Lisa R. Howeler's Blog, page 61

Summer of Marilyn: The Misfits

This week is my final week of Summer of Marilyn, where I watched Marilyn Monroe movies.  My final movie was The Misfits with Marilyn, Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, and Eli Wallach.

I’m going to be honest and admit right off the bat that I hated this movie in many ways. Part of me was confused why my husband recommended I add it to my list for my Summer with Marilyn feature. Once I watched the movie all the way through, I got why he suggested it but I still know I won’t watch this one again. It was too raw for me at this season in my life.

In other words, it isn’t that movie is bad – it’s that it is depressing with a capital D. Or most of it is. There are some moments toward the end where things start to look up.

I am so glad to be done with Marilyn movies – even if they were good. This capped off a depressing stagger through Marilyn movies that made me sad about her life.

My son says the same thing about Marilyn – watching her movies is sort of depressing when you think about how her life ended up and how used she was through her whole life.

I barely made it through this movie and found myself mentally tuning out  through a few scenes to emotionally protect myself from the darkness and depression.

This movie was shot documentary style and I liked that about it.

I read another review of this movie and agree with the writer that this is not a movie you can really figure out. You just have to take it as it is.

“Haunting. That’s the word that best describes “The Misfits”.” Jay’s Classic Movies Blog writes. “It sums up this film’s atmosphere, performances, story, visuals, and even its legacy. Filled with symbolic overtones, it is one of the very few films that is better to think about and feel than figure out.

Marilyn’s character is Roslyn Tabor.

Guido is the tow truck driver who drivers Roslyn and her friend Isabelle to town so Rosalyn can get a divorce to a man she’s only been married to a couple of years.

After the divorce hearing, Isabelle and Rosalyn go to get a drink and run into Guido and his womanizing cowboy friend played by Clark Gable. Clark’s character is Gay. No, I mean his name is Gay or Gaylord Langland actually.

I have no idea why but Isabelle and Rosalyn accept Guido’s invitation to go see the home Guido built for his late wife.

The movie is already a bit dark and depressing but gets worse when Guido shows Rosalyn his wife’s room where she died. She was pregnant at the time and both she and the baby died. Guido never finished the house but offers Gaylord and Rosalyn the place if they want to fix it up.

Again, all very weird because Rosalyn agrees and becomes connected to Gaylord who is like 20 years older than her in real life and in the movie.

There is a series of sad moments that finally lead to running into Montgomery Clift who is riding broncos and bulls to earn money but agrees to go up in the mountains with Gaylord to round up Mustangs which they will sell for dog and cat food.

Rosalyn is completely devastated when she finds out they will be selling the horses to be made into dog food. It is just another reminder for her how cruel and awful life can be.

One thing I find super creepy about this movie is how all the men are attracted to Rosalyn and want to get in bed with her pretty much. They just leer at her most of the time and say things like, “Your eyes are so innocent. It’s like you were just born.”

It’s clear by some of the things she says that she’s been through a lot. She’s weird and deep and yet not deep all at the same time.

At one point she asks Guido if he danced with his wife. He says he didn’t because she wasn’t graceful.

“Why didn’t you teach her to be graceful?” Rosalyn asks.

“You can’t learn that,” Guido retorts.

“She died, she didn’t know you could dance,” Rosalyn says sadly. “To a certain extent you two were strangers. We’re all dying aren’t we? All the husbands and all the wives and we’re not teaching each other what we really know.”

And the sad thoughts and melancholy commentary continues from there.

The movie is based on a play by Arthur Miller, who Marilyn was married to at the time. She divorced him the same year and died a year later from a drug overdose.

Gable died before the movie came out. This movie was both of their final completed movies.

Everyone is very sad and broken in this movie. Like everyone. It’s very depressing. Clark Gable’s character is especially cruddy with no real feelings except for money.

Rounding up the wild horses in the end is like stomping down everything wild and free in life and Gaylord is all for that. He just can’t admit that it is the wrong thing to do. And Guido – well he just wants something in return for doing the right thing.

The best lines and the most intense acting Marilyn does starts when she turns to Guido in shock after he says he’ll stop the horses from being killed if she will consider getting together with him.

“You have to get something to be human? To do what’s right? You’ve never felt anything for anybody in your whole life. You could blow up the whole world and all you’d feel sorry for is yourself.”

Five minutes later she’s in the desert screaming “Murders! Liars! You’re only happy when you can see something die!”

It was like she was screaming at all of Hollywood in that moment and it was a kick in the gut for me.

There was way too much that was too close to Marilyn’s real life in this movie.

A woman used for her looks and her uncertainty and her lack of self-esteem to stand up for herself and decide what she wanted for her own life.

She seems so young in this film in some ways.

Young and hopeful and full of life, but inside she was truly dying – not just her physical body but her soul.

During the filming of this movie her co-stars felt she was on the way to doom and she was.

According to articles online, filming of the movie was hard because the weather was 100 degrees in Nevada, her marriage to Arthur Miller was failing, Miller was rewriting the film as it progressed, and at the end of the day she was drinking and taking pills to get through it all.

This movie might be the most honest movie I’ve seen her in – the way she doesn’t know what to do with her life, her confusion about life, her sadness, her melancholy chats about the meaning of life and the loss of life.

Like I said in the beginning, this whole marathon has made me hurt.

It’s made me hurt for Marilyn but also for all the people in the world who are beautiful on the outside and hurting on the inside. The people who search for their worth in the eyes of other people without realizing they were created for a bigger and better purpose – that life is worth living because there is a lot of good to be experienced, not simply because other people might see them as worthy.

I think sometimes it is better to watch movies and not know the personal lives of the actors in them.

Otherwise I find myself focusing too much on their personal lives and how they intersected with their movie roles.
If you want to see what I said about the other movies I watched, you can find the posts by visiting the search bar to the right and typing in “Summer of Marilyn.”

My next movie impressions will be with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumb when we take on a variety of movies including noir, cozy, fun, and mysterious for autumn.

Social media’s narcissim makes me sick to my stomach

My family needs help with our finances.

I write this not because I want your pity – God provides. He has in the past and he will again.

I say this to explain a couple of my actions recently.

Two weeks ago I joined TikTok to try to drum up some sales for my books and bring us in a little income. I did it despite having huge misgivings about the platform. HUGE MISGIVINGS.

I have made very little money from my books and that’s okay. I’ve had a lot of fun writing them and meeting other writers or connecting with my readers.

Still, if there was a chance I could bring in some sales, I needed to try.

So I started making videos for TikTok and Instagram and posts for Facebook.

Then, I became overwhelmed and, quite frankly, pretty disgusted with the insane amount of attention grabbing on social media. Yes, I realize I was starting to do the same to earn some money.

I share about my life on social media and on my blog. I like to connect with others and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. I am not remotely interested in fame or being popular.

I am interested in making connections, having fun, and maybe bringing in a little income.

What I have seen on social media, though, has turned my stomach to the point I’m ready to walk away from the majority of it and go back to merely sharing my books on here, advertising by word of mouth and sharing for free where I can.

I have seen a woman crying in front of a camera when she sent her children to school and all I wanted to know was when did she set the camera up? Was it before she started crying or after or did she cry for the camera. I mean it seemed like a very realistic interaction with her husband but if she was so worried about her children going to their first day of school then at what point did she pause her worry in the moment to make sure the camera was set up correctly?

The worse example of this was the one of a woman climbing into her truck and sitting there crying with a box next to her. The box was her husband’s urn, the caption said. She’d just collected his ashes from the funeral home, she said. She and her children would have to live without him.

Yet, she’d had the forethought, before she went to get his ashes, to set her camera up on a tripod or something similar and record herself crying.

I’ve lost three aunts in the last five years. The last thing on my mind while I grieved them was that I should set up a camera to record myself crying.

I understand that it is good to connect with others going through something similar to us and one way to do this is through social media but when in the world did social media become our therapist and God?

Why in the world would people turn to their camera instead of praying to God? Why do we document every single second of our life? Nothing is sacred anymore. Nothing. Not even the death of a husband or the loss of a baby or the breakup of a marriage. People document all of it before they even process it.

There is a popular Christian speaker/author who documents her life tragedies in a new book every time one occurs. Sometimes I wonder if she creates drama simply so she can write about it and speak about it and make more money. The dust hasn’t even settled on one tragedy or crisis when she is writing about it and sending it to the publishers and then making Bible studies and speaking engagements around the book.

