Rose thought it would be a nice idea to go back to
the beautiful pond where we had photographed the
Great Blue Heron in early Summer.
I had no confidence that lightning would strike twice,
but it was a beautiful day and we could at least
hope for a few good Fall photos.
Off we went.
This park is in the middle of new community in South Calgary.
It’s called Mahogany Wetlands Park.
It’s beautiful and never crowded.
Lots of geese here today.
They were enjoying the sunshine and tranquil conditions.
Signs of dogs.
Signs of people.
You’d think all these houses would diminish the beauty
of this place? But it doesn’t.
It started rather strangely. I noticed my hands and wrists
seemed cold. Figured this was a blood circulation issue?
Then I felt very tired.
Decided to have a nap.
When I woke up a couple of hours later
it was ‘game on’. I was sicker than a dog.
My body ached – I had a headache – and a fever.
It still took us a while to figure it out.
Rose got out the COVID test kit and confirmed it.
It was COVID.
Never thought I’d get it at this point.
So I slept, fitfully, for many hours.
Got up and ate something. Went into sweats.
Laid down again. Woke up later and I was soaked.
Hopefully I was sweating it out.
I feel better now. Seems to be passing quickly.
Good thing because I know this has killed a lot of people.
Moving forward.
Blogger friend Don Ostertag of Don Ostertag: Off Stage (a wonderful Blog!)
offered this famous (infamous?) humorous film quotation attributed to Tony Curtis in The Prince Who Was a Thief (1952)
Not knocking you Don, (thanks for the Comment) but to my great surprise
(and regret) it seems that this famous quotation – which I also believed was true all these years – NEVER actually happened. It’s one of those
Hollywood myths! (Among several hundred).
The quote is mostly attributed however to another Curtis’ film The Black Shield of Falworth (1954)
Here are a few Articles detailing how this myth quotation
dogged Curtis even up to the time of his death in 2010:
Wikipedia sums it up like this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Shield_of_Falworth “The Black Shield of Falworth: False quotation: The film is famous for an apocryphal line, attributed to Tony Curtis and rendered as “Yonda stands da castle of my fodda” or similar. The plot details above show that this would not fit the story: there is no “castle of my father”. The line is said to have come from a remark made by Debbie Reynolds on television magazine attributed the line to Curtis while performing in the 1951 film The Prince Who Was a Thief. “
Another article:
MOVIE TRIVIA – PT31. July 9, 2018, Alan Royle http://filmstarfacts.com/2018/07/09/movie-trivia-pt31/
“If you ever happen to see the Tony Curtis costumer The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), you will probably be looking forward to hearing him deliver the now legendary line, ‘Yonda stands the castle of my fodda’, in his thick Bronx accent. Well, you will be disappointed – because he never said it. Not in this picture, nor in any other. The line is said to have come from a remark made by Debbie Reynolds on a television talk show and poor Tony then spent the rest of his life denying he ever uttered it.”
Snopes article:
https://www.snopes.com/Yonder Lies the Castle of My Father
Snopes offers a quote from a conversation Curtis says he had
with Hugh Hefner (Playboy):
“Years later, Hugh Hefner came up to me at a party and said,
“Yonder lies the castle of my fodda.’”
I looked at him coolly. “Hef, I never said that.”
“Then don’t tell anybody,” he said. “It makes a great movie story.””
Occasionally I go onto YouTube and watch excerpts from Action Movies.
(Kind of a ‘guilty pleasure’)
One of my favorites is this brilliant swordfight scene between Tony Curtis and Ross Martin
from the film “The Great Race” (1965).
You can’t fake this stuff. These guys were great.
But it got me thinking …
Most anyone who came along at the end of Tony Curtis‘ career probably wouldn’t know that Tony was a HUGE Action Hero during the 60’s –
making several notable films in the genre that are now
considered to be ActionClassics.
