MOVIES IN THE ATTIC

ON NEW YEAR'S DAY---2015
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It was the coldest New Year's morn I could remember,
since 2007 (when it snowed 16 inches!)  It had been 
11 degrees two nights before and seemed that cold on
January 1.

The wind was blowing gusts up to 55 mph as I 
climbed the stairs into the attic...it seemed BE
and I always cleaned up old boxes of memorabilia,
went through photo albums, and generally reminisced
on New Year's...

She was in the den floor already, an Indian blanket
wrapped over her shoulders, and surrounded by a
hundred old photos---the story of our 58 years
together...

As I climbed into the cold attic, I could hear the
"usual suspects" at work---the wind was moaning
through the the one-fourth-inch-crack at the bottom
of the attic window; the pesky old mulberry branch
(which I didn't trim 'cause I liked it) was banging
against the wall of the house with every strong 
gust...and the trash can lid always blew around
the driveway, making musical sounds!

I threw a couple of small pinon logs into the
little wood stove, along with a chunk of fat wood,
and soon had a nice fire going and things were
cozy.

I probably should'a been down there on the den
floor, going through pictures with Beloved Editor,
with her saying: "Hey, look at this photo, from 1961
when you led the music at the Glenwood Cowboy
Camp Meeting, and Alan was only three." And
memories like that…there at Glenwood.....

.....little Alan told the baby-sitter, while we parents 
were in "church," "My daddy used to work, but now 
all he does is...go to church."

But it was sort of traditional for me to head up to
my attic on New Year's, especially when a storm 
was roaring outside!

Last year my memories were of CHS '51, and this
year I put a gift on the little TV/DVD from Robert S., 
from the above class. It was a 1940's DVD of several 
Gene Autry movies!

Soon I was caught up in the old Autry movie, which
no doubt I had seen along about '41 or '42 at the 
beloved Lyceum Theater in Clovis...and 
first-thing-you-know I was singing along with Gene:

"South of the border, down Mexico way...
There's where I fell in love
When stars above came out to play;
The mission bells told me
That I must not stay...
South of the border, down Mexico way."

Along with Gene, there was Smiley Burnette,
but alas---in my attic there was no double
feature with Charlie Chan, and no serial, such
as "The Perils of NYOKA," and we always had 
those at the Lyceum!

No popcorn either, but I soon remedied that--
I scarfed around in my pantry and came up 
with a packet of buttered-movie-popcorn
which I tossed into my little hand-me-down 
microwave. Soon there WAS popcorn.

Sorting through my stack of favorite DVD
movies, I found, (with fond memories)---

Red River
The Searchers
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Ben Hur
The Ten Commandments
Bridge Over the River Kwai
Airplane
The Shakiest Gun in the West
Sergeant York
Twelve O'Clock High
Grapes of Wrath
How Green Was My Valley
The  Longest Day
The Guns of Navarone
Gone With the Wind
The Wild Bunch
The Magnificent Seven

My six cups of strong coffee in the vintage
1957 Pyrex drip pot were smelling good and
I poured a big mug, black, as the storm outside
increased in fury!

Now I was thinking of favorite men movie stars---
(if space permitted, I'd comment on each):

Gregory Peck
Walter Brennan
Charleton Heston
James Stewart
Henry Fonda
Harrison Ford
James Garner
William Holden
Van Johnson
Spencer Tracy
John Wayne
James Whitmore
James Coburn
Thomas Mitchell
Lee Marvin
Ken Curtis

As I was continuing to remember the movies-
of-my-life, and I was pondering favorite lady
stars---about that time, from downstairs I 
heard Donna call: "You okay up there?
You're awfully quiet."

"I'm okay," I said, "Come on up, there's coffee,
and help me think of Cutie-Pie women movie
stars, from way back! I'll make us each a bowl of
canned Dinty Moore beef stew!"

"I think I'll pass on both," she said. "The women
don't interest me, and I'm making me a salad."

I propped up on my 3/4 GI surplus camp bed,
got under three quilts, and began listing favorite
lady movie stars, of my life....after all if there 
were ever a "movie generation" in the US, it
was we kids that came along not long after
the talkies came! We had favorites!

I listed:

Susan Hayward
Deanna Durbin
Lauren Bacall
Natalie Wood
Joan Fontaine
Goldie Hawn
Vera Miles
Kim Novak
Doris Day
Grace Kelly
Sharon Stone
Julia Louis--Dreyfus

By now, I was getting hungry, and
the coffee was running low.

I had sorted through all my great favorite
DVD movies; it was a miracle that I have
them at all---memories which went back
nearly seventy years in some cases!

And then I had thought long and hard on
listing my favorite stars of a lifetime. Some
were left out, I know.

What's for dinner? Cold storms make you
hungry.

Checking my beautifully--stocked larder,
here were my choices---

Peanut butter and Ritz crackers
Vienna sausage
Pork and beans
Tamales and Wolf Brand chili
Cream of potato soup
Dinty Moore beef stew
Spam
Nachos, potato chips
Beanie Weenies

The decision was quite easy---I almost always
pick the Beanie--Weenies and I got  a 
chunk of sharp cheddar out of the little fridge.

There was a BARQ'S big orange soda there, 
which I'd saved for occasions and I grabbed it,
and covered up in my bunk, happily munching!
A PAYDAY peanut candy bar was my dessert.

The third sixty-five minute Gene Autry movie
was playing on low...I began to get drowsy
from "my morning of memories…"

I thought of that great Butterfly McQueen in
"Gone With the Wind," when she said those 
famous lines: "Lawsy Miss Scarlet, I lied! I
don't know nothin' bout birthin' no babies!"

And then of all things, the fun "Laugh-In"
show of the mid-sixties came to my mind,
and the little German soldier played by Arte
Johnson: "Bob Hope, ve vaited for you ev'ry
Kriss-mus, but you never came."

I dozed off, in my cozy attic bed, under the
quilts, with the wind still rattling the house---
wondering what he new year, 2015, would bring,
and what my memories would be about, on
New Year's, 2016, a year from now.

******30******
BY MIL
01/01/2015