If there’s one thing Southern gals know how to do, it’s gab. Silly or serious, all it takes is a glass of iced tea and time. Pull up a chair, kick off your shoes, and make yourself comfy…get ready to dish!
Gutsy Broad: Dolly Parton
For such a tiny thing, Dolly Parton has a way oversized personality. The wigs. The nails. The sequins, The wisecracks. And, of course, the bazooms. She’s the ultimate American success story, rising from poverty in the mountains of Tennessee into an Oscar-nominated, Grammy-winning, songwriting force of nature. From the lovely “Coat of Many Colors” to the classic “Jolene” to the ulimate power ballad “I Will Always Love You” (Whitney can’t hold a candle to the Vince Gill/Dolly duet, BTW), Miss...
read more10 Favorite Drinks
Iced tea. Real Southern belles can drink iced tea during a blizzard. I proved this last week in New York, drinking iced tea like it was going out of style while it was snowing sideways.Dr Pepper. The preferred carbonated vice.Cheerwine. The other preferred carbonated vice, especially when I’m in North Carolina.Freshly-squeezed orange juice. Nice bonus of having a Valencia tree in my backyard.Moroccan mint tea. Hot and sweet. Great on cold mornings or when you’re feeling pitiful.Whisky sour. I can do the cherry stem thing...
read moreCool Chick: Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon’s production comapny, Type A films, reflects a truth about this blonde dynamo many of us know. She will not, cannot fail. She won’t give up. She has two kids that she manages to be raising in a mostly-sane way in an insane environment, she doesn’t appear to rely too heavily on nannies, bodyguards, or a huge entourage, and she’s charming and gracious. That’s a Steel Magnolia for you (born in Louisiana, raised in Tennessee).I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bad picture of...
read moreBooks and Cooks: False Impression
WE’RE READING: I’M SERVING: BREAKFAST CASSEROLEThis is the second Archer page-turner we’ve selected–the first being Kane and Abel–and it was a snack of a book. I ate it in a few hours, actually. It’s extremely fast-paced. The entire action takes place in the week or so following the September 11 attack. The heroine, Anna Petrescu, is a Czech refugee all grown up to be an art historian working for a slimeball. Said slimeball is working a scheme to cheat (and murder, if necessary) an English Lady out of...
read moreNYC Saturday: Theater Gal
Aside from the fact that my boots are not made for walkin’–at least, not on all this concrete all the time (the things we do to keep warm and stay marginally in fashion)–I am loving this trip to New York.Tonight was special for another reason, since I got the chance to hook up with a former student of mine. He’s the stage manager for the Take Wings and Soar production of Medea, presented at the National Black Theatre in Harlem. So, workshop day, ride the subway, chat and have some terrific soul food on MLK, Jr. Blvd....
read moreNYC Friday: Night at the Museum
Today was an awesome day in the Big Apple! First, we woke up to three inches of snow on the ground! Pretty cool stuff for this Florida gal. I haven’t been in serious snow for years. All the natives were probably annoyed at the snow-eating grin on my face. Got some nice pix, so that was good.Props to my favorite French store, Targét, for sponsoring free Friday night at the Museum of Modern Art. This is my fourth trip to New York, but I’ve never been able to get to MOMA until now. Thank you, thank you for the opportunity to see this...
read moreBig Apple Bound!
Off in the a.m. for a three-day workshop in NYC (oh, the agony). Loose on a weekend with no kids–just adult conversation, museums, theater, etc. I suppose I’ll muddle through somehow. I’ll admit, though, it would be more fun to bring along DH, but he’ll have to wait for next time. :-(I’ll post some pics when I get back. Off to pack!
read moreClassy Dame: Judi Dench
Like Helen Mirren, Dame Judi is a Dame (Order of the British Empire). Hugely talented, gets nominated for Oscars about as often as I sneeze, a real hoot. She was married to Michael Williams for 30 years, until his death, and said “We were just happy to be in the room together.” (Don’t you want to be able to say that about your marriage?) Love the fact that she’s the new ‘M’ in James Bond movies. And she’s petite. If her personality is anything like Mrs. Laura Henderson in Mrs. Henderson Presents, I...
read morePhyllis Whitney, RIP
I was surprised to read in today’s RWA eNotes that longtime author Phyllis A. Whitney–she retired from writing at 94!–died last Thursday, February 8, at age 104 (read the NYT obit here). Ms. Whitney’s Guide to Fiction Writing–out of print, but available on the resale market–was one of the first useful writing reference books I ever read. (As an aside, the first writing reference book I ever bought was Dwight Swain’s Techniques of the Selling Writer, which I found about as helpful and palatable as...
read moreBest Romantic Movies
It’s only fair that if I crack on the worst romantic movies of all time, I have to cough up a list of the best. Presented for your approval, my selected list. For now. I know there’s something I’ve left off.Notting Hill – Just about pitch perfect. How can you not love a soundtrack that starts off with Elvis Costello? Hugh Grant is at his stammering best as William, the owner of an unsuccessful travel bookshop, and Julia Roberts plays the most famous actress in the world (for once, not a stretch for her). Great...
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