Her husband cheated on her, she wrote all about it and dragged him to counseling and they wrote all about it and held a renewal of vowels ceremony and she wrote a book. Then she developed breast cancer and wrote another book. Then she and her husband split – another book. This was all in about the span of four or five years. I don’t see how she ever had time to process any of what was happening to her. Some might say she was processing it through writing. I have processed some very serious situations in my life through writing but I have not shared all of what I have written. A lot of that is between me and God, not me, God and the rest of the world.

The term is narcissim, I think.

The desire to share your entire life with the world and then to watch the lives of others from your phone or computer without actually interacting with people.

There was a young woman on TikTok live that I saw last week that broke my heart. She might have been 15 and she was simply sitting in front of the camera with a red curtain behind her, wearing dark eyeliner and make up and a dress too old for her, her knees hugged to her chest while watching TV. She wasn’t doing anything other than watching TV while other people watched her and then once in a while she’d say, “Thanks for the rose.” I don’t know what a rose is on TikTok but I’m guessing some sort of payment? I have no idea but how sad is it that people were paying to watch a teenager sit and watch TV?

We live in a sick world and I don’t want to be part of it. I’ll continue to promote my books here and there, even on social media, but I just can’t put my entire life out there for everyone to see. It’s none of their business. Recording or documenting every second of my life just isn’t something that interests me in the least.

It makes me anxious trying to even keep up with videos to help get attention to my books. I can’t imagine the level of internal anxiety in those who record their whole lives for the world to see.

Sunday Bookends: Family outing, last of our swimming days, a variety of books, and getting ready for school

It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

I didn’t share a Saturday Afternoon Chat post yesterday because my week was fairly boring, but also because we were too busy yesterday for me to sit and write it. I like to start the post ahead of time but didn’t do it this week for some reason.

We didn’t do a ton during the week other than some cleaning at my parents, a bit of planning for  homeschool next week, writing for me, and the last week of work for The Boy who is getting ready to start a half day at a career center next week, in addition to homeschool.

Yesterday we had a wonderful family day out. We visited one of our favorite restaurants, located next to a covered bridge and a creek in a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere in our county.

After lunch there we visited the local state park which is literally up the road from the restaurant. I had no idea the state park was that close, but really I should have known since I used to visit there with my family when I was younger.

I had not visited there in years. It seemed smaller than I remember but the trails and cabins are all throughout the 780-acre park so we didn’t see all of it, of course. The park, incidentally, is called World’s End State Park. I’ve always wondered where the name of the park came from so I searched online last night and according to Wikipedia: “The name Worlds End has been used since at least 1872, but its origins are uncertain. Although it was founded as Worlds End State Forest Park by Governor Gifford Pinchot in 1932, the park was officially known as Whirls End State Forest Park from 1936 to 1943.” So, there you go.

I had hoped to take Little Miss to the swimming area there, which I went to a couple time as a kid, but it was closed because of high, rushing water, caused by heavy rains we had a couple of days ago. It was an insane storm that went on for two hours, with part of that time consisting of very heavy rain.

Not being able to visit the swimming area wasn’t a huge loss because it was not super hot yesterday. It was actually perfect fall weather – not too warm, not too cold. It was lovely and Little Miss was happy with being able to stick her feet in the edge of the creek. The rest of it was rushing water and wilder than I’ve seen a creek that close up in a long time. I am sure creeks have been that wild over the years, but I haven’t been that close to them before.

While we were by the water and put our feet in it, a young girl and her parents were making their way through the water and were making me very nervous. I was concerned the dad was going to get to close to the rapids and be swept away. Luckily, they were fairly close to the edge of the creek and being very careful not to get pulled down by the rapids. They were in swimsuits and swim shoes, so they were either camping there or had visited hoping to swim at the swimming area and were unable to.

The woman found a stick that looked like Moses’ staff in The Ten Commandments and she and I joked about parting the waters.

We were able to take Zooma the Wonder Dog with us to both places yesterday. Seating is outside for the restaurant and they welcome pets as long as they are on a leash. They even sell a “doggy meat bowl” for the dog’s that visit. Zooma, of course, received her own bowl. We were glad to be able to take her because many times we have to leave her home on our excursions.

She loved sniffing all over the parts of the state park we walked in as well but did not like when The Husband disappeared inside the visitor’s center without her.

We joke in our family about who Zooma loves more and the rest of the family says it is me, but I do notice she seems concerned when any member of the family disappears for too long. Yesterday she whimpered a couple of times when she couldn’t go where the rest of the family went or when one of them disappeared.

She was very happy when we were all together and she also passed out like a toddler who runs themselves into exhaustion when we arrived home.

Today Little Miss will have a couple of friends over for our last summer pool gathering before school begins on Monday. The pool is probably going to be way too cold to play in because the days and nights have been cooler, but we will see how it goes.

I can’t even believe summer is pretty much over. It went very fast and I feel like we didn’t do as much as we usually do as far as family outings and trips. It was a very hectic and stressful summer for many reasons and I am looking forward to a slower autumn. I laughed as I wrote the previous sentence because I said something similar in July about August and … well, it didn’t happen.

September will be a bit busy because my parents 60th wedding anniversary is September 8 and we are holding an open house/anniversary party on September 9. I was all calm about it and figured we could handle it but as we get closer, I feel a bit anxious about pulling it off. Thankfully my brother and sister-in-law are helping me since it was sort of their idea (and sort of mine too). We are renting a place down the road from my house and hopefully it all works out well.

What I/we’ve been Reading

I finished Ellie Alexander’s Meet the Baker Friday and two books I’ve been wanting to read came in from Libby this week: Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flowers and Paper Cuts by Ellery Adams. They are both cozy mysteries.

Crime and Poetry came first so I am going to start that first. This will be my third book by Amanda. I’ve heard great things about Paper Cuts and it will be my first by Ellery Adams.

I am also reading a few chapters a week of Anne of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery. This is my first time reading it and it’s already a comfort read for me. I’ve been taking these books slow, partly because of the old language, and partly because I love to savor them. My husband purchased the series for me two Christmases ago so I’ve been making my way through them since then.

I am making a list of books I want to read this fall and I’ll probably ramble about them next week.

The Husband finished Born Standing Up by Steve Martin and now he is reading Plan B by Lee and Richard Child.

Little Miss and I are reading a cute mystery she picked up at the library sale a couple of weeks ago. I don’t have it in front of me right now and I don’t want to go find it, so I don’t know the title.

I plan to start Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright, which Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs, and her son Wyatt sent to us, with her tomorrow as part of our school lessons.

The Boy is not reading anything right now but he will start The Red Badge of Courage later this week for school.

Photos from Last Week

What We watched/are Watching

It has been a Newhart week this week. I’ve needed the escape for sure.

I started The Misfits with Marilyn Monroe and will finish it this week. It’s depressing.

The Husband and I also watched an episode of Poirot.

Little Miss watched a ton of Bluey and Duck Tales and now she’s rewatching The Lion Guard.

What I’m Writing

I am still working on Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage and I shared the first chapter on Friday.

I hope to share additional chapters in the following weeks.

On the blog I shared:

Fiction Friday: Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage Chapter 1Review: The Word is Murder by Anthony HorowitzSummer of Marilyn: Monkey Business and All About Eve

Now it’s your turn

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

Find me on Instagram and Facebook.

Fiction Friday: Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage Chapter 1

I thought it would be fun to share a few chapters, maybe more, of Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage on the blog on Fridays.

This is the second book in my cozy mystery series and it releases on November 21. We might have time to fit in all the chapters before it releases, but we will see.

If you are interested in reading the first book in the series, you can buy it on Amazon HERE and you can also read it in Kindle Unlimited at the same link.

You don’t have to read the first book in the series to understand the second.

Chapter 1

Sitting on a lounge chair on the back patio with a book in one hand, an iced tea in the other, Gladwynn Grant had an excellent view of the lilacs and roses blooming in her grandmother’s garden.

She also had an excellent view of the two cats her grandmother hadn’t wanted but had let Gladwynn adopt anyhow. The black and white one, named Scout, was sprawled on her back on the end of the lounge chair fast asleep. The all black one, which Gladwynn had named Pixel, was sleeping in a tight ball on the wicker rocking chair that her grandmother usually occupied.

