Summer sadly slipping away

July 27/14.

Hey there, all of my tiny group of followers! - Still trying to catch up on "no-blog-entries-for-10-months".

Ready to plan a day of activities above here, working both IN and OUT of the house. Never a dull moment.

Crying on the inside, but as Dick Van Dyke ("Albert F. Peterson") sings in Bye Bye Birdie, - Put on a Happy Face! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_CE7GqqrvY  - (with Janet Leigh as his hopelessly-in-love-girlfriend, "Rosie DeLeon").

Another "exciting" visit to Loblaws - (think I shop here about 4 times a week). Just can't CARRY all the cases of pop, bags of cat litter, and so much other heavy stuff in ONE trip. They know me WELL - (and by NAME) at this Broadview/Danforth location! Some of them even remember me from the Global TV days, even though I left the place 12 years ago! - They have good memories! - (So do I)!!!

Most of the soap fanatics recall the daily Trials & Tribulations & Soap Dish coverage. - Especially about
Y & R's Eric Braeden - ("Victor Newman").

Those were the fun days! - (of our LIVES?)

(Oh, - sorry, wrong daytime drama. - "Like sands through the hour glass"),

- well, - YOU know. - (Joseph Mascolo - the evil  "Stefano DiMera". - "The Phoenix rises again"!)  
ALWAYS.

Max's friend, Missy, dyed his hair ultra-blonde. (now he looks like my REAL son!) LOL. - Life is better as a blonde. (or so the commercials say).

Kate, Max and I went to see the nostalgic film Rebel Without A Cause at the Dundas/Yonge Cineplex, using movie passes left over from Christmas - (given to us by Sam). Tickets only 6 bucks a piece. Natalie Wood shouts (above), here, "Start your engines"!

Before we left, I tried to copy her famous pose,

(in the same colour as James Dean's famous red jacket).

Kate also dressed in red - (with PERFECT matching red lipstick)! - How does she DO it? - I've been applying makeup for decades and could NEVER get my lips to look like THAT! -

and Max enjoyed the flick too! -  I think he's a rebel WITH a cause! (but you'd have to ask HIM to be sure)!

Breast cancer check-ups continue at Princess Margaret Hospital - plus annual meetings with my heart doctor, (somewhere around Adelaide and Simcoe). Took forever with all the construction insanity, but finally found a lot to park in. - Cost a friggin' fortune. - Well - health vs. fortune $$ - guess it's WORTH it, right??

Thought I was LATE, but ended up waiting 40 minutes before undergoing another full examination. Everything A-OK. Blood pressure ridiculously good, heart rate fine - but anxiety - unexplainably outta control. (What else is new? - Getting used to it). Doc wants to see me again next year. Alrighty then.

The next day, Kate and I travelled by TTC - (through tons more construction troubles),

back to the Dundas/Yonge theatre to see The Nance, (8 bucks per ticket, using gift cards again)! - for one of our musical faves, - Nathan Lane. - (The Producers, Guys & Dolls).

It's a killer emotional performance in which he plays "Chauncey Miles," - a gay burlesque performer in 1930s New York. The film was shot directly from the Broadway stage over three days in front of live audiences. It's gut-wrenching to watch, as you see the actors sweating, crying, noses running, and not a hanky in sight! So brave. Nathan is brilliant.

He's also an Emmy nominee this year for his role as "Pepper Saltzman" in the ABC sitcom Modern Family.
(***This pic taken at the PBS 2014 Summer TV Critics Association event at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on July 22nd by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP).

Nathan as "Chauncey" in The Nance.

Nathan told reporters, "I'm hoping I'm a sentimental (Emmy) choice, since I've been nominated six times and never won." He's up against some tough competition - Jimmy Fallon and Louis C.K.

When asked if there could be a future spinoff TV series of his Modern Family character, his response was, "I don't know if I will ever see that spinoff -"A Dash of Pepper." - Ha!

His performance in The Nance, earned Nathan another Tony nomination this year.

1. Nathan with co-star Lewis J. Stadlen

On October 10th, Nathan will repeat his Broadway role

in a broadcast of the play on PBS' "Live From Lincoln Center" as part of the series'  40th anniversary season.

