Posted tagged ‘Hallmark Channel’

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“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.”

November 23, 2014

Such a lovely day it is today, a gift after the cold and before the rain. I ventured out on the deck for a bit to enjoy the warmth. A small breeze was blowing the hanging leaves together, and I imagined unseen spirits walking in the yard on the bed of crisp, brown leaves. Gracie stood beside me and surveyed her kingdom. Though she was ever alert, nothing caught her eye and we both came inside together.

I have been watching the Hallmark Christmas movies. I joke and say I’ll have to be more cautious about my sugar intake, but I am such a sucker for happy endings.

The other night my headlights shined on a small cat in the middle of the road. I stopped. She gave my car a quick look, saw she was safe and returned to the task at hand. She was chasing a mouse. I could see both of them in the light. The mouse went only so far before the cat pounced and dragged it back. They did that again and again. At one point I could see the tail of the mouse hanging from the cat’s mouth then the mouse was back on the ground running. I decided to do a u-turn so the cat warily watched the car moving losing track of the mouse but only for a bit. Once she realized I wasn’t going her way, the hunt was back on and the cat chased the mouse into the underbrush. That was the last I saw of both of them.

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“Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. ”

November 10, 2013

Today is finch day at the feeders. I saw several goldfinches sporting their drab winter colors and a few house finches with their red chests. A couple of doves were at the bird bath drinking. It had been cleaned earlier but has leaves again. Soon I’ll have to hunt down and plug in the heater for the bird bath. The birds love finding water in the winter.

I have nothing much to say today. I haven’t been out to see the world or spend time with people. Mind you, I’m not complaining as I have been reading and watching Christmas movies. The movies are on the schmaltzy Hallmark Channel so I know all will be well before the endings. That lonely business executive will realize she loves her hometown and her old boyfriend who still has a crush. Santa, the real one, will get his memory back in time to make his rounds. The orphans will find families, and the Scrooge-like characters will love Christmas again. Everyone will joyfully celebrate the season.

I went Christmas shopping yesterday in the catalogues and found several gifts I need to order. Some are for stockings, one of my favorite parts of Christmas. My mother was the best stocking stuffer, and we all, my sisters and I, inherited that gene. I only do stockings for my friends Clare and Tony now. I used to do them for my sisters but not anymore, and I really miss the fun of finding neat little things for their stockings. I had traditions. They always got a pair of earrings and my sister Moe got a Life Saver book. I used to find the worst Christmas movie I could for her. It was a contest we had every year. I think I won the last Christmas movie stocking battle when I found a movie made in Mexico about Santa, his wizard and the devil. I always prided myself on the odd and the strange. One year I gave my sister a killer clown puppet. We both loved the horrible Killer Klowns from Outer Space movie, and that puppet was perfectly alien and scary. I used to e-bay for stuff and enjoyed the hunt. I still do for Tony and Clare.

Well, the happy ending is close so back to my movie.

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“Fairy tales only happen in movies.”

November 23, 2012

It was a sleep-in morning, a result I suspect of the sumptuous meal I ate yesterday as well as having been up late watching the Patriots demolish the Jets. The Pats scored three touchdowns in 52 seconds, two of them so extraordinary they have to be seen to be appreciated. Even the announcers said they had never seen the like of those two touchdowns.

It is again a cloudy day, the latest in a long string of cloudy days, but I don’t care. I’ll just keep taking my vitamin D to compensate! I have no plans for the day except to loll around and read. I do need bread so I may venture out later. I might even do a wash, but that might just be going a bit too far.

I’m a sucker for Christmas movies. As sugary as some are, I watch them anyway. The Hallmark channel is either the best or the worst depending upon your holiday movie taste. Every Hallmark movie has a happy ending. Despite the impeding divorce or estrangement, you know right from the start that everything will work out in the end, and the couple still love each other. It just takes a push from Hallmark to remind them. I love A Christmas Carol, and I watch any version though Alastair Sim is my favorite Scrooge of all. I even watch Christmas horror movies, probably to counteract all that sugar. I have some favorites. Jack Frost is at the top. No, not the Jack frost with Michael Keaton, but the one with the murdering snowman bent on revenge. My mother and I first happened on it late one Christmas Eve, and we stayed up to watch the whole movie. Gremlins is another. I always laugh at the scene of the gremlins sitting in the movie theater eating popcorn, watching Sleeping Beauty and singing along with Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho. Last night I watch Homecoming: A Christmas Story, the very first movie about the Waltons. I’ll admit I really enjoyed it. The kids fight and call each other names, and I can relate to that. Though it wasn’t Hallmark, it still had a happy ending. I always think Christmas deserves a happy ending.

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The secret of a good old age is simply an honorable pact with solitude.”

July 15, 2012

Here I am a sort of shut-in behind closed doors in the comfort of air conditioning. When I went to get the papers much earlier, I walked outside and gasped from the heat and, even worse, the humidity so I scurried back inside the house. Given the weather, I don’t see much going out today except to the dump later. The larder is full and the animals have food; that’s all we need.

The Hallmark Channel is playing Christmas movies this weekend. I even watched a couple. I find Hallmark movies comforting in a way. There is no violence and you know all of them will end happily. I especially like seeing the snow, the lights and the fireplaces glowing. In the heat of the summer, the idea of winter is appealing; of course, in the winter I long for the heat of summer.

Last night the deck was the best spot to be. The breeze blew, the insects were elsewhere and dinner was delicious. It got me to thinking about when I was a kid. Back then there were no decks, only patios always made of brick. We didn’t have one, but the white house on the corner did. Their patio furniture was ornate and made of black metal. The table and chairs sat under the grape arbor. They grew big purple grapes.

Most of the houses in my neighborhood have back decks. One exception is my neighbors across the street. They have a patio, a brick patio, and they have metal furniture, ornate white metal furniture. They are much older than the rest of us, and they are a bit of a throwback to my parents’ time. She works in the yard and wears a wide- brimmed hat. When they go out with friends, the men sit in the front and the women in the back. They live behind locked doors. The only time I see their front door open to the screen is when they are expecting company. If I go over, I ring the bell, she looks out the window to see who it is and then opens all the locks when I pass muster. I joke with them all the time. They are good-natured about it, but as she says,”They are who they are.”

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