Looking In My Own Backyard: July

 Hello all! I am never excited to be coming here today and talking a bit more about my family! I am very happy to share more of what I have learned! However, we have got to talk about movies first! This month's family movie is The Incredibles. 

Once in a not so distant long ago, superheroes were the big thing! There were a ton all over the place constantly saving their city and everyone in it! However, everything changed who one hero got sued. They were sued for saving the life of someone who was trying to end their life. Due to this all superheroes everywhere had to go into hiding and blend in with everyone else in the world. For some people it ended up being a fine transition. Others, like Bob, it was very hard to let go of the past. They are being relocated all of the time because of the slip up and still trying to be the hero. When an opportunity to be a hero once more comes up, Bob jumps at the chance to try and save the world. Everything seems to be going great. Bob and the kids are happy but no one knows what he is really doing. Everything starts to fall apart and his wife starts to find where he is at. Their superhero family must find him and come together and save the day once more!

Let me tell you the more I find out about my family the more I love hearing about it. I have never really thought much about what kinds of stories I would find when I started but I mean I have found some crazy stories thus far! So far, I have only really talked about people that I am a direct descendant from. However, today we are going to talk about an Uncle today. In order to do that we have to go back to my 5 times great grandma Annie Donahue, who I have talked about before. This is one of her sons (I am a descendant from her daughter May Louise). This is my 4 times great Uncle Thomas Patrick Gorman.

So, what I have found out is that this family has some pretty impressive resumes! I mean his brother was a well known poet, and Annie has a great story about surviving that fire. His father owed a beautiful farm, that still stands. What I have learned so far about Thomas is that he was a newspaper man. A very successful newspaper man. He was 39 when he died of complications from pneumonia. He became an expert printer when he worked at Era, Charlottetown. He was an editor the Surn-Menide Progrenx. In 1880 he joined the editorial staff of the Herald and was their representative at the Press Gallery of the House of Commons. He was a correspondent of the Globe in Toronto as well. He joined the Free Press in 1857 as and editor and did some writing as well. He wrote for them and his articles were printed daily, until a few days before he dies, on the latest doing of the session. He was also elected presided of the Parliamentary Press during his life.  

I got all of this information from "The Ottawa Journal" and there are a least three other newspapers form the area that speak of his passing, and also covered his funeral. I had no clue that anyone like him was in my family. I doubt that my mom knew either. We didn't have much verbal history from mom's side of the family. So, being able to go on this journey and just even start looking into it has been a journey. 

I knew that I was going to learn a lot by doing this, but I never thought I was going to learn this much! I mean, I would never would have thought I would have such creative people in my family. 

You're the Best Friends Anyone Ever Had: Alaina

 So, it has been a bit sing I have done a post about just one person! This month (June cause I am late) we are talking a wonderful girl who have I have had the please of knowing for 15 years this year. This is a girl who has been with me since I was 14 but you would never know that it hasn't been my whole life. This is Alaina.

Alaina and I met at Knoxville Christian Center in 2006. We were both playing angels in the Christmas play that year and we spent a good portion on our time together. I will be honest, Alaina has a better memory of those events than I do. I know when our friendship first took off was the next year when I went to to Youth Camp for the first time. Her and I bunked together in the same room. I was in the bottom bunk and she was in the top. I kept pushing her to be loud, and crazy and out there. I can pin point the time when we I knew the at I "broke" her was when she came over the side of the bed and did the get silly dance when I was least expecting it.

 Alaina is always ready to try new things. We have done lots of fun things together over the years. We have had countless sleepovers with lots of snacks all this time. She is always the first to go with me to a movie or to get food. She is always down for long car rides, and loud music. However, I think the last 5 years of our friendship have been very different from the rest. In 2016 Alaina got married. She also had two kids in that time as well. Thankfully, none of this has been a death sentence to our friendship, at time I was afraid it was going to be. We have always made a way to put our friendship in there. It funny to think when you are younger that you think that stuff like that is never going to change. You always see them once a week, you will always have those sleepovers. Our friendship has changed in how often we see each other but not in how much we love eachtoher.

