“It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”
Gracie has spent most of the morning in the yard. She nows the day is too lovely to waste inside the house. Every now and then she comes in to make sure I’m still here, gets petted, wags her tail and goes right back outside. I can hear her on the deck and know she’s sticking her between the railing pieces so she can see over the fence. The birds are both noisy and hungry this morning. They wait for their turns at the feeder. The thistle feeder twirls when a bird or two lands on it. It is the only one they don’t seem to mind sharing.
I didn’t go to bed until 2 this morning because I watched a movie called Gun Crazy made in 1950. It was so good I can’t understand why I haven’t heard of it before. It was based on a short story by McKinlay Kantor who with Millard Kaufman wrote the screenplay but not really. Millard Kaufman’s name was used to hide the actual screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo, who had been blacklisted. I have never heard of either of the two stars: John Dall and Peggy Cummins. Both were good, but she was amazing. Her eyes were often filled with a fury and anger which the camera caught and highlighted. You never had to question her motives. The film was too good not to watch until the end so it was a really late night; consequently, it was one of those get the mirror to see if she’s breathing sort of sleep. I didn’t wake up until late this morning. My mother would have said I must have needed it.
Today I get to watch the Sox play their last regular season game. The playoffs for them begin on Friday so no baseball until then though I’ll check in on the wild card games once the teams are finalized. I can’t believe that a season of 162 games will end today. I reconciled myself to the end of summer, but I can’t seem to grasp that baseball too will soon end.
The Amazing Race begins tonight as does our tradition. My friends and I get together early, eat appetizers and play a few games until the start of the race. Dessert comes during the race as do our discussions about the teams. Tradition also calls for each of us to pick a favorite team. Sometimes we even pick the right one.
Sort of an interesting day with the end of one thing and the start of another.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: Amazing Race, beautiful day, bird songs, birds, Gun Crazy, last baseball game, Red Sox, sleeping in, traditions, yard play
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
September 29, 2013 at 1:39 pm
It has been a chilly day here and now it’s down to 35 and the clock has barely passed 7:30. Unless clouds comes duriung the night we’ll have frost and icy car windows again tomorrow.
I’ve never heard of that film and I couldn’t find anything about it in Swedish so I doubt it ever was shown here. But good movies like that are rare and must be watched till the end no matter what.
My dogs wants to go outside but when they see that it’s dark already they all come running in again. Unfortunately they seems to believe that if they just wait a while the sun will show again 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
September 29, 2013 at 3:29 pm
Christer,
That is too, too chilly for my tastes at the end of September. That’s weather better suited for January. I hope the clouds come in!
I was amazed by that movie. It even got 4 stars, the top amount given. She was a psychopath who took him with her.
Dogs are quite optimistic!
Enjoy the evening!
September 29, 2013 at 2:20 pm
My season ends for good today, and the only thing good about it will be Mike Piazza’s induction into the Mets Hall of Fame. The other day I went to the library and started pulling together my winter reading – – we’ll start with “Doc”, the Dwight Gooden autobiography, a biography of Ralph Kiner, the baseball Hall f Famer and Mets broadcaster, and a biography of the blues shouter Howlin’ Wolf.
I am a bit sad today…
Waving from Jersey…
Coleen
September 29, 2013 at 3:31 pm
Hi Coleen,
I like the Mets so I’m sorry for no post-season.
Strangely enough, I don’t read many biographies. Not that I don’t like them, I just haven’t managed to pick one up to read. I’ll have to remedy that this winter.
I wish for you a much better evening!!
Waving from chilly Cape Cod!!
September 29, 2013 at 2:45 pm
After yesterday’s rain today is absolutely gorgeous. The sky is clear and the temperature is around eighty degrees with almost no humidity. Of course, this is Texas so if we just wait a minute summer might return later in the week 🙂
“Gun Crazy” could become the motto of Texas 🙂 One small rural school district is arming all the teachers and providing them with licenses to carry concealed hand guns. The teachers must carry them on their person at all times so that the kids don’t accidentally pick up a loaded hand gun and kill each other.
Jim Brosnan, a former baseball player turned author, called his book “The Long Season”. I can’t think of any other sport where they play 162 games to get to the playoffs. When he wrote that book about the 1959 season it they only played 154 games without any playoffs. His book was the first player tells all sports book.
Of all the reality shows on TV, The Amazing Race is the only one I watch from start to finish. I am not thrilled watching adults compete on a jungle covered island reenacting “Lord of the Flies” or watching also ran TV and movie personalities make fools of themselves trying to dance. Steve Wozniak dancing probably hurt iPhone sales even though he has been away from Apple for thirty years. America’s Got Talent and The Voice are interesting for short spurts.
September 29, 2013 at 3:47 pm
Bob,
I am glad you get a glorious day. After this summer, you are deserving of many.
