The grass (OK, mostly moss) is mowed, windows washed, Costco geraniums planted and my new blue chairs from Home Depot ready for sittin' with a glass of wine on a warm afternoon.
We are still longingly and eagerly awaiting a day over 60 degrees. 70 seems too greedy to even wish for.
Marianne asked me to ride with her on Vashon Island tomorrow so I'm looking forward to that. I think. Between bad weather, travel etc. it's been weeks since I sat in a saddle. I hope my little old horse remembers how to pack around a cautious lady.
Speaking of horses, we're watching "Ben Hur" this week. It's our Easter tradition to watch a campy Roman movie and a nice distraction from the horrors on television. John gave me a fabulous "Ben Hur" blu-ray gift set for Christmas, complete with books and bonus CD's packed with information. The remastered blu-ray is so bright and clear, even better than "Ben Hur" looked in the movie theaters.
The legendary horse trainer who worked with Roy Roger's Trigger was responsible for training the horses in "Ben Hur." It was filmed in Italy, and he traveled all over the country to find 70+ horses for all the different scenes. None of them had ever seen a chariot, much less dragged one full speed with a nervous movie star at the reins. Oh yes, he also trained Charlton Heston and Steven Boyd how to drive horses. Everything was for real in those movie days.
That's the news from Seattle. I hope the sun shines, wherever you are today. It's Good Friday.
Yakima Canutt
ReplyDeleteIf you go for that kind of stuff, there's a Rosemary Sutcliff trilogy about the Romans in Britain -- you can buy them all in one book "The Eagle" (Amazon has it and you can get it for cheap if you're willing to buy used). Her books are very good and atmospheric. This is a "keeper" in my library which means "good enough to want to reread it" -- I've reread it twice now. Any of her stuff is good although some of it is a bit "young" for adult tastes. Her plots are page turners, her characters well fleshed out. Most of her books are set in "Roman Britain" or shortly thereafter. A couple of films have been made based on the first book of this trilogy, notably "Centurion" with Michael Fassbender, and "The Eagle" with Tatum Channing.
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