Mountainfilm for 5th summer!!!

I had thought it was going to be next weekend, so it kinda sorta snuck up on me this year.

In early June, I'd reserved five seats for my and Christina's family, as well as one for her boyfriend of the past year.

Remember, I did that last year, too, even though she and Anthony had only known each other a few months. 

Then, on Thursday, I saw the email reminding me... 

reading that the MountainFilm On Tour Savannah was in two days...

yikes!

I let my first niece know, but she wasn't able to go on short notice.

How about Michael and the twins?

Nope, they couldn't, neither.

That's okay, I was still going to partake of these movies not otherwise available to me at the local cinemas.

I've been enjoying these Telluride films for the 16 years they've been here!

The big program will be in January, of course, but I also like these short film festivals in the summer and for Veterans Day. 

There were five films from Telluride, plus a local one from a group of guys named Max at Savannah Arts Academy... seriously!

The young men screened "Clean Coast Club: Tides Of Change", a four-minute short that featured them cleaning up the marshes and beaches around, and between, Tybee and Savannah.

As we were all at Savannah Arts Academy for this film festival, they received a very nice round of applause!!!

The first film from Telluride was from 2025, a 34-minute documentary titled "What The River Knows", featuring songs from Katie Lee.

She fell in love with the Colorado River and its beaches in Glen Canyon, then became an environmental activist who called for the closing of the Glen Canyon Dam and the return of the area to its natural state.

That was followed by a shorter, 10-minute, piece, "The Opening Prayer (Ohen:ton Karihwatehkwen), with spoken Iroquois and English subtitles.

Although beautifully done, with many Native Americans taking part in each stanza of the prayer for the Creator, Earth, water, fruits, trees, medicine, and more, I couldn't help but remember that younger audience members would have felt a bit left out, with only lovely photos on the screen.

(I did find an English-spoken version on youtube, though.)

I was a little surprised that the third film hadn't been saved for the Veterans Day screenings, as its focus was a Coast Guard veteran.

Titled "First In, Last Out", the 25-minute documentary followed surf photographer Christa Funk, who was always in place in the water before the surfers arrived.

What incredible images she captured!!!

I do believe Miyah and Chloe would have loved that one!!

"About Damn Time: The Dory Women of Grand Canyon" was the fourth from the Telluride film festival.

It was 24 minutes of white water rafting in little boats called dories, which are regarded as "the ballerinas" of the rapids.

It was so much fun to watch those guides cum cooks power rowing down the Colorado River in those six-person crafts!

In fact, I'm glad I found the video on youtube to watch again!!!

Yes!

After that fourth film, there was a brief intermission to give away t-shirts and other souvenirs for those kids who could answer questions.

I took a bathroom break... and missed the last film!

"Strike - Mary Rand" was only 3 minutes long...

but I found it, too, on youtube!!!

Nice to cool off while watching all that shushing in snow!

Very nice way to be welcomed home from the cruise vacation!

(smile!)

yippee-ki-bang bang bang!!!

Yeehaw!!!

What better way to end the month than a Western musical?

Especially one with lots of shoot-em-up action!!!

I won't spoil the fun by naming names, but the body count adds up, with two dead in Act 1 and another in Act 2.

Plus there are a few stray shots along the way!

 

Thankfully, there's a Columbo-style detective named 'Frank Cioffi' - performed fabulously by Carson Brown - who's on his best game during these two nights with the actors of "Robbin' Hood", a little musical with Broadway dreams.

Scored by 'Georgia' (Megan Borges) and 'Aaron' (Naomi Antoine), once-wed but no longer, the show gets panned by local critic 'Daryl Grady' (Ben Tatom) of the Boston Globe, dashing their hopes of finally making it to the bight lights of New York City.  

Did I say panned?

He hated all of it except one part: that of the lead's understudy, 'Niki' (Genevieve Perry), who he spurned when she thanked him for that favorable review.

The cop, however, really took a shine to her and they have two wonderful numbers, the real-time "Coffee Shop Nights", and the fantasy dance scene, "A Tough Act To Follow" - loved those!

Oh, I just realized I never said this musical's name!

