Kim's Thoughts
Just a few thoughts I feel worthy of jotting down!
Review: Jersey Boys
A couple of weeks ago, my friend Cathy and I were talking about stage shows and interesting places to go for things like that. She asked if I ever saw Jersey Boys and mentioned that the show was currently playing at Shea’s Performing Arts Center in Buffalo. I said, no – why don’t we get tickets and go!!!??? So, we did – we got tickets for the matinee show on Thursday!!! What a treat!!! From the moment we talked about it, I looked forward to it! I love the music of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons – I even saw them live on the Steel Pier in Atlantic City along with Brenda Lee when they were just The Four Seasons and I was like, maybe 10 or so! Who doesn’t know their music? Even if you are too young to remember their hits when they were hits and if you don’t even know who they are – you have heard their music – it gets chosen for movies and TV shows and commercials all the time! Their music is HUGE and they had so many hits and I couldn’t wait to listen to a couple hours of it set in the story of how four guys from the streets of Jersey got their big break and became STARS!
So, Thursday came…….I picked up Cathy and we headed to Buffalo with the help of Maggie – my GPS, since neither of us were exactly sure how to get to Shea’s and where to park. We talked and talked all the way – it was such a pretty day for a drive! Maggie took us right to the entrance of Shea’s – not quite the route we would have taken to get to the general vicinity, but she got us there. We found a parking lot directly across the street – yay – but were surprised to find out that they were charging $30 to park!!! WHAT??? So, not willing to pay $30 to park, unless we had no other choice, I asked the attendant if there were any more reasonably priced parking lots nearby. He said we could use city parking (and said it like it was a bad thing) and the nearest one was a couple blocks away. We went on two blocks up the street and found it — max cost for a day of parking in the city garage — $7.00!!! Um, YEAH – I’ll walk two blocks for that! I was surprised at the number of people who just paid the man $30 – that lot and several others just like it were packed with cars with drivers who obviously didn’t think to ask the question, “is there some place cheaper?”!!! Anyway…..happy with our cost savings, we looked for a place to have some lunch before the show and found a great little deli right beside Shea’s.
It was the first time I’ve ever been in Shea’s – I’ve seen a lot of shows in Rochester and Toronto, but none in Buffalo and, specifically, none at Shea’s. When I walked in, I was awe struck! What an incredibly regal theater it is…….so ornate and luxurious with gold and red velvet and that was just the lobby and hallway to the doors into the theater! We entered the theater and found our seats — fourth row center — incredible seats — and looked around at the magnificent space and felt overwhelmed by the history and beauty! It is an amazing building that I’ll never forget – so gorgeous!!!
Then, the show started……….and I was not disappointed………in fact, it was so much better than I could have possibly expected it to be! The actors couldn’t have sounded more like the real guys if they were actually the real guys!!! And the story of how they got started and how fame impacted their lives and their careers was very interesting and emotional…….yes, I used the “E” word – several parts brought me to tears (and some actual sobbing) – when they broke out into the first song…..OK, so just about every time they broke out into a song I loved – certain key points in their lives (especially when Frankie Valli’s youngest daughter dies) – I was wiping at least a little tear through most of the show! We really could have used a box of Kleenex! 🙂 It was over two hours jam packed with fabulous music and narration of how it all happened from each of the guy’s perspectives and finally where they all are, now – one is, sadly, no longer with us. And it all ended with an exciting final scene with all the cast on stage singing and dancing to “December 1963, Oh What A Night” – my favorite of their songs!!! The entire audience was on their feet clapping and dancing in place and singing along!!! (Dang, why didn’t we bring that box of Kleenex???)
We got back to town and I dropped Cathy off so I could go take care of the girls. Then we met for some dinner and then met up with her sister and brother-in-law at Watt’s for ice cream! What a wonderful day it was…….fun spending time and talking with Cathy……an amazing show…….and a great ending to the day! If you get a chance to see Jersey Boys…..DO IT!!!! Here is a video montage – enjoy!
While I’m Here…
Alternate Title: There’s Always Room For Jell-O!
Today is the second Tuesday of the month, so it is the day that a bunch of ladies from our church get together for our monthly luncheon. We go somewhere different every month and, when the weather is nice, we try to go out of town to places we might not normally get to just pop in for lunch. This month, we went to the D&R Depot in LeRoy – about 40 minutes or so from here. It was a lovely lunch – good conversation, great company, and delicious food! The Depot is a quaint little restaurant, nicely decorated with train themes and purple cloth napkins (you know I love purple), and is located in a former B&O train depot right on the railroad tracks in LeRoy – just south of Brockport on Rt. 19. Check out their website and give them a try for lunch or dinner, sometime — well worth the drive! The following photos are of the outside of the restaurant and of the amazing dessert I had today – homemade cream puff with Bavarian cream and hot fudge sauce……YUMMO!!!
Since the weather is getting better, I’ve started thinking about what kinds of adventures I might want to make plans for. With that in mind, I remembered that LeRoy is also the home of a local attraction that I have on my “things to do and see” list! So, while I was there, I decided to take the time after lunch to cross that one off the list. The attraction? Well, the Jell-O Gallery Museum, of course! LeRoy is the birthplace of America’s most famous dessert – Jell-O! In 1897, Pearle Wait, a LeRoy resident was making a cough remedy in his home and through his experimentation with the use of gelatin, created a fruit flavored gelatin dessert. His wife named it Jell-O! It didn’t go over very well in those days, though, so in 1899, he sold the recipe and his inventory to Frank Woodward for $450. Woodward also had difficulty selling this new product and offered to sell it for $35 to get rid of it! After a successful advertising campaign, door-to-door offerings of samples and recipes, it finally “took off” and became popular as the wiggly jiggly dessert we know and love, today! Click here to read more about the history of Jell-O and the museum.
I really enjoyed my visit to the Jell-O museum – it was very interesting and a fun, unique thing to do on a chilly Tuesday afternoon! Through the exhibits, I learned the history of Jell-O……the celebrities all through the years that were in radio, TV, and print ads – from Jack Benny to Lucille Ball to Andy Griffith to Bill Cosby and more……that, overall, America’s favorite flavor is usually Cherry, but in Utah, the favorite flavor (and state dessert) is Lime……that there are a TON of different shapes of collectible Jell-O molds…..and so much more! Then, after touring the gallery, I went downstairs to the Transportation Exhibit, where I saw buggies, sleighs, carts, and bicycles from the late 1800s and early 1900s — they even had a really cool 1908 Cadillac!!! When I was downstairs, I also learned that LeRoy was quite the industrial town in its heyday!!! It truly was an enjoyable, fun, and educational day! Here are some photos from my tour:
On the way to LeRoy, I noticed a sign for the Genesee Country Museum, which is also on my “things to do and see” list! I had hoped to also pop in there on the way home, but missed the sign on the return trip……probably just as well – it was getting late in the afternoon and I’m thinking this is a place that I’ll want to spend more than an hour or so to really look around. So, I’ll save that for another day!
But, I did take a moment to stop in Bergen for a couple quick photos. I haven’t been in Bergen in years – I used to have friends who lived there and we used to hang out there a lot. It is a sweet little rural town between Brockport and LeRoy on Rt. 19. I stopped for photos because I thought the flag lined street was pretty and I noticed a very interesting mural that boasts the Village’s history on the side of one of the buildings.
Before heading home, I stopped in the Lowes in Brockport to pick up an ornate trellis – I’m getting a purple clematis for the corner of my shed and needed one for it to climb! What a day, it was, and what a great adventure to stick in the memory books! I now have one less item on my “things to do and see” list! Now, on to the rest of the list…….. 🙂
Water……Creek or Crick?
I love being near the water. I love hearing it flowing across rocks in a stream or crashing against the shoreline or splashing up on a ledge. I love the cool, crisp, clear look of a babbling brook. I just love being near the water. I find being near the water to be the ultimate in peace and relaxation. Watching ducks, swans, boats, and even leaves or moss glide across the calm waters with utter grace and ease brings an inner calm to me. Watching and listening to waves break up onto the shore and retreat back into the body of water is mesmerizing. I can lose myself in thought or just sit in total inner silence for hours by the water.