It might not have mattered if Lucinda Grant wanted her granddaughter to adopt two cats or not if Gladwynn hadn’t moved in with the woman eight months earlier. She’d made the move after being laid off from her job as a research librarian at a community college in Upstate New York and then deciding not to wait around to see if she was hired back again.

Gladwynn was on the patio enjoying a lovely, quiet Saturday morning. It was one of two days off she had from her job as a reporter at the Brookstone Beacon, the job that had brought her to live with her grandmother. After two hours of reading, sipping iced tea, and scratching the heads and bellies of the cats, the closing of a car door signaled that her alone-time was coming to an end.

Voices inside the house a few moments later let her know that her grandmother had returned, along with their neighbor and Lucinda’s friend Doris.

“We’ll need a list of all the characters.” Her grandmother’s voice carried from the kitchen. “That will give us a better idea of how much fabric we’re going to need for the costumes we have to make. We should be able to pick up some of the dresses from Second Hand Rose and the Salvation Army store.”

“I think we’re going to have to make the dress Matthew buys Anne, though.” Doris’ voice joined Lucinda’s. “Puffed sleeves are not a thing anymore, even for those who wear vintage clothes for fun.”

Gladwynn heard the opening of cupboard doors. “Let’s try that tea Louise gave us.” Then a little louder. “Gladwynn, hon’. You out there?”

“Yep.”

“Come in and try this tea Louise gave us. It’s from India.”

Gladwynn stood from the lounge chair and yawned, stretching her arms above her head. “India? Whose been in India?”

“Louise’s son and daughter-in-law were missionaries there and brought it back with them.”

 Gladwynn’s eyes slowly adjusted from the bright sun to the dimly lit kitchen as she walked inside. For several seconds Doris was simply a small figure sitting at the table. As she came more into focus, though, Gladwynn could see her usually long silver hair had been cut into an attractive bob that brought her hair down to just below her ears.

“Doris! I love your hair! What does Bill think?”

Doris touched a hand to the bottom of her hair, bouncing it against her palm. “Why thank you. He seems to like it. Said it makes me look ten years younger, so I took that as a compliment.”

Doris had a small, round face, and bright brown eyes with a hint of gold in the irises. She was petite, or what Gladwynn would call dainty. When she smiled her entire face lit up, making her look at least a decade younger than she was.

She and Lucinda had been friends for more than 50 years, meeting when Lucinda and her late husband Sydney had moved into the three-story Victorian home built by Gladwynn’s great-great grandfather next to Doris and her husband’s similarly lovely Victorian home. Lucinda and Sydney had moved into the home when Sydney returned from the seminary to become the pastor of Covenant Heart Church. They had lived in the rectory for several years until Sydney’s father passed away and the family home was left to him.

Lucinda set three delicate teacups with red roses on the side on the counter. “At least he put the golf clubs down long enough to notice this time.”

Doris clicked her tongue. “Now, Lucinda. Behave. I told you he’s been better lately.”

Lucinda opened a small box of tea and placed the loose leaves in a small tea ball, which  she sat inside her ceramic teapot, a match to the teacups. Sydney had given her the set for their 50th wedding anniversary.

 “I know. I know. I’m sorry. You know I struggle with a sarcastic tone. You think at my age I’d have that under control.”

Doris’ smile was warm and full of amusement. “If you didn’t have that sarcastic tone, I’d worry you were sick, Lucinda Grant.” With a laugh, she turned her attention to Gladwynn. “I hear you’ll be at our rehearsal tonight to write an article about the show.”

Gladwynn dropped a piece of homemade bread in the toaster. “Yes, ma’am. I care so much about you ladies I am even coming in on my day off.”

Lucinda patted her on the shoulder. “And we appreciate it, honey.”

“Just keep in mind we are only in the planning stages right now,” Doris said. “We still have to figure out costumes and set design and no one even knows their lines yet.”

Gladwynn knew the Willowbrook Retirement Community had chosen to perform Anne of Green Gables for their summer play. What she didn’t know yet was who was playing the parts and who was directing it.

Most of her grandmother’s friends, others than Doris, lived at Willowbrook Retirement Community, which was a collection of approximately 40 mini-condos that all looked the same, inside and out. Willowbrook provided independent living for local seniors, while also giving them a community of neighbors. A recreational center on the condo property provided them with a place for swimming, aerobic classes, as well as musical concerts and dramatic performances put on by the residents.   

Lucinda set the kettle on the stove. “We’ve got plenty of time for all of that. The show isn’t until August.” She glanced over her shoulder and winked. “Plenty of time for us all to have a mental breakdown.”

Lucinda’s long white hair still featured flecks of the golden it had been when she was younger. It was pulled into the usual bun tight on top of her head. Two signature dimples popped up on each of her cheeks.

The toast popped up and Gladwynn began to butter it. The smell of homemade bread filled the air. She and Lucinda had cooked it together a couple of days earlier.

“Who all is in the play? Do either of you ladies have a role in it?” She looked at Lucinda with a mischievous smile. “I could totally see you as Marilla, Grandma.”

Lucinda’s eyes narrowed as she set the teacups on the table. “I’m not sure if that is a compliment or not considering how grumpy and uptight that woman is in the beginning.”

Reaching around Lucinda for the shaker with cinnamon and sugar, Gladwynn kissed her grandmother’s cheek. “But later she becomes a sweet, doting mother-figure for Anne so I think that fits you just perfectly.”

Lucinda pinched Gladwynn’s upper arm. “Nice save, young one, but, no, Louise MacIntosh is going to play Marilla. Doris and I are simply on costume duty this year and I am totally fine with that. Floyd Simson is going to play Matthew, Summer Bloomfield is playing Anne and Ashley Donnely is playing Diana. The part of Rachel Lynde will be played by Beatrice Farley, which is completely fitting for her.”

The chirping birds outside reminded Gladwynn she’d left the cats on the patio where they were probably awake from their naps now, ready to pounce on a Blue Jay or Cardinal feasting at her grandmother’s bird feeder. She opened the patio door to let both cats inside. Scout darted inside while Pixel took her time, rubbing against the doorframe several times, walking in a circle, and then finally returning to walk through the door.

Gladwynn rolled her eyes at the cat and sighed, then reached down and scratched Pixel’s head. “Who is the director of the play?”

Steam rose from the kettle as Lucinda dropped the tea ball into the teapot. “Samantha Mors. She’s the community centers new recreational director. I say new, but she’s been there for about a year and a half. She’s magnificent.” She poured hot water into the teapot and sat it in the center of the table. “She’s brought so much life to Willowbrook.”

Doris placed a cube of sugar in her teacup. “I agree. She’s brought so much to our community at large, not just Willowbrook. We now have craft fairs and talent nights at the retirement community hall, in addition to the activities she’s added for the residents. There are nights for crafts, a book club, art classes, aerobics and Pilates classes, shuffleboard competitions, and once a month there is a dance.”

Gladwynn was impressed with the list of activities. The woman sounded like a true gift to Willowbrook.

“She sounds wonderful. I can’t wait to meet her. For now, though, I’m going to finish this toast and tea and then head out to meet Abbie and the kids for a picnic at the lake.

Lucinda lifted the teapot lid, steam rising up in front of her face as she looked inside. “Oh my. Doesn’t this smell wonderful?” The smell of tea wafted from the teapot. She began to tip tea into each of their cups. “Before you head out, I thought I should let you know that your father called this afternoon.”

Gladwynn’s shoulder muscles tensed. She kept her gaze on the tea leaves swirling in her cup, waiting for Lucinda to continue, but not wanting her to at the same time. It was rarely good news when William Grant called.

Lucinda cleared her throat as she sat at the table and began to tip some cream into her tea. “He asked how you were.”

Good for him, Gladwynn wanted to retort, but didn’t. “Mmm. That’s nice.” Gladwynn blew on the tea. “And what did you tell him?”

“That you were doing well, but that he had your phone number so he could call and ask as well.”

Gladwynn snorted out a laugh. “And what did he say to that?”

Lucinda dropped her voice into a deeper range. “Well – well, mother. I know that, but – well, you see, I just figured it was easier to call you and – you know I’m late for a meeting so I – uh.”

Gladwynn burst into laughter at the impression of her father. “That was way too accurate.”

Lucinda reached for a homemade sugar cookie on a plate she’d sat next to the teapot. She broke the cookie in two. “Teasing aside, I know he’s not the easiest to get along with, but he does love you. He’s just not very good at showing it.”