That would be "Curtains: School Edition", a modern musical that first graced the boards of Broadway in 2007.

And guess who originated the role of the cop?

None other than David Hyde Pierce!!!

Oh, yes, that's right: the little brother of TV's 'Frasier Crane'. 

Honestly, I think Carson Brown did a superb job as the Boston cop!

Kudos to all for nailing this show in a scant two weeks of rehearsals!!!

I'll be looking forward to seeing these 9th to 12th graders in future productions at the Savannah Children's Theatre this coming season!!! 

Special kudos to Carmen Titus, Katie Grace Lanier, Reagan Barnard, Ella Nixon, and B Cela.

I know I've seen y'all before and so looking forward to more!

greek gods, mere mortals...

... the thing is this: love is love.

On this Arthouse Theater Day, I chose the one film that best encompasses that duality of both the stage and the silver screen.

I said two days ago that I'd already been three times for "the sad song, the old song, the love song" of "Hadestown: The Musical".

I also said then that I might got for a fourth viewing...

but I had not decided for sure.

I have Cinematique of Daytona Beach to thank.

The email this morning from this favorite place from my not-so-distant past reminded me of the importance of this date as Arthouse Theater Day.

 

How could I not venture into the crazy heat for such an important day?

How could I not venture off to "Hadestown" when the weather feels like I'm already there?

All week, the highs have been in the 90's, plus a double-digit heat index. 

Not ever on the cruise was it this hot and humid!

At least the storm forecast yesterday by the weather song never came.

That's made today slightly more tolerable, without the sauna effect.

In other words, it was perfect for sitting in a very cool cinema...

once more enjoying "a love song, an old song, a sad song"...

singing along, dancing in my seat, crying in all the right places.

Let me leave this post with words that are not mine.

This is what Orpheus said early on in his toast.

"Here's to the world we dream about...

and here's to the world we live in now."

Amen, and amen.

meals and more with my girls!!!

Monday, it was time for Music Bingo again!

This was the first time any of us had been since the debacle a month ago.

"Us" would be me, Sandy, Marcia, and Elissa.

Hey, we've been busy, vibrant, women, a'ight, with family from out of town, cruises, and what-not going on!

I remembered to bring my free appetizer reward that I won about six weeks ago, too.

Fortunately, Midtown Sports Grill has changed their menu yet again.

Potato Skins is a new entry, loaded with bacon and cheddar, and that made for a mighty fine "welcome back" dinner with my friends!

And just look at that first bingo game of the evening!!!

That "Dance Party Mix" yielded me the first "Bingo!" of the bar!

Russ was even surprised that I'd won without using the 'Free Space' - I'd managed to do it with five actual songs that had been played, straight down the "I" column!!!

Andrew, the new bartender, was glad to bring me a free lemonade as my "free drink" reward for the game!

How wonderful to have shared that those three hours with friends!

(smile!)

Then, today, my first niece came to share a favorite movie with me!

This was the last week of the NCG Summer Camp Film Festival and they've been screening "The Wild Robot" since Sunday.

We love that movie about parenting and kindness!!!

Want to know how much?

She stayed awake through the entire movie!!!

That's saying a lot, as she has sleep apnea and tends to take a nap if she sits in one place too long.

That wasn't the case two weeks ago when she joined me for "Sing", but that was okay... it let me munch some of her popcorn!

That time, she was early and bought our tickets and kids' packs; this time, she was running on her standard time, so I bought the tickets and snacks.

(smile!)

After, we popped over to the Chick-Fil-A on Victory for our luncheon.

So glad the lunch crowd had mostly passed by then!

She grabbed the last table and we had a leisurely two hours together...

just us, no children, no boyfriend...

letting us truly talk about issues with that latter item.

Here's hoping for the best resolution for that problem.

Oh, plus a really bright spot!

We had been talking about friends from the past and she mentioned one of her middle-school buddies and spoke of them spending nights together.

"So, you're friends still, on fb?"

No, they weren't... but she quickly found her on that social media... and they are now reunited again!

Maybe I should do a few searches of lost friends, too.

