand.) You should be able to see how rough this crust looks. Not a Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way.

Next, prick holes in the crust with a fork. Very important to make sure the holes go through the dough as air pockets that form underneath while the crust bakes, if the steam cannot escape, will cause bulges in the crust. The bulges do not go away when the crust cools. Other tips: line the unbaked shell with foil and place pie weights on top of the foil. You can also use dried pinto beans in place of pie weights. Lift the foil with weights out after about 10-minutes baking so the crust can brown all over.

Even a not-so-perfect crust gets forgiveness if the filling is luscious.

The recipe for Chocolate Silk pie follows. 

You need a stand mixer because eggs require 2-minutes beating after each addition.

Resist the temptation to get a spoon and start tasting. It's the butter, no, it's the chocolate, no, it's the texture …

Pour into crust and refrigerate.

This pie is unbaked, so to make sure eggs are safe, before using, I place each egg in a bowl of water to check for cracks. Eggs should be fresh and high quality. The long beating times produce "heat" that cooks the eggs.

You can even freeze this pie and save for later. I can't wait till December to make this again.

Chocolate Silk Pie

          

Early in the day:

Set out 3 eggs and ¾ cup butter so they are room temperature when you start.

Roll out pie crust. Prick with fork; bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes.  Cool completely.

Melt 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate baking squares in a glass bowl in the microwave being careful not to burn.  Allow chocolate to cool completely.

Cream together for 4 minutes:

1 cup sugar

¾ cup butter (not margarine) at room temperature.

Blend in cooled chocolate and 1 ½ tsp. vanilla.

On medium speed, add eggs one at a time, blending for 2 minutes after each egg.

Put mixture in cooled pie shell and chill several hours or overnight.

Later, whip 2 cups heavy whipping cream, adding a few tablespoons of powdered sugar at the end.  Spoon on top of pie. If desired, garnish with chocolate curls or sift powdered cocoa on top.

Sweet Boys and Angry Birds

When 4-year-old grandsons Beau and Beck come over, sooner or later they say, "Gran, can I play on your iPod?"

Their favorite game: Angry Birds. Also one of the NYT Top 10 Must-Have Apps.

Some pictures from a day in the life. I take that back. A few hours in the life because they go home at night to wake their mom and dad as often as possible.

"I didn't get the pig!"

"Score."

This is scary. What will this generation know when they reach my age?

A matter of perspective …

Advancing, Beck unlocks levels of increasing difficulty.

Does this look familiar?

Beau fell asleep across my lap and kept snoozing when moved.

Beck said, "Take a picture of us."
Remember, Beau is asleep.

 
 New venture, thread over and under horizontal handles.
Beck said, "I can't do it. It's eleven." Eleven what?
"I need it longer."


"I need help, Gran." So Gran added some ribbon.
 
Love watching little hands at work.  

 
Ta-da!

"I need to get Poppy."
"Poppy, you need to come see this."

Best Quotes from 2011 Academy Awards

Hollywood's big night

"Mister, I don't know any of those names."

That's actually a line from the 1985 western Silverado, a movie my family and I have watched so many times we have lost count.

But since award ceremonies are notorious for speakers who thank a gazillion people no one in the audience at home would know, well, you can see why that quote came to mind.

No big dramatic outbursts last night, the Academy Awards had to resort to replaying scenes from previous acceptance speeches, such as Cuba Gooding, Jr. and his "I love you" to just about everybody in the world.

These quotes from last night's telecast––Even a blind hog gets an acorn once in a while––reveal a few gems that sparkle amidst the gush.

Christian Bale thanked "… my little girl, who's taught me so much more than I'll ever be able to teach her."

David Seidler, who wrote the original screenplay for The King's Speech:

 "The writer's speech: this is terrifying. [a pause that writers can appreciate] My father always said to me I'd be a late bloomer."
         Next he said that as the oldest person to win this award, he hoped the record would be broken quickly and often.
         He thanked, "… Her Majesty, the Queen, for not putting me in the Tower for using the word Melissa Leo used."
         "On behalf of all stutterers, we have a voice, we have been heard thanks to the Academy."

Colin Firth did not stutter as he accepted his award. He began by saying, "I have a feeling my career just peaked."

Lee Unrik, who won in the Best Animated Feature category for Toy Story 3 said, [this was a movie about] "talking toys that had something very human to say."

Randy Newman, who won for Best Original Song, "We Belong Together," from Toy Story 3 spoke about the advice someone had given him if he got the opportunity to thank people, something about doing good television instead.
       "I don't want to thank these people. I want to do good television." And then, of course, he went on to thank people.

Tom Hooper, who won as Best Director for The King's Speech told how the idea for making the movie came from his mother who had seen a stage reading of the the play. His story enriched appreciation for the movie that went on to win Best Picture.
       Hooper concluded his acceptance speech saying, "The moral of the story is: Listen to your mother."


Here's a list of all the winners who got to take home the statuette.

And the NYT slideshow of the best dressed on the red carpet. This shows the best.