That was an understatement in Gladwynn’s opinion.

“I also know you won’t want to hear this.” Lucinda dipped half of the cookie in the tea. “But he says he will be visiting in a couple of weeks. He has a law conference in Philadelphia and would like to stop in to visit on his way back.”

Gladwynn wondered what the deal was with everyone she knew from her old life stopping by on their way to conferences. Two months ago, her ex-boyfriend Bennett had done the same thing. That hadn’t ended well but he seemed to have got the message after their talk and hadn’t tried to reach her again since then.

“That’s fine. I hope you two have a nice visit. I’ll probably be at work most of the time.”

Other than reading a lot, she and her father seemed to have very little in common. He was all about work, making connections for work, reading about work, and then going to work as a high-end corporate lawyer in Manhattan during the week.

On the weekends he was home in Upstate New York. When she had still lived across town from him in a rented apartment, which had only been a short six months ago, he’d spoken to her briefly a handful of times. Those times were usually to let her know that he and her mother didn’t feel she was living up to her potential. That speech had intensified when she’d been laid off from her job as a research librarian and the local college, as if the lay off had been her fault.

She drank the last of the tea in the cup. “That was amazing tea. Thank Louise for sending some home with you.” She stood and kissed Lucinda’s cheek. “I’ll see you two tonight at the theater.”

“Have fun and don’t forget your sunscreen,” Lucinda called after her. “And say hello to Luke if you see him there. I heard he was camping out there this weekend.”

Gladwynn paused in the doorway of the kitchen.  What were the chances that she was going to the same place today that her grandmother’s pastor— the man her grandmother had been not so subtly trying to set her up with for the last few months —was camping?

Was it possible that Abbie and her grandmother had combined forces? She briefly glanced over her shoulder at Lucinda, who seemed to be innocently sipping her tea as Doris started to talk about a problem she was having with a flower in her garden.

Shaking her head, she continued toward the stairs, refusing to believe that her friend and grandmother were conspiring against her.

Lake Henrietta was about a half hour drive from Brookstone and took Gladwynn through fields that stretched out to the bottom of tree covered hillsides and then faded into forests of tall Eastern pine trees, maples, oak and dying ash trees. The ash trees had been attacked by the ash boar years ago and the bug had finally succeeded in eating through them all. The ash boar had been brought in by the state to chase away the Japanese Beetles which had been brough in to chase out an infestation of – well, Gladwynn couldn’t remember. All she could remember was that the government always seemed to be offering solutions that made the original problem ten times worse.

Taking a deep breath through her nose she reveled in the smell of pine and blooming wildflowers. A deer stepped out into a meadow between groves of trees, followed by a fawn. She smiled, a sudden rush of gratefulness rushing through her at being able to live in an area where such scenes were commonplace. So many who’d lived here for years took it for granted, while here she was driving to a state park and wondering like an awe-struck child what wildlife she might see today.

Moving to this more rural area from an urban area had been an adjustment for sure, but it was an adjustment she had been enjoying so far, despite the fact there had been two attempted murders within a couple of months of her living here. She’d ended up helping to investigate both cases because of her reporting job. Her book obsession had led her to getting to know the guilty party, Landon Braken, which led to him confessing that he had tried to kill a man who had led a jewelry theft years earlier. Landon had worked at the bookshop she visited at least twice a week.

The theft had left Landon’s father a shell of a man as he dealt with the guilt of having helped rob the jewelry store, which had been owned by his cousin. Landon’s father had been the curator at an art museum and had lent an expensive necklace to Brick and Melody Braken to display in their store. Daryl Stabler had been behind the plot to steal the necklace and years later he’d blackmailed Landon’s father into staying quiet.

That had been a few months ago. Daryl and his wife Gloria and Landon were now awaiting trials. Daryl was awaiting trials for both the jewelry theft and for stealing catalytic convertors around the country to sell them for their expensive metals. His wife was awaiting trial for the attempted murder of the wife of the man who had helped Daryl steal the jewels.

Hopefully life in Marson County would be a little calmer now. Gladwynn was back to covering elementary school field days, mundane municipal meetings, and library fundraising events again and she was fine with that.

Abbie Mendoza stood outside a blue minivan in the parking lot of the beach entrance of the park. The mother of three was wearing a pair of light blue shorts, flip flops, a white tank top with blue stripes and her dirty blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Canvas bags, beach toys, a cooler, and an enormous inflated pink swan sat around her on the ground. A small boy jumped up and down next to her and older child, who was a younger version of Abbie, was leaning against the side of the car, reading a book. Hannah, Abbie’s middle child, was walking along a log laying in the woods near the parking lot, her arms out to her side for balance.

Gladwynn smiled as she pulled into the space next to Abbie, remembering the first time she’d met her and her children.

Abbie was the part time barista at Gladwynn’s favorite coffee and bookshop, Brewed Awakening. The coffee shop featured a used bookstore in the back and had become a frequent place of peaceful respite for Gladwynn. She and Abbie had become fast friends after meeting, even though it seemed in some ways that they didn’t have a lot in common. Gladwynn was single and Abbie was married with three children she homeschooled.

“Need some help?” Gladwynn asked as she stepped out of her car. She reached for the bag Abbie had picked up and hooked it over her shoulder, then held her hand out to Logan, Abbie’s 3-year-old son.

Logan grinned, stuck a finger in his mouth and took her hand.

Gladwynn looked down at him and smiled. “Ready to see the lake?”

He nodded and gigged, bouncing up and down. “Ake! Ake!”

Abbie sighed and rolled her head from side to side as if working out the kinks. “He’s been driving me crazy all morning, running around and chanting “Ake! Ake!” She looked over her shoulder. “Isabella, grab the other bags, honey. We need all the help we can get.”

Isabella didn’t respond, her head still bent over the book.

“Isabella!” Abbie’s voice was sharp. “I’m asking you to help us carry this all down to the beach. I’m glad you’re reading but we could use your help.”

Isabella looked up quickly, her expression a mix of surprise and indifference. “Oh. Sorry.” She shoved the book in the bag over her shoulder and picked up a folded beach chair and cooler. Looking up she managed to give a half smile to Gladwynn, who thought about how she was so glad she wasn’t a teenager anymore. That had been a confusing and awkward time and had to be even worse in the day and age of the internet.

Hannah skipped along behind them as they made their way to the beach, a man-made space covered in sand that had been hauled in from somewhere else but provided a soft space to walk and sit next to the 245-acre lake.

Lake Henrietta stretched out toward a hillside of green pine trees, the blue sky with a few clouds reflecting in its surface. Gladwynn had visited the lake one other time before this with Abbie’s family and planned to visit again soon by herself. She was looking forward to setting herself up under the weeping willow along the far shore, away from the beach, with a book and a tall glass of lemonade.

Today the beach was full of children building sandcastles and running into the water and families picnicking at tables in grassy areas next to the sand.

Abbie and Gladwynn spread a blanket out on the warm sand. They set the bags up around it, then propped a large umbrella up to protect them from the blazing sun.

Abbie slid a small white bottle from a canvas bag and shook it. “Let’s get some sunblock on before you all run away.”

Gladwynn lent a hand and once the kids were slathered to Abbie’s specifications, they took off for the water, Logan doing his best to drag the inflated swan across the sand.

Sitting on the blanket, Gladwynn reached inside her bag for her own bottle of sunblock and began to rub it onto her bare arms, shoulders and legs. She’d chosen a sleeveless shirt that hooked behind her neck with two strings and left the top of her back exposed, a pair of vintage-style blue shorts with white stripes, and brown sandals with blue flowers tacked to the top straps.

“Need any help with your back?”

The deep voice startled her, and she looked up quickly to see the mischievous smile of a very attractive man she’d been doing her best to avoid for the last couple of months.

Review: The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

Book: The Word is Murder

Author: Anthony Horowitz

Release Date: June 5, 2018

Genre: Mystery

This is my second book by Anthony Horowitz and this one was much different than the first I read.

I read Moriarty a couple of years ago and loved it.

I already knew before reading this book that Horowitz was brilliant but after reading this one, which is the first of a series where he incorporates himself into a fictional story, I have decided that he is even more brilliant.

A little background on Horowitz: He is the creator and writer for some well-loved UK mystery shows included Foyle’s War, Midsomer Murders, Injustice, and New Blood, among others. He is also the author of 50 books, including the popular teen spy book series, Alex Rider, Magpie Murders, and two Sherlock Holmes books.