That is crazy. I worked with many teachers, and some I wouldn’t even arm with a sharp pencil let alone a gun.
The playoffs back then weren’t even the spectacles they are now with the number of series needed to win to get to the series. Two wild card teams are too much!
That is also my only reality show. I love the places they visit which are usually spectacular. I haven’t ever watched that dance show or the two you mention. They just don’t interest me at all, but I can’t wait for The Amazing Race.
September 29, 2013 at 4:06 pm
Actually the playoffs in baseball didn’t start until they 1969. Prior to that the winner in each league met for the World Series. There was a playoff game in the National League in 1951 when the Brooklyn Dodgers and the NY Giants ended the season with identical records. They played a one game playoff at the Polo Grounds which the Giants won on a walk off home run by Bobby Thompson. That home run is known as the ‘shot heard round the world’.
You don’t have to worry about the teachers in that school district. Since they are all equally armed they can kill each other instead of asking for tenure 🙂
September 29, 2013 at 4:19 pm
Bob,
They can make tenure by killing off their rivals!
Too many play-off games before the series! Maybe the old way was too stark but a team earned it way by wining the pennant, not by a stroke a luck.
September 29, 2013 at 4:12 pm
No baseball, no Amazing Race, no Gun Crazy (I haven’t seen it yet), but I had a wonderful afternoon with Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine in a local church. My friend sang bass in the choir.
Now back to Beck on TV, a film of a Swedish crime series I’ve probably seen before. Scandinavian crime stories are very popular over here.
Have fun tonight!
September 29, 2013 at 4:21 pm
Birgit,
I doubt many people have seen that film. I never knew it existed until last night. It was an indie film which I thought was a new thing: that in those days they were all studio films. Nope!
I have a book whose name I don’t remember, but it will be next-a Norwegian mystery!
Thanks, I’m looking forward to the evening!
September 29, 2013 at 4:29 pm
In Texas there is no such thing as tenure. If you ask for it the school district will shoot you. 🙂
September 29, 2013 at 5:05 pm
Bob,
Here they have Professional Status, a fancy name for tenure, but you can’t get it until you have your mater’s, required within 5 years or be fired.
September 29, 2013 at 6:01 pm
In Texas everyone works under the principle of Employment at Will. That means that you can be fired at anytime without cause and you can quit at anytime without giving notice. It’s the land of Rick Perry and George W, what’s good for ‘bidness’ is good for everybody 🙂
September 29, 2013 at 10:01 pm
Only administrators work under employment at will: that meant me!
September 29, 2013 at 4:36 pm
Hi Kat,
Cheer up. Baseball may be ending but football, basketball and hockey are starting up. They all just ended not too long ago but the show must go on.
Rocky and I made an ice cream run to Bensons this afternoon. I got two half gallons, one of native peach and one of peppermint stick. I might go back and get one of Baked apple. But I’m fixed for ice cream for quite some time. 🙂
Nothing much happening up here. It was a lovely day for an ice cream run. Warm and sunny. Now Rocky and I are curled up on the couch watching BookTV on CSPAN 2. Well, I’m watching and he’s sleeping. He doesn’t read much.
Enjoy the afternoon.
September 29, 2013 at 5:07 pm
Hi Caryn,
We still have the play-offs anyway. I’ll watch football and basketball, but I haven’t ever been a hockey fan.
Yum on the peppermint stick!1 I am not a fan of the peach in any variation. The baked apple sounds delicious!!
Gracie and I just got back from an errand. I had to buy dessert for tonight and also made a stop at the dog store. I bought her two pumpkin iced dog cookies. She is eating a half of one now!
September 29, 2013 at 10:17 pm
OMG! I watched “Gun Crazy” last night too. I was going to turn it off quickly, but it was actually pretty decent. The lead actress (Dubliner Peggy Cummins) was very attractive, despite that faux-Vassar accent so many ladies of the screen affected in those days (Grace Kelly, among others). She wasn’t quite crazy enough for this role. Rumor has it (WIKI) she was one of JFK’s girlfriends!
September 29, 2013 at 11:05 pm
Jay Bird,
I thought I was the only one around watching that!
For as old a movie as it is, it was really good. The B&W was used well, and the film would have been lessened by color. She was perfectly crazy. In those scenes where her eyes were the focus, I believed she looked psychopathic. I haven’t ever heard her name before in reference to JFK, but it was before his marriage.
Maybe her being irish was the source of that accent.
October 2, 2013 at 12:32 am
Kat, your rave review of “Gun Crazy” persuaded me to keep my eyes peeled for a repeat showing. Luckily for me (and anyone else who missed it the other night), it is on again tonight!
Thanks for the heads-up.
Jeff
October 2, 2013 at 11:00 am
You are most welcome, Jeff.
What makes it even more interesting is this is an old indie film at a time when most films were made by studios. Let me know what you think!