That's what I call gumption

The dictionary defines gumption: 1. initiative; aggressiveness; resourcefulness: With his gumption he'll make a success of himself.

2. courage; spunk; guts: It takes gumption to quit a high-paying job. 

A news report that aired on local TV prompted my brother-in-law to recall a time when he displayed gumption.

The television screen showed a worker in something that looked like a space suit spraying a chemical coating on playground equipment that had burned children playing on it in the record-breaking heat last summer in Dallas.

The white suit reminded David of a job he had between his freshman and sophomore years in college.

Showing vs. Telling 

David had gone to Baytown, TX to stay with his friend for 2 weeks until school started at Southwestern University at Georgetown.

"I needed to get a job. My buddy took me to apply at a company that did contract work for an oil company where his dad worked. But he said, 'You won't get a job working for them.'"

"Yes, I will. You just watch me."

The line of prospective applicants was long, David said, but before he got in line, David went to the bulletin board to read the job postings. "The only help wanted was for experienced sandblasters."

When David got to the front of the line, the man asked him what he could do.

"I'm an experienced sandblaster."

"Where have you worked?"

"All over Dallas," David said.

"Okay, we'll give you a try." And then the man told him how much they would pay him per hour.

"That's not enough. I'm an experienced sandblaster."

So the guy raised it to $6.00 per hour, "which was a lot of money back then. An obscene amount," David said.

The next morning David showed up for work and they gave him a 3-man crew, and then took all 4 to a work site.

David put one man in charge of the sand, another the machinery, and the third man to feed him the line. David did the actual sandblasting wearing a protective suit. He climbed up to a platform and blasted the top of a tank, finishing the job in 4 hours.

When the foreman came back at lunch, he was astonished.

"This is a cost-plus job. You've got to slow down or we won't make any money," the foreman said. "This job should have taken all day or a day-and-a-half."

David said he took lots of breaks after that. And when he quit at the end of 2 weeks, the foreman said, "Is it the money? I can get you more money."

"No," David said, "I gotta go back to school."

Now that's what I call gumption. 

Something's Coming

Could it be? Yes, it could.
Something's coming, something good,
If I can wait!
Something's coming, I don't know what it is,
But it is
Gonna be great! 

First bit of green peeking through

Bulbs amaze me. The life is in the bulb.

Come on, Little Bulb. Show us what you got.

Ooo-La La: A hyacinth

It always surprises me when something I planted before winter starts to show. I never know if what I put in the ground will grow.


A long time ago, I cross-stitched a bell-pull with these words:

Who plants a seed 

beneath the sod

and waits to see

Believes in God

I'll keep you posted on this portent of spring.

Taking Yoga to the mat

My husband gave me a new Yoga mat for Valentine's Day. Yes, I was surprised … and thrilled. It's a really great mat, a Jade Yoga mat to replace a basic entry level mat I got at Target.

Hey, in the seventh week of an 8-week beginner's class of Yoga, I will graduate next week. I said to my husband, "I guess this means you want me to keep going."

What has Yoga done for me? Well, for the first time in my life I can sleep on my stomach, if I want to. I don't. But it is nice to be able to lie on my stomach for more than 30-seconds. I learned in Yoga that lying flat on the stomach is considered a back-bend, and just that much of a bend compensates for all the time most of us spend butt-in-chair.

And I attest to increased mobility in a shoulder injured during our move to Lubbock 2 years ago this June. I can actually clasp my hands behind my back, place them at the sacrum, straighten my arms and then bend forward, lifting my arms. How far? Well, not as far as some people I know, but this is something I could not do before I started taking these classes.

Is Yoga a religion?
 
A lot of people worry about Yoga as a religion. It is. The language of Yoga is Hindu Sanskrit. But not everyone who practices Yoga holds Buddhist beliefs or subscribes to Hindu philosophy.

Meditation is optional, and personal, and who knows what goes on in someone's head and heart anyway? Even in church.

People who teach Yoga, I can tell you, use the same words Bible-believing Christians use. Words like compassion, perseverance and acceptance.

"That's because everyone wants to be spiritual," a friend said. But the problem is not with words but with the meaning a person invests in those words, and what sort of ideas a person formulates based on words. Nature abhors a vacuum.

A wise teacher shared this principle: "All people are worshipers and will choose someone or something to worship."

Yoga falls far short of leading me to worship my body. Instead Yoga heightens awareness that "… I am fearfully and wonderfully made …" (Psalm 139:14). Even imperfect me, I marvel at what my body can still do.

Personal Testimony
 
My daughter, who can bend like Gumbi, says when she goes to Yoga, she gets there feeling like hardened wax from the accumulated stresses in her busy life, and by the end of her practice she feels as if she has melted.

For me, Yoga practice provides a time and a concrete way to honor my body. Since I began Yoga, this awakening of how I have neglected my body has come into sharp focus.

I leave each practice session filled with gratitude for this amazing creation that carries me around, wandering thoughts and all, thankful and knowing whom to thank.