I truly wasn’t sure what to think of this book when I first started it and there was a point where I thought he was going to go on a rant about a social issue and really considered putting the book down. In the end, he didn’t go on the rant I thought he would.  I also couldn’t put the book down for the very reason Horowitz says in the book he couldn’t walk away from the case he becomes wrapped up in – we both had to know who killed Diane Cowper.

I wanted to know how she died too and it was why I was up more than one night/morning until 1 in the morning reading it.

The book opens in a way that ensures that there is no way you’re going to put it down.

A woman walks into a funeral parlor and plans her own funeral. Later that day she is murdered.

Daniel Hawthorne is a former cop who becomes the consultant on the case. Horowitz has worked with him before as a consultant on a show called Injustice and now Hawthorne wants to know if  Horowitz wants to write a book about him. As a quick reminder, the show is real, Hawthorne is not. There is a lot of blending of fact and fiction in this book and there were times I wondered which was which.

I knew there was some truth when Horowitz wrote about meeting with Hollywood heavy hitters like Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg.

Horowitz was actually supposed to write the screenplay for the sequel to The Adventures of TinTin and it’s unclear why the project never took off but in this book the theory is that Hawthorne interrupted Horowitz’s meeting with Jackson and Spielberg and both of the men wandered off to pursue other projects.

When I first began reading the chapter where Horowitz started detailing his involvement with Tintin and what the comic and the movie was about, etc., I was bewildered. What did this have to do with who murdered Diane Cowper? Why did I care? Why was he writing about this?

It turned out to be one of the funniest chapters in the book and it made sense because it showed Hawthorne’s character – specifically how clueless he is about current events and current entertainment (he didn’t even know who Spielberg was) and how absolutely inconsiderate he is of others.

From the book:

‘Who are you?’ Spielberg asked.

Hawthorne pretended to notice him for the first time. ‘I’m Hawthorne,’ he said.

‘I’m with the police.’

‘You’re a police officer?’

‘No. He’s a consultant,’ I cut in. ‘He’s helping the police with an investigation.’

‘A murder,’ Hawthorne explained, helpfully, once again sitting on that first vowel to make the word somehow more violent than it already was. He was looking at Spielberg, only now recognising him. ‘Do I know you?’ he asked.

‘I’m Steven Spielberg.’

‘Are you in films?’

I wanted to weep.”

As the book progresses, and especially after this incident, Horowitz isn’t sure he wants to take on the project and continues to be unsure, even as he begins tagging along with Hawthorne as Hawthorne investigates Diane Cowper’s case. Hawthorne is extremely unlikeable, rude, and judgmental. Horowitz wants to walk away but if he does, he won’t know what happened to the woman whose death may have been related to an accident she was involved in a decade before.

There are tons of red herrings in this book. There are also tons of amazing descriptions by Horowitz, especially of Hawthorne.

Here is a couple I highlighted on my Kindle:

“He had the same silken quality as a panther or a leopard, and there was a strange malevolence in his eyes – they were a soft brown – that seemed to challenge, even to threaten, me. He was about forty years old with hair of an indeterminate colour that was cut very short around the ears and was just beginning to turn grey. He was clean-shaven. His skin was pale. I got the feeling that he might have been very handsome as a child but something had happened to him at some time in his life so that, although he still wasn’t ugly, he was curiously unattractive. It was as if he had become a bad photograph of himself. He was smartly dressed in a suit, white shirt and tie, the raincoat now held over his arm. He looked at me with almost exaggerated interest, as if I had somehow surprised him. Even as I came in, I got the feeling that he was emptying me out.”

And another one:

“Hawthorne nodded. I always knew when he was about to go on the attack. It was as if someone had waved a knife in front of his face and I had seen it reflected, for an instant, in his eyes.”

One aspect of the book I didn’t enjoy was toward the end when Horowitz added in this very long explanation and speech by one of the characters. It went on for pages and I really didn’t understand the point of it at all, unless it was to throw the reader off the scent. He did this a few times in Moriarity as well and I didn’t enjoy it. He seemed to forget he was writing a book and not a speech for one of the characters in the screenplay for one of his shows.

That  one disappointment and a few other rambling explanations didn’t take away from the book overall, however, and I’m looking forward to reading the remaining three in the series. My husband says the third book is the best. A fifth book in the series is also being written from what I read this week.

I enjoyed this book as a reader, but also as a writer. Horowitz had some interesting personal insights about the writing process that I could relate to especially now that I am writing mysteries myself.

Here are a couple of the quotes I especially enjoyed:

“The hardest part of writing murder stories is thinking up the plots and at that particular moment I didn’t have any more in my head. After all, there are only so many reasons why anyone wants to kill someone else. You do it because you want something from them: their money, their wife, their job. You do it because you’re afraid of them. They know something about you and perhaps they’re threatening you. You kill them out of revenge because of something they knowingly or unknowingly did to you.”

And

“The modern writer has to be able to perform, often to a huge audience. It’s almost like being a stand-up comedian except that the questions never change and you always end up telling the same jokes.”

If you haven’t gathered, I would recommend this book if you enjoy a good mystery. As for it’s clean rating, it is not clean in many ways but it is also not overly graphic, there is no sex, and the cursing is minimal but when it does happen it is the big ones (think the one that starts with “f” – if your mind will even allow you to think of it.)

Summer of Marilyn: Monkey Business and All About Eve

A sinus thing that wasn’t exactly an illness but a weather change thing hit me last week so I ended up forgetting to finish watching my one Marilyn movie and watching the other one. In other words, I have a good excuse for being late on my Marilyn movie impressions.

I’m going to be sharing about two Marilyn Monroe movies this week since I have been so behind on watching and writing about them. They are two very, very different movies on different ends of the spectrum – Monkey Business and All About Eve.

First up: Monkey Business.

Cary Grant is an absent minded professor in this screwball comedy that he stars in with Marilyn and Ginger Rogers.

Ginger is the straight man (woman) in this one with Cary being more of the goofball with the biggest bottle cap glasses I have ever seen him in. They looked more like something Jerry Lewis would wear.

This is very early Marilyn, so she almost likes like Norma Jean probably looked before she became Marilyn, but not quite. She still has the pouty lips and short hair, but the hair looks darker to me in th is film.

Marilyn plays the secretary of Cary’s boss and in their first scene together she shows Cary the stockings he invented and how they look on her legs. Cary’s character, showing his true nerdy self, is more interested in the stocking than the legs they are covering, of course.

The premise of the movie is rather silly but silly is a wonderful escape from life so I liked that it was silly.

Cary is working on a formula that could help people look and feel younger. It also, apparently, makes them more virile – ahem. The monkey they test it on is very interested in the female monkey, despite being 84 in monkey years. The monkey Is also able to move around like a young monkey after taking the formula.

This is after many of the tests did not yield any results.

 
(As I side note here, I must say that I don’t know many other actresses who have a hip sway like Marilyn. I am completely jealous of it and the shape of her. Sigh.)

It’s the monkey that finally mixes the winning concoction for a type of youth formula and then proceeds to pour it in the water cooler. Cary and his fellow professors don’t know this, of course, so when Cary decides he’s going to be the guinea  pig and take his own formula and then wash it down with the water from the cooler. So Cary believes that his formula is what helps him when he suddenly can see without his glasses and then becomes like a teenager and runs off with Marilyn’s character to buy a new car.

After Ginger learns that Cary tested the formula on himself, she decides she should be the test subject and she takes the formula, which we know doesn’t work, but it tastes so awful she washes it down with the cooler water.

Now she becomes the young and crazy 20 something year old.

She ends up with teenage angst complete with crying and breaking down at Cary. It’s a hilarious but ridiculous scene. I have a feeling Ginger had a blast filming it.

Ginger even gets a chance to dance a bit in the film, even though that isn’t the main focus, when she’s feeling a lot younger.

The film is a low-key romance with the two of them realizing even under the influence of the formula how much they love each other.

Luckily the formula does wear off and when both have had it wear off, they decide the formula could cause more harm than good. Cary is going to destroy the formula and that’s when they decide to make a pot of coffee with the water from the cooler. Ah, yes, I’m sure you know where this is going. Craziness is about to ensue so hold on to your seats.

