Staying Shiny

My life as a Uber-geek in a Bridal world

A fantastic weekend

I had an incredibly relaxing and fun weekend.  We went out to the farm for Mother's Day and it was a blast.  We got there on Saturday night (a little later than expected, but I had to see the new episode of Doctor Who before we left) and I gave my nephew T the present I got for him.  The look on his face was totally worth it!  I got him an autographed picture of Lady GaGa.  Now T is obsessed with GaGa so I knew he'd love it, but I didn't realize how timely my gift would be.  When we arrived he was watching the GaGa live from Madison Square Garden special.  I now officially hold the titles of "Auntie of the Year" and "Awesomest Aunt Ever".  This did also mean that I had to watch the Lady GaGa special 3 times in a row with him that night but it was worth it.

The next day we got up after a bit of a sleep in and had a great breakfast and just lounged for a bit.  I ejoyed a couple of hour of reading and then we headed out to see the new corrals for the horses.  It is so nice to spend time out in the field with the horses.  Time and stress just seem to evaporate and you just live in the moment.  I played with the new colts for a while and then Jack came in from the field.

This is Simple Jack.  I fell in love with him the moment I first saw him.  As you can see in the picture, he has a lip deformity that causes his lower lip to hang open all the time.  I thought it gave him personality.  As sad as this is, most ranchers never would have invested the time and money into raising a horse like Jack.  In most cases he would have probably ended up at the slaughterhouse.  He would have been deemed "unsellable" and not worth keeping.  But my father-in-law is a great man with a heart as big as anything.  He saw me go out to the field time after time to visit Jack.  One day we were sitting out on the patio enjoying the sun after a long day of farm work and he turned to me and said "If you pay to break that horse, he's yours".  Just as simple as that.  I was elated!  My very own horse.  I've had a lot of experiences with horses in my life as my own grandparents used to have a few and I used to ride them daily, but this is the first time I've had one to call my very own.  Last year I sent him off for training for a few months, but due to unforseen circumstances I never got the chance to ride him.  Yesterday when he came in from the field, My father-in-law B handed me a halter and I caught him and brought him into the round pen to work with him.  I took him for a walk and brushed out the remaining winter hair and just hung out with him for a while.  Then B went into the tack room and grabbed a saddle and I finally got to ride him.  It was a pretty awesome feeling and I rode for about 4 hours before I was ready to get off.  I have to say I am paying for that today though.  My legs and backside are so sore it hurts to sit.  But it was worth every minute.  Especially when B and I sat down after I was done, had a drink and he said he wanted to go for a long ride with me next time I'm down.  That's a statement not to be taken lightly and it makes me feel pretty great.

I was sad to come home as I usually am when we leave the farm.  One day I hope we never have to leave and it will become home.

Buster Keaton Marathon

I had the privilege of going to a Buster Keaton silent film festival recently in a historic movie theatre.  I was very excited to go and was not disappointed.  The films were accompanied by a local pianist who composed the music himself and it was truly a joy to behold.  I was very happy to see the turn out for the film as it was much higher than the Godzilla double feature that they had at the same theatre before.  I was also happy to see how many people brought their kids for this once in a lifetime experience.

We got to the theatre a little late due to the hour drive and me getting away from work late, but we still got pretty decent seats, even if they are very very old and uncomfortable seats.  It's a really neat old theatre that still boasts a balchony.  The pianist got up and introduced the films and told us of his love of silent films and why he choose to spend the time to compose new music to them and then the films got underway.

We started with one of Buster Keaton's last short films called The Ballonatic which is a fun romp about a young man's misadventures with women, the wild and a hot air balloon.  I found myself quickly forgetting that there was a man on the corner of the stage with a piano and getting drawn into the film.  It was really neat to have so many kids there because they really got into it and were giggling away.  I particularly enjoyed the scene with the bear stalking him in the woods  Next was a feature film that is on the list of the top films you must see before you die: Sherlock Jr.

If you haven't seen this film you really must.  It is amazing!  It was directed by Buster Keaton in 1924 and is filled with brilliant moments and special effect that are mind blowing when you think of the time period they were made in.  There is a particularly brilliant moment in the film where Buster's character (a film projectionist with dreams of being a detective) falls asleep and dreams of walking into the movie screen and interacting with the characters.  It is so well done that my jaw dropped when I saw it.  I found a clip that featured some great moments from the film.

Interesting fact:  Buster Keaton broke his neck in the first scene of this video when the water him his body and drove him hard into the railroad tracks, but he didn't realize it for years.  In the scene where he enters the movie screen, his camera man used surveyors equipment to position him properly between the cuts.  It's pretty amazing.  I'm very glad I got to have this once in a lifetime experience and I wish that the pianist could have played all night so we could have watched more films.