Tuesday, November 29, 2005
ARRRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!I just spent over two hours composing a new post and when I went to save it as a draft....IT TOLD ME THAT THAT PAGE WASN'T AVAILABLE!!! And the next thing I knew, Blogger went Bye Bye!
Right now, I HATE Blogger! I'll try to get over it, BUT, it's the second time in two days it has done something weird, and I lost part of a post that I was working on for about three hours, the first time it screwed me over....
I'm disgusted.
I'm discouraged.
I'm dismayed.
I'm going to bed!
But first....I will post a beautiful peaceful picture, if blogger will let me, that is.....(i hate them....)
Ahhhhhh, maybe this will calm me down.....
Well, that helped...but I need something else.....hmmmm.....something else.....what could really lower my bloodpressure now?
Now that's a darling face....yes, that's it....a face to lower the Bloodpressure,
for sure....
Thank You Dear Sweetie for returning me to a little bit of sanity....
Okay, I'm done, for the moment. Maybe things will be better, tomorrow...errr.... I mean, later today.....oy!
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| posted by OldLady Of The Hills at 1:38:00 AM
Saturday, November 26, 2005
THE COTSWOLDS-PART 6
Here are a few more photo's of our journey through some of the villages in The Cotswolds, and some of the things we saw, as we drove around......
This is so very English, at least, we thought so!
And so...it was now time to go to Oxford...Ray drove us around quite a bit
to see the very very beautiful buildings...many photo's were taken by one and all...and as we went down one very quaint beautiful street filled with ancient buildings, we saw something else that all of us see all the time in Los Angeles, and in fact have worked around....but seeing 'The Modern" things we saw, suddenly there in Oxford, was a very bizarre and strange thing.....What we saw were these......
And anbody that has ever worked in film or in television, recognizes these wagons and dressing rooms; it means that there is a film being shot 'on location' and these truck like Dressing Rooms and Honey Wagons line the streets wherever they are filming, All of us were laughing because, here we were in this very special and very English part of Britain, and what do we see? A Movie shoot! So of course, we all wanted to know what was filming there in Oxford. Ray stopped and ran back to where 'the company' was settled in, to find out.
When he returned moments later, he told us that it was a movie about C.S. Lewis called "Shadowlands" with Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger
and was being Directed by Sir Richard Attenborough....Betty immediately said, 'Oh, I know him...Larry (Betty's late husband) and I met him many many years ago....
let me write him a note just to tell him we were near by....' So she did write him a little note and it began, 'Dear Dickie....'. We all loved that!!! Dear Dickie...
Ray took the note over to the Company Manager or someone like that, and then, we were on our way to our 'Pub Lunch'.
Ray decided that a wonderful place to take us was to The Eagle & Child,
which he told us was a famous haunt of C.S. Lewis and his fellow professors and writer's
....and that was really special to us for so many reasons, not the least of which was this Pub was filled with so much history. I don't remember what we ate, but whatever it was was very 'Pub Like' according to Ray....A few words about Ray....He wasn't just a 'driver', he was an expert guide....Without him, our Cotswold expeience would not have been the very very rich and wonderful 'happening' that it was....He was knowledgeable about evey place we went and was extremely helpful in aiding us in our decisions about where to go...He was and I assume still is, A Prince of a fellow!
We certainly were a lot of picture taking shutter-bugs, and all of us are so very glad that we have all these wonderful pictures that continually stir the memories....(even if some of them weren't the greatest photo's ever taken....still, they were our photo's).....So, here are a few more of Oxford....
This building was extrordinarily beautiful, and I'm ashamed to say, I don't remember it's name. But it was a part of one of the many colleges...of that much I'm pretty sure....
By the time we left "The Eagle & Child" the sun had gone down, and the overall look we were confronted with as we stepped outside the Pub, was not Sunlight anymore, but it was definitely still 'Daylight'.....Ray then said that we still had time to go to at least one more village, and he thought we would very much enjoy Henley. And he was correct in his thoughts!
Henley was famous, even to us, because of the Regatta's...(we all were also aware of 'the shirt' named for Henley...
called, in fact....."The Henley". A classic three button shirt, manufactured by just about every casual shirtmaker in the world....)
And here in Henley, we saw some beautiful sights of the water and some boats, as well..... 
this was a particularly beautiful place, and especially so, as the light was slowly fading....These photo's were taken while standing on a Bridge, overlooking The Thames....
It was very impressive to see the Thames with all these boats that were just passing through at that hour of the night....this was not a Regatta.....this was just life, happening in this famous village....
