A Fine Sunday

Jessie and I made a plan to go see The Beach Bum today. First of all, I was so honored that she would want to use some of her precious no-boys time to go see a movie with her mama. Secondly, I just really wanted to see the movie.
I was, in fact, almost inappropriately excited to go see it.
We met up the big fancy new movie theater where you have to buy assigned seats which in this case was ridiculous. There were only six people in the entire theater which was showing The Beach Bum including Jessie and me. But we picked out our seats and then we figured out what our beverages and snacks would be. I wanted popcorn because that's what you get at the movies. At this place you can get a three-course meal to take into the theater with you which seems ridiculous but whatever. You can also get adult beverages. Jessie got this.

I think it was called a Honey Bee. I could be wrong. I had a sip. It was delicious. 

We got a huge bag of popcorn although we passed on the Giant Dumbo Bucket of popcorn. Literally, a bucket. That you could use to haul dirt in. Or use at the beach. And I got some root beer. I hadn't had a root beer in forever. It was pretty good. One sip took me right back to when I was sixteen and worked at McDonald's. Every day for my lunch I would have a Filet o' Fish, a fried apple pie, and a root beer. 

When we went into the theater we first sat in the wrong seats. This was my fault. But we moved to the proper ones. We reclined in perfect comfort and watched the previews. Always fun. Until a preview came on for a horror movie. Jessie and I both hated that. We don't go to horror movies and we didn't want to see a preview of one. 

We lived. 

Finally, our movie came on. After all my pre-excitement and anticipation I bet you think I'm going to say, "Dammit, it fucking sucked!" 

Right? 

Well guess what? It didn't. 

We laughed so much. It was actually better than I thought it was going to be. Matthew McConaughey totally passes my good-actor test which is always- Can you see him (or her) acting? 

I truly thought that he was going to phone this one in, using his Dazed and Confused southern-drawling stoner character and he could have. But he didn't. There were elements of that character in there but his Moon Dog had layers and a deepness that I didn't expect. I almost cried a few times. Of course, that's a low bar for me and movies. 

Or anything.

And there were very uncomfortable moments. Watching a good actor portray a drunk can be pretty damn sad. He didn't just get high in this movie, he got fucked up. Or, his character did. 

Now let's move on to Snoop Dogg. 

Honestly, I had no idea that Mr. Dogg was such a good actor. OR that he was so damn sexy. The chemistry he had with Isla Fisher was shockingly electric. No pun intended. 

Or was that just me? 

He did basically play himself and I hear that originally he WAS going to play himself and his character's name would be Snoop Dogg. He, however, changed his character's name to Ray, short for Lingerie after an epiphany he had. Which was pretty perfect. Smooth as silk. 

Isla Fisher was wonderful. 

Jimmy Buffett can't act. But he is Jimmy Buffett. 

The plot had holes in it you could sink the Titanic in. The ending was fairly ridiculous. There were many gratuitous bare breasts which didn't disturb me in the least. I do love breasts although as Jessie pointed out, most of them were fake. There were entire parts of the movie that had absolutely nothing to do with anything except the director's obvious love of the actor. Martin Lawrence's role as Captain Whack (or is it Wack?) for instance. And yet, the scenes with him in it were like a delicious lagniappe that the chef sends out to your table because he loves you.

And yes, that tangent ended up being a bit, uh, weird and National Lampoon-ish but I still loved it.

So it was a lovely afternoon, well spent with one of my daughters. If laughter truly is the best medicine, we're in good shape.
And yes, it's probably obvious that I need to get out more. Not to mention the fact that I have extremely low-brow taste when it comes to culture.

I don't pretend otherwise.

When Jessie got home she discovered that Vergil had given the boys their dinner, bathed them and brushed their teeth and had them in their pajamas.
Dinner was PB&J's with chips and salsa.
It was 5:30 p.m.
What a dad!

I got home to find my husband still working on the laundry room. I think it's all ready for the big changeover and washer delivery tomorrow.
Or, well, almost.
I don't think I've ever looked forward to doing laundry as much as I am right now.

I cleaned out the nests in the hen house today and pulled the rest of the arugula. It has not rained but the temperature is dropping. We got nine eggs from our nine hens today, and one of them appears to be a maiden egg. Getting rid of those roosters was the best thing we could have done for these sweet chicken girls.

