Hollywood Hearts - Romantic Ricardo Montalban

I am easily distracted and today's distraction was a Technicolor movie from 1953 starring Lana Turner and Ricardo Montalban.  Called Latin Lovers, the film depicts Hollywood's version of the title--and they do a right fine job of it with Ricardo.  This clip of him dancing the samba  in Rio with Miss Turner--speaks for itself. Oh, first he dances with Rita Moreno, the brunette, and then Lana, the blonde.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q7Z_cJGdnI

                                                             Link to the poster above:
http://www.amazon.com/Lovers-Poster-Ricardo-Montalban-Calhern/dp/B002S7ABB6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375067411&sr=8-2&keywords=latin+lovers+ricardo

While he didn't do his own singing here, he has in other movies. This song from the same Latin Lovers is called A Little More of Your Love.  It actually is the scene prior to their dancing. With his over-the-top masculine mannerisms, all I can say is, "Chick-a-boom, chick-a-boom, chick-a-boom, boom, boom!"  By the way, when you watch him singing this entire song in English, you may find it odd that Lana then says something to him in Portuguese and when he answers her in English, she says, "But you speak English!"  Duh!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNR5_0PUUfI

Ricardo, born in Mexico, was 6 feet tall and 33 years old at the time of this movie. Lana was 32. He was married to actress Loretta Young's younger sister, Georgiana, for 63 years and they had four children.  His back was badly injured during filming of Across the Wide Missouri and plagued him the rest of his life.  He died at 88.

In my research online, I found a quote by Mr. Montalban concerning his definition of debonair: "To me it means love of neighbor ... To always be considerate of others' feelings, to practice good manners ... Of course, you must know how to treat women ... A gentleman must not dress up too much or too little ... He should try to make everyone around him feel comfortable. Just modest ... No, no, you cannot buy debonair ... It has nothing to do with possessions ... Whatever it is, it has to be completely natural. You cannot be aware of it or else it disappears. I never tried to be debonair. I am who I am."  Source: Dan Neil. "A Gentleman, Naturally." Los Angeles Times Magazine. 11/6/2005. pg I.11.

Thank you to YouTube.com, Amazon.com and Dan Neil for this online info.
 

Grammy Camp - sit-upons

Here is an hour's worth of activity, something we made at Grammy Camp.  Easy, fun and functional, I recalled the sit-upon I made as a Girl Scout a few years back. So, granddaughter Ava and I created this 18" x 18" sit-upon made from folded newspapers which are then woven to form a square.  Clear packing tape secures the edges. To make it waterproof, we wrapped the entire sit-upon with more clear packing tape.  Except for the tape, this sit-upon was free of charge, too, once Grampy had finished reading the paper, of course.  Great for camping, the beach, the woods, pulling weeds or sitting on the driveway playing jacks, let everyone in the family make their own for their own unique use.

Since newspapers have narrowed over the years, (have you noticed?), we folded 12 double sheets in half lengthwise, then half again. Arranging them with six strips laid vertically and six strips laid horizontally, we began weaving and tucking in the ends once the weave was complete. Make sure the open sides of the outside edge strips face out so you can tuck in the ends. You can also make a more colorful sit-upon from the funny papers, but it could take several weeks to save enough of them.
Happy sitting!

Note the year 2013 on the sit-upon. Pure coincidence! 

Lucy Reception

I listen to the radio or attempt to when I'm bustling about the house and, for some electronic reason, the reception is often poor.  Yes, of course, I've tried balancing on three toes of my right foot with my left thumb in a semi-vertical position while I plug my right ear with a purple pencil eraser shaped like a gopher turtle for the count of 8.2 seconds.  That didn't help much.  Through trial and error, I finally discovered the best place for pretty good reception is to put the radio not beside the desk, not on top of the desk, but inside the desk. And not just anywhere in the desk. It won't work in the first, second, or third drawers on the right side.  No, the sweet spot is in the top drawer on the left side.  And you know how I control the volume? It's so simple. To turn it up, I pull the drawer open. To turn the sound down, I just push the drawer closed. Quite brilliant, don't you agree?  I think Lucy (Lucille Ball/I Love Lucy) would.

The best reception is in the desk drawer.

volume control set to low

Grammy Camp - a fairy house

What is Grammy Camp?  A sharing, crafting, playing, creating gathering of grandmother and grandchild. In this case, Ava and me and what a time we've had.  One of the extra fun projects  we did was to make a fairy house!  And it cost nothing because all the supplies came from my craft stash closet.

This is what we used:

-1 large shoe box
-purple and pink spray paint for outside
-flower and leaf foam stickers for around the outside entrance hole
-green felt for lining the inside bottom
-silk flowers
-small basket with scrap ribbon of all kinds and pearls and beads spilling out
-hairspray cap filled with batting, covered with pink felt, decorated with gold marker and topped with a small paper umbrella for the fairy throne
-foil for the pond with blue marker swirls
-cork for log by the pond used for fairy sitting
-glass pebbles for stepping stones from entrance leading to throne
-black marker, blue glass pebble and googly eyes for spider glued to inside
-small clear box with gold, silver and blue glitter for fairy dust which we sprinkled over the inside of the entire house
-misc. sequins and decorations
-glue gun

outside randomly sprayed with pink and purple paint, ribbon added for shady corner
 

                                                 

hidden entrance on the end

  

overview

left is basket with beads and ribbons, right is fairy throne

 scattered silk flowers, foil pond with sea shell stickers, glass pebbles for path

 

 spider with mismatched googly eyes, over box of fairy dust

 

After we took these pictures, we found a cat's whisker (we call them whickers) and placed it atop the throne for good luck.  We also found half a shell from a hatched birdie and added that.  Who knows what the fairies will use it for--maybe a punch bowl or perhaps a basin to wash their stockings.  We'll just have to wait and watch... and keep adding treasures for the fairies as they appear.

 

Making the Mark - Survey Says...

While attending my monthly Bunko party, I recently passed out papers with three short paragraphs on them.  I asked the girls to give their opinion on which of the three they preferred for the opening of my third historical novel, Mark of a Man in my Amelia Island's Goodbye Lie Trilogy.  Of the eleven I asked, nine picked my favorite.  I should have gone with my instinct but it is always good to have feedback and, Lord knows, these gals are never shy in saying what they think. Since we've been playing Bunko for twelve years, I trust them.

 

 

 Thank you, ladies!

Patriotic Pin

Happy July 4th!!!!

 

You've probably seen these easy to make patriotic safety pins. They never go out of fashion so make some now or later but this craft is something everyone in the family can proudly wear year round!

 

 

 

                                  

 

You'll need:

one 1 1/2" safety pin

twelve 1" safety pins

25 blue seed beads

62 red seed beads

50 white beads

 

 

Follow the pattern of colored beads in the photo above, stringing the beads on the 1" safety pins. Close each pin when it is full.  When all smaller pins are completed, slide them onto the side of the longer safety pin that is permanently attached to the head.  Wear with pride over your heart!

Year of Living Graciously - July

Draw the lines on your right palm and left palm, put them side-by-side and connect.  Pretend they are streets and name them! 

 

Naturally, the names that came to my mind are from my novels, Amelia Island's Goodbye Lie Trilogy, The Goodbye Lie, Velvet Undertow and the upcoming Mark of a Man, plus my website, www.GraciousJaneMarie.com.  This is what I called mine:

 

Breelan's Curve

Island Drive

Romance Road

American Way

Martha Bear Blvd.

Goodbye Lie Ave.

Teddy O Trail