Christmas Tree! 2013

Friday Melissa and I saw the new Hunger Games and we both agreed it was better than the first.  I am still a little curious about why the books were written--is it a parody on our government???  (Dec 1-I just read the Wiki about "Hunger Games" and wow, it is so much more complex than I had figured.  I had tried to read the book and hated it but what do I know, it is a phenomenal success--but then I do not like science-fiction.  It is still a puzzle to me though as to why it is praised so much--I guess it should be read and dissected to be appreciated???????'  To quote 'Tim' in a comment after an article about banning the book, he says "Collins’ motivation was, in the first place, to portray a world where violence as entertainment had reached its worst and force us to open our eyes to the dangers." )  I did not know that!

After the movie, we actually bought a Christmas tree!!!  It is a table topper from Rite Aid--very healthy and attractive and I haven't had a live tree since Rancho Bernardo I don't think.  And I wasn't going to decorate at all--but with Melissa here I was inspired to keep the tradition of Christmas decorations alive and well.  Plus she could get the big boxes down for me!!!

I am loving all the lights and I had way more decorations than I could possibly use--beautiful tree I think.  Thanks, Melissa.

 

 

 

 

Health Care

I was interested in reading about the problems with the Obomacare computer program and it is much more than a glitch and will need an overhaul.  We had the same problems with a loan computer program that came out while I was working for SBA.  They had put so many millions in to it that they had to use it so had to fix it and I am afraid this is the same situation.

But also the idea that because of the problems all ready popping up (which honestly we all knew would, didn't we--I did anyway) that the premiums to the consumer are going to be so high that the healthy young are going to opt out and pay the penalty and insurance companies will be stuck with all the less desirable and more problems for them.  The problems are so obvious it appears the program will eventually fail so why fight about it--move on to another problem.

At least that is the word this morning,  for the wise, anyway.

Nicholas Evans, a Favorite Author

Nicholas Evans is an amazing author but he has only written five books, all of which take place, at least in part, in Montana, though he is an Englishman.  Interesting about his life on his website and the poisonous mushrooms.   The five books are The Horse Whisperer, The Loop, The Smoke Jumpers, The Divide and The Brave.  My favorite is The Loop, about the wolves.

I am actually listening  for the second time to The Brave.  I had forgotten I had already read it but I am actually enjoying it more the second time because it is a complicated book and it is good to have a little background. 

It is kind of a dark book in that there are so many issues of different people but I really like his writing--in depth, but clear and like you are there living it.  You can become quite emotional about the problems the characters have.

Anyway I really enjoy using my Samsung Tablet for listening to books while I am doing a project such as cooking, cleaning, and decoupage.  I will finish my last doll box today and then all my dolls have boxes to store them in.  I just don't put them out anymore.

Unfortunately I am feeling the repercussions from my intense workout cleaning the debris last week.  My legs and back are really aching and I hate to take the pills because of the damage they can do.  I have a Dr apt Friday and the last time something was too high because of the Ibuprofen I had been taking. 

2 Timothy 3:7

Sunday morning I was listening to the BYU channel and I heard this story that I have not been able to get out of my head.

During WWII in Europe a man needed to get his wife and child to a safer place with family and he had to stay at his post.  He put them on a train.  When the conductor took their tickets, he told them they would get off at the first Stop.  The mother dozed a little and so when the train stopped a passenger nearby woke her up and told her this was her stop.  The mother and child got off the train.

Later the conductor came back and asked where the mother and child were as their Stop was coming up.  The passenger said he had awakened her when the train made the first stop and told her that was where she should get off and so they did.  The conductor said, "That was not the first Stop, that was just where we took on water."

Although help was sent from the next town to go back and look for the mother and child, help was too late, they had already succumbed to exposure from the severe weather.

Question--Did the passenger have good intentions?  Yes  Did the passenger think he was telling the truth?  Yes  Did the passenger have authority and real knowledge?  No

It reminded me of two things.  One was the day in Seminary in 1978 when we studied  "This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come." 2 Timothy 3:1 and then it listed all about conditions of the last days.  I had made a special chart of headlines from newspapers and articles as examples of "important things to know" and when we came to verse 7 I held up the chart as we read "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."  And we talked about what we would need to do to be able to recognize truth and not be fooled by false claims of truth.

