The Way It Is Now
Then, at Starbucks, was halted at the door by a kid with a thermometer
I let it go, but my Connecticut was rightfully wronged, already on life support after learning that Brooks Brothers had closed their Madison Avenue Flagship store.
It’s where my mother took me to get my first navy blazer, practically a rite of passage.
Don? Mitch? Nancy?
SB
This entry was posted in animals, creative writing, Culture, Faith, grace, History, humanity, humor, inspiration, New York City, Politics, readng, words, writing and tagged "E pluribus unum", Fear: False Evidence Appearing Real, How Covid is changing our lives, Living in grace, Pembroke Welsh Corgi Dogs. Bookmark the permalink.
Susannah, I agree that we all need to act responsibly. But some of the preventive actions leave me shaking my head too; like what in heck is it preventing?
I proctored at a school last Tuesday reading a test to a student. We sat 10 feet apart and wore masks. Then I was logged into a computer that had been used by God knows how many people Luckily I wore disposable gloves and refrained from touching my face.
Happy days will come again!
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That’s one of my favorite songs Skinny, and FDR’s Presidential theme song, during the dark days of the Depression. I shall take it as an omen of what’s to come. 🙂
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I just talked with a long-time friend yesterday. She works for a company that proctors tests required for certification for all sorts of different professions. She was telling me that a lot of the test-takers are surprised and frustrated that she doesn’t take their temperature when they come to the testing center. To which she wants to say “did you take your temperature before you left your house?” Here in California, almost nobody takes temperatures, even at the health care facility that I’ve been to many times over the last eight months.
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The Pollyanna in me wants to believe, people are attempting to do their best, but no one wants to hear any criticism or even what one could be perceived as a suggestion. My post I’m convinced is tanking because no one wants to even hear what I have to say, and with the exception of Skinny and now you, my regulars don’t either. I think it’s important to talk about what’s going on and how it’s affecting us. The page is my bully pulpit, if you will.
New York, alas, is stumbling again, blaming it on the Governor who’s trying to take small measures, but no one is listening. It’s wild to me. We need to stop it. sigh. Thanks Mark, as always.
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I’m a firm believer that a majority is trying to do the right thing. It may not be what you or I would do, but they’re trying. And sometimes the effort gets annoying. But we’re trying. Any little thing that reminds us of the reasons for that effort is a good thing. This should be a time when we come together. Sadly, a chunk of America is using this as an opportunity to demonstrate selfishness and stupidity.
Keep blogging about what you’re seeing and feeling. It’s a part of the reminder.
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I will, since I have no choice but to express myself. I’m grateful I can do it in words by hand, since, I’m alone most of the time.
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Your blog is amazing 🙂
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A kind thing to say. Thank you.
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The trouble with this bloody situation is no one is sure what to do, really. So they go to extremes in one place and do nothing in another. I’m truly starting to think the world has gone mad. Do you remember, in the old days, when life was simpler? During flu season, one was supposed to stay home when sick but still, as a preventative measure, we, the healthy, were to wash our hands incessantly after touching anything that could be contaminated. Seems like that good advice is all we really need. It makes zero sense to be shutting down one thing while leaving another open. How is worse to be handed a coffee cup than to embroider a piece of clothing?
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I couldn’t agree more. It’s as if all of life is being lived and viewed from a fun house mirror, the irony being, it’s anything but fun. sigh
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Yes. It’s way past fun, now.
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sigh
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Sigh….
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Well sighed. 🙂
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The sad reality is our lives are not going to be the same for a while. Loved your take on the Nancy, Mitch, Joe, and I’ll add Chuck show. The goof sitting as a lame-duck president could make our lives so much better by trading information with the incumbent socialists and getting his hot little hand away from the missile buttons. Would love to see him go play golf for the next two months leaving Nancy, Mitch, Joe, and Chuck home to solve some problems instead of creating them.
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I can’t imagine, Henry Clay, the esteemed Speaker of the House in his day, Daniel Webster and my all time hero, John Quincy Adams, ever leaving their post until a solution was found. Let’s not get me started about the Oval since, well…it’s like The Twilight Zone, but not as entertaining. Sigh
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Twilight zone is a perfect description. 😊
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Wish we could just flip the channel, or better yet, switch off the set.
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Wouldn’t that be wonderful. Maybe even a mute button at the very least. 😊
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oh yes…a mute button. 🙂
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“There’s a kind of a hush all over the world tonight.” https://youtu.be/WBRSBgc2htI
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Oh John…:)
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😊
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I applaud your words, Susannah. This is a most serious business…who expected it to be this widespread and determined.