Do you see that face she is giving me? I get that face a lot! She is the perfect balance of reeling me in and pushing me to be more crazy. I say things and they just come out at times and when I get this look I know that I might have to rethink what I just said. I won't lie, sometimes I totally ignore the face and do and say what I was doing anyways and I get a different look that I haven't been fortunate enough to capture on film yet. 

She is also very creative. She loves to draw and write. She loves nature and every animal on the planet. She could be outside all day! She always has a wonderful and unique way of looking at the world and how God put it all together. She is ready with an encouraging word and great advice when I need it. She is also always there just to hear me vent about what is going on. I love that she is always there when I need her.

I also love that she is also a HUGE NERD! I mean really! The number of times over the years that we have both geeked out about TV shows, movies, books, plays, you name it has been crazy! We both love Doctor Who and have talked about it many times. We both love Psych and have talked about it many time. The Princess Bride, The Phantom of the Opera, our newest on She Loves Me have all been wonderful topics of discussion over the years! We have many inside jokes that deal with these. It's funny cause after Youth Camp that first year we went to the cove and swam and the one thing that we both talked about a lot was Avatar: The Last Airbender. Having someone to be a nerd with is wonderful and essential in friendship I have to say!

I am very thankful for all the wonderful adventures that I have had with Alaina over the years. I know that times have been tough before but that have also been wonderful. God gave me an amazing friend that I would not know what to do without. I know that we have plenty of adventures to come in the future but I am also happy where we are at now. It's a weird moment in time with all for us going through another adjustment of lots of changes but know God will keep us safe and that we will always be friends! Fifteen years is a long time but I mean it's really just the beginning. 

You're the Best Friends Anyone Ever Had: June

 So, this month's movie comes from Alaina! She chose one of my favorites that I have talked about on here before, Holes 

This is the story of Stanley Yelnats, a young man who gets charged with theft, and Hector Zerony, and young man with a mysterious past. They are both sent to a disciplinary camp for troubled boys. Stanley thinks it's because of his family's curse. You would think there would be a lot of things to do because it's a camp. However, the only thing you can do is dig a hole. The height and width of the shovel that you are using. The story gives lot s flash backs to the curse, and other stories that bring the character together. You never really know what there is to uncover out in the desert. 

I still love this movie. It's still over of the best book to movie adaptations I have ever seen, and it's always just fun to watch. The relationship between Stanley and Zero is a close friendship that we know lasts forever. They are there for each other, support each other, and help each other to do some crazy things even when none of it makes sense. Friends don't always have to have the answers but sometime you just need them along for the ride. 

This month's them was a heck of a crazy one. The them for this month was Funny. I bought all of them an item that represented a funny moment in our lives. A story that makes me laugh or smile every time I think about it. I am just going to do a run down of them here.

Alaina: A shot glass that said "it was the socks." When I turned 21 I had Alaina come to the house for a sleepover, I also gave her alcohol. We didn't have much just a little but we didn't tell her parents. She was going down the stairs to my room and she feel. She claims it was the socks but I always joked she had to much to drink. What really made this funny was that her parents found out about the drinking because Alaina and texted her mom about it instead of me. We both got in trouble. It was not fun to go through but hilarious to look back on.

Margie: Chinese finger traps. A few months back mom and I were doing some work at our church. I was working on a sink and she decided to play basketball. I hear her scream form the gym "I Broke my finger you have to take me to the hospital". Turns out she dislocated it. However, he had a blast at the hospital. We kept making jokes and the nurse came in to check on use cause who laughs in the ER? Mom said that she was going to add chinese finger traps to her first aid kit so if it happens again she came pop it back in herself.

Luke: A sign the says "Get Out". I worked with Luke for a year as the same hospital I took mom too, and he always would make lame jokes. He would also always do it when I was stressed and didn't want to "people" anymore. So, I go a sign that tells him to get out so when I see him at his home and he makes jokes I can just point to the sign and tell him to leave, in good fun.

