TCM Presents: Margie (1946)

Margie is a coming-of-age film about a teenaged girl living in the 1920s, navigating high school classes, the debate club, girlfriends and boyfriends, dealing with the embarrassment of having a suffragette grandmother and a mortician father, not to mention recurring bloomer problems.

I've seen this movie many times and have always enjoyed it. It's funny and charming. But, watching it yesterday, I felt uneasy about the main romance between Margie and her French teacher, Mr. Fontayne. 

Fontayne is always showing up where Margie is: her debate, the ice skating rink. On prom night, he shows up at her house to return her homework. Fontayne tells Margie's grandmother he'd rather take Margie to the prom than anyone else. He later dances with Margie and tells her the same. In the last scene of the movie, we see them as an older, married couple. 

It's implied that Fontayne is less than eight years older than Margie, but that doesn't account for the main problem in their relationship--that he is her teacher. Odd, I never thought about that before. 

Happy Anniversary Jace!

 Jace came to live with us two years ago. 

It wasn't always easy. Jace used to pull on the leash, was very aggressive to other dogs on walks, and did not know how to behave at outdoor restaurants. He's mellowed out, and is much better in all areas.

Here are some recent photos from Rowayton Dog Park. He does love to howl. 

Look at this happy boy. 

I better get busy and cook a duck breast just like last year.

We love you Jace.

Book 16: Pay Dirt by Sara Paretsky

VI Warshawski is suffering from PTSD after witnessing a father murder his trans child. At the request of her "goddaughter" Bernie, VI travels to Lawrence, Kansas to watch Bernie's housemate break the three-thousand point lifetime scoring mark in NCAA basketball. 

In the after-game celebration, Bernie's other housemate Sabrina disappears.VI reluctantly agrees to look for her and finds Sabrina suffering from a drug overdose in an abandoned house outside of town used for fraternity drug parties.

Instead of thanking VI for saving Sabrina, the police interrogate her and a FBI agent claims VI could have been facing a murder charge if Sabrina had died. 

When VI returns to the house the next day and discovers a dead woman, the law enforcement harassment intensifies. 

I enjoyed this book. But I can't help wondering why the Lawrence DA and FBI agent were so aggressive in targeting and attempting to frame VI. I get that she was convenient, having found the woman who OD'd and the murdered woman, and was from out-of-town, but didn't they realize who they were dealing with? After all, they did investigate her background.

I guess it's a case of Paretsky's rich powerful villains being too arrogant to realized a woman can beat them at their own game. And she did. 

Thankful Thursday Thoughts

In keeping with my attempt to be positive, and borrowing from the Frugal Girl, I'm going to list things that make me thankful.

• After horrible flooding rains on Sunday, the weather has been great--sunny and cool. I've been wearing jackets in the morning. It's refreshing.
• On my morning walk with Jace, I saw a deer today running across the field at Mathews Park. It was beautiful and made me happy.
• The doctor figured out what was wrong with me from my colonoscopy. We have an appointment to discuss treatment.  
• I've enjoyed the last two Sara Paretsky mysteries I borrowed from the library.
• It was Bette Davis Day on TCM: 24 hours of Bette's movies. 
• The Mets had a second walk off homer against the Orioles yesterday and won the series. LGM.

Book 15: Overboard by Sara Paretsky

After a long night of surveillance, private detective VI Warshawski takes her two golden retrievers for a run along the Lake Michigan shore.  There they find a badly injured teenage girl hidden among the rocks. "Jane Doe" later disappears from the hospital before VI can discover who she is. Later Jane's hospital roommate and a janitor who overheard Jane's conversation with a mysterious stranger are murdered.

Luckily for Jane, VI is on the case and unravels the web of murder, corruption, hate crime, elder abuse, and blackmail, not to mention family turmoil and adultery.

A Positive Outlook

To be clear, a positive outlook is my goal, not necessarily my current state of mind. 

