Apologies

apologies

White

Boehner

Apologies

Apologies

Apologies

to Nancy Sinatra and Lee Greenwood and Johnny Cash and June Carter!)My medical affliction and I spent April 2013 through November 2013 attempting to followaccording to unique singer Frankie Laine who snarled out just such a tune during my childhood. I grew up prowling around our fenced backyard whether in autumn, winter, summer or spring. Badminton, croquet, wimpy versions of gymnastics, hole-digging to shout clear through the globe to Chinese people on the other side, impromptu softball, sandbox sitting, and skipping through sprinklers! Little did I realize that at my advanced age, I'd revisit my youthful past and enjoy scooting a hammock about all day long to bask under a quirkily quickly moving patch of sunlight.And it sorta did? Global Warming's toxicity is my personal diagnosis for this bizarre affliction…and Global Warming will heal it, too, if only I can successfully harness "Old Sol's" piercing rays.Birds trilled, twittered and warbled, as I became a latter-day version of "Snow", gliding about, alternatively seeking a deep orange glowing tan for a change of pace., maybe? Several beguiling bikinis I had purchased, just for my escapade, caught Don's startled attention, until I forgot and turned sideways, resembling Jackie Gleason. I consistently backed away from "my mister" when he proffered fast food and Coca Colas at noon to, an aging Brigitte Bardot with a sagging derriere. Oh, I know plenty of local folks who frolic within their own in-ground or above-ground pools or boast of fun to be had at "home away from home" lake cottages (ta ta!), but I received no invitations to explore my inventively hypothesizedseaside at their elegant, small-town. Our community's "convenient to all neighborhood kids" Burnworth Pool inexplicably seems, andto replace it with a well-paid consultant's suggested opulent pricey-resort-type lay-out, one only can dream of, seems highly unlikely. Thus, my "groom" bought his "bride"(Ha!) a kiddie pool from Aldi's…nothing but the finest…22 bucks!Both Copernicus and also Galileo Galilei entered into my thoughts as I lugged that cumbersome sling of a cot hither thither and yon from pillar to post seeking the merest dappling of sunlight,, as the summer progressed then waned. Maple trees purchased when I was a junior high kid are now so overgrown that the canopied effect overtakes the sky, and shade happens every two seconds. I damn those behemoths, yet, like a crooning Clint Eastwood, I also "Talk to the Trees"! I lapse into a reverie that I am Tom Hanks in "Cast Away" and daydream, hallucinate, and desire my own volley ball to name "Wilson " to bond with, even though my two dogs, Jack and Gaby, do enjoy chasing an assortment of ragged tennis balls which I pitch to them as well as left-over air-bornefrom my earlier lunch dates.Temptations to reenact Cecil B. DeMille's blockbuster "The Greatest Show on Earth", circa 1952, which I attended in North Carolina with my little girl cousins after we dropped by a dime store to purchase our paper doll sets of "Chuck" Heston, Betty Hutton, Lyle Bettger, Gloria Grahame, mysterious clown and mercy killing doctor Jimmy Stewart, his little dog "Popcorn", and CORNEL WILDE (Anybody recall his star-turn in "The Naked Prey"?)…arrived at the forefront. How's that? As I napped on my trampoline style hammock, appearing to have fallen into a trapeze artist's safety net, a vengeful bumble bee stung me on my already crimson-speckled, debilitated right hand. I fantasized that the, containing 27 bones, would become wrinkled, crippled, and hideously deformed like Cornel Wilde's did when he insisted upon "flyinga net" and subsequently took a tumble mutilating himself possibly forever. Shirtless, he bitterly strutted about in tights, throughout the rest of the film, hiding his scarred affliction beneath an impossibly silly, silky, satin Technicolor green cape! Not to mention "the Sultan's Favorite" Gloria Grahame whose pouty movie star face became nearly obliterated by her jealous, vindictive lover Bettger insisting that she seductively slide beneath the poised humongous foot of his multi-tonned, cooperative, trained elephant! Drama! Whoops, I almost forgot the spectacular train wreck featuring all of the circus performers and animals on board tragically