Now…..to clarify a little, here…….that is different from being “at the beach”, in my mind, which is something I’m not a big fan of! I really don’t like being out in the hot sun on a crowded beach – not to say that I don’t like the beach, cause I do – I enjoy feeling the sand in my toes and walking along a beach, enjoying the waves rushing up on my legs. But, put me on a hot beach in the scorching sun with the sand blistering my feet and a ton of people around and I’m not going to be a happy camper – at all! My ideal “beach” scene is a where I’m warm or slightly cool, not getting baked and burned to a crisp by the sun, feeling the breeze on my face and the wet sand and water on my feet, hearing nothing but the waves and seagulls, seeing an occasional person or small group of people wandering by as I sit and read with my feet in the cool water, and being totally relaxed!
So, today I want to talk about some of my favorite memories of being near the water – most of which are right here near Albion! But, first, I need to mention that wherever you read the word “creek”, mentally read it as “crick”, because that is how I mean it to be pronounced….the way I pronounce it! Funny anecdote about that: I was doing an assignment in grammar school – probably something like “What I Did Over The Summer Break” type of assignment. I was telling about time I spent at the creek behind our house and couldn’t figure out how to spell “crick”, so I went to the teacher and asked her how to spell it. She asked me to describe what a “crick” was so she could figure out what I was talking about. When I told her that it was a stream of water, she corrected me and said it is a “creek – c-r-e-e-k”! I still always called it a “crick” and still do, most of the time! HA!
As a child, I remember days at the lake – my grandparents had a cottage on Lake Ontario and we spent a lot of time there. It really didn’t have a beach – just a stony landing at the bottom of the stairs that led to the lake, but we would throw rocks into the water, skip stones, and, of course, walk and swim in the lake. At the top of the stairs were some benches and I used to enjoy sitting there at night in the dark and just listen to the waves that I couldn’t see from there. I remember going to nearby Johnson’s Creek with some friends and when I came out from swimming discovered several leaches on my legs……eeewww……the thought still gives me the creeps! Other childhood water-related memories include family vacations to Atlantic City (long before the casinos took it over) and camping on Conesus Lake – one of the Finger Lakes.
When we moved out to the country, there was a creek that ran out back. I’d walk through the farmer’s field that surrounded our property to a tree-lined hill and climb down the hill to the creek below. It was a nice little creek – clear, cool, and always moving! My boyfriend at the time, Bobby, lived on the next road over and he would walk from his house to the creek and we’d meet there. Other neighborhood kids would go there, too, and we’d get together and have fun by the water! And, I often went and just sat there by myself and just think! I also seem to have some vague, fleeting memories of an occasional cow being there for a drink from the creek and a farmer who didn’t like us being there and shot buck shot our way to scare us off – we weren’t intimidated! I’ve been to several seminars where they would ask us to close our eyes and think of a place that we could go to in our minds to relax……that is always the place I would “go to” – I’d put myself on that creek bank and could actually hear the water rushing over the rocks. I recently stopped at the cemetery that overlooks the creek (no way was I going to walk across the long field and climb down the hill, like I used to – haha) – it is all grown up and much more rugged looking than I remember it, but the creek is still there and still sounds the same. I loved that creek!!!!
Another great place is Lake Alice in Waterport. I actually never knew it was named Lake Alice…..I always new it as Waterport Creek and later heard it called Waterport Pond a lot. It is a huge lake that feeds from Oak Orchard Creek – great for fishing and boating! I went to Waterport school for 5th and 6th grades – a small country school that was part of Orleans County school system – and had a lot of friends who lived along the lake, so spent a lot of time there. We used to swim out to a little “oasis” that was out a ways from the shore near my friend Cathy’s house and I’d watch friends jump from the bridge (I never had the nerve to try that)! There was also an old railroad trestle just down from the main area that we could walk to and go out onto it (again, that was a little scary for me and my fear of heights) – the trestle is closed off, now (and maybe even gone – not sure), because it isn’t safe, anymore (not that it was all that safe to be on when we were kids, either), so I couldn’t get any photos. It was a nice lake to enjoy fun on and near the water!
A waterway you can’t ignore around here is the Erie Barge Canal – it goes right through the center of just about every town around here! Hand dug by immigrants, it officially opened on October 26, 1825 and was created to connect the Hudson River to the Great Lakes to provide easy, inexpensive transportation for goods from the ocean inland. Many a town was born and built up along the canal as a major center of commerce – Albion, included! I drive over the canal several times every day, because I live just north of it and can’t get to town any way I go without coming up on at least one canal bridge! Back in the day, mules pulled the barges along the tow path. Now, tug boats pull the barges and the tow path is a great recreational path for walkers and cyclists. The canal is mainly a recreational waterway, now – although it is still used for commercial transportation. Boaters use the canal for fun and people can be found on the banks fishing. The canal is quite a work of art — full of locks to guide boats through changing elevations and lift bridges that raise to allow taller boats to pass by street intersections. I remember hearing the bells ring, signaling that the lift bridge was being raised for a boat, and we would run to ride the bridge up, watch the boat go under it, and ride it back down. We used to ice skate on the canal in the winter, but it wasn’t a safe activity, so the canal is now drained during the winter months and refilled in the spring. Here are some photos I took the other day of the section between the Main St and Ingersoll St lift bridges – both are within a couple of blocks from my house! In the photos are some tugs, tenders, and barges that are docked across from the police station and fire hall on Platt and Bank Streets and the Ingersoll St lift bridge.
I’ve written a lot on here about Lake Ontario and Point Breeze. The Point is one of my most favorite places on earth! It is the spot where the Oak Orchard River and Lake Ontario meet, so you have the vast Great Lake and a calmer river with marinas and docks all within spitting distance of each other. I love sitting there watching the boats make their way from the marinas on the river out onto the lake and back in. I enjoy taking a loaf a bread and feeding the many ducks and swans that populate the area. It is peaceful and bustling all at the same time — the water is calming, but there is always a lot of activity with fisherman and boats and bikers and on and on! I just love it there! Here are some photos I took this week.
Recently, I discovered two local waterfalls that I wasn’t aware of (or don’t remember) when I was growing up here. One in Holley (first photo below) and one in Clarendon (second photo) – both quite pleasant to visit!
There is nothing quite as spectacular as a sun set (or sun rise) over the water…….words can never describe it and photos rarely capture it! Here is the sun setting over the lake at Point Breeze one evening last summer.
Since I lived in NC for 26+ years, you’d think I’d have lots of great stories about the water, but I really don’t have that many – oh, there were a couple small man-made lakes nearby (Harris and Jordan Lakes) and a couple rather large rivers (Deep River and Haw River), but I never really got interested in them. And, as for the ocean…..like I mentioned earlier, I am not really a fan of the hot beaches – we did spend some time at Carolina Beach, but it was not a place I really enjoyed a lot. We went on a fishing boat out onto the ocean, once, but I got very sea sick. I spent a few days at a work retreat at Atlantic Beach that was very enjoyable – mainly because we went in the off-season and it wasn’t terribly hot and not at all crowded. I LOVED a trip we made to the Outer Banks for our first wedding anniversary, though – we spent a couple of days at Nags Head and then drove the whole length of the Outer Banks – a wonderful trip that I really enjoyed a lot! I have enjoyed spending time on the river front in Savannah and the South Street Seaport in NYC and drove parts of the Pacific Coast Highway in California – all very beautiful. I enjoy taking boat tours, when available, wherever I go — the one we took in Arizona was incredible and I loved the one I took from NYC’s South Street Seaport to Yankee Stadium where I watched a Yankee’s game – NICE!!! I also love being out on the deck of a cruise ship, just looking out over the ocean! But, I still love all the options we have around here to be on or near the water most of all – lots of memories and time spent just soaking in the peace and quiet!
