Three sentence movie reviews: A Star is Born (1976)

There are few reasons to watch this film* and I recommend people stay far away from this version of the story. Unlike the other films, which made me care about an alcoholic man on the downslide and the woman who loved him, Streisand and Kristofferson did nothing to make me hope that somehow they would find a way. I think the shift from the acting world to the music world was to the film’s detriment** and my hopes are not very high for the upcoming 2018 version which is also set in the music world.***

Cost: free from the library
Where watched: at home, sighing throughout.

*Insight on 70s-era concert attire; Kris Kristofferson’s ability to spay paint backward; Gary Busey before he fixed his teeth
**Somehow, alcoholism getting in the way of filming a movie is much less egregious than alcoholism getting in the way of a concert performance. Those people paid good money to hear you play your songs, not to sit in the sun for four hours waiting for you to get around to going onstage.
***My hopes are higher for the music of the 2018 version. The 1976 music was Not Very Good.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1976/star_is_born.html

Joan Gunnus’s memorial

We were a large group at Joan’s memorial service, and no wonder due to the remarkableness of Joan.  I love this picture. Though I rarely saw her looking this fancy, the picture captures her lovely essence.

Many people spoke about the different aspects of Joan’s life including her daughter and her neighbor who eventually introduced Joan to her husband John. My favorite speaker was her neighbor who recounted the story of house hunting and hearing that the woman who owned the blueberry field was magical.  Truer words have not been spoken. She also touched on Joan’s doubts and I learned that Joan was a writer of letters.
After the speakers had spoken we had a dance party and sent Joan off the best way we could. She will be missed.

Hazel just died and she was born the same year as my grandmother who died in 1990!


Just when I think I’ve read the last obituary of someone born the same year as my grandmother, another one pops up. Hazel sounds like she had a lot of loss in her life, but met it forthrightly.  Good going, Hazel.

She also lived long enough to see her name go out of fashion and come back into fashion.  I know several Hazels among the under-10 set.

SKS Postcard: Park Inn, Mason City, Iowa


This is from the only hotel Frank Lloyd Wright designed that is still operating as a hotel. Super cool! Sara and Shawn are very good at finding cool things on their trips.

Sara reports that it was fun to stay in the only Historic Suite and get a taste of what a 1910-era couple’s visit would have been like.

Our first time at Breitenbush Hot Springs Resort

Matt turned 40 and we decided to celebrate with a trip to Breitenbush Hot Springs. It was a good decision.

Our cabin was very roomy for two people.

At Breitenbush, you are provided with a bottom sheet, but bring your own blankets and pillows.

All of the heat is provided by geothermal energy.

I loved the beadboard siding and the many hooks to hang things on.

Our cabin exterior.

They had indoor showers, but this is a picture of the “new” outdoor showers and they are great. Breitenbush provides the biodegradable soap.

Interior of the outdoor showers. There’s something about showering outside that is so fun.

The bathhouse, one of men and one for women.  There was also a restroom building near our cabin.

Breitenbush is a year-round operation, and I loved this snow shoveling schedule posted.

It must be some operation to clear all the roads when it starts to snow.

There are multiple fire stations on the property. This is one of them.

In the warmer months you can rent a tent.

There are a lot of good hangout spaces. This one is near the Sanctuary, where a lot of the classes are held.

They ring a gong to call people to the thrice-daily vegetarian meals that are mostly organic.

A view of the lodge.

Some steam escaping from a too-hot stream near the lodge.

The sign keeping us all away from the very hot spring.

Originally Breitenbush was a regular hot springs resort, rather than a hippy granola hot springs resort. My mother visited it when she was a child.  I was excited to find a remnant of that time: the traditional-style swimming pool.

More steam coming from more hot water.

One of the meadow pools. These were my favorite pools.  There are three of them and their temperature gets progressively hotter.

The view from the pool.

I love all the hooks affixed to the sheltered bench near the pool.
The view from the silent pool.

I’m always interested in how operations work, so I was happy to find this schedule tucked away on the back of a bench/structure thing.

Some really great details have gone into Breitenbush, such as the wood that creates this bench.

There are outdoor showers that help you cool off from your soak.

The sauna, which more like a steam room, not a dry sauna. While the hot pools at Breitenbush somehow manage to escape the stinky sulfur smell I associate with hot springs, the sauna is the most sulfurous smelling.

One must duck to get into the sauna.

The resort generates it’s own power from the Breitenbush River. They have also built a fish ladder.

A view from the bridge over the Breitenbush River.

And a view of the river itself.


