The Beauty of Fall

I'm not used to getting up at 7AM. Jodie wanted to be at Haddon Imaging by 8 so I could get my x-rays right away. When we arrived, the receptionist told us they do research on Wednesday mornings and don't do x-rays until noon! I was embarrassed, especially since Jodie had to babysit my nephew Khai later. Jodie said she'd get Dad to take me back for the x-ray.

I was in front of the computer for the rest of the morning, updating the nonfiction books inventory and having a quick lunch. I was more than halfway done when I heard my phone go off. It was 11:45; Dad was downstairs. Where had the time gone? I just left the last couple of books and headed downstairs to Dad's van.

The place was hopping when we arrived. I guess Wednesday is a popular day to come in for x-rays. Too popular. It took them almost 40 minutes to call me in. The x-rays took less than 10 minutes. The technician was nice enough to burn them on a CD for me so I can give them to the Foot and Ankle Center tomorrow.

Passed the rest of the day quietly at home. I finished the nonfiction inventory, then cleaned the kitchen and dubbed The Quiet Man. I've been meaning to dub this video since I grabbed it from the Oaklyn Library's Book Sale in the spring, but one way or another, I never got around to it. John Wayne plays former fighter Sean Thorton, who has returned to where he was born in Ireland to get away from it all after he accidentally kills a man in the ring. He falls for feisty Mary Kate Danher (Maureen O'Hara), but her stubborn brother (Victor McLaughlan) refuses to give Mary Kate her dowry. Sean tries to explain that he won't fight without losing Mary Kate. When she tries to leave, it leads to one of the longest, wildest knock-down, drag out fights on film!

After The Quiet Man was over and the kitchen was scrubbed as well as it could be, I decided to do some reading outside. It was too nice to be inside all day. The sky was brilliant blue. The trees are turning amazing shades of rust, scarlet, orange, and gold. The air was warm, and the breeze was soft. I didn't really read so much as pay attention to nature. I could hear the birds call, the chipmunks squeak, and the squirrels chase each other. The world was as perfect as it was ever going to be.

The chilly evening came all too soon. I went inside to make blondies and watch the 1966 version of Rogers' and Hammerstein's Cinderella. This time, Leslie Ann Warren, still in her ingenue phase, is the title servant girl, Celeste Holm is the fairy godmother, Stuart Damon the prince, and Ginger Rogers and Walter Pidgeon the king and queen. There's a few additions and changes from the 1957 live Julie Andrews version that I have, including an additional song for Damon, "Loneliness of Evening," that had apparently been intended for South Pacific but was cut.

Really, all three versions of Cinderella (including the Brandy one from 1997) have something to recommend them. The one you look for depends on which one you remember seeing as a kid, which cast you prefer, and whether video quality is a factor. (The Julie Andrews one is a fuzzy black-and-white print, but it was filmed live and taped on Kinetoscope; we're lucky they were able to dig it up at all. It was considered lost for years.)

Switched to Moonlighting as I finished dinner. In the fifth season episode "I See London, I See France, I See Maddie's Netherworld," Maddie and David have a tough time with a corpse they find in their office that proves to be very popular. A man comes to their office, claiming that he wants the other half of the lottery ticket his friend had. Maddie's not thrilled when she and David find themselves digging up dead mean and being chased by live goons. She's even less thrilled with the nightmare she has that involves dancing with corpses, wacky burials, and skeletons in the office!