So, I’ll leave you with my foot in a flip-flop on a cruise ship deck in Nassau, Bahamas……peace and fresh sea air – just doesn’t get any better than this!
Memory
It is funny how some things trigger a memory that warms your heart. Today, a simple conversation caused me to remember something I used to enjoy eating, but haven’t thought about in quite some time. I was visiting with my niece and her children – my great nephew and great niece. Nolen, age 3, was telling me what he learned at the library earlier in the morning. He was in a story group that was reading about bees and told me that bees made honey! We talked a little about how we both like honey and that he likes it on bread and muffins! I mentioned that I like toasted pumpernickel bread with butter and honey on it!
I thought about this the rest of the day and ended up popping in to the grocery store to pick up a small loaf of fresh pumpernickel from their bakery and a bottle of honey! I couldn’t wait until breakfast to have some……I toasted two slices to have as a snack while watching TV after choir practice this evening!
Thinking of pumpernickel bread and honey was not only a reminder of a favorite treat that I haven’t had in a long time, it also brought up two distinct memories I share with a dear friend from my high school years – both gave me the warm-fuzzies and put a big smile on my face! The memories stuck with me through the day, today!
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First up — the very first time I remember eating pumpernickel bread was the first time I went to my friend, Sharon Nowicki’s house for lunch. Her Mom served ham slices rolled up in little logs, pumpernickel bread (there was probably another choice, but I only remember the pumpernickel), condiments, and probably either salad or chips – not sure – just remember those sandwiches made with ham logs, pumpernickel bread and condiments in little dishes! I thought it was so fancy and I developed a taste for something new!
- The second memory was the very first time I put honey on pumpernickel toast! Sharon and I went to New York City in 1979. We had a FABULOUS time in the big city – feeling and acting quite full of ourselves! 🙂 We took the train from Rochester to Grand Central Station and spent several days seeing the sites. One of our adventures was going to Central Park. We took a horse and buggy ride to Tavern On The Green – a very elegant restaurant in the middle of Central Park (I don’t believe it is there, anymore) – for brunch. It was a beautiful place with huge crystal chandeliers, floor to ceiling windows overlooking the park, and extremely handsome waiters! We had omelets and Champaign and a bread/pastry tray, which included (among many other things) pumpernickel toast with honey as just one of the possible spread selections. I don’t remember what triggered me to put honey on the pumpernickel toast, but I did and the rest was history!!! (to read more about our trip, click here for a blog post I wrote about it)
Aahh – memories are the joys of a life well lived……I am blessed with many wonderful memories!!!
Movie Review – 42
On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson made history by stepping out onto Ebbets Field wearing the number 42 on the back of his Brooklyn Dodger’s uniform to be the first black man to play on a major league baseball team! And 66 years later, on April 15, 2013, I sat in a movie theater totally mesmerized by his story. His courage and character are an inspiration and make him worthy of the titles “hero” and “role model”.
The story begins with Branch Rickey, President and General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers – played brilliantly by Harrison Ford – scouting for a black ball player from the Negro Leagues to join his ball club. Rickey desperately wanted to be the first to break the color barrier and bring the colored fans to the major league games. At the time, Jack Robinson, portrayed by Chadwick Boseman, was playing for a Negro League club – the Kansas City Monarchs. Robinson caught Rickey’s attention and, after ensuring Robinson had the guts to take the inevitable racism he would encounter, Rickey assigned him to Brooklyn’s farm team, the Montreal Royals in 1946. Rickey wanted the press and the fans to focus on Robinson’s talent, rather than his color – a tough goal in those days! He coached Robinson intensively on the need to “turn the other cheek”. Robinson asked him, “Are you looking for a Negro who is afraid to fight back?”, to which Rickey replied, “I’m looking for a Negro player with the guts NOT to fight back”! His strategy was designed so the press wouldn’t immediately see HIM as the cause for any racial tension – they would see him as the one with humility, courage, and character – to see past the racism and recognize his talent. And it worked! A year later, Rickey called Robinson up to sign with the Dodgers and the rest, as they say, was history! Robinson, though, struggled immensely with the “turn the other cheek” agreement he made with Rickey. He found it humiliating to stand on the field and give his all to the game he loved while being heckled and booed relentlessly by fans and players, alike. Even his own team mates shunned him and protested his being a part of the team, until most of them began to be embarrassed by the ridicule and rallied around him in support – in particular after an infamous game where Phillies manager, Ben Chapman, ranted an endless string of unconscionable abuse during a game whenever Robinson came up to bat. He suffered from extensive deliberate rough play – including a hard hit to the head by the Pittsburg Pirates’ pitcher – and umpires making obvious bad calls against him. Towns and other teams where the Dodgers were scheduled to play often closed (or threatened to close) their parks and refused to allow the team to stay at hotels unless Robinson was left behind. Police ordered him off the field in one southern town claiming a law against blacks playing with whites. But, he persevered and went down in history as not only the first black major league player, but as one of the greatest major league players of all time.
The story takes us from Rickey’s goal to break the color barrier to the end of the 1947 season when the Dodgers won the pennant and a spot in the World Series against the Yankees (who actually won that series, but the movie didn’t go that far).
The movie has several outstanding performances and memorable characters.
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Chadwick Boseman is amazing as Jackie Robinson – his rugged good looks and childish grin immediately draw you in and his performance gives you an insight into the sole of the man he portrays. He makes Robinson likeable and brings to life the struggle between humility and frustration Robinson lived with.
- I noted earlier that Harrison Ford was brilliant as Branch Rickey. I like Harrison Ford! A lot! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie he was in that I didn’t like his character and his performance. He’s a genuine actor and makes his craft look easy! This role was no exception – he was perfectly cast, in my never-to-be-humble-opinion!
- Nicole Beharie was cast as Robinson’s wife, Rachel. Beharie’s beauty and grace embrace the role as Rachel Robinson, who is torn between the pride she has in her talented husband, her support of his dreams, and her torment over watching his humiliation at the hands of the white fans and players.
- Andre Holland is Wendall Smith – a black journalist assigned to Robinson by Rickey to cover his journey. Smith has his own struggles to endure – black journalists were not allowed in the press boxes and he was often asked to protect and transport Robinson out of bad situations and support the goal of “turning the other cheek”, even when he was being targeted, himself.
- Christopher Meloni played Leo Durocher – Brooklyn Dodgers’ manager. I always loved Meloni as Det. Stabler on Law and Order: SVU and he didn’t disappoint in this movie, either. Durocher was a no-nonsense manager who told the rebelling players in no uncertain terms that they were to be team players and accept Robinson or the organization would be more than happy to make other arrangements for them in terms of a trade! He was suspended by the Commissioner of Baseball due to an ethics violation, so he wasn’t able to continue his backing of Robinson, but while he was in charge, he kicked butt!
- Max Gail (of Barney Miller fame) portrayed Durocher’s replacement – Burt Shotton, who wasn’t as “in your face” as Durocher, but still made his point!
- Alan Tudyk was Ben Chapman – the Phillies manager who went into a tirade of racist slurs every time Robinson came to bat. He even looked like a creep!!! He was very convincing and hate-able (I know – that probably isn’t a word, but it fits)!!! His vulgar tirade is a focal point of the story and a turning point in how the other Dodgers players view Robinson. After, he seeks to improve his image by asking Robinson to pose with him for a photo shoot to commemorate “burying the hatchet”. When the photographers ask them to shake hands, Robinson sees his discomfort and proves to be the better man by picking up a bat and offering to use that so “we don’t have to touch skin”. Chapman shows his shame with a strange grin and a nod to Robinson. The photo appears on magazines and newspapers across the nation. The end of the movie shows each character and where their careers took them and it said that he was soon fired as manager and never managed a team again – YAY! (Oh, dear – I see I focused this more on the character than the actor’s portrayal of the character! I guess that is a testament to how well he played him – I don’t see a separation!)