Beth: A Toy Firetruck: Beth and I went on a trip to Kentucky in March. We had a good time! However, there was one hitch. We went to bed the first night we were there and got woken up at 1am but the fire alarm of the whole hotel going off. The first thing she asked me when to popped up was if that was my alarm going of! It wasn't I wish it was. So, we when out to the parking lot for like 20 minutes and the fire department showed up. We took pictures and stuff while we were waiting to go back in. It's a fun memory for sure!

Jeannie: All three Back to the Future Movies: So, the was several years ago when I was at her house, with several friends, and we were playing the game Taboo. Now, I had to guess the name of Michael J. Fox in order to get the point. However, the person giving the clues had no idea how to tell me who it was because all the stuff they knew him from were not allowed to be said. I gave a hail marry pass and guessed his name and it was right! Everyone was stunned silence and the people were were against swear I was cheated. However, I will let out a secret now. I didn't cheat! However, when they were shuffling all of the playing cards to drew from that card fell on the table. I saw that it was clue in our game. I had no idea where is got put in the deck, and if we were even going to get to it that night or not. So, when I guessed I only said his name cause I saw it on the table so it was still a hail marry pass.

Nora: Nail Art of American Flags. Several years ago I got my wisdom teeth pulled out. I thought I was going to be miserable but ended up having a good time. I had people visit and watch movies and some stayed the night. However, when I realized that I could eat softer food I was ready to get anything cause I was starving! Nora drove us to McDonalds where she got a gallon of sweet tea, and I got french fires. One the way back to the house we started listening to "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus. Some guy with his windows down started looking at us weird and then singing along with us.

Angela: A Wine Bottle Opener. This was on a notoriously bad vacation weekend that Nora, Angela and I went on. We spent two days in Nashville, with no plan of anything to do trying to wing it, and we were on each other's nerves. We ended up going to the liquor store, and going back to the hotel cause we had no idea what to do. We all hated it. The only thing to look forward to was the wine. Then realized we didn't have a wine opener, thankfully the front desk did. However, could not get this bottle to open to save out lives! Angela and I tried for like an hour to open it up. He ended up laughing to hard at what we were doing but it finally broke the tension! The laughing did cause us to take longer in opening up the bottle. We finally got it open, while bending the wine opener in the processes, and salvaged the night by drinking, eating snacks, and watching "Say 'Yes' to the Dress". 

Nikki: Both Pitch Perfect Movies: The first time Nikki and I hung out outside of work was when we went to see the first Pitch Perfect Movie. We had so much fun and we still have inside jokes from that movie. However, the Second movie is the funniest for us. We both love Fat Amy in those movies and her love scene in the second one where she is confessing her love to that jerk is so funny! She sings "We Belong" and almost gets hit by a car. We ended up going to eat at Pizza Hut after the movie and the sing "We Belong' was playing when we walked it. 

So, I loved sharing all of those memories with them! I am very excited about this month's theme as well. I am glad it's not as involved so it won't take up as much time, however, I have to get everything by tomorrow cause I think I am going to see all of my friends in person in the next two weeks!      

Up Inside the Cyclone: June

 Welcome back that craziness that is my life here in the year of our Lord 2021. I have made it though six months thus far of note having total control over my life. This month the lovely Alaina was the person who got to control some aspects of my life. However, before we get into what is happening with her lets talk about the brilliant plot twist movie for this month, Knives Out.

This story really does having you guessing till the very end. We start with the police investigating a suicide of the home of a famous author. He just celebrated is 85 birthday that night and the next morning was found dead. During the investigation the local police know that it's a suicide, however, one detective that was anonymously hired to look further. He has no clue who hired him but upon looking into the case he knows something is not right. This get more confusing and out of control we we learn who murderer is at the start of the movie, who gets all of the inheritance, and an end that you can't even begin to see coming!

Ok, I didn't watch this movie when it first came out because I thought it was a scary movie. However, My mom did watch it and told me how good it was and that I should watch it. I have watched it twice since the first view it's that good! I can't really say more on it because I will give something away! However, GO WATCH THIS MOVIE!

Now, to Alaina and her Plot Twist for the month! 