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As distressing as it is, determined is an awfully apt word. sigh
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I agree with your words, Susannah. Covid-19 has played havoc everywhere and who knows whenever…if ever…it will play out? Any day now a person wearing one of those walking billboards could appear on the streets with the job of taking temps of all the passing crowd. It seems no matter how cautious we are someone in the smallest group will succumb to Covid. My little 2 year old great-grandson has been exposed so now he and his family are quarantined. My niece, an attorney, has contracted it somewhere. And all of these people are always masked, etc. My oldest son was exposed this week so our Thanksgiving dinner is cancelled…only four of us for a small dinner. Businesses open one day…slam bam, thank you ma’am…they’re shuttered. Seems it doesn’t pay making plans! Please keep on writing…writing is important. Hugs galore!
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Sorry to hear all that. I feel like every day we stay well is like dodging a bullet.
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I guess we have arrived at the point in our history where we take a look around the landscape and realize, yanno? It might not ever go back to the way it was before.
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I think you’re right Mr. Imma, yet I think we will find a happier spot to dwell in than this one. Let’s compare notes next Thanksgiving. 🙂
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I love your enthusiasm. I really, truly do. As Mel Torme would say, you’re the tops.
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Correct me if I’m wrong, was he the original choice for Johnny Fontaine in the Godfather but turned it down? There was another candidate. Was it him? Perry Como?
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I don’t recall Torme being in the running, nor Como. But seeing as how there were so many candidates for those iconic parts, who knows?
The idea of Orson Welles as Vito Corleone and Redford as Michael . . that still gets me.
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No one wanted the cast the way it was eventually assembled, Bob Evans being such a control freak. Coppola had to fight for Pacino the most. Imagine anyone else playing Michael. Pacino’s face, how it went from innocence to murderous without batting an eyelash. And Tom…HE’S JUST AS MUCH MY FATHER AS HE IS YOURS, SONNY. How I loved it because it made you see, despite his many crimes, Vito was exquisitely loved. sigh good morning Mr. Imma. 🙂
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No, there is no one who I can imagine other than Pacino when it comes to that role. I never thought of it that way but damn if he didn’t transform . . without so much as batting an eyelash. Wow you’re good.
That’s why the first one is my favorite. Don’t get me wrong, the second one is outstanding and many argue better. But for my money, the famiglia wins. And by the time they hit Nevada, it’s just not the same.
Good morning SB. 🙂
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One is my favorite too. It’s so current, even now. Coppola edited the damn thing, in his basement. I mean. WOW…RIGHT?
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You just can’t make this stuff up.
And were you aware of the wooden bumpers in the first movie? I wasn’t, but I read somewhere that Coppola used them in keeping with the time. Since all the chrome was being used for the war effort.
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I didn’t hear that one. I did know from the guy who used to make all the short films for Saturday Night Live, Jim Signorelli was his name, that they did Sonny getting it at the tollbooth in one take. Squib city.
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I love it!
I mean, I hated the scene. Not having Sonny and that famous temper around really sucked.
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I love the end when Michael says, you have to pay for Sonny, Carlo…hands him his Vegas tickets having no idea any minute he’ll hear Clememza say from that backseat…Hello PAWLIE…CUT TO…WINDSHIELD SHATTERED BY FEET.
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And Michael exhorts one of his goombahs to get Paulie a drink and then has him drink it down before reassuring him that he isn’t going to make his sister a widow.
No Paulie, you’re out of the family . . that’s your punishment.
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How bout after him and Tom, watch Clemenza casually garotte him, they stroll back to the house, Tom tossing his blazer over his shoulder, shirt sleeves rolled up, their expressions never changing. It’s business after all, it’s not personal. OY
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And that was the day Michael took care of all the family business, after all.
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Yes…as he christened the baby. sigh
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The transformation from Michael at Connie’s wedding was complete.
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You said it. CUT TO…Appolonia learning the days of the week. Hit it, Mr. Imma…
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Maunday, Toosday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Friday, Sunday . . .
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I knew you’d chant them So funny.
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Had to.
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You remind me of my friend Ed who also can quote the whole film. I’d love to see you verbally dueling in tandem. 🙂
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And admittedly I am out of practice as I haven’t watched it in quite a while. But yanno . . it never strays too far from my memory banks.
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No, your recall is pretty good. I get 1 and 2 mixed up. I loved the late Bruno Kirby as a young Vito. Remember when he brings his wife an orange, as a gift…how happy she was, like it was a diamond with an orange rind. sigh
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That was Bobby D. I remember that, her being so thrilled at the sight of it. And then they sit down to eat and he pulls her to him for a kiss. That Vito . .
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Bruno Kirby…duh…was a young Clemenza. Bobby D at the age, was simply beautiful. Remember? His face was flawless.
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The young Clemenza, who gifted Vito a beautiful carpet from a “friend” after his neighbor did him a solid.