- John C. McGinley (from Scrubs) was totally delightful as Red Barber – the voice of the Brooklyn Dodgers – what a character! I enjoyed every scene he offered his play-by-play commentary!
- T. R. Knight – from early seasons of Grey’s Anatomy – was Harold Parrott. Not exactly sure what his role in the organization was, but he was apparently some sort of an assistant or advisor to Branch Rickey. At first, he argued strongly against Rickey looking for a black ball player. In fact, he made the statement, “…are you out of your mind?”. But, he came around and strongly defended Robinson as time went on. His character was not a strong focus, but memorable to me, all the same.
- And, the last one I want to mention is James Pickens, Jr as Mr. Brock. He had a small role near the beginning as the owner of a home that Rickey arranged for Robinson to stay at and we didn’t see him again, but I wanted to mention him because I adore him as Dr. Webber in Grey’s Anatomy and was delighted to see him in this role! 🙂
So, obviously, I highly recommend this movie – baseball fan or not – it is outstanding!!! Oh, and I can’t end this review without my favorite quote — this is from Rickey when he chooses Robinson to be his draft pick: “He’s Methodist. I’m Methodist. God’s Methodist. We can’t go wrong.”! HA – I just cracked up when I heard that!!!!
I give this movie a HUGE TWO THUMBS UP and a solid A+++ – go see it, you won’t regret it!
Olive Oil…FYI
While on vacation in Arizona a few weeks ago, my friends and I visited the Queen Creek Olive Mill in Queen Creek, near the Apache Junction / Mesa area. What a great place and unique experience! Queen Creek Olive Mill is a family owned business with olive orchards, pressing mill, bistro, and store. The owner is also the master-blender. They grow and press olives into handcrafted extra virgin olive oil from “blossom to bottle” and it is the only olive oil producer in Arizona. Their products are of high quality, as they ONLY produce Extra Virgin grade olive oils. They offer tours, which includes a class called “Olive Oil 101”, that we really enjoyed. I never gave olive oil much thought – it is just a more healthy oil, right? I mean, I like and use it and knew it was made from olives, but other than that, it wasn’t something I ever wondered about. But, I have to say, I learned a lot and went away with a new view of olive oil!
The plan was to take the tour and then have lunch in the Bistro. But, we arrived just a tad too late to join the tour that was about to start, so we switched gears and did lunch first. It was not easy to decide what to eat…..there was a large selection and everything sounded absolutely wonderful!!! But, I finally settled on the Lucca sandwich – Herb roasted turkey breast, brie (of course, I asked that they leave the cheese off because of my allergy), sliced apple, seasonal greens, and caramelized red onion and fig tapenade (their own product) on a multi-grain ciabatta roll. Oh…My…God, it was so amazing!!! I enjoyed the caramelized red onion and fig tapenade so much, I bought two jars to include in what I had shipped home! The sandwich came with chips and olives. Now, I have to include here that I am not an olive fan…..never liked the taste of them at all. But, I decided that I really should try the ones that were on my plate because I may never have a chance to try some that were grown and processed so close to when I ate them! So, try them, I did…….and………I still don’t like olives – but, no one can say, “but you’d really like them if….”! HAHA! But, the sandwich was incredible! The bistro not only had sandwiches, but they also served made-from-scratch soups, pizzas, fresh-baked desserts, wines, and gelato and sorbetto! I didn’t have anything other than the sandwich, but Ronald tried the gelato and said it was very good!
After we ate, we still had a few minutes to browse through the store before our tour started. I decided I wanted to take some things home with me, but my suitcase was already stretched to the max and I knew the liquids wouldn’t be allowed in my carry-on! So, I asked if they would ship my purchases to me and the girl I spoke with was very excited to tell me that they absolutely would! 🙂 So, I got an idea of what I wanted and then, after the tour, we went back in the store and I picked out several items and arranged for them to be shipped. When the box came, I was so happy to see my purchases — a bottle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, a bottle of roasted garlic flavored EVOO, a bottle of Mexican lime flavored EVOO, a bottle of aged balsamic vinegar, a bottle of balsamic and fig flavored vinegar, two jars of caramelized red onion and fig tapenade, a copy of their family cook book, a jar of lavender-scented body cream made from EVOO, and a couple pour corks for the bottles. Yeah, I went a little crazy, but it was all so fresh and so good and after the tour I had an increased awareness and respect for EVOO, so I couldn’t help myself! 🙂
The tour was really cool…….it started outside at an olive tree where we learned all about how olives grow and are harvested and some history of olives and olive oil. We, then, moved into the pressing room where we learned how the olives are processed into olive oil and the differences between the various grades of olive oil. It was very informative and absolutely fascinating!!! I’ll go into some of what I learned, but I want to leave this paragraph with the bottom line piece of info I left the tour with…..I always bought “extra light” olive oil because I just assumed it was better for you and had a lighter taste when used on salads……after learning what I learned, I will NEVER buy anything other than Extra Virgin Olive Oil again……ever!!!
OK, so what did I learn?
- The Queen Creek, Arizona olive grove is located in an area that has ideal conditions for growing olive trees – long sunny days, cool nights, very fertile soil, and located in a flood plain. Also, by growing the trees in the dessert, there is no risk of their natural predators – the olive fly and olive tree molds – so there is no need to use any kind of pesticide or mold inhibitors!
- Olives are harvested in Arizona in the months of September thru December.
- Olive oil is made from a carefully timed blend of both green and purple olives (color denotes degree of ripeness), as well as oil pressed from the pits, so the whole olive is used.
- It takes 50 pounds of olives to make one gallon of olive oil…….no wonder it is so expensive!!!
- Extra Virgin is the highest quality grade of olive oil. In order to be graded Extra Virgin, the olives MUST be cold pressed and not undergo any treatment other than washing, grinding, mixing, gentle separation, and filtering. It also must have a free acidity level of less than or equal to 0.8% – this measures the degree of freshness of the olives at the time of pressing. To get a grade of Extra Virgin, the oil must be pure and not be refined in any way – any use of heat pressing or chemicals to extract the oils results in a lower grade olive oil. “Virgin” (without the “Extra” designation) is processed the same way, but will have a free acidity level of more than 0.8%, but no more than 2%.
- Queen Creek Olive Mill’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil typically has a free acidity level of 0.3% – pretty high quality, if you ask me! This shows their level of dedication to processing the olives as close to harvest as possible so that the oil is as fresh as it can possibly be.
- During the cold pressing process, the freshly harvested olives – pit and all – are milled into a coarse paste, which is blended very slowly in a large mixer prior to going through a centrifuge to separate the oils from the solids. Extra Virgin is the grade of oil that is extracted during this process. The fresh oil is decanted and transferred to an oxygen-free stainless steel storage decanter with a conical bottom where the oil and any remaining water can naturally separate. The oil is then blended to achieve the best taste – grassy, peppery, fruity, bitter, or buttery are all positive flavor attributes of a good batch of EVOO and blending batches with these different flavor attributes makes the perfect tasting bottle! The blended oils are stored in stainless steel tanks and kept fresh until it is bottled. They blend every 6 weeks and bottle every 3 weeks to ensure the freshest oil at the time of bottling.
- Shelf life – as long as the oil is fresh at the time of bottling, it will remain fresh for one year – opened or unopened!
- Do not refrigerate olive oil, as it will solidify. The oils I had shipped to me must have gotten very cold during shipment, because they were solid in the bottles when they arrived. But, I didn’t panic, because I remembered learning that if they do get cold enough to solidify, that you can just set them out and let them re-liquefy – that it won’t harm the oil in any way! And, sure enough, I actually watched them gradually liquefy over about an hour! Cool!!!
- Don’t let the terms “Pure”, “Light”, “Extra Light” or any other descriptor other than “Extra Virgin” or “Virgin” fool you…….they sound like high quality grades – especially the term “Pure”, but they are NOT! All grades other than Extra Virgin or Virgin have free acidity levels higher than 2% and are heat and chemically pressed. Remember the centrifuge step I mentioned above? Well, the “good” oil is procured from the front of the press and the solids and water are captured out the back of the press as “waste”. Well, the waste product does still contain extractable oils, but you can’t extract it further without heat and chemicals — so, any oil extracted through those methods are considered “refined” and can no longer be graded as any form of “virgin” oil.