So, Alaina's Plot Twists were fun! They were off beat for me, but nothing too embarrassing! Here is the first one!

I had a lot of fun doing that one. I really do have it on my bucket list to successfully fly a kite and I had no idea how I was going to pull it off but I am glad I found this way and was able to do it and Alaina approve.

The second one was way more involved. 

 

I gave one loaf to Alaina and I am currently finishing off the second loaf as I am typing this. I was really mad that the one video didn't work but it's all I could do.

The finally is one I am still working on getting all of the pictures up! However, you see the sneak peek here. 

I still found it awkward to do because I am not one to do model type stuff for that. I really would have rather not done this but it didn't last too long and it's was still fund to hang out with Alaina.

So, I hope you enjoyed what this month was like. We are 5 days into the July and still Plot Twist Free for the moment, I don't think it's gonna last long. 

Looking in My Own Backyard: June

 We have made it half way through the year? Can you believer that we are now slightly closer to Christmas than to the begging on the year?

While you are dealing with that new sense of panic of the fast approaching Christmas Season, lets talk about this month's family themed movie Dolittle

 

This imaginative new twist on a classic film had Robert Downey Jr. playing the title role. We find Dolittle in a far away kingdom, happily living with his wife and a huge plot of land taking care of all sorts of creatures from around the world. Some coming to find him themselves, other coming with their owners seeking guidance for car of their animals. Whatever the reason for being there, everyone was loved and well looked after. That all changed when Dolittle's wife went on an adventure and never returned home. Knowing that she was never going to returned, Dolittle locked himself, and all the animals that chose to say, out from the world. No one heard from him, or tried to look him up, for years. One day, a servant of the queen came looking for him to help figure out what is making her so ill. It's soon reveled that there is an evil plot afoot, and Dolittle must go on the same mission that he lost his wife to in order to safe the queen.

I really do enjoy this movie. I have seen it a few times since it came out. It's a bit odd to watch a first because you expecting it to be one way and it nothing like you thought it was going to be at all. I do love how this weird family is put together. They all have a role that they know that they play, how best to help, and still learn about themselves during this adventure. What I also love about it is that this family was a family before tragedy stuck, and they still were one after as well. They were there to help lift others up when they were down. A big part of families are those you are born into, but I find more that adding family from outside blood can be just as beneficial.

  Now, lets talk about a very interesting man on my dad's side of the family tree. Ewil Pentecost Gardner is my 4x Great Grandfather. My does he have a story to tell. Let's start off in the story of how Wise County, Virginia got it's name. No, nothing to be named after my family but there is a book about Wise County that holds this story. So, when it was being voted on what the county should be called lots of people in the county wanted to be named Dunn or Roane. Seeing that it's Wise it didn't work out for them. The author or the book A Narrative History of Wise County, Virginia did find a petition to have Dunn be the name. In looking at all 121 name on the list I have found other members of my family, that I have not had the time to deep dive in yet, but Pentecost Gardner was number 58 to sign. The author also wrote a story about him after the list of name. 

The story takes place when Civil War ended. Pentecost was in Yellow Creek Falls running a corn mill when the new broke that General Lee surrendered at Appomattox. He left his corn mill and ran up and down the streams or Guests and Powell Rivers telling every family on the route about the news.  

However, is story doesn't end there. Not terrible long after Wise got it's name she called on Pentecost as a witness in the fist murder trial in Wise County. One the day of the celebrate of the birth of the county of Wise there was to be a first organization of the county court. Alexander Carico was on his way to the celebration when he ran into his neighbor Beverly Dickenson. They were feuding because Alexander found that some his hogs were shot and crippled and Alexander accused Beverly of doing the deed. This was the last time they would ever meet heading towards this celebration. Beverly took a big stick and struck Alexander over the back of the head and killed him. He was arrested and charged with Murder. 

My Grandfather, along with 16 other men spent on day in deliberations and pronounced Beverly Dickenosn guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

You know with all of the stories I have heard from my dad over the years about murder and stuff in the family, it's nice knowing that someone actually helped to upheld the law... not break it. 