The kitchen always had music coming from it.  It’s probably a big job to provide three vegetarian meals per day for the resort guests.

Where we got our massages.

One of the vehicles.

The forest shelter building.

Us in front of the lodge. Notice how people hang their towels along the deck in front of the lodge. That was one of my favorite details.

Once you park your car in the parking lot, you use these carts to bring your things down to your cabin. Then you never see your car for the rest of your stay.

This was a great place to celebrate a big birthday.  It’s such a relaxing place.  When I wasn’t sleeping, I was lounging, or soaking, or eating a good meal.

A brief Cottey reunion

Teresa and I attended Cottey College together. In our “senior”* year she was head receptionist of Robertson Hall and I was a resident assistant there. We were good friends–good enough that I flew out to Lincoln, Nebraska for her wedding, even though I was unemployed at the time.

(*Cottey was a two-year college where all freshman were called “freshman” and all sophomores were called “seniors.”)

I hadn’t seen Teresa since 2001, but she and her family were visiting the Seattle area and so I took a day trip on the train to visit her.

We met up at the Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park in Renton. Teresa’s mother was visiting her sister, who lives in Renton and there was a family reunion of sorts. I enjoyed this park, situated right on Lake Washington.

After the park, we visited several thrift stores and Targets, so Teresa’s son Ethan could look for Hot Wheels. I also came home with a robe for our upcoming trip and a new skirt. In one parking lot, we also spotted a Lamborghini. Here Ethan takes a picture.

Standing next to the car that needed to take up four parking spots.

It was great catching up with Teresa, Brian and meeting Ethan for the first time.

I cold have used another few days, but we did what we could.

The best item at the Rosetown Ramblers Garage Sale

Who doesn’t want thirteen plates depicting Lady Diana in various outfits, all displayed on a wooden rack with a placard that says “Queen of our Hearts” and also includes the original boxes along with the certificates of authenticity from the Bradford Exchange?

I know!!!Especially when one plate–the wedding dress–is missing.

I was very excited to point out this item to every person over the age of 30 who came to our square dance club’s fundraising garage sale. I was also happy to be there when someone bought this amazing treasure. It was a woman who has a fundraising tea twice yearly and she thought the plates would be a great addition.

Three sentence movie reviews: Game Night

The gamers are going to be annoyed by the fact that the board games played for this movie’s game night are very basic, entry-level games and they are correct.* Setting that aside, this movie ranges between low-level chuckle and hilarious not only in its execution, but also in the number of games it manages to incorporate into its plot.  Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams have great chemistry as highly competitive gamer couple.

Cost: $1.50 via Redbox
Where watched: at home with Matt

*While the entire movie was unbelievable, but in a fun way, this detail was unbelievable in an annoying way. People who host regular game nights move on quickly from the games you can buy at your standard retail establishments because there are just so many better quality games out there.**

**Disclosure: we regularly host game nights.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2018/game_night_ver3.html

SKS postcard: Minnesota lingo and Minnesota letters

Two days later, all postcards are reunited. Here are postcards #2 and #3 of the trio. Where were postcards #2 and #3 while #1 was speeding toward me? One never knows.
Sara reports that she’s had a bit busier summer than usual, hence her lack of social media participation of late. However, she is halfway through the course she’s adjuncting.This is my other favorite style of postcard. The letters of the name filled with highlights of the place. Of the things pictured on this postcard, I’ve seen two: the state capitol building and Spoonbridge and Cherry.

What a nice postcard trio.

Three sentence movie reviews: The Kissing Both

Hoo-boy, this was such a bad film that boyfriend Matt got a blow-by-blow synopsis the next morning as I was working through what made it so terrible.* I think the crux of the problem is that this story was originally written by a fifteen-year-old and published on Wattpad. The actors were enjoyable** but they could not overcome the shortcomings of the plot that was written for them.

Cost: Netflix monthly charge
Where watched: at home

*Just one example: best friends Shelly and Lee need to raise money for the “Dancing Club” (they seem to be the only two members) and so they have a kissing booth at the carnival. But what are they raising money for? Once the kissing booth is over, we never see them in any sort of Dancing Club-related activities.
**Joel Courtney was the lead in Super 8 (when he was an actual teenager) and Joey King was enjoyable as Channing Tatum’s daughter in White House Down. Jacob Elordi made a good older brother and was easy on the eyes, plus there was Molly Ringwald as the boys’ mom. (Though why she’s doing laundry when they live in a multi-million dollar house is beyond me.) (Also, the house was amazing.)

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/tv/kissing_booth.html