- Remember my comment about always purchasing “Extra Light” olive oil? Well, that is the absolute lowest, bottom of the totem pole, grade of olive oil – the farthest end of the spectrum from “Extra Virgin”! eeeewwww…….yeah, I’m never buying it, again! In fact, I have a full, large bottle that will now be used to moisturizer my skin……or maybe I’ll just toss it out!!!!
So, that is what I learned about Olive Oil……now, we also learned a little about olives, in general! They do not process olives for sale as olives, there, but some of their grove does get processed by another partner company not far from there. Here is what I learned about olives…..which, as I stated earlier, I don’t particularly care for! 🙂
- Don’t eat an olive off the tree – it will be very bitter and must be cured before it can be eaten!
- The color of the olive is a reflection of ripeness – green olives are less ripe than the very ripe dark purple olives.
- Olive trees are harvested when the percentage of green and purple olives reach a ratio best for whatever purpose they are being harvested for – oils or olives.
- There is no such thing as a BLACK olive — black olives are the riper purple ones that have been chemically colored to give them the black appearance. They are sweeter than the green ones because they are riper.
- Olives are not naturally salty – they obtain that salty taste from the brines they are cured in.
- It takes 3-5 months to naturally cure olives in the brines. The best tasting and highest quality olives are naturally cured. The olives that were included with the sandwiches in the Bistro were naturally cured – which is why I thought maybe, just maybe, I’d like them better than store-bought ones I’ve tried in the past……..oh well, I tried them!!!
- Most store brand olives are more rapidly mass cured over 3-5 days using food grade lye and other chemicals.
So, there you have it……..everything you ever wanted to know about olive oil and olives, but were afraid to ask…….in a nutshell!!! If you ever get to the Phoenix/Mesa/Apache Junction or surrounding area, be sure to put the Queen Creek Olive Mill on your tour plans — it really is a unique experience and one I’m sure you’ll enjoy as much as I did!
** Info in this post came from my memory of what we learned in the tour, as well as from the brochures I took home with me and their website. You can click HERE to visit their website for more info or to shop online for their products! Check it out!!!!
Photos we took at the mill:
The press and centrifuge assembly
The press room is very small with just this one press and a few stainless steel tanks
Ronald and me / Ronald and Lisa
photos taken after the tour in the courtyard outside the store and bistro
Arizona Vacation
What do you do when you have friends who live in a state that has a lot of neat things to see and do? Well, I don’t know about you, but I plan a vacation to go visit them! And that’s just what I did March 4th – 11th – I went to Arizona and had an amazing time!!! I do believe I saw more of the state of Arizona in one week than most people see in a lifetime – and there are still a whole bunch of things I didn’t get to see and we put on the list for my next visit!
DAY 1 – March 4th
Not much to say about day 1 – I had an early morning dentist appointment, I dropped the girls off at the boarding place, and I flew non-stop from Buffalo to Phoenix! The flight was long, but uneventful. I stayed with Ron and Lisa in Apache Junction in the Phoenix/Mesa area – they have a beautiful home at the foot of the Superstition Mountain with gorgeous views from every angle!
My morning view outside the glass sliding doors of my bedroom – I could get used to this!
And I didn’t even have to go outside to enjoy the views!
This is the view from sitting on the couch in the living room, looking out onto the pool area – with the Superstition Mountain in the background!
One of Ron and Lisa’s babies – Chico (AKA, PeePee) – checking out the brochures and suggesting things for us to do!
Me – soaking up some sun by the pool – fitting right in with my cowgirl hat and shades!
This amazed me — I brought this photo home and showed it to my girls and told them that this cabana is how their spoiled AZ cousins shade themselves on the patio! They are so jealous!
DAY 2 – March 5th
This was my “Bonnie” day. A dear old friend that I’ve known from kindergarten also lives right there in Mesa, so we planned to spend a whole day together – just the two of us! What a treat! On the long drive to Tucson, we talked and talked and laughed and laughed – we caught up on everything and everyone! Then, we spend a few hours at Old Tucson – a theme park with old movie and TV sets and memorabilia. We had such a good time! Then, when we got back at the end of the day, we went to Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill for dinner and had a delicious steak! Here are some photos from our fabulous day together:
We had to start the day with a photo — this is me and Bonnie on the patio at Ron and Lisa’s with the Superstition Mountain in the background.
As with most theme parks, they had a photo shop where you put on period clothing and take a fun commemorative photo! We couldn’t resist! Here we are ready to take on any cowboy that comes along! The girl taking the photo asked if we wanted a gun or other props she had to offer – Bonnie took a rifle, but I said, “nope, I’ll just take this bottle of Jack Daniels!”! She still gave me a pistol to hold, but I was happy with the bottle of Jack! hehehe
We posted the WANTED poster on Facebook and asked friends to send bail money………no one did!!!!
I love this picture of Bonnie – she is in a chapel looking out at the dessert and mountains – it came out dark, but that is just as it should be……..
All of Old Tucson looks like you just walked onto the set of an old Western movie – cause, you DID!
We saw a gun fight, cowboys, a sheriff, and saloon girls – we even sat in on a Saloon show, complete with a can-can dance:
DAY 3 – March 6
On Wednesday, we made the rounds of some local attractions right in and near Apache Junction. We went to the Superstition Mountain Museum – I had to go there because the web site said they had an Elvis Chapel – the chapel used in the filming of Elvis’ western movie, Charro! What self-respecting Elvis Presley fan wouldn’t take advantage of that? We also went to Saguaro Lake – so beautiful – the water was like the bluest glass I’ve ever seen! Then, we went to Fountain Hills – a town with a gorgeous lake and a huge fountain.
Here are a sampling of photos from Day 3:
First up are pics from the Superstition Mountain Museum – again, there are actual movie and TV sets on display. It is the home of Apache Land Studios and a lot of big stars shot scenes right there where we were!
This is Ron and Lisa looking at a small section of a wall of portraits of all the stars who were there at one time or another – lots of famous faces.
Hard to see him, but this is Ron in the stage-coach.
And, THIS, is the Elvis Chapel! What a thrill to step foot into a building where Elvis actually walked!
I half expected to see this walk through the door or be sitting in a pew, just waiting for me to arrive! (be still my heart!)
Instead, this was the display I found inside the chapel……….
……….a cheesy metal stand-up that was a badly painted rendition of “Las Vegas Elvis”!
What a disappointment! But, heck, it was still Elvis, so I had my picture taken beside it! HA!
Next, we went to Saguaro Lake – the first picture is me and Lisa and the second is of Ron and Lisa:
After Saguaro Lake, we went to Fountain Hills – very pretty and peaceful place! We had fantastic dinner at a place there called “The Saddle Bronc Grill” – very nice place!
Ron and Lisa at the fountain.
There were many, many ducks all around the lake – this couple had a bag of bread and were feeding them! They started to leave and a whole line of ducks followed them all the way around the edge of the lake, across the yard, and on until they were out of sight! It was so funny!!!
This is the Saddle Bronc Grill – cool looking outside and very nicely decorated inside, including (as you can see in the next two photos) the lady’s room…..
……it wasn’t just the food that was YUMMY!
DAY 4 – March 7
On Thursday, Lisa and I went shopping during the day. We also stopped in at the Chamber of Commerce and picked up some brochures and information for the rest of the trip. The Chamber building was a great representation of the area – a real eye catcher and typical southwestern design.