On the other side of the that bridge, was this startling picture....many many people, still sitting outdoors, at approximately 9:30pm, having a bite to eat and a pint, and all enjoying the lovely balmy evening with one another.....
Beautiful, Beautiful!
(Just a little bit more to come, shortly, my lovely's......)
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| posted by OldLady Of The Hills at 3:37:00 AM
Friday, November 25, 2005
MY FIRST MEMENow that I know what 'meme' means, sort of....courtesy of plumkrazee and I thank you with all my heart, for that...I saw this today on mar's blog and I thought I'd try it, too....and I thank you mar, very much, for the idea....
It involves using Google Images and 8 questions....So, here they are!
NAME OF THE TOWN YOU WERE BORN IN:
GREAT NECK
This is Great Neck High School, (now called GNHS North...but back in the early days, we only had this one High School)
and this is it. My siblings and I ALL went to this school.....
THE NAME OF THE TOWN YOU LIVE IN NOW:
HOLLYWOOD
I thought this image was really nice...but I'm going to post another one, too
A postcard from 1949...! I love the history of places, don't you?
YOUR NAME:
Heart Painting
"Breakthrough" 72 X 80, Acrylic On Canvas, 1987
This painting is 6 feet by 7 feet, and has been included in 4 one-person Art Shows .
And, in a very deep way, this is a picture of me....
YOUR GRANMOTHER'S NAME:
Rose Berman
There was no photo of her, but this Rose, is almost as beautiful as she was....You can see her picture in a blog from a few days ago, 'A Few Family Photo's'....
YOUR FAVORITE FOOD:
Chocolate
Is there any other food??? (OH MY LORD!!!! does this ever look good enough to shovel right in my mouth!!!! Yum Yum!)
YOUR FAVORITE DRINK:
Water
This really is my favirite drink, and it is soooo very good for you, too!
YOUR FAVORITE SONG:
"Move On"
There are so many songs that I adore....but if I had to pick one song that means a great deal to me, it would be "Move On" from 'Sunday In The Park With Geaorge', by Stephen Sondheim.....As an 'artist', it is inspiring to me, and I'll just quote a tiny bit of it here....
Anything you do...
Let it come from you...
Then it will be new.....
Give Us More To See....
And Last, but not least....
YOUR FAVORITE SMELL:
One Picture Is Worth 1000 Words....
There is nothing like the mouth watering smell of warm--just out of the oven--Chocolate Soufle!!!! My mouth IS watering, just thinking and writing about it, right now!!!
That was a lot of fun!!!!
Just a quick addition: About World AIDS Day...I am posting this the only way I've learned, so far....and I will try to put this on every day through December 1st. We must not forget all those in need. Why don't you post this, too! (Click on the logo to find out how).
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| posted by OldLady Of The Hills at 4:00:00 PM
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
A very very Happy Thanksgiving to one and all here in The States...and to all Americans in other parts of the world, as well as to all the bloggers everywhere who might enjoy sharing a Turkey, JUST cause they like Turkey!
My wishes for Thanksgiving: That all our troops, all over the world stay safe and out of harm's way and come home very very soon.
That sanity might once again reign in this beautiful, wonderous country of ours.
That all those who are suffering the terrible effects of hurricane Katrina, find homes, and jobs, and find their family's together on this Thanksgiving Day.
That good health be visited on all those who are suffering with illness.
That those of us with more, share are good luck with all those who have less, in whatever way we can.
And, finally: Eat well, love well, and drive v-e-r-y carefully!
Peace To Everyone Everywhere In The World.
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| posted by OldLady Of The Hills at 7:35:00 PM
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
The Day All The Music Died
The opening sounds you here at the very beginning of "SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY", after the house lights have dimmed to a blackout are from the traditional Folk Song "He's Gone Away"....sung acapella, without accompaniment, in the dark.
On Saturday, November 23, at the Matinee performance of 'Spoon River' at The Belasco Theatre on Broadway, (there had been no Friday night performance on November 22....no show played that night on Broadway....every theatre was dark, that night....) we waited in the wings, as we always did, Bob Elston, Betty Garrett & Hal Lynch on Stage Right, and Joyce Van Patten, Charles Aidman and me on Stage Left. It was my voice that came over the loud speakers, there in the dark...and you could audibly here the gasp of grief escape from all three of us, waiting there in the dark, before our entrance on to the still darkened stage of the still darkened theatre....to take our places on the stage, before the lights would come up. Everything we heard that day; all the poems from 'Spoon River', so filled with Americana...all of the music...the songs....took on a new meaning because of the great tragedy that had befallen our beloved country, the day before.