I had put into my daily prayers the plea to "help me to have a clear mind and be able to recognize the truth" from that day and it is still a part of my prayers and now we are so in the last days and we see all of the conditions in 2 Timothy 3 coming to pass and there are so many "experts" out there telling us how to live and think and be and so many of the old values have been cast away for the new and better way to live and where is truth--who has it, which messenger has the truth.  Do they all have good intentions?  Mostly  Do they think they know?  Probably  Do they all have authority and truth?  No

It also reminded me of the trip I took in 2000 to Scandinavia.  James had set me up with someone I did not know and paid for my ticket as her daughter could not go and he knew I wanted to go to Sweden.  It was a great trip and she was a lovely lady and we had a great time.  There was one problem though, she was one of these people who loved to "help" and whenever people would ask for directions, she would assertively give them and I thought she knew what she was talking about but I soon learned she did not.  Did she have good intentions?  Yes  Did she think she knew?  Probably  But did she have authority and accurate knowledge?  No she did not.

So the question is, where is truth, how do you recognize it, what do you believe, what do you choose to live, who do you listen to?  That is the challenge for everyone on the earth today.  What "Voice" do you listen to and accept as Truth?  How do you know?

The Expats

It is always fun to find a book that really holds your attention.  "The Expats" is a first book by Chris Pavone and what a thriller.  I read till 3 AM and then finished it the next day.  It was that good.  I am glad he also referenced 10 other good books about Expats of which I have only read three so that will be fun to find also.

I need to get the next "Emigrants" book--Moberg really makes you feel like you are there.  I am so glad my ancesters did the emigrating and I was born in America, how blessed we are.

Keeping Up with High Tech

I broke down and got myself a Tablet--I decided in today's world it is just part of the scene and probably more necessary than a microwave oven.  The Church is encouraging everyone to have their own digital manuals and scriptures and I can see why.  I got the Samsung Galaxy 3--10 inch.  Really like it so far except for the games I accidentally added in some foreign language, not sure how that happened.

Once I made my decision, I ordered it at 10:30 AM on Thursday and it was shipped that night and arrived on my front deck late morning on Friday--from Arkansas.  How do they do that?  When I ordered it, they said it would be delivered on Monday, which seemed reasonable to me.  But free overnight delivery?  Wow.

Anyway I still like my Kindle Paperwhite strictly for my reading books.  It is so easy to hold for late night reading which is getting to be more and more when I read my books.  Currently I am reading "Secret Daughter" by Gowda.  It is such a revelation to me reading about India and the diverse conditions that abound in that country.  I think this is a first book for this author...excellent.

Where Are All the Good Men?

"The Helen Morgan Story" was a favorite of mine.  I just watched the  movie version with Ann Blythe and Paul Newman last week, however, the TV version with Polly Bergen was my favorite.

Helen Morgan was a fantastic blues and pop singer who was exploited by men and she became an alcoholic.  Old story as it happens so often.

The article in Meridian Magazine reminded me of it.  The article was specifically asking where all the men were in the life of Miley Cyrus who should have been giving her good advice and protecting her from her tawdry exhibition this past week. 

The problem is that too often it is the men who are doing the exploiting and the damage,  greed is a very dangerous tool used by Satan.

I guess the real question is Where are all the Good men?  Which takes me to the movie "Lydia" where she passed up the good man Joseph Cotton and had undying love for the scoundrel.  Why is that so often the case???  What is attractive about the lying charmer that Paul Newman was in The Helen Morgan Story.  Why do we want to believe those kind of guys?

What made Miley Cyrus think that shocking exhibition sells--because of Madonna, Lady Gaga???  Somehow those ladies always manage to look classy even in their skimpies, why is that? and Miley only looked vulgar??

So many questions, so many choices, I guess the best advice is the WWJD question, that usually settles any quandary fairly fast.

I thought it was interesting that the lady miz are having so many people want them to come and give them a message.  There is a lot of people out there hurting and seeking answers...these are the last days for sure...

Nothing Improves with Age but the Past

"Lydia" is a movie from 1941 staring Merle Oberon and Joseph Cotton.  It is about a spinster reminiscing her past (40 years later) with three rejected suitors.  She has contributed so much to the world by way of a Home for the Blind but she is trying to  tell them why she never married.  She tells the three that they never knew the real Lydia, that she was born when she started this month long affair and the real Lydia died when he left her, never to return.

This fourth suitor does show up as he was curious to what he was invited but he doesn't even remember her and he is the one she accepted a proposal from but he was a rover and playboy who had an affair with her and strung her on and kept her waiting at the altar.  All these years she remembered him as her great love and it was just another score for him.