Starting out Tony paid his dues with minor roles in several films for Universal Pictures which included three Westerns, Sierra(1950), Winchester ’73 (1950) and Kansas Raiders (1951), before getting his break with a
starring role in the swashbuckler The Prince Who Was a Thief(1951), with Piper Laurie.
Trailer below:
Epic! LoL!
But I just watched it for the “Dancing slave girls of Tangiers.”
*Koff*
Not sure how they discovered Tony was going to be good at this?
But in those days the Studios trained their stable of Actors in Dance, Gun Handling, Swordfighting, Horseback riding, and other skills. Curtis proved to be agile and athletic. A natural.
About a month ago I replied to a Comment on one of my posts that I thought was legitimate. It wasn’t. It was from what I call a Spam Bot. Immediately I started to get bombarded by Pornography and other garbage in my email an to the Blog. I Filtered these from my email and blocked them from the Blog. They are still coming (I don’t know how to stop them completely) but they are being filtered into a Spam folder. In my efforts (I am no Tech) things got screwed up: my Posts stopped appearing and emails to Followers (you) who wanted to be notified of Posts stopped being sent out. In one instance a Post I made went into my Trash (maybe that’s where it belonged! LOL.) But I didn’t put it there. I know these malignant emails have occurred to other Bloggers as well. So if you noticed (probably not) strange things happening that is what has been going on here. I called in a Tech friend to help me fix all this (thanks Ray) and I believe things will be OK now.
I’m always mystified why anyone would think that I (or anyone) would be interested in their garbage that they have tricked us into receiving – without our permission – and against our will – as well being as being very difficult to stop. I guess they have some success with this crap or it wouldn’t be happening?
Hartford Courant Feb. 23, 1964 “Stiff lip, old chap, even the Beatles will pass! The question is, what next?”
Boston Globe Sept. 13, 1964 “The Beatles are not merely awful; I would consider it sacrilegious to say anything less than that they are god awful. They are so unbelievably horribly, so appallingly unmusical, so dogmatically insensitive to the magic of the art that they qualify as crowned heads of anti-music, even as the imposter popes went down in history as “anti-popes.”
Newsweek Feb. 24, 1964: “Musically they are a near disaster, guitars and drums slamming out a merciless beat that does away with secondary rhythms, harmony and melody. Their lyrics (punctuated by nutty shouts of “yeah, yeah, yeah”) are a catastrophe, a preposterous farrago of Valentine-card romantic sentiments….”
New York Times Feb. 10, 1964: “The Beatles’ vocal quality can be described as hoarsely incoherent, with the minimal enunciation necessary to communicate the schematic texts.”
Chicago Tribune Feb. 29, 1964: “The Beatles must be a huge joke, a wacky gag, a gigantic put-on. And if, as the fellow insisted on What’s My Line?, they’re selling 20,000 Beatle wigs a day in New York at $2.98 a shake — then I guess everyone wants to share the joke.
And the profits.”
1963:
The beginning
1969:
The End
im crying. because NOW i appreciate the genius. the wonder. that seems so long ago.
and there’s NOTHING around like it today. NOTHING.
I’m 74 now. I think. I ran out of fingers a long time ago.
This is what I looked like in the olden days.
Rose has a birthday this month too. She’s 10 years younger than me.
We’re both Virgos.
These are chocolates I got from Rose. I got 3 birthday cards too. That’s almost a record these days. Most others come in email.
It’s all good.
Thanks everybody. However,
I’m thinking of changing my birthdate and not telling anybody what it is.
Soon I won’t remember anyway.
Mouthwash. Listerine. This is what I clean my eyeglasses with. If you can tell why I shouldn’t be using this I’m listening. But after years of experimenting and following all kinds of advice – and wasting a lot of money on so-called ‘Eye Glass Cleaners’, I’ve never found anything better than this. It’s the alcohol in Listerine that does it I guess. I’m also guessing some people will say this might damage the lens, but I haven’t discovered this to be true so far. It just works really well. Put some on a Kleenex – apply it to the lens – rub gently while rinsing with warm water. Then just dab the water off. It works.
