Thoughts
Tune Tuesday: Vaya Con Dios 1953
We are traveling way, way back, today. The #1 song sixty-five years ago is a piece from the duo Les Paul and Mary Ford…Vaya Con Dios.
In 1953, my mother was six years old and my father was eight….just for some perspective. ~Vic
Harvest Moon 2018
Well. I was intending to take pictures of the Moon and post them. Alas, that just isn’t happening. We have cloud cover so thick, I can’t even see a faint glow. Bummer.
Traditionally referred to as the Harvest Moon due to the fact that it is the full moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox, this Moon is also known as the Corn Moon and the Fruit Moon. This Moon was important to early farmers because they had more bright moon nights to gather crops. Corn, pumpkins, squash, beans and wild rice, the primary Native American staples, are now ready for gathering.
100% full illumination occurred just a bit, ago, at 10:52pm EDT.
The three pix, below, are from the full moon on September 6, 2017.
Howl for me…
~Victoria ❤
Autumnal Equinox 2018
Personal Collection 09-22-2018
Personal Collection 09-22-2018
Personal Collection 09-22-2018
Personal Collection 09-22-2018
Personal Collection 09-22-2018
Personal Collection 09-22-2018
Soothing sounds. I could listen to this all day.
It was a wonderful walk. There was a breeze and the temperature was in the higher 80s instead of the 90s. Fall is finally here. The local trees’ leaves aren’t changing color just yet but, many are ‘leaf dropping’, including the huge Maple tree in my front yard. I sat in my Adirondack for a couple of hours, journaling. I look forward to the mosquitoes leaving. They are still here. ~Vic
The Autumnal Equinox for this area of the Northern Hemisphere was at 9:54pm EDT.
Why is it called ‘an equinox’?
The word comes from the Latin aequus, meaning “equal” and nox, meaning “night”.During the equinox, the Sun crosses what we call the “celestial equator”. Imagine a line that marks the equator on Earth extending up into the sky above the equator from north to south. Earth’s two hemispheres receive the Sun’s rays about equally. The Sun is overhead at noon as seen from the equator, so at this point, the amount of nighttime and daytime (sunlight) are roughly equal to each other.
From www.almanac.com
The Snake of Sunlight
A famous ancient equinox celebration was the Mayan sacrificial ritual by the main pyramid at Chichen Itza, Mexico. The pyramid, known as El Castillo, has 4 staircases running from the top to the bottom of the pyramid’s faces, notorious for the bloody human sacrifices that used to take place here. The staircases are built at a carefully calculated angle which makes it look like an enormous snake of sunlight slithers down the stairs on the day of the equinox.From www.timeanddate.com
Flick Friday: Prisoners 2013
I think by now everyone knows this is Flick Friday.
The #1 movie five years ago, today, was Prisoners, starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo and Paul Dano.
I don’t think I want to watch this one. I love Hugh Jackman & Terrence Howard but, I can’t take little kid abduction and torture movies. The synopsis was quite enough. ~Victoria
Tune Tuesday: Whatever You Like 2008
It’s Tune Tuesday! Ten years ago, today, the #1 Billboard Hot 100 song was Whatever You Like. I hadn’t heard this song until five minutes ago. By the time 2008 rolled around, I wasn’t listening to Top 40 stations, anymore. I was listening to BobFM or SimonFM or what everyone today refers to as ‘variety hits’. Yes, I am showing my age. ~Vic
Military Monday: The Battle of Antietam 1862
[From: Wikipedia & The History Channel]
One hundred and sixty-five years ago, today, The Battle of Antietam, also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the Southern U.S., occurred September 17, 1862, at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. It pitted Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia against Union General George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac and was the culmination of Lee’s attempt to invade the north. The battle’s outcome would be vital to shaping America’s future and it remains the deadliest one-day battle in all American military history, with a combined tally of 22,717 dead, wounded or missing.
McClellan had halted Lee’s invasion of Maryland but, Lee was able to withdraw his army back to Virginia without interference from the cautious McClellan. McClellan’s refusal to pursue Lee’s army led to his removal from command by President Abraham Lincoln in November. Although the battle was tactically inconclusive, the Confederate troops had withdrawn first from the battlefield and abandoned their invasion, making it a Union strategic victory. It was a sufficiently significant victory to give Lincoln the confidence to announce his Emancipation Proclamation, which discouraged the British and French governments from pursuing any potential plans to recognize the Confederacy.
