July 23, 1998
Dear Everyone:
Happy Birthday, “Richard”!!!
Well, here I am back in business after our trip to
Oregon.
“Jeannie” and I arrived Friday night, just a few minutes after
“Marshall” who had also driven up from
Fresno.
The wake for Dad was held Saturday evening.
That morning, “Alice”, the official caterer of the greater Wood
Family, made an inventory of what was already available in Mother’s
kitchen and what “Alice” would need to pick up at the store later.
As I was looking in the fridge for something to have for
breakfast, “Alice” decided to check the freezer.
You guessed it; I got beaned by a bag of frozen bagels.
No serious damage to either me or the bagels.
And the wake went very well.
On Sunday, everyone helped to finally seal the wood
on the new deck. This had
been delayed due to the fact that the deck had to be completely dry and,
like California, Oregon had been having more wet weather than usual.
I did my part by washing loads of laundry.
Ever notice how, whenever the whole family gets
together, something of a disastrous nature happens?
Last Christmas, the microwave suddenly died; then the kitchen
sink backed up just in time for Christmas Dinner.
This time, the washer broke down.
Also, we realized that we couldn’t use the drier because it
vented out onto the deck and would happily vent lint and dust onto the
newly sealed (and still wet) deck.
Luckily, the neighbors had a washer/drier set
almost exactly like Mother’s and they were out of town that weekend,
having left the garage door opener with Mom.
So I schlepped baskets of dirty clothes across the street and sat
in the garage, reading a book, while the laundry ran.
This ensured that the loads would not get unbalanced and wreck
yet another washer. Then I
schlepped baskets of clean clothes back again.
“Marshall” dubbed me, “The Laundry Matron.”
On Monday, we gathered again, this time at the
cemetery, for a brief service.
Several old friends showed up, as well as a couple of men who had
worked for Dad thirty-something years ago when he managed the plant in
Portland.
And Father Something-ski, who may have been the
Canby priest,
came. “Jeannie” told me that
he and Dad had many wonderful conversations over time, particularly
because the one thing they never cared to discuss was religion.
When it was time, we all got into our cars and
followed a little, blue van up over one hill and down another until we
came to a stop. Then we all
waited as Father Something-ski and the young man in charge went back to
the main building. It seems
that, in true Family tradition, we had forgotten to bring Dad’s ashes
along with us. Evidently,
everyone assumed that someone else had the urn.
Once this omission was corrected, a man with a
power drill quickly did the honors and Father Something-ski said a few
words. Then it was time for
us all to follow “Marshall” back, as he had a map.
Apparently, the map included planned expansions that hadn’t been
completed yet. “Marshall”
led us to a dead end and, one by one, we all turned around and followed
him back to the main building.
After that, we made our annual pilgrimage to
Ashland for
the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
We had all voted the week before for Mother to come with us as
had originally been planned last November, so there were six of us in
all. Then, on the last
night, “Marshall”, who had been enjoying a week of “terrorizing fish” in
the Molalla River,
joined us for
Henry IV, Part One, a very good production.
We liked all of the plays and only hated the set decoration on
one of them (A
Midsummer Night’s Dream--you need more than just a bed).
Movies...
Out of
Sight.
George Clooney
plays a charming rogue who can't help smiling at the
pretty federal
officer even as she tries to place him under arrest.
He also can't help robbing banks.
He's just not a "9 to 5 kind of guy".
However, he is the
kind of guy who would rather risk going back to prison than leave a lady
in distress. The story is
marred by jumps in the timeline (flash backs, flash forwards, is it real
or a fantasy?) and very poor editing.
The Mask
of Zorro. Actually,
there are two Zorros
(Zorroes?) in this version.
Anthony Hopkins
plays Zorro the Elder who, 20 years ago, foiled the plot of the evil
governor. However, the evil
governor quickly figured out who Zorro was because Zorro and Don Diego
de la Vega are the only "two" men in all of Old California who speak
with a Welsh accent. Zorro
the Elder spends the next 20 years in prison, having lost everything to
the evil governor.
Flash forward 20 years and meet Zorro the Younger,
played by
Antonio Banderas, who goes through a remarkable collection of wigs,
beards and mustaches over the next two hours.
Zorro the Elder first teaches the youngster to fight with a
sword. Then he teaches him
table manners, so he can pass himself off as a young lord.
The evil governor is up to his old tricks and Zorro
the Younger must find out what nefarious plot the old guy is up to now.
Plus, the governor has a beautiful daughter (when do they not?).
Z-the-Y and she join in a duel just as if
Robert Shaw and
Geneviève Bujold
hadn't done it better 22 years ago in
Swashbuckler. Zorro
has an entertaining, if totally unnecessary, romp in the barracks with
the governor's soldiers.
Then on to the exciting finale, featuring enough
pyrotechnics to send all of Old California into orbit. Lots of rousing
music by James
Horner (Titanic)
and exceptionally good sound quality.
Don’t be surprised if this one shows up on next year’s
Oscar list in
one or more of the technical categories.
Nevertheless, “Jeannie” has elected to wait for the
video so she can revel in Anthony Hopkins and zip past Banderas as much
as possible. It couldn't
hurt.
Love, as always,
Pete
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