My Dad had a standing joke: “I want three volunteers. You, you, and you.” Obviously something he had learned in the Army. And usually unappreciated by us kids as it always entailed some chore.
However, most of the time Volunteers are a good thing. Like this Sunflower that popped up out front.
It jumped over from our nearby bird feeder.
Around the side I found some more volunteers:
These Pansy’s figured a crack in the sidewalk was just fine.
Our last volunteer …
Izzy / Lila
Rose calls her Izzy (Izabelle).
(A variant form of Elizabeth (interesting coincidence)
derived from Elisheva meaning ‘oath of God’.
I call her Lila.
(The name Lila is primarily a female name of
Indian origin that means Playful.)
That fits too.
Doubt we’ll ever get to visit King Pakal’s magnificent Mayan city of Palenque.
Its deep in the Yucatan jungle.
Rose and I come down to Mexico to be by the Ocean.
And there’s no beaches in Palenque.
Fact is it’s sheer Luck (HA!) that our previous vacations here
were close to Chichen Itza, Ek Balam, Tulum, and Coba.
So what’s the bid deal with King Pakal and Palenque?
Lots.
Wikipedia says:
” Pakal (603 – 683) ascended the throne at age 12 …”
“During a reign of 68 years—the fifth-longest verified regnal period of any sovereign monarch in history, the longest in world history for more than a millennium …”
Pakal therefore reached the age of 80 years old.
I would guess the lifespan of the average Mayan of that era would
have been about 50 years old?
It’s also assessed that Pakal was at least 7 feet tall!
That would make him a giant compared to the
average Mayan of that era who was just over 5 feet tall.
Other interesting – and amazing facts:
Palenque was almost completely untouched by war, nature, or plunder by grave robbers, and revealed literally hundreds of valuable artifacts:
Perhaps the most sensational (and controversial) artifact discovered at Palenque was the incredible (and huge)
sarcophagus lid on Pakal’s coffin:
The controversy?
Those Ancient Astronaut theorists say this looks like a a guy sitting in a cockpit – operating some kind of craft.
And it does.
Presently archaeologists estimate that
only 5% of Palenque has been uncovered.
I could go on and on about this place,
but that’s enough for now.
“Sex, drugs, and Rock and Roll”? Being a Rock Star is not quite so simple. And Lynyrd Skynyrd definitely became the ‘poster boys’ of the carnage that can visit that dream.
Wikipedia:
1977: The famous plane crash: killed Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines, Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray were killed on impact. Band members seriously injured: Allen Collins, Gary Rossington, Leon Wilkeson, Billy Powell, Artimus Pyle, and LeslieHawkins, tour manager Ron Eckerman, and several road crew members suffered serious injuries. 1989: Allen Collins dies from pneumonia at age 37. 1996:Ed King left the Band due to heart complications
that required a transplant. 2001:Leon Wilkeson, found dead in his hotel room on July 27, 2001
– due to emphysema and chronic liver disease. 2009: keyboardist Billy Powell died of a suspected heart attack at age 56. 2009: bassist Ean Evans died of cancer at age 48. 2015: drummer Bob Burns died aged 64 in a car crash. 2018: Ed King dies from cancer at age 68.
A lot of Rock Stars don’t get old.
Simple Man
Likely Lynyrd Skynyrd’s most famous and popular song is Simple Man (1973). Written byRonnie Van Zant and Gary Rossington. Lyrically the song is about a mother talking to her child about life,
inspired by the passing of Ronnie Van Zant‘s grandmother:
Mama told me when I was young Come sit beside me my only son And listen closely to what I say And if you do this it’ll help you Some sunny day oh yeah
Oh take your time don’t live too fast Troubles will come and they will pass Go find a woman yeah and you’ll find love And don’t forget son there is someone up above
And be a simple kind of man Oh be something you love and understand Baby be a simple kind of man Oh won’t you do this for me son if you can
Forget your lust for the rich man’s gold All that you need is in your soul And you can do this oh babe if you try All that I want for you my son is to be satisfied
And be a simple kind of man Oh be something you love and understand Baby be a simple kind of man Oh won’t you do this for me son if you can Oh yes I will
Oh don’t you worry you’ll find yourself Follow your heart and nothing else And you can do this oh babe if you try All that I want for you my son is to be satisfied
And be a simple kind of man Oh be something you love and understand Baby be a simple kind of man Oh won’t you do this for me son if you can
And baby be a simple real simple man Oh be something you love and understand Baby be a simple kind of man
Personally, I always felt the bombastic way this great song was rendered by Skynyrd ran contrary to it’s wonderful message / lyrics.