scattered to kingdom come.And as scantily as I wasdressed all summer, I also identified with Hollywood's "Golden Boy" William Holden when he co-starred in the "Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) while generally wearing nothing but a Speedo. (Trivia time--was such a hairy fellow that his entire amazing physique required shaving every morning of shooting, per Tinseltown's Hays Code--of Censorship!) I reviewed my days as a youngster chopping my way through the peripheral shrubbery bordering neighbor boy Johnny Lillich's yard -- (also littered with out-of-season upside down canoes) -- pretending that I might locate Sir Alec Guinness while whistling Mitch Miller's version of the redundant "Colonel Bogey March"! Johnny's parents never inquired as to why I trespassed on their premises…not once! Instead, I behaved like the ancient adult I am and read books between bouts of tugging my hunter's pup-tent hammock all around the yard to catch some medicinal rays. Trips to tanning booths would be much easier to tell the truth! Pick your poison?Far be it from me to wish thatbecause in 1962 a popular local high school band director, who innovatively concocted a small jazz ensemble and invited me to participate as THE girl singer, hysterically lambasted me in front of my teenage peers for forgetting the words to "White Christmas" -- a melody which I now detest and which will forever remain absent from my repertoire ofBesides, Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellenthat sucker by now! I am, instead, praying for sunny days clear through to spring so that I can sunbathe my little heart out and no longer resemble a teenager with a serious case of acne "all over mybody"! (to Jonathan Winters!) Wherever (and whenever) there's a Wedding Anniversary, New Year's Day, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Palm Sunday…IF there's a smidgen of sunshine, I'll be there…(to Henry Fonda as "Okie" Tom Joad in "The Grapes of Wrath"! Google John Steinbeck's classic, and you'll completely understand!)Helen Cochrane: "Love Susie and Don's wedding picture. You know Krisan got married in that wedding dress as well. Happy days."Diann Trice: "OMG, I just laughed so loud that I am sure my neighboring cubicles thought something was wrong with me. I thought you looked like your mom until I saw the wedding picture………you have the best of both of your parents. Happy Anniversary to them. I feel like I know them personally."Amber Lang: "Love the photos! Thanks for sharing!"James Dean Gallery: "Thanks for posting this, Roy! and 'Hi' Susie...!"Kat Kelly-Heinzelman: "Thank you, Roy. Happy anniversary to Susie and Don you both have done well 45 years that is a lifetime and you both are still going strong together. Happy Holidays to three of my favorite people. God bless you all this season and many more to come. Love ya."Elizabeth Lean: "Happy anniversary - you still have 3 years to catch me up - lol"Rebecca Biber: "This year I've been hired to play a wedding on December 28. Will be thinking of the Sextons, in many ways, as I tickle the nuptial ivories!"Shannon Wright: "Susie, you always have a way with words. And you crack me up!"Kim Elizabeth Johnson: "Best wishes on your anniversary! You were a lovely bride!"Susan Alcott Jardine: "Happy Anniversary, Susie & Don."Elizabeth Lean: "such a lovely photo and couple Happy anniversary xxx"Mary Maday: "Savored every word. Love good reading. Also enjoyed the pics...All those who 'liked' this should order the books. They are from 'our era' and expertly written. You will love them."Shannon Basner: "Wishing you a very Happy Anniversary!!!!"Nancy Hartman: "Really enjoy reading this; wishing you both a very Blessed Happy Holidays. Love you both!!"________________________Read about movies and nostalgia, animal issues and sociopolitical concerns all discussed in my book Secrets of an Old Typewriter and its new follow-up Misunderstood Gargoyles and Overrated Angels - print and ebook versions of both are available (click the title to order from publisher Open Books' website). Also available in both formats at Amazon.com , or download from iTunes Meet other like-minded souls at my facebook fan page Visit my author website at www.susieduncansexton.com Join a great group of animal advocates Squawk Back: Helping animals when others can't ... Or Won't