A night of firsts

Today is Veterans Day. Support those who served and their families, plus those currently serving. Thank you.


Last night, I went to the Laurelhurst Theater for the first time. I saw Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 classic film, "Rear Window," on the big screen for the first time. I walked home from the movie theater, a total of 10 blocks, for the first time since I was a little girl in Norco, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans.

Back then, the movie theater was a couple of blocks away, and I remember going several Saturdays to watch episodes of a serial. Don't remember which one, but I vividly remember walking down the shell road in the trailer park where we lived, walking toward the street perpendicular to the road between two rows of trailers, walking toward the levee that enclosed the Mississippi River. That levee soared above me, it seemed. I remember once seeing the smokestack of some sort of ship moving slowly by. I was in elementary school, maybe eight years old. I was short which added to my impression of the height of the levee. I remember that the smokestack was blue and white and yellow; there might have been a star on it. And here's why I only saw several episodes--my Daddy's job, building water cooling towers for industrial purposes, took us from place to place all across the country. The longest we lived anywhere was three months, the shortest overnight in Enid, Oklahoma--the supplies to build the cooling tower were not on site, so we were sent back to Borger, Texas, to work on another one there.

I don't have any trouble remembering scenes and the setting and the plot of "Rear Window." It is my favorite film, probably seen it on TV a dozen times. I feel blessed to have been able to see it tonight on the big screen. I never get tired of watching Jimmy Stewart act, seemingly without effort. I never get tired of watching Grace Kelly glow on screen. The characters played by Thelma Ritter, Wendall Corey and Raymond Burr-all so well done. And let's not forget the folks who lived in the other apartments overlooking the courtyard. Intriguing to be sure. No wonder Jimmy Stewart's character couldn't stop watching. He could go no where else, so he found the perfect way to spend time.


The lobby, looking toward the box office.


The theater where I watched "Rear Window." There are narrow, rectangular tables in part of the seating area, on every other row, I think. Until everyone ate their slices of pizza they'd bought in the lobby, I have to admit to sensory confusion--smelling pizza in a movie theater struck me as weird.

And the icing on the cake, this delicious neon all over the marquee.

Vacation, Day 2, 10/22/2009, Part 4

A perfect day continued with muscle cars and ended with an antebellum home, all in Mississippi, a tasty supper in Louisiana, and some penny-machine fun (for Mama anyway), back in Mississippi.

There were two muscle cars inside the buildings at Milton's friend's place. A purple Charger--1970 if I remember right--in the process of being restored sat in the newer building, and a yellow 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A sat in the other one, completely covered with a dustcover.

Here are the photos of the Challenger, a car that has won awards at cruise-ins. I think he said that he and his wife ride in the car to those events. Wouldn't that be a neat thing to see? He started the car and let it run for just a little while, knowing we shouldn't be exposed to the exhaust for long. Listening to the powerful sound, I looked up and said, "I love it when you can hear that you've got cylinders!"








Clean lines, clean car.




You could eat in here, right?








A model of the 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A.


Some of the car's trophies.


I was so excited to see the gorgeous purple car, the Charger, that evidently I was shaking, plus it was a lowlight situation. I'm sharing this blurry photo with you so that you can see the rich purple color.


Work's going on, as you can see.






Milton drove us home in the fine Corvette. Thinking I would have room to get out, he backed in, then realized I really couldn't fit between the car and the low brick wall on their carport, so he pulled back out to give me room. Kay and Mama both asked what had taken us so long, so I explained enthusiastically about the speedy ride and about the muscle cars! Kay had been busy while we were gone, making ten pounds of potato salad to take to an event at their church that night. She offered all of us bowls of it, along with saltines and sweet tea. Yummy! We sat around, enjoying being dry when it started to rain and planning our evening outing.

Both of them knew how much Mama enjoys playing the penny machines, so they had decided we ought to go west to Natchez, on the Mississippi River, so we could eat supper and go to the Isle of Capri, a casino on a docked riverboat. Sounded good to me, too.

As we drove around Natchez near the Mississippi River Bridge, figuring out where to eat, I thought I had seen a building we came upon as we neared a left-hand curve in the road. "That's Rosalie!" I said, raising my camera to take a photo through the window.

Found on the Internet: Rosalie Mansion is a historic pre-Civil War mansion in Natchez, Mississippi, significant for its influence on architecture in a wide area. During the American Civil War, it served as Union headquarters for the Natchez area from July 1863 on.

It was built for a wealthy cotton broker in 1823 on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, on a portion of the site of the Natchez Indians massacre of the French in 1729 at Fort Rosalie. It has been owned, operated and maintained by the Mississippi State Society Daughters of the American Revolution for over 70 years. On July 13, 1863 General Grant took possession of Rosalie to use as Union Army Headquarters. On August 26, 1863 General Walter Gresham took command of Union Army troops at Natchez. His headquarters remained at Rosalie.

Gresham had much of the owner's furnishings stored in the attic and put under guard to prevent theft or destruction. Union army tents covered much of the property surrounding the mansion. Union Army soldiers were placed in position in the observatory on top of the mansion.

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989. It's architectural style is Greek Revival.

We parked in the lot of Fat Mama's Tamales while Milton went in to get a menu for us to check out. I was able to get another photo of the mansion that I toured in the mid-1980's.


Deciding we were in a tamale mood, Milton suggested we go across the river to Vidalia, Louisiana, and see if the Sandbar was open. You can tell that it continued to rain in this photo I took of the bridges.


I held the camera over my right shoulder to get this quick shot of the Isle of Capri.


I wanted to show you something I saw at the Sandbar that I remember from growing up in the humid South.

Yep, that's raw rice inside the salt shaker. It keeps the salt from clumping. You can tell there's moisture in the air by checking out the crystals around the holes in the shaker's metal lid. Curious, I Googled "rice in a salt shaker" and got 148,000 hits in .43 seconds! Among the first hits, the one that caught my eye is at ehow.com, "How to Refill Your Salt Shaker," instructions in seven steps. Entertaining, to say the least!

I ate my tasty fried chicken salad without giving the camera another thought. As we left I tried to get a photo of the sign, another moving, lowlight effort. I sort of like it, though.


We continued on to the casino where Mama had fun and left with $17 more than she brought. I had an OK time but I left with nothing left of what I brought.

Friday night I'm going to the Rose Garden Arena for the "So You Think You Can Dance" live show! Whoopee!