Vacation

We just returned from our vacation about an hour ago. We left for my Parents' house in Idaho Falls on Tuesday. I needed to use my some of my vacation time. I get so much of it that I have a hard time using it. It would probably be easier if we could afford to go to Disneyland or Hawaii or somewhere, but as it is, we just don't know where to go that would be exciting. Then last week I had the brilliant idea of going to the lake I practically grew up at. About twenty minutes from my parents' place is a small manmade lake that's about thirty feet at its deepest and maybe 3/4 mile across. As a kid, my friends and I would go up there almost every day during the summer and float around on the boat dock we'd managed to unhook from the bottom, hurl ourselves from the rope swing, and dare each other to swim across the whole lake, an exhausting feat I accomplished twice. I figured my kids would enjoy it, so we packed up and left. The kids loved it. They splashed around and waded to and explored the small, wooded island. Rufflebutt had a blast, too. We went there two days in a row. The kids wanted to go today, too, but it was time to get back.

When we weren't at the lake, the kids were jumping on the trampoline. For some reason they didn't like me getting on with them. In fact they seemed terrified. I just can't understand it.

We celebrated Rufflebutt's 1st birthday while we were there, not that she noticed.

During my time away from the lake I was lazy as, well, heck. I revisited some of the reasons we don't have cable at my house. I'd be watching tv all day long. TCM is doing "Summer Under the Stars" which I could (and did) watch most of my waking hours. The first day was Edward G. Robinson day and I gained a new appreciation for his ability. I watched "Larceny, Inc." which Woody Allen remade as "Small Time Crooks" without giving any credit to the former. It was a fun little farce, but my favorite was "The Cincinatti Kid" with Steve McQueen. It's smart and intense and unappologetically ends the way real life would instead of giving us a fairy tale. It's one of my favorite films now. I also saw bullets or ballots, a typical Bogie film, which was fine, and his last film, the inane "Soylent Green", a Charlton Heston futuristic blunder (see "The Omega Man" for comparison.), a very unfortunate swan song for Robinson.

The next day I added another film to my favorites list. It was Bette Davis day. I've seen very few of her films and haven't really formed an opinion until now. I saw "All This and Heaven Too" which I enjoy in spite of some cheezy optimism, and the soap opera "The Great Lie." But the best one was "A Stolen Life", the only film she produced. It didn't have the ending I would have wanted, but its a wonderful film full of subtle twists and great performances.

Wow. Did I do anything this week? Not really, but isn't that what vacations are for?