z Cottage by the Sea
 Cottage by the Sea

Life in a small cottage by the sea

Monday, March 24, 2025

Gone with the Wind

Iit's a rainy, dark day. The kind of day when you need lights from morning to night. It's Monday as I write this.  I am not sure how Tuesday will be but today is chilly and dark outside.    

From Tuesday 4:
Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4
"I came across this Photoshop that I did a few years ago in which I replaced Vivian Leigh's head with my daughters head.  She is a huge Gone With the Wind fan.
It was an epic novel and a big silver screen hit ."

 Here are my answers to Tuesday 4 questions:
1.  Have you read the book or seen the movie Gone with the Wind and what did you think of it?
I've read it several times and enjoyed the novel.  It is much more involved than the movie which cuts out a good portion of the story.    I've also seen the movie many times and enjoyed it.
When she visited Atlanta for business she went to Margaret  Mitchell's home and found it interesting.  Mitchell was killed by a drunk Taxi driver while crossing Peachtree Street.  She was only 49 years old.  The driver was charged with murder.   The driver, Hugh D. Gravitt was given 18 months is jail  for involuntary manslaughter.   Yup, that was it and he spent years complaining that he had to go to jail at all.  
The newspaper article about him is HERE.  It's very intersting. 
 Driving drunk is like walking around with a loaded gun looking for trouble.  He got off with no more than a slap on the wrist.

2; Which character was your favorite? If you didn't read it or see it. who is your favorite ficitional character from a book or movie and why?
I like Scarlett best.   She was 16 years old when the story begins and turned herself into a selfless hero to save Tara.. and to her Tara was every single person on it..  Everyone was loved and cared for even at the expense of her own happiness.   Melanie was weak but good and it was Melanie who saw the goodness of Scarlett when others did not.
Rhett the  gambling rum runner, and pal of ladies of the night, had zero understanding of Scarlett.
He was not there for Scarlett when Bonnie died. He kept  himself locked away in his room leaving Scarlett to grieve alone while he drank himself into a self absorbed stupor.   He blamed her for things she never did and treated her horribly after their child's death.    Frankly my dear, I'd have kicked his behind down the front steps.
   Did he come back?    I believe so.  I think. his kind always make a reappearance.  
And Scarlett?   She would go on to make quite a good life for herself I think anyway.  She was forged in the white hot fire of war time America and though fearful, Scarlett took the bull by the horns to succed for her family's welfare.

3. Are you a fan of big epic films like Dr. Zhivago,  Gone with the Wind, etc." If not what kind of films do you enjoy the most?
I saw Dr. Zhivago a  little while back.   I had nevr had an interest in it as it looked boring  to me.   It was.  I didn't like it and if I hadn't been watching with someone, I would have turned it off part way through.
Gone with the Wind I liked vry much.    I enjoyed The 10 Commandments as well.
I also like film noir, cartoons, romances and western movie.

4. The Ante Bellum era is indeed gone with the wind.  Is there an era in history that you are interested in or that you have a good deal of knowledge about? Perhaps there is an era you would like to learn more about?
I find the era of the Civl War very interesting.   
Where did the south get all that money?  Besides the terrorism and theft, they were being financed by  nations like England.  
Why weren't Lee and  Jefferson Davis hung for the traitors they were?  Foreign nations wanted an end to the USA and did all they could to divide the naiion to weakend it and make her  easy pickings.     England was salivating to destroy America.  If it hadn't been for Czarist Russia we would have had a much more difficult time maintaining the Union.
 .  Russia sent both her naval fleets to guard our coasts from southern terrorist activity and bombings.  At the time Russia was the world'a finest navy with state of the art weapons. 
Interestingly enough those weapons were manufactured in Tennessee!
 As the one Admiral told the south who were preparing to bome both coasts. if you bomb New York city or San Francisco, we will wipe you off the map. And they had the means to do it!     You didn't learn that in school did you?
   Lee and Davis walked away  extremely wealthy.  The bank robbers who plundered the mid west for gold for the Confederacy continued on into the old wsst began the crime sprees that went on into the 1930s robbing banks and murdering for money .   Cole Younger,   jesse James,  Mosby's rangers, Quantrill's Raiders.. murdering thugs who robbed banks and killed civilians for their money all began by stealing money to support the confederacy. 
Much of the gold  from the confderecy is missing to this day.  A lot of hanky panky was going on down there and the whole operation was as shady as can be.   
The documentaires cover none of this and so I have a lot of questions about what was really going on.   What I do know is that it was an attempt to destroy the nation.   
"United we stand, divided we fall.".... Patrick Henry.

Friday, March 21, 2025

Photograph

It's supposed to rain a lot on Saturday. Since this is Thursday, I have no idea except for what the weatherman says and along the coast he is usually not on the money got out seaside area.
Thursday, as I was writing this, eas very windy though.

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Saturday 9: Photograph (1973)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune?    Hear it here.


1) In this song, Ringo stumbles upon a photograph that reminds him of a lost love. Are there any photos displayed in the room you're in right now?    Yes. Photos of great grands, grands, parents, dog, sons and daughter.. Yup, there are photos in this room on one of the bookshelves.