I think the main take-away I have from watching The Beach Bum is that kissing is a beautiful thing. The Moon Dog character kissed passionately and often. He was an equal-opportunity kisser whether the kissee was a probable super-model, his wife, his male friends, or his Cuban housekeeper who was a woman of a certain age. There was plenty of sex but the kissing was the best. And the sweetest.

I think I'll go kiss my husband now and then I'm going to heat up some very fine leftovers. If you were here, I'd probably kiss you too.

Love...Ms. Moon

I'm Crazy But Still A Fairly Decent Grandmother

I got a nice little visit from these two today. Jessie was at work and Vergil came out to do a little hunting season prep-work in the woods with Mr. Moon. August and Levon chose to stay here with me which pleased their old Mermer greatly, even though I am aware that what they mostly wanted was the possible opportunity to watch some TV. 
I showed them the new doll and they have named her. Her name shall be Lucy. This, too, pleases me as one of my favorite children's books is "Little Bear's Friend" and in that book, Little Bear meets a girl named Emily who has a beloved doll named Lucy. 

Lucy even has a bonnet! 
Perfect, as Kathleen used to say so often. 
In the picture above of August and Levon, they were eating cherries and the one August was eating seemed to have an extraordinarily large pit. Levon was checking it out. 

While they were here August built some Lincoln Log houses and we read some books and they ate a little lunch and then they got to watch some TV. 
It was fun. 

Before their visit, Mr. Moon and I got serious in the garden. I finished up the weeding and even pulled the rest of the okra and he raked and tilled some rows. I was only out there for about forty-five minutes but that was plenty for me. He worked longer than I did and was soaked through with sweat by the time he came in. I was a bit worried about seeing him and Vergil go off to do more outdoor things but soon after they left a rainstorm came up and they were home in record time. 

Glen will NOT listen to me when I tell him he's done enough for one day. He just won't. In fact, I feel fairly certain his last words will be, "I'll be fine. Stop worrying."

I've been cooking a pot of pinto beans and a ham bone with lots of meat on it since I started making breakfast this morning. I swear I think that was the Easter ham remnants and it's been in the freezer since then. I decided it was now or never and chose now because pinto beans with ham is my absolute choice for a Food of the Gods designation. I think I'll cook up the last few remaining okra with some onions and tomatoes to go with beans and I'll make a pot of rice. 
If that ain't a Sunday dinner, I do not know what is. 

So we ended up watching TWO movies yesterday. First the one I talked about in last night's post- "Me Time" and then, "The Beach Bum" which I had seen before with Jessie and wrote what I think was a pretty dang good review of what I thought about it HERE in 2019. I am not sure that even a dozen 

people ever saw this movie, much less liked it, much less loved it aside from me and Jessie, and I'm not sure she loved it as much as I did. But I've been wanting to see it again for three years now and would occasionally google it to see if it was available on a streaming service and finally, last night, I found it was on HBO max which we do have and I was so excited. 
You know what? I loved it again. 
Some people just really do not like Matthew McConaughey at all, ever, in anything he does. I am not one of the those people. 
And the role he played in "The Beach Bum" was as authentic and pulled out of the gut as his role in "Dallas Buyer's Club" was, in my opinion. I have known men like Moondog, his character in the movie, and everything from the hair to the hedonistic, trippy outlook on life, to the misuse and overuse of substances, the undeniable sexual charm, and the complete fucked-uppedness is familiar to me. 
I probably should not admit how much I love this movie because I am sure it says more about me than I'd like to say. It is a vastly flawed movie in many ways with as many unanswered questions on the second viewing as the first. It has butts and breasts, Jimmy Buffet, and Snoop Dogg in it. It has Richard Brautigan's poetry in it. It has Florida sunsets and seascapes. There is an abundance of drug use, tragedy, indefensible behavior, and absolutely ridiculously unsophisticated humor. 

All right. I'll shut up. I doubt any of you would want to see this movie. I have no idea why I love it. 
Here's a trailer but I am warning you- if substance abuse, sex, nudity, and Matthew McConaughey offend you, just DO NOT WATCH IT. 

Otherwise- enjoy!

 

Love...Ms. Moon