You’ll have to watch it to see what happens, which reminds me, you can watch it for free on YouTube here:

I pulled a bit of trivia off of IMbd about the movie and some of it was very interesting. Here are a few tidbits:

The exterior shots of the Oxly Chemical Co. office building where Barnaby works were actually shots of the Executive Building on the 20th Century Fox studio lot. The building is now known as the Old Executive Building.The sports car used in the film was a red 1952 MG TD Roadster, which was put into storage by 20th Century-Fox after filming wrapped. It was purchased by  in a 1971 sale of  memorabilia (despite the fact Monroe herself never owned the car). It sustained a dent in the front bumper when  hit a fence while driving it. Reynolds had the transmission rebuilt, then put it up for auction in 2011. It sold for $210,000.Among the movie star photos  taped to her bedroom wall when she was a foster child were several of Cary Grant. She was thrilled to be co-starring with him in this film, a break-through role in her then fast-rising movie career.Forty year old (forty-one at the time of release)  was the oldest leading lady to ever star in a  picture. plays the character Lois Laurel. The real Lois Laurel is the only daughter of comedian Stan Laurel of the comedy team Laurel & Hardy.Shares a title with the otherwise unrelated 1931 Marx Brothers comedy “Monkey Business,” though the films have some vague connections: Early in his career, Cary Grant was partly inspired by Zeppo Marx, the team’s parodic juvenile straight man. In addition, the 1931 film co-starred Thelma Todd, whose life, career, and mysterious death parallel Grant’s co-star here, Marilyn Monroe.

This movie was so much fun and I really did enjoy it. I mentioned above that Ginger must have had so much fun filming that one scene but I have a feeling they all had a ton of fun. It was absolute ridiculous and hilarious fun.

All About Eve

Now, Marilyn is not a main actress in this film, but it was one of her first movies and she was considered a standout in it, and my husband suggested it, so I included it in my list to watch this summer. Marilyn was 23 when the movie was made and just about to break her career wide open.

This movie was nominated for 14 Oscars and won six, including best picture. It is the only film in Oscar history to have four women nominated, including Bette Davis, Anne Baxter for actress and Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter for supporting actress. Released in 1950, it made $3.1 million, more than half of it’s $1.4 million production costs.

Bette Davis is a famous stage actress named Margo who Eve Harrington, played by Anne Baxter, goes to meet one night after watching her show every single night during its run.

This is my first movie with Bette, by the way, and it did not disappoint.

Eve is very peculiar to say the least as this movie starts. She tells the actress and the producer and writers about her sad life of losing her husband early in their marriage and staying in San Francisco to make a new life for herself and her love of acting and the theater.

You know right away that something just feels off about her, even though the movie starts with her being honored as a well-known actress. She really inserts herself into the lives of these people and weasels her way into the acting jobs she wants, pushing others out of the way for it.

With her sob story, Margo welcomes her into her home and she becomes her confidant, her assistant, and everything you can think of that requires Eve to wait on Margo. It’s clear that Eve wants Margo’s job and as time goes on it is clear she’ll find a way to get it, mainly by being Margo’s everything. Actually, she’s a little too everything. She starts doing things that Margo doesn’t ask her to do and making herself look better than Margo. It’s a very strange obsession.

Margo begins to notice how attentive Eve is to her boyfriend and everything else. She also begins to compare herself to Eve and feel old around her. To her it’s time for Eve to move on because she has a feeling Eve is much more interested in taking her place, not just waiting on her. |

Marilyn doesn’t come in until more than 40 minutes into the movie and I didn’t even recognize her. She was beautiful, sure, but her hair was styled differently and she was a minor character. It was clear she was ready for stardom though and George Sanders uttered a premonition of sorts when he said, “Well done. I can see your career rising in the east like the sun.”

And soon after this movie, it did just that.

Her character Miss Casswell has the middle name of the author of the short story that was never credited for her part in the movie – Mary Orr.

She’s so young looking in the movie – it’s crazy. And, of course, she’s sort of passed off as someone sent in to make producers and directors happy because she’s sexy and flirtatious.

I searched online to see what critics said of Marilyn’s performance and found a few opinions. Here s one:

Lyvie Scott on Slashfilms.com said Marilyn stole the scenes she was in in All About Eve and I’d have to agree. She had some of the best lines, such as where Eve says she doesn’t know what she’d talk about with Dr. Dewitt (George Sanders) and Marilyn says, “Don’t worry about it. You won’t even get a word in the whole time.” Or something along those lines.

A bit off topic here, but George Sanders always reminds me of John De Lancie who played Q on Star Trek.

Scott wrote of Marilyn, “Monroe’s role in “All About Eve,” though small, is one of the most memorable of the film. It’s difficult to focus on anyone but Monroe when she’s in the room. Knowing just how famous she would become, it all feels like a testament to her inescapable star power.”

Scott, of course, details what others detail about Marilyn on film sets throughout the years. She was often late and had a hard time nailing her lines and was a bit difficult to work with overall. Marilyn tried to blame her inability to remember her lines on nerves and that very well may have been the case since she was acting next to Bette Davis and the fact that she’d only come off the success of one other film, “The Asphalt Jungle” before this.

Davis wasn’t really buying her excuses. According to Scott’s article: “Unfortunately, Davis was less than impressed with Monroe. Famously temperamental on set, she was already put off by the younger actress’s tardiness. And after so many retakes for a scene which, to her, must have been a breeze, Davis apparently snapped — and Monroe had to excuse herself to vomit offstage.”

Read More: https://www.slashfilm.com/806889/filming-all-about-eve-was-more-than-marilyn-monroe-could-handle/

It’s just so humorous to me that in this movie they pan Marilyn’s audition to be the understudy of Bette’s character when she would rise to stardom faster than almost all of them, except Bette. She might not have been as good of an actress, especially when compared to Bette, but she still seemed to shoot up even faster – probably because of her looks (aka breasts and hips).

I’m talking more about Marilyn in this post because my feature is called Summer of Marilyn, but I should be talking about Anne Baxter and Bette Davis more, especially considering Marilyn was only in this movie about ten minutes, if that. Both of the other actresses were very good in this, even though I could not stand the way Anne Baxter talked and how overly dramatic and maudlin she was. That was, however, her character so, in other words, she was brilliant in making me hate her.

As for Bette – wow. She knocked it out of the park. Here is what Roger Ebert said about her performance on his site:

Growing older was a smart career move for Bette Davis, whose personality was adult, hard-edged and knowing. Never entirely comfortable as an ingenue, she was glorious as a professional woman, a survivor, or a b***** predator. Her veteran actress Margo Channing in “All About Eve” (1950) was her greatest role; it seems to show her defeated by the wiles of a younger actress, but in fact marks a victory: the triumph of personality and will over the superficial power of beauty. She never played a more autobiographical role.”

Besides Bette and Anne Baxter, George Sanders was absolute perfection at being a dirty, crooked journalist. His speech toward the end of the movie was just absolutely outstanding and  

She seems so innocent and idealistic but deep down she’s just pretty selfish to me. She wants a career and she doesn’t care whose coat tails she rides, or whose head she steps on, to get there. She’ll do it with big, watery eyes and a tipped head, of course.

The film is mainly about jealousy and ambition and the tangled web that both can weave, but it is also very much about the dread of getting older, especially for women. Margo feels that Eve is stealing everything from her because she is young. Off screen, Bette Davis was terrified of growing old and this part fit her well, as Ebert said. When she was talking about the dread of growing old in the movie, she was speaking from personal experience, not just from the experience of the character.

At one point she says, “Funny business, a woman’s career — the things you drop on your way up the ladder so you can move faster. You forget you’ll need them again when you get back to being a woman. That’s one career we gals have in common is being a woman.”

So far All About Eve has been one of the best films I’ve watched but not because of Marilyn, even though she was great in it. The best film I watched with her in it was a tie between Niagra and Some Like it Hot. We will see if The Misfits knocks one of those movies off the list when I watch it later this week.

Have you seen either of these movies? What did you think?

Sunday Bookends: Reading mysteries, enjoying the last drops of summer, and still watching Marilyn

It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What I/we’ve been Reading

Last week I finished The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz. I enjoyed it very much and will have a review up for it at some point this week (I hope! My plans keep getting messed up each week, so we will see).

This week I am reading Meet Your Baker by Ellie Alexander. It is a cozy mystery.

I also plan to read a couple chapters of Anne of Ingleside because I enjoy the little stories in the book and it’s just something lovely and light to read.

