Mesa, AZ - Misc Adventures

Well, it’s been one of those days - just because we don’t have exciting adventures doesn’t mean that we haven’t been having adventures. recently, we’ve had the:

OLD TOWN BRONZE COWBOY ADVENTURE

I wrote about the Old Town Bronze Cowboy that we met at the Tempe Art Festival on December 1. I thought he was a magician then when he fooled both Gary and me with his costume. Well, today, I think he’s even more of a magician. I got an e-mail through the blog saying he had left a comment on the blog itself. He commented on our meeting him and admiring his performance art. No big deal, you say. Yes - but - I have no idea how he ever found my blog or how he ever knew that he was mentioned in it. I was amazed when I saw him in costume and was asking ‘How does he do that?’ Now, I’m really asking ‘How does he do that?’

I also looked him up on Youtube where you can type in ‘Old Town Bronze Cowboy’ and find several videos of him. Mostly he sits on a bench or leans against a wall, looking like a bronze statue. Then, when someone sits down next to him for a picture, he moves. WOW. How surprised would you be? He’d scare the bejeebers out of me. The people in the videos were sure taken by surprise.

I’ll have to go to Scottsdale on a Friday or Saturday night to find out.

Here’s the sad part: I don’t have his e-mail address so I cannot reply to him personally. I can write a comment to him on my blog, and I have, but he’s going to have to return to the blog page to find it.

CONTENTIOUS SEWING ADVENTURE

I'll bet you didn't know that sewing could be a contact sport. Well, neither did I. But, yep, it was contentious. But let me recap for a moment. Our previous RV had a ‘short’ queen sized bed which means that it was shorter than a normal queen sized bed and needed shorter sheets. We’ve been using some regular queen sheets for the time we had that RV but I’ve always liked ‘tight’ sheets, sheets that don’t roll with you like a cocoon when you turn, ones you can drop a quarter on to bounce. So, several weeks ago, I bought some ‘short’ queen sized sheets. Loved the fit. Well, you know the history, we traded that RV in and now have a ‘short’ king sized bed. Shucks.

This ‘short’ king sized bed is 72” x 75’. We have a king sized bed at home and I’ve got 2 completely unused sets of king sheets which I got at a closing sale sitting in our linen closet. I asked the guy taking care of our home in our absence to send a set to us. Well, they were 78” x 80” a little too long, a little too wide. Shucks again. So, after a few weeks of these and after looking for ‘short’ king sheets on line and seeing the cost, I had an inspiration: I can re-size these sheets with a few well-placed seams. I can sew each of the corner seams to where they should be to fit this bed.

Thus, this afternoon, after I had washed the sheets, I turned them upside down so the seams were out, put them on the bed and pinned the corner seams up to fit. Hey, this might work. I then hied over to the sewing room to sew up my sheets. Now I have owned a sewing machine and have done lots of sewing in my time but my machine broke about 20 years ago and I haven’t used it since. I am not only rusty but the machines are much more user friendly than my old one was. However, I caught on fast and was merrily sewing my seams while listening and joining in the chatter.

Then one lady started in on politics and began to dis President Obama. I gritted my teeth but she continued. Come on. This is a sewing room, not a political debate. Finally, after she had taken the stage for about 5 minutes without a counter since everyone else in the room was Canadian, and I decided to speak up. I can only grit my teeth so long. I mentioned how great America was that we could all have different opinions and live in harmony. Then I told her that I was elated to vote for President Obama and listed all the good things from the last 4 years: I mentioned the stock market, the 2 wars, the unemployment picture and health care. But, I said, I really didn’t come here to discuss politics - I came to sew. The Canadians weren't going to be left out and they chimed in on their government. 

When I got done, I took my ‘creation’ back, put it onto our mattress and, voila, IT FITS. Oh, boy.

But, who would have thought a sewing adventure could turn contentious? Well, actually, it was not contentious, that’s hyperbole. It was itself an example of democracy in action.

THE HOLLYWOOD ADVENTURE

Gary and I owned 2 video stores for about 11 years and during that time not only had a movie running all hours the store was open but also previewed lots of movies so we could speak intelligently about them to our customers. Thus, 2 people who had never been big movie goers got movied-out. Very movied-out. In the last 16 years since we’ve sold the video stores, we’ve seen Billy Elliot (the original movie, not the musical), Whale Rider, Life is Beautiful, The Tree of Life, Titanic and maybe a 1 or 2 others. Hmmm. Interesting set of movies. And, note that there were so few movies that I can name them. 

But, today we went to Lincoln. First, let me say, it was an excellent movie and I expect several Academy Award nominations if not awards will come from this. Secondly, I’m glad that I’m reading the book Lincoln and have been am American History teacher in my past - otherwise I might have been a bit lost. The movie is about the passage of the 13th Amendment banning slavery in the United States and how Lincoln maneuvered to get this passed in a House that was split between Democrats, Radical Republicans and Republicans.

What shenanigans, what bribery and finally, what compromises were made. Several voted because they had been promised a government job, several because they had been paid, and several voted, not because this was the amendment they wanted but because it was what they could get - half a loaf is better than none.

I don’t want to spoil the movie and its plot for you and all I’ve said here is that House was voting on the 13th Amendment which you can read about in history books but it is a very interesting movie and I’d recommend it - but read about Lincoln and the 13th Amendment on Wikipedia before you see it.

Boy, was this movie, which was 90% interior shots, dark. I kept waiting for a bit of light. But then, there was no electricity in the 19th century and rooms were lit by fireplaces and kerosene lamps. Victorian rooms featured furniture made of walnut and upholstered with dark satins, deep red tapestries and rugs and draperies of the same materials which were not opened much in the winter to conserve heat. And, yes, the men smoked pipes, cigars and cigarettes with smoke which swirled around and fogged the rooms. It was a dark movie but, of course, the subject matter was dark also.

Excellent movie and we can see why there are several Golden Globe nominations, probably quite a few Oscar nominations to follow.