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I am looking forward to this animated film, "Monster House." Why? Well, who didn't as a child know of a "haunted" house in their hometown, and firmly believe there were witches, ghosts or zombies living in it? In Clear Lake, there were three such houses that "all the kids" thought had some sort of spookiness to it. There was a house in my neighborhood that had a small "forest" in the backyard and I swear the people who lived there would stand around in the forest watching us kids, but not hardly move a muscle. So we dubbed this the Zombie House. Then there was a house on the south shore of the lake, that was all stone and cobblestone, and the woman who lived there had scary big grey hair, wore BLACK (which was unheard of in the '70s) and sometimes when driving past her house your car would stall! Scary...so this was the Witch's House. Then lastly, just down the road from the Witch's House was the Doll House. And this was for real. This house was owned by a couple who had two life sized dolls that they would set around the living room (and all could see them as the house had a big picture window). They would set them at the piano, in two rocking chairs, etc. No one knew really why this did this, it was thought maybe they had lost two children. Anyway, I'm looking forward to this film, lots of little kids running around the theater or not.
Joe and I had the great opportunity to see "Wicked" on Thursday of this week. It was truly one of the most incredible stage productions I've seen, and I've/we've both seen a lot. It doesn't really stick too true to the fantastic novel by Gregory Maguire, but the gist of his story was there. The musical added a lot of really good humour, especially out of the mouth of Galinda, who becomes Glinda the Good as the show progresses. I could completely see how this role must have been written with Kristen Chenoweth in mind, who originated the role on Broadway. Anyway, it was a big production full of lots of great stage magic, costumes, lighting and music. A sold out house, too, which is always more fun. If you get the chance to see it somewhere - do see it. You won't regret it, or the sort of high cost. :)
We spent five lovely, warm days in Clear Lake for the Fourth this year. Along with my sister Debbie, her husband Jeremy, and my sister Julie (Dia) and her husband, Tim. And of course two dogs, Max and Daisy. Lots of good grilling, seeing the aunts and uncles and some cousins as well. The fireworks over the lake were awesome this year, as they had three barges on the lake from which they shot the fireworks, so it was really incredible. The 4th of July parade was about the same as always, lots of local advertising mainly, with some state politics thrown in. Here is a link to a video of some safe, legal fireworks we had, that Debbie got for us, and we set off on the 3rd. Notice a certain dog barking in the background?
Click here.
Over the 4th of July, which I will write more about soon, I took this quick little video of Max on the deck in Clear Lake, he seems to smell or sense something...it's cute, check it out. Click here.
For those of you out there who are following my summer reading, here's a short update. I have given up on "Ulysses" for now. Just a bit too much for a summer read. Oh well. I shall, though, attempt it maybe as a winter effort.
My very good friend Lynn loaned me two books, one of which I have finished, one I haven't started yet. The one I finished is called "Q & A" and is about a "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" type quiz show in India. It was an awesome story. I highly recommend it to anyone else looking for good characterizations and fun storyline.
I am now reverting back to my love of a good mystery by reading a PD James mystery, "A Taste for Death." So far, so good. Has all the things one expects in a murder mystery. Death, an inspector, the usual. And it's British as opposed to the Swedish mysteries I've been reading lately.
I have photos from the Fourth of July that I will work on this weekend, so stay tuned for Fourth of July update, albeit a bit after the fact. :)