(smile!)

thrice to hades... and i don't mean the summer heat

I speak of the romantic Greek tragedy, the musical I so loved last year when the good folks at Savannah Children's Theatre brought it for me, courtesy of the JEA providing a space after the debacle of the snow-laden roof trashing their previous location.

This time, it was courtesy of my A*List and AMC 11, bringing it to me at no extra charge, to welcome me home again from vacation.

Hallelujah!!!

This performance was recorded last year at the Lyric Theatre in London's West End theater district.

Amazingly, its five leads are the ones who originated the roles back in 2019 when the play first opened on Broadway!!!

"Hadestown" was nominated for 14 awards that year and won the Tony in eight of those fields - wow! 

'Hermes', the conductor of the train and the man in the spiffy gray suit at the bottom of the photo, was performed by Andre De Shields, now 80 years old.

He won the Tony for Best Performance By An Actor In A Featured Role In A Musical in 2019. 

The god to his left, 'Hades', was performed by Patrick Page, who was also nominated for that category, but lost out to his stage-mate. 

What an amazing low bass voice he has... especially considering that he's now 64 years old, the age my brother Ronnie would be.

The woman across from him in the photo, in the green dress, is Amber Gray, reprising her Tony-nominated role as 'Persephone' in this production at the Lyric.

(My guess is she's in her mid-to-late 40's, though her bio doesn't say.)

The couple at the top of the poster are 'Orpheus' and 'Eurydice', of course, the other love story in this epic musical.

They're played by Reeve Carney and Eva Noblezada, respectively, who are now 43 years old and 30 years old, respectively.

Although they didn't get nominated for any Tonys back in 2019, they are just perfect as the lovers who miss out on their happy ending.

I have cried every time I've seen "Hadestown: The Musical" this week.

 

That's really saying something about its impact, right?

I've seen it three times so far, and cried at the ending each time.

Actually, I've cried three times during the musical, with all three near the end.

The first time is when 'Orpheus' reminds 'Hades' and 'Persephone' of how their love story had begun and lets them know they are still very much in love.

The second time I cry is when 'Orpheus' returns topside but 'Eurydice' is not yet there, so he turns around to look for her...

and there she is...

but she is banished back to Hell because he doubted and turned.

Just heartbreaking!

The third time is at the very end, when 'Persephone' is making a toast to all the 'flowers that bloom in snow'...

and I even raised my cup tonight and drank.

Will I see it again on Thursday?

Tomorrow, my first niece will be here during the early afternoon, then I have a Two First Posts meeting that evening.

Thursday, at 4 PM, will be the last screening.

Maybe I can be there.

I'm so glad to have had this treat in town for my return from vacation.

i thank You, God. 

home from Paradise

I was up in plenty of time to watch as the Paradise sailed back into port early this morning.

I met the sight with a tinge of sadness, as it meant the end of our cruise vacation.

I was glad I'd had the foresight to have breakfast waiting for me on the night table.

The paper towels had wicked away a lot of the oil from the cheese, making it just right for my start of day meal.

Usually, I would have had it chilled, but there wasn't enough room in the tiny fridge.

However, the water was cold! 

I was out of my room by 0745.

The schedule for the day called for us to wait in the Euphoria until our floor was called to disbark.

Instead, Christina called me about 8:20 AM.

They were already in line on Deck 5!

I was to join them there as they waited for Terry to give the girls one last hug.

Miyah even had a gift bag for her Auntie Terry!

And my first niece and I were again hair twins, sporting single braids down the back and swooped to the side this time. 

I'm so glad her ESP with me works!

So there we were, waiting, and suddenly Terry was there, surrounded by Miyah and Chloe!

Terry even had a gift for them: two free future cruises with Margaritaville At Sea!

She'll be on the ship until sometime in October and really hopes they will soon be back.

Wasn't that so sweet of her?

Then we had our papers checked, collected our luggage, and were off the ship.

Vacation was officially over. 

The trip back to Hinesville took almost nine hours.

That was about 2 1/2 hours longer than the drive down had been.

Part of the delay were the frequent bathroom stops, as the medication Christina is on for the weight-loss drug was cramping her style.