The day before, that Friday, I had been at a Gynocologists office, suffering with some sort of ovary pain....I left there and got in cab, and it was the cab driver who told me that John F. Kennedy, our President, had been shot in Dallas just a little while ago...I couldn't fathom this. At first I thought he was kidding; that he had for some strange reason, made this up....and I said "Is that a joke? Cause if it is..it's not funny!" He protested in such a manner that I immediately understood that , no, this was not a joke. The gravity of the situation was not really known in those few moments; we stopped at a red light...a fellow cabbie rolled his window down and shouted to my driver, that Kennedy was dead. My driver said, 'What?'...The other cabbie repeated the news, and pulled away because the light had changed to green. The tears came; and came, and came....I couldn't believe that this was happening....
I got out of the cab at the Hotel, and immediately went up to the 15th floor, where Betty's rooms were. I rang her bell...she came to the door, as stricken as I was...in tears...trying to get ready to go to an interview that had been scheduled before this unbelievable thing happened. She had to leave and I went up to the 16th floor, to my rooms and turned on the television, hoping to be told this had not happened; hoping to be told that a terrible mistake had been made...Kennedy was not dead....like the time when they announced on television that, then President Eisenhower had died after a very severe heart attack, and he hadn't died, at all! They had made an awful awful mistake. That's what I was hoping for.
I was hoping that I would wake up from this ghastly horrible dream, and find out that yes, it was just a horrible ghastly dream..nobody had been shot and killed in Dallas.
I was called by the Company Manager to be told that there would be no performance that night. And they weren't sure about Saturday yet.....that Friday evening, all of us at a loss as to what to do, huddled together sharing a hushed dinner at a very quiet subdued Sardi's Restaurant. We needed to be with each other; we needed to try to digest this incredibly awful thing that had plunged all of us, along with most of the country and the world, into unimaginable grief and hopelessness.
So, when, indeed we were told we would be playing the matinee on Saturday, everything that all of us knew about this play with music like the back of our hands, was heard through a completely different senseabilty. (I couldn't even imagine going to a play, let alone performing in one that Saturday afternoon..... But there we were, and there was my voice....)
'He's gone away.....
For To Stay, A Little while....
But He's Comin; Back, If He Goes Ten Thousand Miles......
But Who Will Buy My Shoes...
And Who Will Glove My Hand.....
And Who Will Kiss My Ruby Lips, When He Is Gone.......
Look Away....Look Away.....Over Yonder....'
I didn't think I could get through this performance. None of us did.
My voice continues, humming underneath this next voice we hear... now speaking....is Chuck's voice, (Charles Aidman, who adapted this beautiful beautiful piece for the stage and who had Directed it, too....) and we are still in the dark, moving onto the stage to take our seats....the words he speaks:
"Where are Elmer, Herman, Bert, Tom And Charley,
The weak of will, the strong of arm, the clown, the boozer, the fighter?
All, all, all are sleeping on the hill.
One passed in a fever,
One was killed in a mine,
One was killed in a brawl,
One died in jail,
One fell from a bridge toiling for children and wife --
All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill....."
This whole evening is people speaking from the grave...speaking truths that they no longer are afraid to speak....all speaking after they are dead and buried. It sounds morbid, but it isn't! It is an incredibly funny and inspiring two hours that yes, had it's sad and touching moments, but morbid, no!
But, Saturday, November 23rd, 1963 at 2pm in the afternoon, it was very morbid.....and heartbreakingly sad, to say the least.
I could go on....but, the day has already gotten waaaaay ahead of me....so I'll stop, for now, and just say, if you remember this day and this time, let me know......
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| posted by OldLady Of The Hills at 3:19:00 PM
Monday, November 21, 2005
THE COTSWOLDS-PART - 5
After the gloriously delicious 'proper lunch', at the Lygon Arms Hotel, we came out to the Main street there in Broadway and Ray, our driver, told us we could walk to the Teddy Bear Museum, which was right up the street from The Lygon Arms...so, off we went.
One of the many wonderful things about theatre people, and this is a generalization, but in my experience this is true of the majority of actors and creative people that I've known throughout my life, so far....the child in us is very much a part of all we are and all we do. And I mean 'childlike' and not 'childish', though of course everyone can be somewhat childish at times in their lives...my love of Teddy Bears comes from some child thing in me....and instead of trying to pretend it isn't there, I have always embraced it and probably will, till they bury me with my Teddy, (I hope)!!!....