It is true that we remember the past as we choose to and it may be far from reality and it is true that an encounter to one person can mean everything while at the same time not much to the other person.

In the end, she says they all loved an illusion of her, the blind pianist loved a blonde, blue eyed person because a child had described her doll Lydia to him and he thought she was describing the real Lydia who actually was dark haired with green eyes.  She told the older suitor he was in love with an angel, which she was not, she had actually sinned and never told him.  The football player suitor was in love with a young "idiot" which she was not.  And Richard, the man she had loved all these years only loved himself.

She said there was no real Lydia, there were dozens (as every woman knows).  She was "wise and foolish, clever and absurd, good and bad" as are all women.

I think you would have to be an old person to appreciate this movie but it surely rang true with me, it was especially interesting as she described her first ball and how it looked and then it showed how it actually looked--yes, 'nothing improves with age but the past' is soooo true.

Glad I Wasn't Born in China

I have just finished "Dreams of Joy" by Lisa See written about China around 1958 when they had the great famine under Mao's Communist leadership.  Compelling book but I need to read a happy one for a change where women have a better life.  Seems everything I have read as late is about the sorry role of women.  And I can't get the image out of my mind of those dying babies being put in pits so they could not crawl away.

However, earlier in the book this is a quote I like:

"I put a smile on my face.  I came here to be happy, and I'm going to be happy.  If I smile, then maybe I can convince my body just how happy I am.  I look both ways, and decide to venture to the right.  I don't know where I'm going.  I just need to walk and keep smiling."

I think that was sort of how I felt the first day of college...

Choosing Movie Stars to Be Fantasy Characters--Again...

So I think there is much interest in who Hollywood is choosing for Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele from the Shades of Grey books.  I can visualize Dakota Johnson in the part but not sure about the guys rumored to be in the running.  It is hard to pick someone to play fantasy parts, I mean who can be so smart, so successful, so talented, so rich, so clever and so handsome and so messed up in the mind--I mean, what 30 year old can play the part????  A lot could play the messed up in the mind I suppose but the other to be so handsome and competent--I am sure I will be as disappointed as I am with the current James Bond... ish.

Anyway the announcements are after Labor Day.  Question is, is the movie just going to cover the first book or all three?  The third book reveals many mysteries and makes the transformation of Christian almost complete.  To me the books illustrate what power a good or bad woman can have over a man.  And the difficulty of having trust and the fantasies of being so wealthy you can have everything and more and yet you still have to figure out how to have good relationships with others and you can't be totally selfish and still be happy.

Most popular books in the world which shows the interest people have in sex, wonder if they found out what they wanted to know?  I am sure men read them for advice on how to treat women but after all, they are not about real life are they, or are they?????

Chinese View of Being a Widow

I am really enjoying Agnetha's singing.  She has a very unique voice and an expert at singing sad songs.  It is interesting that Agnetha says "Winner Takes It All" is the story of her and Bjorn's break up and he says it was not.  He did write it when he was drunk just after they broke up.  She sings the song with such perfection and claims it is her favorite of the ABBA songs.  

Anyway I almost have the "The Emigrants" across the ocean but I have left it to read a couple of books which have to be returned at the end of the week.  Moberg really makes me feel what it was like to be a peasant in the 1800's with so little control over life.  So sad.  Someone's reasoning for not pursuing making 'Kristina' a  musical over here is that "Sad does not sell."

Lisa See's  'Dreams of Joy' is a continuation from her 'Shanghai Girls' which I read last year.  I was interested in what June's mother told her about the fate of a widow.

June's mother said:

...a widow is the unluckiest person on earth, because either she committed an unforgivable crime in a previous life or her lack of devotion to her husband caused him to die.  Either way, she's doomed to live out her life unloved by another man, for no good family will accept a widow into their family, she would know better than to accept, because the world knows that a decent woman should never go with a second man.  A miserable existence should be anticipated and accepted.

A widow should pray, fast, and recite sutras...she should dedicate herself to doing good deeds at her place of worship.  She should give up material possessions and devote herself to others like me: the socially dead. 

I've often been told that a widow's suffering will overcome vanity and attachment by wearing it.  A proper widow should confine herself to dark colors and maybe a few pieces of jade of good quality.

It seems that all of the books I have read this last week are about the horrible existence of women in some cultures and age.  I am blessed to live in this time and in America!!!