Part of the delay were the frequent stops for drinks, as the van was having the same loss of air conditioning as it had on the way to Palm Beach.

We took an hour-long stop for lunch at a very nice Dairy Queen, letting us all stretch out a bit and get rehydrated.

As I told Christina, I haven't been to DQ since her dad died.

That was four years ago.

My best memory is watching the Super Bowl with him.

Anthony took over the driving after that, so we stopped once and by that time I was about dehydrated in the heat of the van.

I drank one bottle at once, then half the other bottle before we left.

Between that stop in Woodbine and their turn-off to Hinesville, the rain began.

Hallelujah!

It was still raining, but lightly, when we pulled up to her house.

I helped take things into the house, then went back into the rain to move my suitcase and butterfly tote into my car.

Thanks, Michael, for the unicorn rubber duck!

So glad to be home, with my own bed tonight!

Paradise: day 4

"Whatcha got there?"

 

It's an origami parrot, and I made it!!! My first niece had joined me briefly at breakfast, as the rest of her group were still asleep. It was after 10 AM! I was dining with a Jamaican couple. Then she came up and they talked about being parents and teaching and her being a Pisces. Their teen daughter joined us, too. Then Christina left to wake the family, and I went down to the Euphoria to watch more of the Jimmy Buffett concert.

 

"Well, it looks like you had 'Arts & Crafts' today."

 

I did!!! Jason had already started showing some others how to make the folds. He backed up to show me and the others had a chance to repeat. I was the first to get the knack for the little legs!

 

"Joe Guy would have been pleased as punch with you!"

 

I know, right? I even showed the others how to hold the parrot so he looked like he was perched on your finger.

 

"And just where are y'all?"

 

The ship is docked at Freeport, Bahamas. I thought it was funny that the sand mounds looked like the snow-capped mountains in Marcia's pics of Alaska! That's where she was last week. 

 

"Ummm... is that a duck??"

 

It is! A Lady Liberty rubber duck! That's the first duck I've found on Paradise, and I only have the one Jesus. The girls have gotten quite a collection of ducks!

 

"Hahaha! I see that the room steward made you a duck, too!"

 

Mohamed said he was inspired by the ducks I had on my little nightstand. Isn't that sweet of him? I refer to this as "having my ducks in a row". Nice to have another inside joke!

 

"Yes, dear."

 

The tiny duck is one Chloe gave me, and the one wearing shades belongs to Anthony. Chloe had been playing with it nonstop at dinner last night, so I put it in my pocket. I gave it back to him tonight, and gave her the Jesus she found on the ship. It has a red sash.

 

Christina's quartet missed the origami session, as they were at breakfast. But when they all joined me for the onslaught of trivia games at the Euphoria Lounge, her hair was different! It was loose earlier, at coffee with me. Mine had been different, too, in just the one braid on top of my head. Now, with no coordination at all, we both had twin braids, down low!!! That's how Mama wore her hair, too, when I was growing up! 

 

"That's very cool! Y'all's telepathing link is still working! Hooray!"

 

Right? I had changed my hair when I put the green parrot in my cabin.

 

"I wondered when you got the pigtails. Now, talk to me about the trivia."

 

There were only the three, but they were right in a row! First was "Landmark Landshark Trivia" with Jason hosting. I got 15 out of 20; Christina had 17. Mohammed hosted the next two games. "Slogan Trivia" went pretty far back for some of it's 'mercial jingles, but I still managed to score 15 out of 21. I'll take that, gladly! She did better again, of course. The last game was "Guess The Young Celebrity Trivia", and I absolutely sucked at that! I think I had 5 correct out of 14. Yikes! She did better than me again, but neither of us won any of those. That's okay, we still had fun!

 

"And what did Miyah and Chloe do during that time?"

 

A woman with a bag of little ducks gave the bag to the girls, as well as the children in the family from Nicaragua, and asked that they hide them for her. The kids were only too glad to do so!!! LOL!!! That's how I got that teensy blue one.

  

"Great googly moogly! LOL!!!"