I may also start one of the books I picked up at the library book sale last week. As I mentioned in my post yesterday – I went a little crazy with picking up books. My son claims I won’t read any of them and tried to say I hadn’t read any of the ones I’d picked up at the last sale. That’s actually untrue. I read at least one or two and my daughter and I read a few together as well. This year I picked up a lot of books we can use for homeschooling so I am very sure I will read those too.

I really want to finish When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr that I picked up from the library but it has an awful smell to it because it is so old and it is giving me a headache. I have to be careful with mildew smells. They tend to overwhelm me. I got halfway through the book before it really bothered me so maybe I can push through because I am enjoying it. It is a middle grade book but it has a lot of deep themes.

The Husband is reading The Devil’s Hand by Jack Carr.

Little Miss and I finished The Boxcar Children: Surprise Island this past week and have not started a new book yet. She’s reading Saving Winslow by Sharon Creech on her own or I read some at night.

I also ordered her her own copy of Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman and she breezed through most of that on two car rides this week. I thought she’d love to hold the book and look at the photos since we’ve mainly listened to it and the other copy we have is my son’s. He’s very possessive about it because that’s one of the main books his dad read to him when he was little and it’s a core memory for him. She was happier when she opened that book than when she opened a stuffed toy I picked her up this past week and if you knew Little Miss, you would know she’s obsessed with what she calls “stuffies.” I wish I had taken a photo of her holding that book and jumping up and down.

What’s Been Occurring

Things were crazy last week and I wrote about it in yesterday’s post if you want to check it out.

Writing it all out here again would be tedious, traumatizing and exhausting so I don’t think I will.

Photos from Last Week

What We watched/are Watching

I watched All About Eve and will have a post about it and Monkey Business for my Summer of Marilyn feature this week. I also plan to watch The Misfits and write about it. that will close out my Marilyn Monroe feature for this summer and then Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I will be joining together for a fall and winter feature of movies that I will update you on later.

This week I also clamored for comfort watches like All Creatures Great and Small (the new one), Anne of Green Gables from 1985 (Which Little Miss and I are making The Husband watch with us), and Newhart.

I will probably watch a lot of those same shows this week.

What I’m Writing

I’ve been working on Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage off and on and I hope to write more this week but, again, my plans have been all over the place. I also have several blog posts started that I hope to finish.

Last week on the blog I shared:

Saturday Evening Chat: A lot of craziness. Buckle Up.Thinking about books that influenced me on National Book Lovers Day

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

I didn’t have a lot of time to read blog posts this week but here are two I enjoyed:

Hamelette’s Soliloquy: A Sunshine Blogger Award  

Mama’s Empty Nest: Tuesday’s Tour: Land of Sculptures

Now it’s your turn

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

Saturday Evening Chat: A lot of craziness. Buckle Up.

(Yes, this post is supposed to go up in the afternoon but I’ve been running late on Saturdays and had WiFi and computer issues today.)

I would say it’s been a successful and full day for your children when that night they fall asleep in the middle of talking.

Last weekend was a successful and full weekend especially for Little Miss who spent two days playing in the pool – one day with me for a couple of hours and the next day for three or four hours with her teenage brother and his friend.

Both nights she staggered up the stairs, flopped into bed with barely a word and conked out. Sunday was the last day we made it to the pool because life got crazy or it rained and stormed off and on the other days of the week.

On Sunday we not only swam but Dad (my dad) built a campfire (The Boy lit it) and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, made smores, and set off a handful of fireworks left over from last summer. I was exhausted by the end of the day, but like a friend said – it was a core memory for the kids from this summer so it was worth it.

It was good we had a great weekend because Monday was a horrible, bizarre day that started before I was even fully awake. It was an awful week for me to run out of my favorite tea (peppermint) and then either not be able to find said tea anywhere or for The Husband and I both forget to pick it up. To solve that problem, I ordered a double pack this week and expect it to be here Monday. The Husband did pick me up some raspberry tea and it was nice but it did not blend well with my honey.

Back to when my week went downhill – on Monday. Before 9 a.m. I had been planning to call a local scrapyard so we could get rid of our old van and get it off our insurance, but figured I would take the van to them later in the week. Instead, my dad called and the brakes had gone out of his car and he asked us not to scrap the van yet in case he needed it to drive places.

The only issue was, The Husband wanted the van off our insurance before we had to pay our next month’s payment and our other vehicle, a MKZ Lincoln that used to be The Husband’s grandfather’s, was in the shop. My dad’s other vehicle, a truck, was also having brake issues and also in the shop. The Lincoln would be easier for my mom to get into than the van if my dad had to take her somewhere so we really need to get the Lincoln. The problem? The work they did on the Lincoln came to about $200 more than we expected so we had to sell the van to pay that off. This was frustrating to me because I had planned to use the money from the sale for clothes that are needed, writing software, and some other things we haven’t been able to afford in the last couple of years.

It was all crazy and my head was spinning and I hadn’t even had breakfast yet.

To make this very long story short, I called the scrapyard place, drove the van there in the pouring rain and while on the way the gaslight came on and it started to overheat. We were going to fix this van if we had not purchased the truck (A Dodge Avalanche that has been souped up in a way and seems to get a lot of attention from car enthusiasts in our area for some reason) but here it was, dying while I was on the way to junk it.

Since it was overheating when I got to the scrapyard he only offered me $500 for it, which totally stunk. What also stunk was that a ton of emotion overcame me while driving there as I started to think about how long we’d had the van and all that had happened while owning it.

I thought about my son growing up so much and fast since we bought it. He was around six and he’s going to be 17 in a few more months. My daughter was born in that time. We lost close friendships, family members, family relationships, and a lot of innocence. We struggled in our marriage with our finances and with knowing what our future would be.

I drove over those backroads in the rain heartbroken over how much I missed The Husband’s grandfather, my aunt Dianne, my aunt Eleanor, my aunt Doris, my nieces who no longer speak to us, how fast life is changing with people growing up and old, my friends who no longer speak to me, the state of the world. I held it all in until The Husband went in the office to sign over the title to the van (which I had recently named Geraldine to encourage her to get up the hills when she was having a tough time. I would tap the dashboard and say ‘You can do it, Geraldine! I have faith in you.”) and then it all came out in crazy, loud, uncontrollable sobs. I continued to sob for the 15-minute drive back to down while The Husband drove and told me to just let it all out. I let something out, I don’t know what, but that sobbing actually left my muscles aching in my chest and back later in the day.

After we paid off the Lincoln, I drove my son to my dad so they would work together and then drove home. As if this day wasn’t crazy enough, at the time I was heading back to pick up my son and leave the car with Dad for him to use during the week while his mechanic ordered parts, alerts started going off on my phone that we had a tornado warning. This sent me back inside to wait for that to pass. The only problem was that we continued to get warnings of a tornado threat for the next couple of hours.

We had some scary looking clouds and a little rain but we never did get a major storm. Apparently a tornado did touchdown about ten miles South, however. I haven’t heard if it caused any major damage. We don’t receive a lot of tornados in northern Pennsylvania but a year before we moved here one hit our tiny town, ripping the steeple off the Catholic Church regular blog readers have seen in some of my photos, spun down the street and ripped out huge 200 foot trees by the apartment complex and then came up to my street, which is surrounded by trees and shredded them and ripped some shingles off of roofs. Because my neighbor told me one time how terrifying it all was, I texted  her to make sure she was okay at home (she had come home early from work) and she said she was ready to go to the basement if it was needed.

I called my other “neighbor” (she really lives down the street) and asked her if she was okay and she said she was.

I was finally able to pick up our son and the rest of the night was calm. It was the end of a very long, very crazy day.

The next day we were off again, though. Little Miss and I accompanied my dad to the physical therapy, boxing and aerobics workout he attends to help with his Parkinson symptoms. Having an extra person go with him is important these days because Dad is taking a medicine for Parkinson that makes him sleepy. The gym is 45 minutes south and the road we take is very windy and twisty and motion sickness inducing. It is also drowsy inducing because it is such a boring drive in many ways. There is nowhere to stop from the town I live in until a town about 10 miles along the road.

Dad drove down and I drove back.

It was fun to see the class and classmates he and Mom talk about so much.

Mom rides down with Dad sometimes but she’s been very tired out lately and having a lot of pain in her shoulder. He attends the class twice a week. On Thursday, The Boy went with him.