I am still dealing with my gastric problems, but they aren't too disruptive. I didn't have any bad days last week, compared to the previous week when I had two. I'm also not as tired recently. I'm finally able to do some more work around the house. I still have many things to do, but I'm making progress. It may be slow, but it's still progress.

I went to the library twice to pick up Angel of Vengeance which was published last Tuesday. The librarian confirmed that I was number one on the hold list, but the book isn't available yet. Apparently, the library got a huge shipment of books that need to be unpacked. I offered to unpack the books myself, but that didn't go over too well. 

In the spirit of a positive outlook, at least I picked up two V.I. Warshawski books by Sara Paretsky: Overboard and Pay Dirt. I've already finished Overboard. Hopefully, Angel of Vengeance will be available by the time I finish Pay Dirt.

Another positive outlook, the Mets beat the Orioles in tonight's series opener 4-3. They blew a 3-0 lead, but Francisco Alvarez saved the game with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th--the first walk off of his career. LGM!

Late Thursday Thoughts

I've been meaning to write a version of a post for the past few days. But I've been in a prolonged writing slump. I've written only two posts this month. I haven't journaled since we were in Sea Isle City--about six weeks ago. Needless to say, I haven't done any serious writing. At least, I've been thinking more about writing, but that is obviously not enough.

Jeff and I have been dealing with various health issues and doctors' appointments over the last week-and-a-half including my colonoscopy on Monday morning. There were two days last week when I felt so bad, I could barely walk Jace and throw some meals together. I hope the colonoscopy resolves what's been wrong with me.

I don't think the Mets are going to make the playoffs. Today they lost a series to the Oakland As. At the beginning of the month, they lost a series to the Angels. The Mets are currently two games behind Atlanta for the last playoff spot. They have a three-game series against the Marlins--who are lousy against every team except the Mets. Then they play the Orioles, Padres, and Diamondbacks. It doesn't look good. New York Mets, please prove me wrong.

I found a Vanderpump Rules marathon on tv today--the season that ended with Scandoval. I watched around doing the laundry, walking Jace, taking Jeff to the doctor's. It reminded me that I never wrote a post about the latest VPR season. Maybe that will help me break out of this writer's block.

Monday Miscellanea

I've been discouraged with myself lately. For the last week or so, I've been trying to give myself grace. I haven't felt 100 percent in two months. It's been a bad weather summer (and we've gotten off easier than other parts of the country.) But I feel that the grace period has lasted long enough. I've got to turn things around. At least I finally got to the gastro specialist today. 

The Mets won a make-up game against the Cardinals. It was a nice comeback after the Mets lost two consecutive games to the Angels. There may be a wild card in  the future. 

I'm remaining immersed in the Preston & Child world. I'm skimming through the three books of the Leng Quartet again. Yesterday I read summaries of all the Pendergast books. I've read all the books, but some of the details are sketchy. A week to go before the latest book comes out. 

The Heat Is On...

Again: hot, humid, poor air quality. 

After I needed an hour to recover on a midday walk with Jace, I made some changes in our routine. I've been driving him to a park for morning walks: Mathews Park to Oyster Shell Park, or Taylor Farm. I need to get up earlier to make this more efficient and cooler. I've shortened our other walks. Even though Jace is always game to go further, it's not good for him. 

I'm always psyched to see our doggy friends on walks like Dylan, Ruby, Holly, and Poppy. I was happy to see the beagles, Julie and Jerrys at Oyster Shell Park yesterday. Today we passed Poppy on Maple Avenue--that made my day.

We've been watching a lot of Olympic events. It's been kind of haphazard, but fun: gymnastics and swimming, track starting today. I even saw some shotput today. I've also been re-reading some Preston & Child books. I finished the latest today. The new book will be published August 13th. I hope I am first on the waiting list. I'll have to go to the library that day. In the meantime, I'll do some re-re-reading. 

Today I met my friend Chris at the Sono Arts Festival. It's so small--a shell of its former self. We lucked out with a break in the weather, and it was nice to hang with Chris.