2) While there are approximately 180 published songs credited to Lennon-McCartney, this is the only song written by Harrison-Starr. When you think of Ringo's old band, the Beatles, what's the first song that comes to mind?    "Michelle"
 
3) George and Ringo wrote this song while on a yacht in the South of France. They, and their wives, had just attended Mick Jagger's wedding to Bianca in Saint Tropez and decided to take a little holiday together. What are your vacation plans for 2025?     
I don't have plans for a vacation.  I live in a vacation area anyway.   Years back a friend of mine went to the Bahamas.  I asked her how it was there.  She said, "It's New Jersey with a palm tree thrown in."
 
4) At 5'8, Ringo was the shortest Beatle and the only one with blue eyes. How tall are you? What's your eye color?
Last time my height was measured for my spinal exam I was a bit over 5'5".  My eyes are green.

5) Ringo gave his first wife, Maureen, a one-of-a-kind birthday gift.   Frank Sinatra recorded "The Lady Is a Tramp" with special lyrics, written just for her.   Do you have anything that's personalized? (It could be a monogram on a scarf, it doesn't have to be as cool as a gift from Frank Sinatra.)         
I have a personalized hanging ornament and a key chain. A long while ago a friend made me a drawing personalized with  "Chana-Banana" written on it.     
 
6) Ringo appeared as Mr. Conductor on Thomas the Tank Engine.   He recorded the narration for the entire first season in just a week. Tell us what you did last week.
The weather was stormy and windy.     I was home doing honey things and reading and drinking tea.

7) As a boy in Liverpool, Ringo loved watching American westerns.   Do you like cowboy movies/shows?
 Yes.  I like to watch them on YouTube, and TV as re-runs.   I like the old TV shows and the old movies.

8) In 1973, when this song was a hit, former President Lyndon Johnson died. Who was President when you were a kid?
 The president when I was old enough to know about such things was JFK

9) Random question: When you woke up this morning, did you know the day and date (before looking at your phone)?
Yes.     I don't stay close to my phone at all.   I usually keep the 5G and wifi turned off.   I hate how everyone  is addicted to their phone.   They answer it when at dinner, visiting someone, in a store, in the car.   Any place they happen to be the phone comes first. 
Yes, its a real addiction and its not normal.

Monday, March 17, 2025

The Windy Month

Tuesday 4!
I am hoping to get more people to give this a try.
So many subscribe and come to see Tuesday 4 but only a few participate.
On another note,  a few weeks ago someone was making fun of  Senator Elizabeth Warren. She is remembered for having taken a university job meant for an indigenous American. It was her family traditional history that they had Cherokee ancestors.  Well, it turns out she did but she inherited only 1/1000th from that ancestor and of course we know the job is for someone with a complete experience..  I do not approve of her taking that job.. it was wrong,  But  something else struck me as I was thinking things over.
Which of us will be remembered for generations to come with pride and reverence?  Why most of us don't even know our great grandparents and when we pass on we will be forgotten by future gnerations, as is most common.
 Yet, this man or women is remembered by many generations even down to relations who retain little of their DNA but 'wear' it with pride!
 Imagine what kind of person this must have been!   It reminds me of the  scripture that says " her   children rise up to call her blessed."    In this case her children's great great great grandchildren call her blessed.  Imagine that!
   Every story has many sides to it if we look deeply and consider things. .  I just thought it would be nice to share my thoughts on this with you.

Welcome back to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 where we try to have fun answering questions about various subjects.
March, they say, comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.  It is called the windy month like Chicago is called the windy city!

1.  Has March come in like a lion or a lamb in your neck of the woods? 
Windy days began at the last weeks of February and March has been very windy indeed!

2. There have been some awful storms of late.. have you suffered through them or have you ever suffered through a very bad storm in your life? (if so we wish you well)
There have been some wind storms that knocked down limbs and twigs in the woods and today was the remnants of the severe storms that ravaged the mid west and south the past 2 days .  For us, there was wind and rain.. a good soaking.

3. Spring begins March 20th and ends with summer on June 20th this year.  Any plans for Spring in general? How about the spring holidays? 
My family will gather for the spring holy days coming up in April.  

4.  What are your favorite springtime flowers?  I think Daffodils, Hyacinths, violets, tulips, bluebells, lady slipper are all so very pretty.  Mountain pinks are wonderful and grow around the pond.
From my garden in Spring:
Lilac

Scotch Broom

Some of my wisteria.. its all over the place 

White Mountain Pinks


Rhododendrun

 Trees or shrubs? Lilacs, Pussy Willow, Forsythia ,  Azalea and Rhodedenrun all grow in my yard and I think they are very pretty. 
How about a song with a springtime theme to it that you enjoy?   I remember the song "April Showers" that our 2nd grade teacher taught to us.  We had music lessons in our town schools from kindergarten all the way up.    Everyone learned to read music and play an instrument.  Music, art, homemaking and 'shop' were considered important classes then and America was better for it.
Here is a recording from the Frank Sinatra Radio Show broadcast on April 2, 1947. The show was sponsored by Old Gold cigarettes and Jane Powell was the guest that night.