He is the softest, dearest most squeezable Teddy I've ever seen or held or clutched...and I've given replica's of him to many many children and many many adults, too! (One wonderful extremely talented painter friend, Morris Broderson, to whom I gave one of these 'special' Teddy's, painted a large painting of him, which hangs in my living room, here in L.A....I'll take a picture of it and post it, one day...) I travel with him, as I said in the last Cotswolds post, and he is the Teddy Bear on my Hotel bed here in this photo, and at home, too, that sits closest to me. (Oh my Lord, I truly do sound like a little child....)
And I wasn't the only one of our group who loves Teddy Bears....I would say that John Mosher loved them very much and Cousin Carol, too. Charley is a collector of anything 'Giraffe', stuffed or otherwise, and Betty is crazy about all sorts of stuffed animals and she very much was ready to go see this famous Museum, and Seemah, too. So, up the street we walked, and suddenly, there it was!
We all went in and of course they had many many Bears for sale in the 'store' part of the Museum...some incredibly old ones and many many new ones, and all of us were like kids in a candy store...you know, 'I want this, and oh, look at that...I want that, too...' well, you get the picture...
I am very loyal to my long time Teddy friend, but if I see a really really soft cuddly Teddy Bear, and if he 'speaks to me'....I don't mean literally guys..., I do go ahead and get the 'new' him! (I'm not sure why, but I always think a Teddy Bear's gender is... 'he' ...). Well, surprise surprise, (not) I did see a very sweet wonderful looking Teddy person....I picked him up and ohhhh my was he ever soft and oh soooo very cuddly, and he had this Golden look to him...John Mosher saw him too, and said he wanted to buy him for his little baby grandaughter...I was rather stricken because I had already visualized him living with me in my house....luckily, The Teddy Bear Museum had two of them....(Thank God)....and so each of us was able to get one and we were very very happy about it! And everyone was very happy for us; isn't that nice? After making our purcheses, we went into the 'Museum' part of the place...(and if I'm remembering correctly there was a small fee to get in)...and they had gobs and gobs of Teddy Bears; some very very old and terribly rare...there were too many to tell you about...but suffice it to say, we were sated on Teddy Bears when we left that wonderful magical place.
(Since that time, The Teddy Bear Museum of Broadway, is no more...sad, to say...)
By this time, we realized that the day was getting away from us, and Ray had calculated that in order to get back to London in a timely fashion for that special Birthday dinner at The Ivy, we would have to get on the road in about an hour and a half; no later than two hours at the very outside.
So, we got in the car and we began traveling from one village to another...stopping here and there to take in some special aspect of that particular village. The following are not in the order we did this at all, cause I truly cannot remember the sequence, but we covered as many towns and villages as we could wit
hout feeling too terribly rushed. Besides Broadway, there were the following glorious places:
Burford; Bourton-On The Water and Stow On The Wold;
and Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter.
At a certain point, Ray began saying that we had to press on and get back on the road...Well, we were enjoying seeing this wonderful bit of England so very much that none of us were really ready to 'get back on the road', quite yet....and after finding out that during this time of year, night did not really fall until almost 10pm, the group as a whole, almost without any hesitation, decided that instead of rushing back to London for 'dinner' at a place we might get to go to on another evening, we would opt to stay out in
The Cotswolds and see as many more towns as we possibly could, til nightfall. This was so much more special than any dinner at any restaurant, to us, at this point. We wanted to see as much of the countryside as we could, cause maybe none of us would ever get back here, again, and if we did, it would not be as magical as this day was for each of us indivdually and for all of us as a group.
We were under
"The Spell"......" The Spell" of The Cotswolds, that is, for sure!...
And there was still Moreton-In-Marsh, and Henley...(yes, the famous Henley where the Regatta's take place), and Oxford....Ahhhh, there was that romantic name: Oxford...the only well known name, to all of us.
And Ray suggested that we could make Oxford our food stop, and there we could have a 'Pub Lunch, for Supper'! We were thrilled! All six of us were experiencing this feeling that we were living in a kind of dream from which none of us wanted to wake up; we wanted to make it last, as long as possible...stay in this dream-like state in this most unusual region for as long as we could.....which we were able to do......
(There IS more to come....and truly, I had no idea that when I began this Cotswold Journey it would cover so many posts...so, with your kind indulgence, I'll just keep on 'wending', and hope you'll come back to 'wend' with me.....)
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| posted by OldLady Of The Hills at 12:38:00 AM
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