You're the Best Friends Anybody Ever Had: May

 I am a little late but I am getting better! I think at least. I gave out/sent everyone their stuff by the 31st..... but I think some people are still waiting for it in the mail. However, I did remember to give everyone their puzzle piece from April and the ones for May! So, if you haven't gotten it yet and don't want it to be spoiled, you might not want to read.

Anyways, so this is one of those off months again, and because of that I am not writing about a single person. I will be doing the movie and this month's theme. The movie is one that is super cute but really shows a lot of different sides of friendships. That movie is Mirror Mirror. 

The story of Snow White is retold in Mirror Mirror. In this story we find Snow White living with her step mother longer, and being basically locked in the castle. When Snow is told that the villagers are suffering she goes out to see for herself. However, finding out the truth ends up costing her her life. At least that is the case in the eyes of her evil Step Mother the Queen! Her life is spared and is about to change! She meets a group of dwarves that are living a thieves and outcasts. However, the begrudging alliance turns into a wonderful friendship that changes not only their lives, but the entire kingdom.

These types of remakes of Disney films are a dime a dozen these days. I didn't see this movie when it first came out in the theater and I watched it one day cause I was bored. It's actually a real treat. I really loved how these band of brothers, that all have wildly different interests, come together to help the Princess. Not only that but they held her out with trying to figure out who she is and support her in in plans. My favorite scene is when the prince is under a spell and they are trying to figure out how to break it. They try to do true loves kiss and they have to help her with her first kiss ever. It's really sweet and funny. 

I love this representation of friendship because it shows that you don't have to be the same person in order to be friends with someone. You can be interested in different things, and one can quiet or the other loud. That If we al were the cookie cutter of every single other person on the Earth that would be really. 

I love that all friendships are different in this way. That we all get to experience life with the other person through their eyes. A great example of this is I am not an outdoor person. I like it if I can swim but other than that I would rather be inside. However, I have gone on hikes, and gone to the park, I have done picnics and lots of other outdoor activities because my friends enjoy it. I know that my friends have gone with me to the Tennessee Theatre and other things because they know I love it. 

This month's theme was dependability. I have no idea how in the world I was going to pull this off. I started thinking about the stuff that I find dependable in my life. What do I rely on every day to get through but is often over looked. Then I remembered by vast Keychain collection. I have a keychain from every place in the last 10 or so years. I usually carry the ones from the last year or so in my purse. The great thing about my keychains is that I know how they all feel, where they are all from, and what keys are connected to them. I can reach into my purse, blind mind you, and I can figure out if I am grabbing the key to my car, apartment, or my friends or family's house. I rely on them to get me through my day. This month I sent everyone a keychain with the word "dependable" on it. I told them these same things as to why it's a keychain and that I am very happy that I found something to give them to show them dependability. 

I have some big plans for this month. I need to make sure that I have everything together cause it's gonna take some time to make sure I get right. I hope I can make myself stay on it so I can get it out. 

Up Inside the Cyclone: May

 May has been crazy busy and totally full of surprises. I have to say that I have enjoyed most of it. I keep finding myself getting thrown more plot twists in month than I had planned for. Also, more plot twists for the rest of the year than I have planned for. However, it's all gonna be great and we will be heading into June were I am sure my Plot Twist are going to be crazier.

Let's talk about The Sixth Sense first. 

After coming home from an awards ceremony for his wonderful work in child phycology, Malcom Crowe is faced with a live for death situation. He was shot in his home with he wife there. The fallowing fall we see that he has recovered and is trying to help out a little boy by the name of Cole Sear. Cole's mother is worried about him saying that he has been self harming and is not getting along with the other kids in his class. Malcom starts to work with him and finds that Cole believes that he is talking with people who have died. However, they don't know that that have died and and trying to find someone to cope with the last thing they need to do before they go into the after life. Malcom tells Cole that instead of being afraid of them that maybe he should trying to help them and talk with them. Cole starts to help the people that he is seeing and it starts to lead to Cole getting along with classmates and making real friends. However, talking with the dead starts to uncover some unexpected mysteries. 