[From: Emerging Civil War…another take…]
Fortunately, for the sake of debate, the outcome of Civil War battles is not as clear-cut as that of a football game, where one can look at the scoreboard at the end of the game and easily determine who won, who lost, or, in some cases, if the outcome was a draw. Historians endlessly debate whether certain battles were overwhelming victories, marginal victories, or draws. Perhaps no other battle’s tactical outcome is more misunderstood than the bloodiest single day battle of the war: Antietam.
No one would doubt Antietam’s significance in the larger picture of the war. However, the common conception of Antietam is that the battle was tactically a draw, with neither side having gained a significant enough of an advantage to have claimed the victory. This article will challenge that commonly held belief, using particular instances from the battle and the Maryland Campaign to demonstrate the Army of the Potomac’s victory at Antietam.
[Had this battle been a Confederate victory, this country might look very, very different. ~Victoria]
Shutterbug Saturday: September Beauty
Flowers, critters and ‘shrooms for today. All photos are my personal collection ©. ~Vic
08-25-2018
09-08-2018
09-08-2018
08-17-2018
08-06-2018
Flick Friday: Burn After Reading 2008
It’s Flick Friday! Ten years ago, today, the #1 movie was Burn After Reading, a black comedy from the Coen Brothers that brought us hits like Fargo and The Big Lebowski. I’ve never seen this movie, or The Big Lebowski for that matter but, I have seen Fargo, which was an absolute trip. At least the brothers aren’t as gory as Tarentino. ~Victoria
Throwback Thursday: Hurricane Ike 2008
While we are on the subject of hurricanes, ten years ago, today, Hurricane Ike struck Galveston, Texas, at 2:10am CDT. It was recorded as a Category 4 on September 4 as it moved near the Leeward Islands. Though it had lessened in strength from its prior Cat4 status to Cat2, this was a bad storm in costs, damage and death. Ike’s storm surge went right over the Galveston Seawall, a ten-mile wall built for protection after the devastating Galveston Hurricane of 1900.
Ike claimed 195 lives…74 in Haiti, six in Cuba and 113 in the US. As of August 2011, 16 are still missing. This was a huge storm that also damaged the Bahamas, the Turks & Caicos, the Florida Panhandle, Mississippi and Louisiana. It is the most expensive storm to ever hit Cuba and, at $38 billion, was the second-costliest storm in US history until 2012.
I was living in Texas when Ike hit. I was too far inland to be affected by more than some rain storms. The terrain in Texas is quite different from North Carolina and even though the Austin Area is roughly the same distance from the Texas coast as the Piedmont/Triangle is from the NC coast, my native Texan friends told me that Austin had never been hit by a hurricane.
I was employed by the very agency that responded to the disaster…The Texas General Land Office, though I was not working in the Coastal Management Unit. I was working for the Veterans Land Board but, I remember the teams going down to help with the clean up and the pictures of the damage that were posted to our intranet. The stunning images of the debris that littered I-45 and the heartbreaking photos of the flooding to downtown Galveston. NASA’s Johnson Space Center (Houston, we’ve had a problem…) suffered roof damage to Mission Control and my beloved Lone Star Flight Museum wound up with $18 million in damaged planes and had to be moved inland to Ellington Field. ~Victoria
Wayback Wednesday: SS Central America 1857
In 1857, caught in a Category 2 Hurricane, the SS Central America sank 160 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, drowning 420+, including Captain of the Ship Commander William Lewis Herndon. Nicknamed The Ship of Gold, 30,000 pounds of gold from the California Gold Rush went down with her, exacerbating The Panic of 1857.
It wasn’t until very recently that the lost gold was recovered and only two years ago that the salvage award of 100% was awarded.
In other September 12 trivia bits, as we wait for Hurricane Florence 2018 to show up, this appears to be a rather bad day for hurricanes. Did you know that there have been six Atlantic Hurricanes named Florence? She gets around. ~Vic
1910 Alice Stebbins Wells was hired as the first LAPD Policewoman.
1928 The Okeechobee Hurricane, a Category 4 storm, struck Guadeloupe, killing 1,200.
1979 Hurricane Frederic, a Category 4 storm, slammed into Dauphin Island, Alabama, destroying the bridge to the mainland and killing five.
1988 Hurricane Gilbert, the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record until 2005, devastated Jamaica, produced a 19 foot storm surge and killed 49.