I know people think I write in my blog so other people will read it but I know there are only a couple people who skim through my blog.  It is a blog for me, it is a way a person can live alone and be able to express your thoughts when there is no one to talk to.  It is a way of recording your life and being able to go back and read what you thought or did at a certain time, quite therapeutic, I think it prevents loneliness because your time is so filled and you always have 'someone' to talk to...

Another ABBA Day

I finished reading "Bright Lights, Dark Shadows"--all about Abba.  It was very long, but very interesting.  There is a lot more to making music than we can all imagine.  After reading the book I had to watch the movie "Mama Mia!"   I had forgotten how fun it was and knowing a little bit more about what some of the songs were about and what inspired the writing made it even more so.

Then I find out they opened "Abba-The Museum" on May 13 of this year.  The website is very fun, especially the Karaoke of all their songs!  I will never get to Stockholm again to see the museum but there is a real feel for it on the website.

It is amazing to think that they were only actively performing for 10 years and that was over 33 years ago and yet they expect this museum to draw millions of people a year and I am sure it will.  Abba is considered the 4th most popular (sell of records) in the world--The others are Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and the Beatles I think.

Oh, well--now on to the "The Emigrants" and listening to more of  'Kristina'.

Read, Read, Read

Because I need to get borrowed books back on time I am often reading 3 or 4 books at a time.  Fortunately on a Kindle this is not a problem.   I am midstream on three books right now and just finished "The Dressmaker" and sent it back.

A journalist Kate Alcott wrote "The Dressmaker" about the sinking of the Titanic and the Congressional Hearings that followed.  These hearings led to laws being past that would help to prevent the tragedy of the Titanic.  It was all woven in with a sweet heroine who came to America on the Titanic to further her ambitions of being a dressmaker.  I really like historical fiction because you always learn something in such an easy and enjoyable way.

Learning history and geography the way we were taught in school is not necessarily an  easy and enjoyable way, too much memorization of facts and figures which are soon forgotten.  For instance we had a Current Events paper which we had to read in Junior High.  At the end of the week Ms. Corbett would ask questions about it and we did not get to choose which one was orally answered.  We had to stand and answer whichever question she asked.  If we got it wrong, she would say "Check It Off".  If you got three checks you had to write something, can't remember what.  But I was always terrified at these times.  And did I remember what I learned.  Not!

One Thing Leads to Another

So I am reading "Bright Lights, Dark Shadows" the story of ABBA and I start watching some of the songs the books is talking about.  They are all on You Tube.  Then I am reading about what they were doing after their divorces and I see a clip on Frida singing a song about Falling in Love and someone has pieced clips from the movie "Falling in Love" with Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro to Frida singing the song.  What?  Somehow I had missed that movie--two great stars, romance, how did I miss it?

Anyway it was a beautiful song and I found the movie on Amazon.  It only had a rating of 6 but someone doesn't know a romantic movie when they see it.  OK, it was about two married people falling in love...but, it was romantic.  Two such great actors showing the pain of falling in love when you are not supposed to...and try not to...

The Roots of the Olive Tree

Finally, finally, I read the book Marjorie's granddaughter wrote "The Roots of the Olive Tree".  Her name is Courtney Miller Santo and she lives in Tennessee.  I do not want any more books on my shelves so I waited to read it when I got my Kindle.

Wow, she is a great writer.  I could not put it down!!  Thoroughly enjoyed it.  How great to know how to write a good story that everyone would like to read.  I can see why the publishers were so taken with it.  Hope she writes some more.

 She has such insight and ability to express it so well.  It's about five generations of women living together in a town near Sacramento where they raise olive trees that were planted by the father of the oldest woman, who is 110 when the book begins...and it is believable!

Curiosity Leads to Joyful Finds

I have always been a very curious person, which often leads me to ask inappropriate questions, but also leads me to find out very interesting things, unfortunately or fortunately as the case may be, that I soon forget! 

Meagan sent an email about the books by Vilhelm Moberg that her inlaws  were enjoying reading.  That sent me off on a curious search and a start to reading the first book "The Emigrants" on my Kindle.  Then I read about the musical that the ABBA male duo wrote about the books called "Kristina fran Duvemala" and a search for that.

I found the videos on You Tube and love the music, I found it had been recorded in English after a concert at Carnegie Hall, but I like the Swedish lyrics so that sent me to a wonderful find of the interpretation of the lyrics and I printed them out--about 100 plus pages.  Now I can listen to the music and know what they are singing.  I would like to find a good Swedish CD but so far the one I found I wanted is way too expensive so I will use You Tube in the meantime.