Then Ron joined us later in the day to go to Tortilla Flat and take a cruise on the Dolly Steamboat on Canyon Lake — what a fabulous choice! First stop was Tortilla Flat, which is a very small (population: 6) town – actually, just a strip of buildings at the end of a very long, winding, scary road up the mountain. Now, I need to mention here that I’m not a fan of heights and panic a little (OK, a lot) when I don’t feel safe from falling! There were parts of this road where I had to just close my eyes and hold my breath to keep from losing it – like, you know those mountain roads that are so close to the edge of the mountain that you really think if you sneeze, you’ll slide off the face of the earth!!!??? That’s this road! But, when we got there, it was all worth it…….there was a mercantile, a restaurant, a gift shop, and a post office – that’s it, well, and a live band playing some awesome music! It was so cool and was jammed with people – THE place to be! The intent was to have our dinner there, but we ended up not having enough time to eat and get to the cruise on time, so we just shopped and snapped some photos.
The left side of the road at Tortilla Flat – across the street was were all the action was!
What fun – lots of people hanging out and enjoying life!
The band was really awesome!
Wish I knew what this guy’s story is!!!
Then, the ultimate adventure happened — the Dolly Steamboat Cruise on Canyon Lake! If you are ever in this area of Arizona, I highly recommend this cruise – words can not describe how amazing it was! And emotional…….I was in tears and had to remind myself to breathe at several points along the hour and a half cruise! Canyon Lake snakes through the canyon and the steamboat takes you through the most gorgeous views and experience. The water was so blue and crystal clear – like a mirror reflecting the rocky ledges along the way. Amidst all that beauty, we also saw big horn sheep, bald eagles, a bald eagle nest, and other wildlife native to the canyon. Photos can not come close to portraying the majestic beauty we witnessed, but these examples do a good job of trying:
I chose to include this photo to show the incredible massiveness of the canyon – that little boat looks like a toy in the water!
There were points in the cruise where the boat sailed so close to the wall of the canyon that you could reach out and touch it!
This is a shot of Ron (the one with the cowboy hat) taking a close up photo of some petrified logs embedded in the rock!
The two narrow stacks of rock are called the “guardians of the canyon” – on top of the tallest of the two is a bald eagle nest!
And now……some shots of God’s gift of beauty:
DAY 5 – March 8
Friday was our “take a breath” day! We needed to chill a little and rest up for the weekend trip to the Grand Canyon. So, we went to see a movie in the afternoon – Oz, The Great and Powerful at the IMAX theater – awesome movie! (When you get done reading this post, scroll to the next one down and read my review of the movie!) Then, in the evening, I went to watch Ron bowl with his team – some other friends that I haven’t seen in a long time that now live in AZ, too!
DAY 6 – March 9
We got up early Saturday morning to make the three and a half hour drive to Williams, AZ to catch the two-hour train ride to the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. About the time we were near Flagstaff, it started to snow and it was pretty messy when we made it to Williams. We had breakfast in Williams and then got on the train, which was a really cool experience! There was incredible scenery all the way, musicians singing for us, and lots of wild life to see – including, herds of mule deer, elk, antelope, coyote, and lots and lots of cattle! And, on the way back, we even got stopped by some train robbers, who boarded the train with scarfs over their faces and guns to rob us – boy, the ladies were screaming and everyone was shaking in our boots!!!
Arriving in Williams, AZ – Gateway to the Grand Canyon!
THE TRAIN RIDE:
There was a photographer onboard who took souvenir photos – our’s came out so good! LOVE IT!!!
And, the package included this photo of the train robbers on their horses, too – we absolutely had to buy the package:
THE GRAND CANYON:
Whatever you’ve heard about the beauty of the Grand Canyon, multiply it by 1000……you still won’t come close!!! It was so cold and snowing while we were there – I wish the weather was better so we could have spent more time just sitting there staring at it in total awe! It was hazy with fog and snow, so we couldn’t see across the canyon as well as they say you usually can, but what we did see was so awe-inspiring – just breathtaking! Again, the photos can never capture the majesty that we experienced in person, but here are some examples that give you a little bit of an idea:
Dang – this would have been a great picture, if the wind and snow wasn’t blowing so hard in my face!!!
Hopi House
Me shopping inside the Hopi House
Some cool things about our day at the Grand Canyon – besides just the obvious cool thing – getting to see the Grand Canyon: The guides on the train told us to drink lots of water because of the high altitude we were at (over 7000 feet elevation) and the fact that the snow there is a “dry” snow! I snickered when I heard that – you know, they are always saying it doesn’t feel as hot out there cause it is a “dry heat”, but if it is 120 degrees, that is still HOT, regardless of whether or not there is humidity factored in! Well, I thought it was odd that they were saying the snow was actually dryer than what we’re used to in the eastern states. So, when I got there, I had to touch the snow to see if it was really dryer! And, I think it actually was! It felt “odd” – it packed really tight, like a good wet snow, but it also felt powdery, like the fluffier kind that doesn’t pack as well and it took quite a bit to make it melt in my hand and when it did, it wasn’t as watery! Really strange feeling snow! HAHA! Also, they sold recyclable water bottles that we filled at stations around the area – super icy cold water that was filtered straight from the mountain springs — the best water I think I’ve ever tasted!!!
We spent the night at the Grand Canyon Inn that was out in the middle of nowhere about 1/2 way between Williams and the Grand Canyon – really nice place and fantastic food in their restaurant! But, it was so funny – we were driving along for quite a way with nothing but ranch land on either side and then, all of a sudden, there was this little inn, a gas station, a small airport with a museum, and right across the street from the inn was “Bedrock City” – a theme park devoted to the Flintstones!!! And, then, it looked like miles of more “nothing” beyond that!
We got up the next morning and went back to Williams for breakfast at the same place we ate the morning before and to explore a little.
DAY 7 – March 10
Sunday was the return drive back to Apache Junction. We spent some time in Williams and then took the long way home and went through Jerome and Sedona!
Williams, AZ is a small historic town established in 1881, but it really looked more like it was stuck in the 50s! Historic Route 66 goes right through the middle of Williams and they really capitalize on that history and the popularity of it during the 40s, 50s, and 60s.
This is a really cool cafe in Williams – we didn’t eat there, but couldn’t resist the photo-op!
Here is Ron in front of a 50s style gas station
A corner shot in Williams
I thought taking my pic with this dude would be cool, but what made me like it even more is that you can see Ron’s reflection in the window as he is taking the photo! 🙂
Of course, we had to get our picture by one of the US 66 route signs!
Lisa and I really did “get our kicks on Route 66” – in the form of shopping – see all the bags full of goodies in our hands??? 🙂
After we left Williams, we headed toward Sedona to see the beautiful red rock that the town is famous for. On the way, we drove through Jerome, which is a very small historic town built right on the side of a mountain at over 5000 foot elevation – it literally looks like there is little keeping it from falling off the edge! Located on Cleopatra Hill in the Black Hills, Jerome used to be a booming mining town in its heyday! Now, the population is barely over 400 people.
The road to Jerome — just beyond the guard rail (that is inches from the edge of the road – another route where I needed to close my eyes and remind myself to breathe a lot), you can see the part of the road that we just came from – so twisty, turny and constantly getting higher and higher!
Fabulous scenery on this road, but a little too close to the edge of the earth for my taste!
Jerome…….we didn’t stop – just drove through it!
Coming up on Sedona – see the red rock hills?
Downtown Sedona — beautiful — different from any other mountains/hills that I saw anywhere else we went!
This mountain really fascinated me!!! Hard to see the detail in this photo, but it looks just like someone carved a statue of an elephant lying down on the top of it!
In person, you can clearly see the body, floppy ears, head, and that big ole trunk curled up out front of it!
Gorgeous mountain rock and buttes! The red color is striking!!!
We stopped for lunch in Sedona and on the way out of town, Ronald and I played tag with the camera to get lots of shots of the beautiful red rock – that was fun – I’d have the camera taking a photo out the front window and he’d rush me to give it to him to get a shot he didn’t want to miss out the side window and I’d say “hurry, hurry, I got a great shot ahead!” and back and forth we went with it! Afterwards, I realized I had my other camera right in my purse and we could have BOTH had a camera to get shots…….but, that wouldn’t have been as much fun! 🙂
When we got back to Apache Junction, we were so exhausted from the exciting weekend, that we all crashed with a nap!