 

After all that, we bounced back to Deck 10 for lunch. I went to Frank & Lola's Pizzeria and had an entire Paradise Pepperoni pizza!!! So delicious!!! She got Cheeseburgers for her and the girls... and none of them liked them. They weren't "like Mom's" - hahahaha! Nothing wrong with the chocolate ice cream, though, and they each ate every bit of that! Then they went down to 4024 to change into swimsuits. I headed up to Deck 11, to the License To Chill pool, and snagged a table for us, then relaxed and grooved to the music of DJ Decibels as the "Sail Away Party" began. Ah!!!

 

There was just one snag... I never saw them come up.

Maybe I was too busy singing along with the music, or watching the tugboat that escorted out of the harbor...

or maybe it was because they exited the elevator on the other side of the ship than they usually did.

I waited for them for almost an hour, then I went back inside.

Emmanuel was strumming his guitar again in Euphoria, so I hung out there with him.

I knew they would eventually show up for dinner.

When the Philippine guitarist saw me, he played "Pretty Woman", again - nice of him to do that!

I sang along, of course!

And, sure enough, I caught my girl and her peeps when they showed up for Fins Dining!

However, it was already 7 PM and there was a dinner rush.

We were given a pager and then waited at least 30 minutes for a table. 

Then the maitre d' took us the long way around in the vast dining hall, with Christina speeding along pushing Anthony in the wheelchair as he was too slow with his hands on the wheels.

I could not keep up...

and the sun was setting...

and I didn't want to miss this final sunset on Paradise.

So I left.

I took the elevator to Deck 11, then walked past the pool to the open metal staircase that led to the 12th floor, with nothing but open, darkening, sky above me.

That's where I remained for the next thirty minutes, enjoying the music and the soft sea breeze and that lone star (upper left corner) as the sun kissed the world good night on its rouged cheek.

Yes, others were out there, too, but they were staying in the moment, as was I.

Bliss...

even though it meant I missed dinner.

Renewed in spirit, I knew it was time to head for the Stars On The Water Theatre to snag a table!

Mohammed, the emcee, had said to hit him up for a seat, so I did, getting a fourth row table in the reserved section.

Then Auntie Terry saw me and moved me up to the front row, right where we all sat that first night!

No extra charge to gaze up at Tevin the steel pan man and that scrim of parrots!

Just before the 9:30 PM show time, Christina and her merry band joined me, just in time for the "tourists" checking out the "fishing shack". 

LOL!!!

A fish go snagged and flew up past them, making us all laugh out loud!

What a fun way to start off "Caribbean Heat"!!! 

More music, more acobatics, more twirling on the Luna!

With all the music being played on stage, some of my favorite Bob Marley tunes got mixed in there, too.

I managed to catch the scrim for "Three Little Birds" before they flew off!!!

"Singing, don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing is gonna be all right, yes, don't worry, about a thing..."

I just love that song!!! 

Then the show was over... but not the fun!

 

Mohammed was there on camera duty, taking photos of folks with the cast after the last twirls had been done and the last notes were played.

Such patience he had!

He had to traipse over to the right to get the person's phone, go and get in the middle to live up the shot, then given them their phone back...

over and over and over!

Miyah and Chloe were the first to get their photos taken, then they went over to Auntie Terry and burst into tears while hugging her...

oh, poor dears!!!

She even had tears in her eyes!

But that wasn't the last time we saw her... oh, no!

Even though it was already after 10:30 PM, we headed over to the Euphoria.

 

That's because Cruise Director Terry was the emcee for the game show, "Lip Sync Or Swim" and we had been invited to come!

Christina even managed to grab us some chairs, as the former occupants were up there trying to win free margaritas... or a free cruise!

The game ended in a tie, with both men winning cruises - wow!

Then the girls went up to dance with Terry, and get one more hug, before going back to the cabin to pack and sleep.

Me?

I found out the pizza joint on Deck 10 was still open, so there I went!

It was too late to eat it tonight, but the two slices of Paradise Pepperoni would be perfect for a quiet breakfast tomorrow.

And when I returned to 4089, I still had time to pack my suitcase and sit it outside the door for pickup.

i thank you, God!