I have to admit that writing all of this out is making me emotional. There really is a lot going on in our family right now and it’s hard to wrap my mind around some of the emotions swirling inside me. It’s just – a lot.

In two weeks The Boy starts a trade/career school for three hours each weekday so that will change a lot here as well.

On Wednesday we had a break from things.

On Thursday I had another break since The Boy went with Dad and The Husband took Little Miss to gymnastics.

On Friday, there was a book sale at the local library and I went a little crazy.

I picked up a stack of fiction books for The Husband and me, but I also picked up a ton of history, geography, science, music and art books for Little Miss and a couple for The Boy for homeschool. Little Miss told me that I was buying too much but the one library assistant told me that I had to take the books because otherwise they have to carry them all back up the stairs again to await the next sale. I gave a donation to the library and I was off but I returned later in the day without Little Miss and found a few more books (17 more. Ahem.) for myself and The Husband.

He went back this morning and found four more and Little Miss returned with some more educational books about dinosaurs and cats and animals in general.

Looking at books and showing them to the kids and husband was the happiest I had been all week except for Sunday when we had so much fun swimming, etc. I know. Sad.

At the end of the day we headed over to the town my husband works in for the fireworks at the annual fireman’s carnival.

Little Miss didn’t like them and wanted to go home but settled for sitting in the car until it was over.

Today I hung out at home and worked on blog posts (I didn’t finish my Summer of Marilyn post in time to share it on Thursday so I’m trying to finish it and schedule it for early next week), my book, reading, and doing some housework.

Then storms came through and our wifi cut in and out and my computer overheated and my photo program froze. It’s sort of been Murphy’s Law for me this week. Ha!

Tomorrow we are going to my parents again to see if it is warm enough for a swim because we aren’t ready to let go of summer just yet. My parents and The Husband are going to attend a political event, which I do not enjoy at all so I am not attending.

Next week we will start a few lessons with Little Miss for school, easing our way into school that will start in earnest for both kids the week of August 21.

How about you? How was your week? I hope it was a little bit calmer than mine and I hope you had tea to get you through it.

Thinking about books that influenced me on National Book Lovers Day

Today is National Book Lovers Day so I thought I’d share a few books that impacted me as a person and a writer. Of course, my main book would be the Bible, but I will focus on my fictional impact for this post.

Little House on the Prairie and The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe would be at the top of the lists for my formative years as these are two of the first books I read on my own. I then, of course, read the entire series of both. I’ve now read the Little House series to my daughter and have read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe to her as well.

My mom didn’t read a lot to me growing up. What she did do was read herself. All the time. I mean all the time. It fueled my love for reading and while I took a break for several years for some reason, I am back to reading full-time again.

To get me into To Kill A Mockingbird, Mom read the beginning to me in her Southern (North Carolina) accent. She brought the story alive for me and I took off from there. She gave me Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry and I sobbed like a baby. Both books made me aware of racism in our world, shattering some of my innocence, but in a needed way.

Later I would find The Cat Who books by Lillian Jackson Braun at the library and these and Nancy Drew ignited my love of mysteries. Later there was At Home in Mitford and the whole Mitford series by Jan Karon, which I  still read today because each time I open the books it feels like coming home. There was also Francine River’s books, of course, which showed me that Christian Fiction doesn’t have to be boring.

Of course, I can’t forget the first book I ever took out of a library – the school library – King of the Wind by Marquerite Henry. It was hardcover, solid, and the horse on the cover was gorgeous. I was so proud to carry it home and read it. I read this with my daughter a couple of years ago, though, and am shocked at how depressing that book was. I must have forgotten that over the years.

I later also read Misty of Chincoteague and still can’t spell the name of the place without looking it up.

My daughter and I have worked our way through several of Henry’s other horse books over the last two years.

Anne of Green Gables has been another important book in my adulthood. I loved the Kevin Sullivan movie as a kid and finally read the whole book and not just parts of it about two years ago. I then read it to my daughter, eliminating some of the more flowery language so she wouldn’t get too bored.

Three years ago my son and I read Silas Marner by George Elliot and I don’t know that it impacted me much other than to open my eyes to the classics, which I have woefully neglected over the years.

I’m sure I’m forgetting some very important books in this list but I can always write a follow-up post to share some more. It is my blog and I can blog more if I want to!

How about you? What are some books that have impacted you over the years? Fiction or non-fiction. Fun or serious? I’d love to know. Really!

Sunday Bookends: The Word is Murder, more swimming, and watching Marilyn still

It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What I/we’ve Been Reading

This week I haven’t been able to read anything other than The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz because I just have to know what happened. This is a book where the author has made himself part of the story and it’s brilliantly done.

I’ve mentioned before that Horowitz has created or written for several well-known television shows including Foyle’s War, Midsomer Murders, Poirot, Injustice, New Blood and Collision.

He also is the only author approved by the Arthur Conon Doyle Estate to write Sherlock books and he has written two — Moriarty and House of Silk.

His other books include the Alex Rider series (for teens), The Magpie Murders, the Power of Five, Diamond of Five.  

At one point I thought the book might be wandering into territory I didn’t want to read about and I considered dropping it but then Horowitz, writing as himself since he is the main character/narrator of the book, said he was only continuing to talk to the rude consultant to the police because he had to know what happened to the victim. It was how I felt too. I can’t stop reading until I know what happens so more than once I’ve been up late reading the book, desperate for a resolution.

The book starts with a woman walking into a funeral parlor and arranging her own funeral. Odd enough but then later that day she’s murdered – strangled in her home by a cord on her curtains. A man named Hawthorne is called in as a consultant and Horowitz decides to write a book about Hawthorne and the investigation. Hawthorne is rude and blunt and Horowitz starts to second guess the decision but he’s already invested and needs to know what happened to the victim so he pushes forward – much like the reader.

Horowitz does such a wonderful job crafting the story and weaving in humor that you can’t help but want to push forward, though.

This is the first of four books in the series. I started reading book four when I saw my husband’s library book on the kitchen table, opened it to see what it was about, and couldn’t put it down. That’s when he told me it was book four and he had the other books in his Kindle. Our accounts are connected so I downloaded the first book immediately.

I’m also listening to Death by the Seaside by T.E. Kinsey when I drive somewhere or wash the dishes and I hope to finish When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr this week as well.

Little Miss and I will be finishing up the second book in the Boxcar Children series this week – Surprise Island.

The Husband is reading. I can’t tell you what because he was attending a car show for work (he is a newspaper reporter/editor) so he’s not here for me to ask.

What’s Been Occurring

I wrote about what’s been occurring in my post yesterday and the only new thing that has happened since then is that Little Miss and I went swimming yesterday afternoon at my parents. We will be doing the same this afternoon.

I’m still hoping for a fairly relaxed week coming up. I have to take our van to a local scrapyard to see if they will buy it off us and take Little Miss to gymnastics and then that’s about it. I’d like to spend a good part of the week putting my grandfather’s poems in scrapbooks before my parents’ 60th wedding anniversary party in September.

I’m really looking forward to fall this year, which I’ve mentioned a couple of times recently. Summer just feels so busy and I really want some days where I can stay inside and accomplish some of the things I  need to do for my books and journals and stock photography since those are my own sources of side income right now. Plus they are fun.

What We watched/are Watching

This past week we watched Guardians of the Galaxy 3 (we actually still have to finish it), The Super Mario Brothers movie, Newhart, Designing Women, and I finished Monkey Business with Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe because I kept getting interrupted while watching it. This upcoming week I am watching All About Eve with Marilyn.

I also watched a video with Darling Desi on Youtube where she talked about how she is ready for fall. I’m right there with her.

What I’m Writing

This past week I worked on Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage and am going to work on it through August and hope to finish it by the beginning of September so I can continue on Cassie for the Apron Strings book series. My book for that series comes out in August of 2024.

On the blog this week I shared:

Saturday Afternoon Chat: Nice, cool weather visits us for the summerLooking back at July and ahead to AugustThe inspiration behind my cozy mystery book character Gladwynn Grant

What I’m Listening to

Little Miss and I have been listening to a playlist that includes a lot of Christian musical artists while we swim. Those artists include: Matthew West, Elevation Worship, Crowder, Keith Green, MercyMe, and a few others.

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

I am severely behind on blog posts but did read a few. I’ll leave a link to some of my favorites next week.

Now it’s your turn

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.