Golden Autumn

I awoke to another sunny, breezy day, warm for this time of year but not quite as much as yesterday. I spent most of the late morning and afternoon at work. We were pretty busy for the majority of the day. While I dealt with quite a few of those annoying old ladies who never want to bag and give five hundred contradictory orders on how to do it, most people were in pretty good moods. Even the annoying woman in the bright-colored hat and five hundred layers of clothing wasn't anything resembling the problem she usually is. I even met someone who has seen me riding to yard sales and enjoys doing it herself.

Went straight home after work. I wanted to run to WaWa for milk. I wasn't the only one out and about, either. The roofers down the street were still working on hammering shingles, though they were now blasting Bruce Springsteen. The family across the street was starting to put up their Christmas lights. (They always do it around Veteran's Day. They have this huge display that stays up as late as March or April.) People were cleaning out their cars, raking their yards, and walking their dogs. Kids threw footballs and basketballs in their backyards and strolled and chatted in packs.

When I got in, I had Flounder in Lemon Sauce and a Spinach-Avocado Salad for dinner and made "War" Bread (a multi-grain bread from New England) while dubbing Charade. Audrey Hepburn finds herself on the run after her husband, who tried to run off with $250,000 stolen from the US government during World War II, is murdered. Three crooks who helped him steal the gold and are after Hepburn are the suspects...or could it be the mysterious man with many names who has fallen for her (Cary Grant), or the American Embassy official who seems awfully interested in the gold (Walter Matthau).

Stanley Donen usually made musicals, and he can't help referring to a few of them in this stylish caper. It's lighter than most of Hitchcock's, more like a cross between a Hitchcock late 50s caper and an early James Bond film. The Paris photography is magnificent, the color palatte is appropriately bright and brilliant, and the dialogue is at turns witty and grim. Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant work well together as the pursued lady and the man who may or may not be what he says he is. In addition to Matthau, look for James Coburn as one of the crooks after Hepburn.

(Oh, and the bread came out absolutely divine, soft and chewy, with just enough molasses flavor.)