Flick Friday: Dickie Roberts 2003
It’s Flick Friday! The 1# movie fifteen years ago, today, was Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. The list of cameos is interesting.
I haven’t the first clue… But, I will say that the trailer offered a nice view of an older Leif Garrett and Barry Williams. Bonaduce? I’ve seen enough of him, already. Ditto Alyssa Milano. ~Victoria
Burt Reynolds
February 11, 1936 – September, 6, 2018
A sad Throwback Thursday…(just a little late posting).
He was Ben Frazer for 20 episodes on the TV show Riverboat, 1959-1960. He was Quint Asper for 50 episodes on the TV show Gunsmoke, 1962-1965. He played Detective Lt. John Hawk for one season on the TV show Hawk in 1966. He was Dan August for one season on the TV show of the same name, 1970-1971 (I remember this…vaguely). He was the voice of Troy Garland on the Out of this World TV show for four years, 1987-1991. He was B.L. Stryker for 12 episodes on the TV show of the same name, 1989-1990. He played Wood Newton for four years on the TV show Evening Shade, 1990-1994. He was even on an episode of The X-Files playing God in 2002.
He was Lewis Medlock in the thriller Deliverance, 1972. He was Jay Grobart in The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing, 1973. He was Robert ‘Gator’ McKlusky in White Lightening, 1973. He was Paul ‘Wrecking’ Crewe in The Longest Yard, 1974. He was W.W. Bright in W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings, 1975. He returned in 1976 as ‘Gator’ McKlusky, again, in Gator, the sequel to White Lightening. He was Billy Clyde Puckett in Semi-Tough, 1977. He was “The Greatest Stuntman Alive” Sonny Hooper in Hooper, 1978. He was Phil Potter in Starting Over, 1979. He was J.J. McClure in The Cannonball Run, 1981 (I remember going to this at the theatre with friends). He was Sgt. Thomas Sharky in Sharky’s Machine, 1981. He played the great Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, 1982. He was Richard Babson in Best Friends, 1982. He was Stroker Ace in the film of the same name in 1983. He was David Fowler in The Man Who Loved Women, 1983 (he did a LOT of loving!). He reprised his role of J.J. McClure in Cannonball Run II, 1984. He was Mike Murphy in City Heat, 1984. He was Tony Church in Rent-A-Cop, 1988. He was John L. Sullivan IV in Switching Channels, 1988. He was Joe Paris in Physical Evidence, 1989 (another one I remember going to the theatre to see). He was the voice of Charlie B. Barkin, the German Shepherd mix in All Dogs Go to Heaven, 1989.
His career slowed down after that but, he roared back to life playing Jack Horner in the 1997 hit Boogie Nights. He returned to the The Longest Yard remake as Coach Nate Scarborough in 2005. He played Boss Hogg in the 2005 film version of the TV show The Dukes of Hazzard. He was Sam LeFleur in Forget About It, 2006. One of his last movies was playing Vic Edwards in The Last Movie Star, a 2017 fitting story of an aging movie star with the bulk of his work behind him. Burt worked until he died, with his last film, Defining Moments, to be released after his death.
Even with all of the above interesting characters he played in a career spanning 60 years, literally, he will always and forever be…Bo Darville…The Bandit. ~Victoria
Smokey and The Bandit, 1977.
Smokey and The Bandit II, 1980.
Smokey and The Bandit Part 3, 1983.
Addendum:
Awards
♡ 1991 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor/Comedy Series in Evening Shade
♡ 1992 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor/TV Musical or Comedy in Evening Shade
♡ 1998 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor/Motion Picture in Boogie Nights
Notable Nominations
☆ 1971 Golden Globe Award Nomination for Best Actor/TV Drama in Dan August
☆ 1975 Golden Globe Award Nomination for Best Actor/Motion Picture Musical or Comedy in The Longest Yard (The movie won for Best Musical or Comedy)
☆ 1980 Golden Globe Award Nomination for Best Actor/Motion Picture Musical or Comedy in Starting Over
☆ 1991 Golden Globe Award Nomination for Best Actor/TV Musical or Comedy in Evening Shade
☆ 1992 Primetime Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor/Comedy Series in Evening Shade
☆ 1993 Golden Globe Award Nomination for Best Actor/TV Musical or Comedy in Evening Shade
★ 1998 Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Boogie Nights
☆ 1998 BAFTA Award Nomination for Actor/Supporting Role in Boogie Nights
☆ 1998 SAG Award Nomination for Outstanding Performance/Male Actor/Supporting Role in Boogie Nights
☆ 1998 SAG Award Nomination for Outstanding Performance/Cast/Motion Picture in Boogie Nights
Tune Tuesday: Shake Ya Tailfeather 2003
It’s Tune Tuesday! Fifteen years ago, today the #1 Billboard Hot 100 song was Shake Ya Tailfeather from the movie Bad Boys II.