However, that sent me a curious search of what happened to the ABBA ladies and I found a lot on You Tube about them and found that Agnetha had made some CDs which I just happened to love and so I downloaded a couple of those to my IPod but then I was curious as to what happened to them and their breakup and that led me to a book to help satisfy my curiosity.  Of course, because they are Swedish and that is my ancestry, too, it makes me more curious than ever.   But I did love the Abba music, introduced to me by Meagan's Mom, as I recall.  And then, of course, I was able to see "Mama Mia" on Broadway with Melissa's Drama Group, loved that, and I have the CD, of course, and saw the movie.  Why is it that I have absolutely no musical talent, but love music so much.

Oh, my, what a couple of interesting days and still so much to read...fun, fun, fun.  So much to learn, to read, to know in my shortened days...

Also in the meantime a former high school friend contacted me and offered me CDs of some of my favorite music, she has a fantastic collection of about 9000 pieces, and many from our youth so she said she would send me what I wanted, I am anxious to get those, too.  I only asked for about a 60 or so of my favorites, though, I am not greedy...

Just In Time

Good timing, Matt came up this weekend and looked for work to do, as usual.  He put the pad which had just come under my new carpet, could never do that alone.  Then he bought the tools he needed to put the net side bags I had ordered for the back of my Subaru and got those in place and then he changed out the 4 way hose nozzle at the front of the house.  All things I could not do for myself.  He also got new oven lights and put them in and filled up my gas tank.  Busy guy while he was here, he likes to keep busy.

We had a nice barbeque steak dinner Saturday night and then a good Happy Garden lunch on Sunday.  I really appreciated Matt coming all the way up here.  He also gave Bruce a really good bath in the front driveway.  Sadie was so happy to see Bruce and Bruce for the most part let her nuzzle him a lot.

Great weekend with Matt and Bruce.  Thanks you so much, Matt!!!

I finished "Caught" by Harlan Coben.  He writes the most complicated mysteries but they are always enjoyable to listen to, yes that was an audio book.  I also finished two more Nora Roberts books, one a mystery, one a romance and am currently reading "War Brides" who also wrote "Sisterhood" which was a very unusual book.  The author Helen Bryan was a CEO and quit to write, she must have to do a lot of research for her books because they are historical novels.  After reading "House of Mirth" and "Tess of d'Urberville" I was very appreciative of the long way women have come into today's world.  Although in many ways society still messes up people's lives as it did in "House of Mirth".  We are continually having to rise above living our life to please other people and worrying too much about what others think.  Gave me lots to think about, both books with sad endings.

I was interested in the comments about Nora Roberts trilogy about Boonesboro in western Maryland.  Some felt she had just "cut and pasted" from other books so she could write about the businesses her family owns in that little town.  I must admit some of her books have much more depth than others.  I have several classics on my Kindle now so I think I will delve into them next, so much more depth in every one I have read...TV hardly gets turned on anymore though I enjoyed watching "Switched" with Jennifer Anniston which I had never seen.  I also watched some more of the "Joseph Smith Papers" last evening--have really enjoyed them.  So much to read and see and do, so little time....I have now read 8 books since I bought my Kindle about two weeks ago and listened to one on my computer.

A New Joy In My Life

I am so happy when something really pleases me and the 6" Kindle Paperwhite does please me.  One reason I have been able to get so much work done is that I know I can stop and rest and read from one of my good books on the Kindle whenever I am tired.  I have read at least four in the past week.

Why do I like it so much?

1. It is small and light.  It is so hard to hold a book when you read in bed, so hard to turn the pages and to get enough light on it.  Now the kindle is easy to hold, no turning pages. love it.
2. There is always enough light, even in the dark!!!  No more looking for good lighting when I am visiting my children or reading in bed or strange places, love it.
3. I can download in an instant from my Wifi or Computer, love it.
4. Amazon keeps tabs on what books I have and what to do with them, love it.
5. With Library to Go I can have 6 books checked out all the time or have some on Wait List, no more running to the library, love it.
6. I actually like to read rather than Audio, of course I can still do audio with my computer, but I prefer to read, because I read so much faster and don't fall asleep midstream, love it.
7. Amazon has free books and special deals so I can even get books besides my Library to Go, love it.  The deal today was Eric Fromm's "The Art of Loving" for $1.99.
8. When my eyes are tired I can increase the size of the letters,. love it.
9. I just tap on which ever book I want to read at the moment and it goes to the right page!