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Oh yeah…they stole it from tha ‘friend’…I can see them carrying it through the alleys of their little town of Corleone? 🙂
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They wuz in NY at that point. Carrying it up to Vito’s flat, and lemme tell you, it was an event when they laid it out.
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Was it in part 1? I loved Bruno Kirby…died too young.
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Part 2, when they do the flashbacks to young Vito. And yeah, Kirby went much too soon. As did John Cazale, who played Fredo.
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Yeah…I remember that. Meryl Streep was his girlfriend at the time. So long ago that was.
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It’s one of those sadly tragic “What If?” questions. Because Cazale built up quite the resume in his brief career.
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Dog Day Afternoon. Creepy film, but he was great in it.
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Right? It’s one of those flicks that you go “Whoa” after it’s over. But the performances were sensational.
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ATTICA ATTICA…OY
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He got the entire neighborhood behind him, booing the boys in blue as he got them to put down their guns.
And then there was Sal . . simmering the whole time.
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Carlo, LOL
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He deserved to get hot with that garbage can.
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I love the (one sided) fight scene where Caan throws a phantom punch. Kids screaming in the background and the Rheingold truck in the background.
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Rheingold…reminds me of the Miss Rheingold calendars my grandfather had secretly hanging in the cellar so my grandmother wouldn’t see them. Carlo was a shit. How bout at family dinner, when he snaps at Connie, Sonny intervening and Mama Don saying…Santino, don’t interfere, as she’s passing the ziti.
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I remember you writing about that.
He WAS a shit. Cowardly SOB laying his hands on a woman.
Yes. THAT was the family table scene that was missing in the sequel. Everybody together arguing and cussing and drinking. As Tom said, it was the Roman Empire. In sharp suits.
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I don’t remember that, though can hear him say it.
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Vic Damone was the almost. Just Googled it.
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I bet you already know that old Blue Eyes wasn’t crazy about the inference that Fontane’s character was loosely based on him.
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I kind of knew that. I think it was the crying scene when the don smacks him. I loved that.
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And Tom’s laugh as the old man is giving Fontane shit . . .
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That’s right. He was leaning against the window. I love when Michael in his army uniform, explains to Kay in her quasi beehive, why Tom has a different last name…allow me to poorly paraphrase…Sonny found him in the street so he brought him home. And he’s been with us ever since. I remember her face. See, that’s when Kay should have made skid marks back to Connecticut.
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There are just so many scenes in this movie that I can go right back to. I reference them like a favorite line from a favorite book, and the mind’s eyes captures it just that way.
If I had one movie and only one movie I could watch it would be this one. All of life’s lessons are involved.
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AGREED!!! Lesson number 69…Sonny taught me, whenever possible, take the stairs.
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Haha!
And yanno, not for nothing but if Sonny had only lived in this day and age. EZ Pass and all that . . no problem!
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That’s so funny…badaboom…badabing…TOM: It’s business Sonny, it’s not personal. SONNY TO MICHAEL MUCH LATER. It’s business, but your takin’ it awfully poisonally. Haraumph
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Haha! Bada Boom Bada Bing! Get brains all over ya nice Ivy League suit!
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I love when Sonny kissed him, like a little girl.
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Michael, you’re my little brother and you’re taking this very, very personally.
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I got my whacks mixed up. It’s should be ‘Hello Carlo’ and ‘Oh, you won’t see PAW-LIE no more.’ Dear me. Need to polish up Mr. Imma.
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Back to the batting cages, SB.
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Need a refresher course in whacks.
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Just remember to keep your eyes on the pitch, feed your strengths and choose the middle when you see three . . .
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Is that a GF quote or a Mr. Imma quote???
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That’s a Mr Imma original
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I loved it. Let’s patent it. 🙂
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I’ll toast to that.
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Good for Goldie, who is blissfully unaware of all the turmoil in the world these days and just wants to have fun. At least we still have the innocence of animals and children.
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Goldie changed my mind on her breed. Never cared for Corgis really. They looked too Wizard of Oz for me, but I met her as a puppy and boy, was she cute, so now she’s just a wider version. I love that she knows me. Comes bounding over as if to say, hey Sue, how the hell are ya? 🙂
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It’s nice to have a friend who will always stop by to say hello
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Yes, like Patrick the cat who stars in my Thanksgiving post. Stay tuned.
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Susannah,
I feel your frustration, really I do. “Leadership” in this country has become anything but. We mere mortals are left to define life as best we can. But there have been worse times and better times. Have heart. ❤️
(Maybe some of the SOBs won’t see the new year.)
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Funny you should say that because we have faced so many trials before and came out the other side, perhaps not unscathed, but survived.
Just finished a new bio on Eleanor Roosevelt, Eleanor, by David Michaelis, and reading about the depression, and World War I and II, called out to just, hang in there. We will see another summer, as the poet said.
I love when you comment Eileen. Your clarity shines through.
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