I have never actually seen this movie before. I have heard of it, and of course I know that famous line from the movie, but I always thought that is was going to be more horror movie that suspend. As someone who hates scary movies find out that it's a suspense movie gave me more hope about seeing it. It's actually a really well done, and enjoyable film. It does have a nice plot twist there but it's not sit on the edge of your seat and wait to be scared like I think it was going to be. I will probably see this again and I will definitely recommend it.

Now, let's talk about my plot twist. 

This is one of those off months were two people got an extra day. When I drew the names at the end of last year to make the list is was all so fitting that the Married Luke and Alaina would share a month. Luke got his plot twist in first. He actually scared me really cause he called me to give me mine. The man never calls me. Really even when he texts me it's funny videos or memes. We don't actually talk unless we are in person... then it's hard to shut us up. Anyway, he scared me by calling and then tells me that it's plot twist time. 

In addition to having to watch the movie I actually have to write a review on the movie. So, Luke, if you ever read this, here is the following review. 

Seven Samurai is the story of the survival of a small village. Bandits have been raiding this part of the country for a while. The village where our story takes place is was raided fairly recently and the village is struggling to rebuild and survive. The bandits come by the village again to start to plan of over taking them, but they decide to wait until the next harvest in order to get the most out of the raid. One of the villagers was nearby when this was being talking about and he reports the news to the chief of the village. The village all thinks that they are dead and they are going to be better off if they walk away. However, the chief tells a tale of when he was young. That where he lived there were several nearby villages that were being attacked. One village hired a Samurai to help them. All of the villages feel, except the one that the samurai was protected. With a few weeks before the harvest, the chief sends a few villagers to find a Samurai to help. Weeks go by without success until one day they find a Samurai that is willing to listen to their story and to help. He finds what they are up against and say that they are going to need six other Samurai in order to have a shot of defeating the bandits. The band assembled to set back to the village to try and save their homes. 

Once again, I have never seen this movie. I have heard of it many times but I have never seen it. It has never been on any of my lists to watch because I am not a huge foreign film fan. I have an aversion to subtitles because I can't keep up with them. I also feel that I miss more trying to read faster, or I end up just watching the bottom of the screen when they are on and missing all of the action above the words. So, I tried to go into this with an opened mine. 

About 30 minutes into the movie one of the characters did something that reminded me of one of the dynamics in the movie The Magnificent 7........ 

Yeah, then it hit me, The Magnificent 7 is based off of Seven Samurai. Granted this connection was never made before because I have only seen the 2016 version of The Magnificent 7 not the original. Now where that I was looking up information about the 2016 film did it make any connection with Seven Samurai only to the original movie. Once I realized what it was I was more invested in the film. I loved trying to figure out who the characters I knew were portrayed by in the original work. Spoilers: lots of the seven die in both movies. I own the 2016 version of the movie and after a few viewings I noticed that you can tell who lives based on the color or the horses that they are riding. In Seven Samurai I wasn't able to find that similarity but it was more engaging in the film to see if I could find that detail on the first viewing. 

Overall, the movie is very long, but it was a lot of fun! I very much did enjoy watching this film and there is always more to see, so I might re-watch it again sometime.

I said earlier that Alaina also had a plot twist for me for the month. She actually sent me a text about what I was supposed to do. Here is what happened there.

 Yes, I was a little freaked out. Yes, I was scared because I don't want to dye my hair. As you see I did a spray on, which was fine but still. I know as some point I will have to start dying my hair but once you do it..... you can't undo it. Also, I did temporarily dye my hair once, years ago, for Halloween. It was jet black and did watch out over time. Also, this is the first time that I panicked over a Plot Twist so far. I mean, at the start of the year I thought everyone was just going to do crazy things to be. I love that everyone has been making do things that are out of my comfort zone in a different way, but Alaina is the first to make me question the power I have given over her. I see now it's for good reason.

So, thus, we end May and we start the move to June. We June we will be halfway through the year. I guess who will see how I am dong after the halfway point.