I just finished watching Dan In Real Life again.

I connect in so many ways with Dan and with the movie and any time I am feeling maudlin it is a good movie to immerse myself in. I have it on my iPhone so I can watch it when I feel so inspired.

Dan lost his wife while he still had three daughters living at home. Four years later he meets and falls for Marie, who unfortunately is in a relationship with his single brother Mitch. Of course all this happens at the most inopportune time, a family reunion where Marie and her relationship to Mitch take center stage, pushing Dan and Marie's love-at-first-sight underground.

Dan is the only member of the family who is exempt from participating in the family talent show. Regardless, he and Mitch sing a duet that eventually becomes a surreptitious love song by Dan to Marie. She knows he was singing to her and afterwards asks him: "What was that?"

"I couldn't stop myself"

"What am I supposed to do now?"

"Can't do anything. He's my brother"

"Why did you sing for me, then?"

Sally and I used to sing to each other, when we were courting. We don't do that very much any more, though I do write poetry to her.

I am moved by the closeness of his family and also by the way they accept Marie from the very beginning. I am also moved by the mutual love Dan and Marie feel, from the beginning it is never one in love pursuing the other; they fall for each other right away. I am moved by the loyalty that Dan has for his brother. And I am happy that, unlike many movies, the story continued right through to their marriage, instead of leaving that to your imagination.

The Cows Make It Special

In Switzerland you can drive up to the top of a mountain, and when you reach the top if you get out of your car or your funicular and walk over the summit you will find a beautiful little meadow and no houses. There will be a small herd of cows munching away on the grass.

APHC

David and I had the great good fortune to be able to attend a live performance of "A Prairie Home Companion" in Spokane when he (David) and his family were up here on a visit.

I've been listening to APHC on NPR for decades, and I'm glad that my love for it has rubbed off on at least one of my kids. It is a throwback to a less stressful, more peaceful time in our country and Garrison Keillor and his staff (Guy Noir, Fred Newman, Tim Russell, Sue Scott, Dusty and Lefty, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, etc.) seem like old friends. Garrison is a master story teller and I never tire of hearing what he has to say.

I remember once, a bunch of years ago, in his "News From Lake Woebegone" segment, he talked about driving home after Thanksgiving dinner when he was a kid. Seated in the back seat, his sister next to him, the lights of oncoming cars whizzing past, he mused at what Thanksgiving meant to him and how warm it made him feel. Then his sister leaned over and put her head on his shoulder to sleep the rest of the way home.

That story moved me, because it could have been me, and it could have been Karen and I have all those same feelings.

A new (to me) singer that he has had on his last few shows is Andra Suchy, and I must say that I was very impressed with her. She had a good range, and interesting voice and was so clear that you could understand every word she sung. I look forward to hearing more from her.

Saturday's performance was the fastest 2 hours I've ever spent.

No Cousins?

I heard an article on NPR that talked about the consequences of China's Only One Child policy that has been in place for the last 30 years. In other words, more than a generation.

The effect that really chilled me was that not only do today's kids not have any brothers or sisters, they also don't have any first or second, and maybe even third cousins.

I like my cousins! I've even gotten to live close enough to a couple of them to have a relationship, though I have neglected most of them for all too long. But my life definitely would have been poorer without them.

Disneyland, In Utero

In August of 1979 I was scheduled for a week-long IBM class of some kind in Los Angeles.

We have some friends (Kim and Mary Purgaugh, to name names) in Rialto, which is next door to San Bernardino, California, and about 60 miles from Los Angeles. I talked my boss into letting me trade three "free" nights of staying with our friends for two nights in the Bonaventure Hotel, which would have otherwise been too expensive for the whole week.

The Bonaventure was fun. Our room was wedge shaped, but every room had a view of the outside.

The class schedule allowed for one free day before we had to get gone, so of course we had to go to Disneyland. Now honestly, I could have lived without going to Disneyland, but Mildred insisted.

At this point she was 8 months pregnant with David, our middle (#4) child, and I have to say that she was a real drag ;) But we really did have fun there.

I'm sure there were others of David's sibs who went to Disneyland in utero, but he was definitely the closest to delivery.

Master of the iPhone 3G

Okay, "master" is probably too strong of a word, but I did something I had thought of but had never dared. I opened up an iPhone.

The on/off switch on Sally's iPhone started going wonky a while ago and then finally stopped working entirely. Now normally this wouldn't be a total disaster because you can press the Menu button to turn it on and then just wait for it to time out and turn itself off.

Well situations started arising where it really needed to be rebooted, which of course requires holding down the on/of switch for a while. I can't remember what the straw was this weekend but it finally became unusable without a reboot, which was impossible to do.

I found a video online put out by a group that specializes in fixing and helping people fix Apple products. With less fear than before (since it was unusable anyway) I dug into it and got it down to the very bottom where the battery is.

Of course tearing down any machine is generally easier than building it back up, and I didn't find a video on that. :) But little by little I worked at it and figured out all the gotchas and got it put back together. I probably went through a dozen cycles of getting it all put together, finding out it didn't work or didn't work correctly, and tearing it back apart. When I finally got it all the way, solidly and correctly put back together, it worked like a champ and Sally was happy.

The on/off switch? It still doesn't work.

Hopefully there will be another post in a while where I report that I found a new on/off switch and got it installed.

Can You Believe, Father's Day = Spokane?

Lost in the passage of time is the fact that Father's Day was invented by Sonora Dodd in 1910, in Spokane, Washington.

The Spokane City Fathers want the country to take note of this and are kicking off a year-long celebration of this observation and this fact.

Cecile Charles' Gallery of Thum in Spokane commissioned noted local watercolor artist Emma Randolph to paint Sonora's portrait. A reception in Sonora's honor (and Emma's 87th birthday) will be held the first Friday of June, 2010 in the Gallery of Thum.

Visit Cecile's website for details and to see Sonora's portrait. Additional articles with Emma's painting are available at Cafe Press.