DAY 8 – March 11
Last day of the trip….but, we had one more thing to squeeze in before I left! We went to the Queen Creek Olive Mill – a family owned olive orchard and olive oil mill! We had lunch at their cafe and looked around the store/gift shop. Then, we went on the tour and I learned so much about olive oil and how it is made! I won’t go into it here cause I’d like to devote a whole post on what I learned — watch for a post on “Everything you ever wanted to know about olive oil, but were afraid to ask!” – coming soon! After the tour, we shopped and I had a bunch of stuff shipped to me so that I wouldn’t have to take it on the plane — flavored extra virgin olive oils made fresh right there, flavored vinegars, a cook book of owner’s family recipes, a jar of a delicious tapenade that was on the sandwich I had for lunch (caramelized red onion and fig tapenade – YUMMO – so sweet and rich in flavor), and some body butter made with olive oil, shea butter, and lavender essential oils that they make right there, as well. The box came last week and I’ve already had a couple of big salads made with the roasted garlic flavored olive oil and aged balsamic and fig flavored vinegar and relaxed with the lavender-scented body butter – nice to rub on my arms at bed time to soften my skin and give me that wonderful aroma to fall asleep with!!!!
Ron and me in the courtyard outside the cafe at the Queen Creek Olive Mill
And, Ron and Lisa in the courtyard with some olive oil they purchased!
And, this is the press they use to manually cold press the olive oil – fascinating!
And that, my friends, is my trip to Arizona! The week went by so fast, but we crammed a LOT into it! And then, I was on a plane headed home…..leaving the beautiful views and warm, sunny weather (except for the days we were in Williams and the Grand Canyon – it was actually colder there than back home)……….leaving my dear friends………..and returning to the real world!!! It was amazing — so wonderful to spend time with Ron and Lisa and Bonnie! And the sight-seeing was icing on the cake! It was a vacation I’ll never forget and we’re already making a list of things to see next time I can make the trip out there!
Movie Review – Oz, The Great and Powerful
It has been a while since I’ve been to the movies. It isn’t as convenient, here, to pop in and see a movie whenever I want to. Unlike Sanford, Albion doesn’t have a movie theater and neither does Medina. There are theaters in Brockport, Batavia, Greece, and a few other places that are about as far to drive as it was to go to Southern Pines or Cary, but just not as convenient as having one just up the street from my house! In fact, since I moved here in Nov, 2011, I have only been to see one movie – definitely not like me! I went to see Lincoln about Christmas time (sorry, I completely forgot to do a review for it – suffice it to say that I LOVED it and would highly recommend it). And, now, I’ve been to my second movie in almost a year and a half…….but, I had to go to Arizona to see it! HA!!! Actually, I was on vacation in Arizona last week and went to see Oz, The Great and Powerful with some friends while I was there.
I’m going to categorize going to this movie as an “adventure”! We saw it at an IMAX theater in 3D at a matinée showing on the day it was released to open, so I think it is appropriate to call it an adventure. If you are planning to go see this movie and you have an IMAX theater near you, I really do recommend you see it there and in 3D – I imagine it would be just as good on any big screen, but seeing it “bigger than life” and “in your face” absolutely enhances the experience – this is one of those movies that just screams to be seen that way!
The story focuses on the Wizard of Oz character, who is actually Oscar Diggs, a small-time circus magician with rather shady ethics when it comes to women. The story explores how he got to the Land of Oz and reluctantly evolved into the great and powerful wizard that the people of Oz had been waiting for. It is NOT a remake of the original movie, The Wizard of Oz, so don’t go expecting to see Dorothy and Toto and the Tin Man and the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion – that version was only one of many stories associated with Oz written by L. Frank Baum. What you will find, however, is another adaptation taken from Baum’s novel, along with some other really cool and memorable characters that help and hinder Oscar along his journey through Oz – including three beautiful witches, a sassy china girl, and a likeable flying monkey in a bell hop uniform named Finley.
James Franco is perfectly cast as Oscar Diggs/Oz with his dashing good looks, flirty expressions, and devilish grin. He starts out as a small-time circus act doing magic tricks and conning people out of their money……and women out of their hearts! He finds himself having to flee the Kansas circus he was working to get away from the jealous husband of a woman he was toying with. The hot air balloon he uses for his escape gets caught up in a tornado and he lands in the very strange and mystical Land of Oz.
Mila Kunis is the beautiful witch, Theodora, who falls in love with Oscar and takes him to the Emerald City. I won’t give away too much for those of you who have not seen the movie, yet, but I will say that the character of Theodora is absolutely the inspiration for the old saying “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”! Watch out for her rath when her heart is broken by the fickle Oscar!
Theodora’s sister, Evanora, is an evil witch played by Rachel Weisz. She has everyone convinced that Glinda, played by the lovely Michelle Williams, is the evil one and sets Oscar out on a mission to destroy the evil witch and free the people of Oz, which she tells him will prove he is the true Wizard of Oz and earn him a room full of gold.
The other characters that make the story line so memorable are the China Girl – voiced by Joey King – and Finley – voiced by Zach Braff (of Scrubs fame). The China Girl is sassy and fun – she’ll tug at your heart-strings and you’ll instantly fall in love with her! Finley is the flying monkey in a bell hop uniform I mentioned earlier – Oscar saves Finley’s life, so he becomes his loyal servant to repay the debt. Finley is funny and ever so likeable. And, there are munchkins and tinkers and others who play a big role in Oscar’s adventures and successful mission. The Land of Oz and the Emerald City are just as spectacular as they were in the other Oz stories, with the magnificent castle and poppy fields and yellow brick road and brilliant colors and flowers and on and on and on!
Oh — and for those of you adults who admit that the flying monkeys in the original Wizard of Oz film scared the crap out of you……..well, let’s just say, you’re not going to be happy with the flying baboons in this film!!!!!
Oz, The Great and Powerful is an incredible Disney film – full of action, adventure, wonderful special effects, and endearing characters. I really did enjoy it a lot and highly recommend it – and, again, if you can see it at an IMAX theater in 3D, you’ll find it even more awesome!!! I give this one TWO HUGE thumbs up and rate it a solid A+!!!
Yes, I’m Positive…
I try to keep a positive perspective in my life……yeah, I’m not always successful. It isn’t easy. It is hard. With all the bad news on TV, family and friends who are going through rough times, the economy, and on and on, sometimes you really have to consciously work at finding the good side of situations…..the light, rather than the dark…….the sun peeking through the clouds…….the pretty amidst the ugly…….the “yes we can” in the sea of “no we can’t” attitudes. Negativity is contagious and it is everywhere! I used to think positivity was contagious, too, but I’m not so sure anymore. Sure, that sounds pretty negative coming from a person who started this writing with the statement “I try to keep a positive perspective in my life”. but I can’t help it sometimes – I find myself falling off the “happiness” wagon and bruising my butt on the hard surface of negativity. It seems like the negative thinking in the world is taking over and consuming all the positive thinking. I think it is sometimes easier to convince a positive person to see the negative side than to convince a negative person to see the positive side. It is sad!
But, aside from the occasional back slide, I will not be defeated. I will remain a generally happy person. I will continue to be a warrior for the positive. I won’t default to the negative and you can’t make me! 🙂
OK…..this post just isn’t working for me! I started it early in the week and keep going back to it to try to get my point across, but I’m just not feeling it. It has been in draft for about 5 days, now and I’ve only written two paragraphs. I opened it up again this morning and thought about just deleting it and finding something easier to write about. What started out to be a testament to the benefits of being positive has succeeded in forcing me to focus on the negative – how does that happen???!!! But, I have decided to just finish it and post it! So, I’m going to do just that – because the first two paragraphs make a very bold statement: if you don’t seek out the positive, the negative will seek out you!
