A Father's Day Post

I am not sure that I have ever written a post about my dad. Sorry about that.

That's me and my dad! Oh, and my "baby" brother. Isn't he a punk?

When I was little, I was a total daddy's girl. We did all kinds of stuff together and I have many, many specific memories with him.

I remember when I was about two, I had a red tricycle. My dad was going to repaint it and he asked me what color I wanted, to which  I replied "sparkly blue." And that's what he painted it! I remember him painting bookshelves to match mine and my sister's dinosaur bed sets (I loved dinosaurs when I was little, what can I say?). I still have the bookshelf--I am not sure I can bear to part with it. I remember "working" in the yard with him. Well, he was working, I was "helping." I remember going on a little vacation once--just the two of us--to Vail with his work softball team.

I remember getting up in the morning to "get ready" with him--mostly I watched him shave and he put shaving cream on my nose. Some mornings I wasn't up early enough, so I sat at the top of the stairs and watched him eat breakfast (half a grapefruit almost every morning!) until he got up and came to tell me bye.

We didn't always have the best of relationships. When I got into middle and high school, we fought quite a bit! There was a lot of yelling for a while there and it was not great for either of us.

Then, one day, we had a big blow up and after that, things seemed to resolve themselves.

Now we have a pretty good relationship. We don't see or talk to each other as much as we probably should, but he is always supportive of me and happy when I am happy. He always has advice and tips (even when I don't want or need them!) for me. And he always has good hugs!

And he loves to golf! Luckily for me, I think he loves us kids just slightly above his love of golf *wink.*

So that's my daddy! He probably won't see this, but I hope he knows how much I love and appreciate him. I think about him a lot and still miss him sometimes.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy. I love you always.

NDK 2013 Costumes Part Five

I have made a little bit of progress on my costumes.

Jareth:

Mostly, I wanted to report that I finished the dickey for my Jareth costume. It was kind of a rough ride, but look how it turned out!

And here it is with the finished vest!

So that's going well. I started working on the coat--the biggest and most intimidating piece (well, the broach aside). Apparently the pattern didn't call for making the coat front with the lapels double sided. As I began to put them together, I realized they needed to be and therefore had to go buy more fabric, which was a bummer. And I couldn't match the color exactly (different dye lot) so I will be working with that. If the inside is the new shade of blue, the lapels will be that color but they will end up covered with glitter and what-not anyway, so it won't matter! That's the idea, anyway, I haven't gotten very far with it yet.

I need to order my wig!!!

Rogue and Gambit:

Sadly, no real progress here... That's bad news. But I need Isaac's help for some of it and we haven't had time. And I need to order my Rogue jumpsuit!

Nausicaa:

I found a material that exactly matched the jean dress I found! So I have starting on her little leg warmers and the cartridge holders that go on her chest. I haven't decided how to attach them yet, however. I might have to do some creative sewing. I was going to use orange felt for the cartridges themselves. I think I can sew the jean holders on before inserting the felt. I will keep you posted as I get further along.

That's about it for now! I really need to get on this!

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

Anyone heard of this movie? And/or the book?

Here is a brief review of both!

I was introduced to the movie (released in the 1940s) by my mom. I was afraid it was a scary ghost story, but it wasn't that at all.

I love the movie. No matter how many times I watch it, I never tire of it. It is funny, sad, and sweet by turns. It is not overly complex or suspenseful (which is a normal criticism, especially of the book), but I love it. And it stars Gene Tierney (who I haven't seen in anything else), and the marvelous Rex Harrison. George Sanders plays a greasy nasty fellow and does a great job (I'm not sure what that says about him, but I only know him from Disney's Jungle Book otherwise where he is also a bad guy).

In the credits at the beginning of the movie, it says that it is based on the novel by R. A. Dick.

Which is funny to find because he published his book, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, under the pen name Josephine Leslie. Much as his main character, Mrs. Muir, published Captain Gregg's novel under the name Captain X, right? Fun parallels.

So I wanted to find and read this book. My parents had gathered the oddest and most extensive collection of books in our basement library. And one day, I happened to stumble upon this very one! (As well as many other treasures like the book based on the movie Labyrinth which was said to be "worth a gold nugget and just as rare.")

I first read the book several years ago. And loved it! Even more than I love the movie. And I do so love the movie.

They are quite different stories, however. I love the more complex character interactions in the book. Namely, Mrs. Muir's son, who is not in the movie at all. That provides an interesting dynamic to her life as well as a huge contrast to the life of her daughter (who is in the movie). I also like that Captain Gregg stays around the whole time, whereas he leaves in the movie. I like the ending of the book a bit better because she reconciles with Martha. The time lines are a bit different and many characters the same or mentioned, but they have to be taken separately.

There also seems to have been an old TV series based on the book. According to IMDB, it was 50 episodes long. They changed the names of both children from Cyril and Anna to Jonathan and Candice for some unknown reason. I haven't found a good place to watch the series, but it looks like much of it is on YouTube. I will have to find and watch some. Somehow I doubt it will be as good as the movie and the book, but you never know.

There you have it. Some old stuff to look into. And if you like one, I recommend the other. I'm not sure why I love them so much. I guess they are just charming. Enjoy!