Can't wait to see the performance again on TV. (wish we could have seen it on Broadway, but we missed the final show by ONE day on our last trip to NYC). - As my sister, Carrie would say, -  "DANG it"!

Lots more summer catching up in the NEXT entry too. (and yes, Jacob Switzer and Emmett Webb, - you'll be featured again, along with Max's solo album debut)! Got some nice shots of the two of you!

I also spoke to "Master Photog", Duke, who says, he got some fab pics too. (Wanna SEE them ASAP Duke)!

Cheers gang, and to all - enjoy the last few golden weeks of July and August!

Rebels!

November 13/11.

Auntie Ray had a cool 92nd birthday!

Inimitable interior designer, Ray Staples surrounded by staff members at the Christie Gardens diningroom, celebrating with prezzies, cards and cake!

Screens around the seniors condo advertised her birthday, (which she shares with another resident, Elizabeth Herfenist). She's holding a packaged, shiny pashmina scarf we gave her. - Should look great at Christmas time!

Auntie Ray is SO very special to my sister, Carrie & me. Our "surrogate Mum" and link to all things past, (our own, hers, our late Mother's, our grandparents', you name it). She is SO intelligent with more insight and ideas into the world than anyone you will ever meet. A true original. We were on the verge of tears many times during the course of our three-and-a-half hour conversation with her. (as Carrie says, "You just CAN'T do an hour with Ray"!!! - Virtually impossible).

We took her outside, with her walker, so she could introduce us to her favourite plant, - (the one she swears, "claps its hands" when she walks by)! - As an artist, she tends to see things others don't!

Also went up to Auntie Ray's condo, but things were a tad discombobulated, (to say the least), due to a freakin' major overhaul happening on her floor. Unexpected water damage resulted in EVERYTHING having to be temporarily moved from its proper place to some other spot. DOH!!

Mega-stuff in ALL the wrong places!!

(this, after her dutiful son, Kevan, and devoted daughter-in-law, Marilyn - a TV set designer no less (!) spent MONTHS, putting every single teeny item exactly where it should be. (Looking at it NOW, to quote my TV fave, Ricky Ricardo, "WHA' HOPPENED")??? Ai yi yi!

Knick-knacks and chotskies galore!

(I PITY the poor fools who have to put these hundreds of items back in SOME kind of order)!!

Yikes-o-rama!

At one point, Auntie Ray called the front desk, to ask someone to please come up and move the heavy harp,

blocking her bedroom doorway, back to the livingroom,

since she couldn't get around it!! - DONE!!

Uncle Ev's beloved harp back in place!

Later, Auntie Ray insisted, since she missed MY birthday, (in October), she HAD to give me a Barbie doll, with a knitted dress, (made by one of the ladies at Christie Gardens)! She clearly recalls the obsessive love that Carrie & I had for "The Barbs" when we were kids!!

Those were the days!

While at her condo, we looked at the many fabulous Garth Haines original paintings on the walls.

Gorgeous, generous gifts

given to them, out of love, over many years of intense friendship.

My seestah, Carrie & I, outside Christie Gardens after our visit with Auntie Ray.

As I was leaving Auntie Ray's condo, couldn't stop myself from taking a pic in the pretty park just down the street! This is mid-November?? Wow!

Meanwhile, after finally getting home, went to put the garbage out, and as I was just about to toss a huge bag into the bin, spotted a raccoon in the VERY bottom, resting! Ai Carumba! - Scared the HELL out of me!!

Later, realized, this raccoon will NEVER escape without any garbage bags to climb up & over, so had to turn the bin on its side, open it up and hope for the best!! - (as of 10 p.m., "raccoonie" STILL IN THERE)!!

In the midst of all the raccoon nonsense, Sam managed to hang the magnificent mirror (which weighs a TON!), given to (our late) Mum by Auntie Ray, (and now, inherited by US), above the mantle. Not an easy chore.

My fantabulous son, Max, posed in front of the mirror, wearing his new
H & M black jacket,

and looking cooler than Marlon Brando in jet black leather in The Wild One - (1953),

or even James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause - (1955), in the sizzling red rebel leather windbreaker!

Speaking of which, is there a cooler, (or HOTTER?) shot,

than Dean, cooling his face, using a milk bottle? Unforgettable!

Cheers Jimmy!