Despite what I’ve written, so far, in this post, being happy, finding something to smile about, and staying positive really does come easy for me MOST of the time! When it becomes a challenge, I work to get past it and not let it get me down. Of course, there are personal tragedies in life when you have to allow yourself to grieve, which includes periods of depression – you need to recognize those times and not force happiness on them, causing them to fester. But, aside from those types of situations, it really is a lot more healthy to look for ways to deal with just about every situation more positively rather than focusing on the negative.
So, yes — after thinking about this post for days, now, I can honestly say I am positive! Of course, I’ve always known that. I wake up to three dogs so excited to see me open my eyes every morning that they about smother me with kisses and rolling all over me and fighting over who gets to say good morning first – how can any day start out bad with all that going on? I dance around the house with the dogs singing Broadway show tunes and change the words to the tunes to suit the activity or to get the girls more excited. It doesn’t take much to make me smile or laugh – you can put me in a “OMG, I’m gonna pee my pants” laughing jag with little or no effort at all. I end each day thinking about all the things that made me smile – yes, some nights the list is long, some nights it is short, and some nights I really have to think to find something, but I always do find something – no matter how big or small – that made me smile and feel happy. I’m a big fan of pros and cons lists – if the cons outnumber the pros, I don’t go down that path, unless at least one pro is so big it carries more weight than the long list of cons. If I’m in a situation that is bringing me down, I find a way to change it and make it better – I don’t just accept it and allow it to overwhelm me. Again, not always easy — and sometimes you have to accept it to get past it and hope that something good comes of it……and it usually does, eventually! I rarely regret anything I do or decisions I make – right, wrong, or indifferent, they got me to where I am and I learned from them in one way or another.
Some of my favorite quotes on this subject are:
“Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.” ~ James Dean
“Choose your attitude.” ~ Fish Philosophy
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.” ~ Maya Angelou
“This very moment is a seed from which the flowers of tomorrow’s happiness grow.” ~ Margaret Lindsay
“Happiness is in the heart, not in the situation.” ~ Unknown
And now, I’ll leave you with these humorous looks at finding a way to smile and be positive about almost any situation:
Thoughts on Winter
Over the Christmas week and again this current week, I find myself thinking about a popular joke that has made its way around the internet via emails, Facebook, etc. for many years. You know the one. It is written in diary format by a guy/girl who moves to {insert city known for having very snowy winters} and starts out all excited about the snow, progressively loses that enthusiasm more and more each day, and finally ends up cursing the snow and the plow driver who inevitably comes along and buries the end of the driveway within minutes of them shoveling it out……yet, again! I started seeing that joke floating around when I lived in NC. I’d read it through, nod my head, laugh, and think “been there, done that, bought the t-shirt – glad I’m not there anymore!” And then, despite years of insisting I would never live where I had to deal with months of snow, I decided to move back home – to western NY – right smack dab in the Buffalo snow belt!
I was never a fan of winter. Didn’t care much for winter sports or being outside in the cold and snow. Yes, I occasionally enjoyed ice skating at Bullard Park – night skating was the most fun and the building where they had a heater and served hot chocolate made it easy to spend a few hours skating and hanging out with friends. I’ve also been known to bundle up and go sledding, make a few snow angels, and have a few snowball fights in my day. But, for the most part, I much preferred to stay inside in the winter. My brother, on the other hand, loved the snow and being out in it. I always did think he was a little whacky, but, to each his own, as they say. So, the winters in NC were my cup of tea! Just enough snow to remind me that it was pretty and go away before it got irritating. 🙂 We usually had a few days of snow each winter, but it would go away once the sun came out. There were a couple of winters (out of the 26 years I lived there) that brought some significant accumulation that lasted several days. I remember the first year we got buried with a huge snow fall. I didn’t have boots, gloves, or a really warm winter coat. I also didn’t have a snow shovel or other appropriate winter time tools. I had to shovel my deck, steps, and a path to the car. So, I got the dirt shovel out of the shed – learned quick that dirt shovels don’t work in snow – it just sticks to them! But, I am a creative sort……I duct taped a dust pan to the handle of a broom and went out with my shoes, bare hands, and a lightweight jacket and roughly – very roughly – cleared a path in the snow. After that, I bought a snow shovel that never got used. Luckily, if there was any hint of a snow flake in the forecast, the whole state shut down and I didn’t have to deal with it!
So, obviously, one of the things I gave a lot of thought and consideration to when deciding whether or not to move back home was having to deal with the winter months. I admit I was worried about it. I made sure the house I bought had an attached garage – I was determined to never have to clean off a car and carry groceries through the snow – that was the one main must have when it came to a house!!! But, that wasn’t all I worried about. I hadn’t driven in significant snow or ice in a lot of years! And I wasn’t sure how my Mustang would handle in the snow. I decided the benefits of moving far outweighed the concerns I had about the winters. So, here I am.
My first winter here was mild – we only had a couple good snow storms and they didn’t last long. For the most part, it was almost exactly like winters in NC, except it was colder…..and those couple of snow storms were more than I would have had to deal with in NC. I was pleasantly surprised and thought of it as a gift to help me ease into it. I bought a snow shovel called a “snow pusher” that made clearing my driveway and patio easy – I’d just walk behind it pushing the snow out of the way – no need to lift and throw the snow, like normal shovels. I got excited when it did snow and enjoyed watching the girls play and experience deep snow for the first time in their lives. I got right out there with them and played snowball catch and chased them around the yard. Since I didn’t work and there weren’t many bad days, it was easy to just stay home if the weather wasn’t good. It was a good first winter.
I knew I wasn’t lucky enough to get another mild winter, though. The pony didn’t do well driving in snow, so I got a second vehicle so I could take the old girl off the road during the winter months. I had my snow pusher and the cold weather clothes I bought the year before. I was ready! I was very happy that we got a white Christmas……but, then it kept on snowing……..and snowing……..and snowing! It snowed so much and the snow was so wet and heavy that my snow pusher was no longer an easy solution to clearing the driveway. I decided to get a snow blower. Once I got used to it, I liked it! So, we’ve had two major bouts of snow. And this one came with days of single digit temperatures and sub-zero wind chill factors!
But, you know what? I’m finding I don’t look at the snow in the same way I did when I lived here before. Then, I had to clean off cars and dig my way out to get to school or work every day. I had to drive no matter how bad the roads were – unless work, school, or the roads were closed. It was a chore to just survive the day-to-day necessities. But, now, I have very little that I HAVE to go out for. I clean the driveway out in case I need to go somewhere and to keep up with it so it doesn’t get too out of hand. I clear the patio off so the girls can easily get out to do the business. Other than that, I can sit and look out at it. I can appreciate the beauty of it. I can have fun with the girls and the snow blower. I don’t have to dread the snow. Sure, I still don’t LIKE it and I really wish it would snow for a day or two and then go away and I wish it would warm up – I don’t like being cold! But, I really don’t get all upset and irritated with it like I used to. Maybe it is because I don’t NEED to go out in it……..maybe I’m getting better at not letting things I can’t do anything about bother me…….who knows. All I know is I just plain don’t feel the same about winter and snow as I used to and that’s a good thing!
I ventured out yesterday and snapped some photos. Here is what January 2013 in Albion, NY looks like:
The girls playing in the snow – before the second wave came through and made it much deeper!
Don’t think I’ll be barbecuing any time soon!
Breakfast on the patio, anyone?
The canal is drained for the winter and the barges that are parked until spring look pretty sad stuck in the ice and snow!
Ducks out on the frozen river at Point Breeze
Lake Ontario at Point Breeze — icy waves!
Another shot of the frozen chunks covering Lake Ontario
The Black North Inn at Point Breeze looks pretty lonely!
Mount Albion Cemetery
Mount Albion Cemetery
Mount Albion Cemetery
And, finally…….this patio was all cleaned off just yesterday – this was taken this morning after the overnight lake effect snow dumped another load of snow on us!
So, there are my thoughts on Winter and snow. I’m finally at a point in my life where I can actually enjoy it…..to a point! 🙂
Kim's Thoughts 
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