While I am on it, I think Amazon is an amazing company.  I love doing business with them and they seem to have their hands in everything.  Now the owner buys the Washington Post for 250 million, what is he going to do with it?  Something very techy I am thinking.  Besides my Kindle manager they also send me my Pamela's Bread Mix every three months and they sent me an Aeblskiver pan for practically nothing and I love their Instant Videos--how come some people are so smart and the rest of us are just consumers.

Yes, I quit Facebook, so commercial now, but I love Amazon, they are actually doing things to make my life better and making it so easy to do them.  It is all commercial, but it is my choice what I choose, love it.

The Last of 100 Passions--AFI

I had eight on the list of 100 Passions (movies) from AFI that I had not seen.  I couldn't find five of them, but watched three the last few days.  The last one was a real doozy, from 1920, a Lillian Gish silent film.  It was 2 1/2 hrs long with a long cast of characters with a dramatic ending of the betrayed woman floating on a piece of ice toward the falls.  We have come a very long way in 100 years, not all of it good, but technology has certainly improved.

One was "Manhattan" with Diane Keaton, Woody Allen, and Meryl Streep when they were very young.  Richard and I had had to leave a drive-in Woody Allen movie very early, when the children were very young.  We had no idea what it was about, thought it was a comedy, and I have seen few or none since I don't think.  I especially liked seeing Meryl Streep with her long, long hair.  She was so beautiful.  Diane Keaton has definitely gotten better over the years.  Her hair was very kinky with a bad cut but she had pretty eyes.  Woody Allen doesn't change much over the years.  It was a typical Woody Allen film, however, and definitely not a favorite of mine.

I really enjoyed Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck in "The Lady Eve"--a comedy.  She was so pretty and charming and he was a handsome nerd, both very young.  Well done but they drew the story out much longer than they would today. 

Yesterday I cleaned both living room rugs, it is so easy I have no idea why I do not do it more often.  I think I will try cleaning the couches one of these days.  Sadie had been peeing on the center rug and I was not aware of it--under the table!!!  I just don't understand her.  She is outside most of the time, she has a pad in her little home.  For some reason she does it when I am napping or working in the other room.  I think she needs a psychologist as well as retraining.  At least the carpets look and smell nice.  That is great and she can never be in there alone again!!!!!

Maintaining My Home--and Fun at the Movies

Two for two!!!  Living alone can be frustrating with maintenance of home tools and utilities.  My vacuum was not picking up and had been that way for a long time.  I had already cleaned the brush as Richard had taught me years ago.  He was the best vacuum fixer I know.  I had discussed it with Matt and intended to get out the manual and work with him on it and then I forgot and he went home.  So I get out the book and aha, I find a new place I never knew about and simply dislodged the clog and the first run around the bedrooms almost filled my vacuum with dirt and fibers!!!  I am a success.

Then the refrigerator started freezing the cut cantaloupe.  Lowering the temp just made it worse.  Well, that is what manuals are for and luckily for us of the modern age they are always on line.  First thing I learn,  you should run the refrigerator at 3 or 4 at least or it makes the fridge work harder and it freezes even more things.  Simple solution, follow the directions for cleaning, of course, and voila, it works great and no more frozen fruit!

A few days ago I had the pleasure of watching Bette Davis in "Now, Voyager"--I couldn't remember a thing or perhaps I was too young for that type of movie when it came out.  She had won the Oscar for it.  I found that it was 23 on the AFI 100 Passions--interesting that most of them are the "oldies" which I love.  Looking over the list I find there 8 that I could not remember seeing, now to find them.

The 100 AFI (American Film Institute") lists are fun to read.  My favorite song is the #1 on the Songs of the Cinemas--that would be "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" of course, so, see I am not so weird after all.  The quote that is memorable from "Now, Voyager" is something like, "Jerry, let's not reach for the moon, we already have the stars."  A good thought to remember.  Most of the memorable quotes I was familiar with.  #1 film was "Casablanca"--watched it again not too long ago.  I did not necessarily agree with their placement on everything, such as the movie star lists.  And some movies I love were too near the bottom of the 100.  Fun lists for sure if you love the movies like I do.  Thanks to Ted Turner for preserving so many of the very favorites.