This is another song that, I confess, I’ve never heard before. And, I’ve never seen Bad Boys II, either. In 2003, I had recently moved to Texas and I was busy learning a new job. I didn’t see many movies that year and, apparently, I stopped listening to mainstream radio. ~Vic
Flick Friday: There’s Something About Mary 1998
It’s Flick Friday! The #1 movie twenty years ago, today, was There’s Something About Mary.
Honestly, I’ve never seen this movie. ~Vic
Throwback Thursday: 1966
Fifty-two years ago, today, I appeared (Hey!). That makes me a Solar Virgoan via Tropical Astrology and a Fire Horse via Chinese Astrology (as are all the folks born January 21, 1966 thru February 8, 1967). I was a mid-morning baby that was a little bit late (it’s warm and comfortable in there) and a full Pisces Moon showed up at 8:14pm EDT. I think I decided to hang out and wait for the full moon (howling). It’s probably why I am so fascinated and attracted to our glorious Moon.
I was born on my maternal Grandmother’s birthday. I used to joke that she and I were 51 years and 35 minutes apart. I was also her only grandchild with a different last name (there ‘were’ 10 of us). On the other side of the family, I was the first girl born into the family in three generations and the only granddaughter. I had my paternal Grandmother all to myself for 12 years. My paternal Grandfather bought a fifth of Old Grandad bourbon which he intended to drink with me when I turned 21. He didn’t make it. I still have the unopened bottle of bourbon. At one time, the label reflected bottling in 1961.
I was a Vietnam War baby. I did a post, earlier in the month, which covers my ‘almost Army Brat’ status. I hadn’t quite reached my third birthday when Neil Armstrong was heard over the air ‘small-stepping & giant-leaping’ and I wasn’t even four, yet, when Jack Swigert told Houston they’d had a problem. I was nine days old when Star Trek boldly debuted.
I was a child of the 70s and a teen of the 80s. I am one of the early Generation X group. I remember watching Scooby Doo, Super Friends and Looney Tunes (Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show) on Saturday mornings. Afternoons after school, it was Sesame Street and The Electric Company. I remember The Carol Burnette Show, The Donnie & Marie Show, Dance Fever and Solid Gold. I loved watching One Day At A Time, Charlie’s Angels, The Bionic Woman, Happy Days and Wonder Woman. I also watched ‘wrastlin’ with my dad and just about every cop show you could think of (he controlled the TV most of the time). I was 11 when I bought my first album Surf & Drag. I was 13 when everyone was wondering “Who shot J.R.?”. I was just shy of my 15th birthday when MTV was born. My first rock concert was The Police: Synchronicity Tour. I also got to see England Dan & John Ford Coley in 1976 at Carowinds with my mom.
I graduated high school at 17 in 1984…yeah, the same year as the scary book. I wasn’t even close to my 20th birthday when I watched the Challenger Space Shuttle explode in stunned silence. Twelve days after my 35th birthday, I watched, again, in stunned silence as two planes flew into the Twin Towers and Flight 93 crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Things were never the same after that day.
So much has changed from the world I grew up in. ~Victoria
People I share a birthday with:
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley 1797
Frederick ‘Fred’ Martin MacMurray 1908
Theodore Samuel ‘Ted’ Williams 1918
Kitty Wells (Ellen Muriel Deason) 1919
Geoffrey Beene (Samuel Albert Bozeman, Jr.) 1927
William Edward ‘Bill’ Daily, Jr. 1927
Warren Edward Buffett 1930
John Leonard ‘Jack’ Swigert, Jr. 1931
John Edmund Andrew Phillips 1935
Bruce Leslie McLaren 1937
Frank Edwin ‘Tug’ McGraw, Jr. 1944
Margaret Ann ‘Peggy’ Lipton 1946
Lewis Niles Black 1948
Timothy James Bottoms 1951
Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya 1958
Gary Ivan Gordon 1960
Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko 1962
Michael Charles Chiklis 1963
Michael Michele Williams 1966
Cosmic-Observation 