And I wondered if there weren’t more … gentle interpretations?
There are.
Here are a couple.
Doubt they’ll be as popular as the original.
Sidenote: though I’ve downloaded a few to their songs from YouTube,
I never owned any Lynyrd Skynyrd music.
They just went right past me.
Flipped on the TV the other day and Johnny Guitar was playing. I started to watch for a bit – then I couldn’t stop. I could see why many consider this a Western Classic.
Yet it is still such a strange movie that some question if it’s really a Western?
I won’t get into the psycho babble and analysis the movie has undergone. Smarter minds have already done that.
I will just say that I can’t consider it a Favorite or mine.
I couldn’t watch it every year.
HOWEVER …
This movie didn’t need a Tagline:
They just stuck Joan on the cover.
Of everything.
Because love her or hate her,
Crawford’s Star Power was off the charts.
“7.6” out of 10“94%” by Critics / “85%” by Audience
Get the picture?
BUT …
One thing that really caught my attention was how little
the film makers cared about Sedona.
They were just blowing the whole place to hell!
Video excerpt shots from the movie trailer:
Explosive entertainment for sure. Typical of the disrespect of film makers in that that era
for anything other than the Box Office. Although Sedona is now an overrun Tourist Trap, I still love the place. And it’s often bragged there that they’ve
filmed over 70 Westerns here. But it’s still hard to stomach that they disrespected this very special place so little that they would do this kind of thing. Later, ATV’s (all terrain vehicles) and Jeep Rentals had to be monitored for the very same reason. They were just running all over the place. The place just seems to be overrun now.
Canada never lost a game in the tournament. But most of other countries teams as a good or better than we are.
They should be – they play in North America junior leagues.
That’s the kind of saps we are.
We train other countries until they are as good – or better than us.
I’ve spent the last 3 days recovering. All of my recent posts were pre-scheduled before I left.
So I wish I could tell you we spent our time
relaxing on the beach watching the waves roll in. But we don’t do that.
We’re not wave watchers.
We run around trying like mad fiends trying to cram as much as we can into what is likely
a once in a lifetime experience.
We’re crazy.
But, fact is, it’s futile.
You CAN’T see everything. Only a taster.
You’d have to spend a loooong time here to see it all.
And this is just one of the Hawaiian Islands.
And even then …
BUT! … Since I never thought I’d EVER get here at all …
It was all great.
Meanwhile … I haven’t finished showing our Mexico trip yet.
Life is rushing past me. No time for a break.
I apologize if you think I’m bragging about all this. I’m not. It’s just all so amazing to me
Never in my wildest imagination did I think I’d be doing all this stuff.
Not my best post on Mexico trip, but I’m composing this
as I’m running out the door for 12 days in Hawaii. All the posts you’ve been seeing for the last 12 days were all pre-scheduled.
I’m uncertain of my media access on the trip so I apologize if I don’t readily monitor things here. See you soon.
Lots of geese here today.
They were enjoying the sunshine and tranquil conditions.
Signs of people.
You’d think all these houses would diminish the beauty
Coming up … Great Blue Herons.
It jumped over from our nearby bird feeder.
“Man plans and Gods laughs.”
So I wish I could tell you we spent our time
Not my best post on Mexico trip, but I’m composing this
Which again remind me of the raw stylings of 
Inspiring! 
Excellent work.
Vivid landscapes …
