1. I slept in until 8:00 this morning, drank orange juice, and fixed a cup of coffee and decided almost immediately that I would spend my birthday at home. I'd thought I might go to CdA and go out for breakfast and go see a movie, but it was so gray and wet and sloppy out that I immediately canceled those plans and stayed put.
I enjoyed being home. Debbie and I did some rearranging of the living room. I enjoyed birthday greetings as I heard from numerous people on Facebook and via text messages and by telephone. I relaxed in the Vizio room with Copper and Luna. After three days of family parties on the 24th, 25th, and 26th, it was refreshing to slow myself all the way down and take it nice and easy.
2. This afternoon, I was in the mood for a movie. You'd think on my birthday, I'd want to watch something entertaining, something that would help me celebrate this day.
But, no, I didn't do that (and I can't explain why!).
The Criterion Channel is featuring a collection of movies under the title, Snow Westerns. I thought, well, as long as it's a snowy December in Kellogg, I think I'll give one of these movies a try.
So, during one of our family get togethers, we talked a bit about actors whom we had underestimated over the years. I offered up Burl Ives to our discussion and his thunderous performance in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
When I scanned the Snow Westerns offerings, I saw that the movie, Day of the Outlaw (1959) featured Burl Ives in a villainous role opposite Robert Ryan. The fact that Tina Louise was in this movie also piqued my interest. The only role I'd ever seen her play was Ginger on Gilligan's Island.
Outlaw in Town is brutal and bleak. It takes place in winter in a fictional Wyoming settlement called Bitter where tensions between the rancher played by Robert Ryan and homesteading farmers are getting dangerously high. But, the whole focus of the movie changes when the Burl Ives character and a small band of outlaws arrive in Bitter and take over the town.
I don't want to give away any more of the plot.
I'll just say that the brutality and bleakness of this troubling movie are inseparable from the movie's stunning cinematography, especially of the bleak winter conditions.
At times, it's as if Jack London and Robert Frost collaborated with the director, Andre de Toth, and director of photography, Russell Harlan, to create a movie not only of desert places, but of the raw relationship and conflict between humans, animals, and the rigors of wind, snow, and frigid temperatures.
3. Christy came over at 6:00 and joined Debbie and me for the birthday dinner I requested: enchilada casserole and a green salad. We started off our time together with a cocktail -- Christy and Debbie ordered Old-Fashioneds and I made myself a quick rum and coke. Our dinner was superb. When we lived in Eugene, Debbie used to fix this enchilada casserole frequently and we hadn't had it for quite a while. I not only enjoyed how delicious it was, but I also enjoyed the memories the food triggered and the comfort of this casserole. It was also fun that Christy could join us for dinner and some solid yakking afterward.
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