"Laugh it up, Fuzzball" repost

I was on my blog looking at old posts about autumn and flowers in the garden.  I used to blog much more than I currently do and many of the posts were about my garden.  I used the term "fall" to search and somehow the following post from 2010 popped up.  I have edited it a bit, but I thought in lieu of seeing any news on my phone about this crazy country I live in, maybe I should just have a good laugh and watch a movie.  So, here are some of my favorites.  How about you? 

I sat down to eat my dinner tonight and checked to see what was available 'on demand'.  When 'Tootsie' was on before, I was busy and missed several scenes.  Mind you, I have probably seen this a dozen times, so I really didn't 'miss' anything.  So, I plopped into my favorite chair and sat.  I yukked it up for two hours.  This movie is so funny. Sydney Pollack, as 'Tootsie's' agent, has some of the funniest lines.

The movie got me thinking about others that I have seen over and over again and that I still laugh at all the same jokes.  My all time favorite is 'It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'.  The best scene is when Ethel Merman falls head first into the garbage can.  What a riot! 

Then there is 'The Pink Panther'.  I have the original soundtrack recording and I laugh just reading the album notes by Peter Sellers.  The next year they came out with 'Cat Ballou' and Lee Marvin won the Oscar for Best Actor.   I crack up every time he walks in the room, sees the candles next to the coffin, and starts singing 'Happy Birthday'.  Sick, I know.  I remember sitting in the theatre watching it and I wasn't the only one laughing.

I saw "The Odd Couple" at the Fisher Theatre.  I remember George Gobel playing the character Felix Unger.  He leaves a note for Oscar:  'We are out of corn flakes.  FU'  I thought I would fall out of my balcony seat.  And I laughed so hard when I saw 'The Producers' on Broadway that I think I missed half the lines.

We all have a different sense of what is funny.  My father used to watch 'The Three Stooges' and double over in laughter.  I'd be sitting in the same room and wonder what was so funny.  I feel the same way about the Marx Brothers.  I love Woody Allen movies, but know folks who fall asleep watching them.

So, first chance you get, think about what movie you think is the funniest you ever saw, rent it, make some popcorn, and yuck it up.  Laughter is healthy. 

As for the quote up top, it is from a decidedly 'not funny' movie, but one of the best science fiction films ever, 'The Empire Strikes Back'.

From a Seedling...

Have you ever started a tree from a seeding?  It is not something I would have ever considered.  But, I have three trees in my yard, all started from a seedling someone gave me.

This first tree, an evergreen, was given to me about 15 years ago by a good neighbor.  Her church had given out seedlings for Arbor Day, but since she had a wooded lot, she didn't want them and gave them to me.  I planted them, only to have them torn up by critters (probably deer).  This one survived by miracle of miracles.  It is now about four feet tall.  And doing very well.

This next tree is a redbud.  About six years ago another neighbor asked me if I wanted this seeding that his brother-in-law gave him.  He started it from a cutting, but my neighbor had no room for it in his yard.  So, of course I took it.  I planted it in the front yard only to have the top chewed off by deer.  You can actually see the curve in the trunk, though I didn't photograph it.  This year it produced its first blooms.  Not many, but I am hoping for a glorious display next spring.  It has taken a lot of pruning and tying of limbs to get it in shape.  

This last tree is very special to me.  When one of my sons was in first grade, 1985, his class was given a pine seedling.  I plunked it down in the back corner of our lot - and totally forgot about it.  About fifteen years later, when I decided to clear out all the invasive buckthorn in that corner, I found the tree.  It was only about two feet high and I could see the animal damage to the trunk.  I dug it out and planted it the grass.  And then the deer chewed it up again.  So, I wrapped it in netting.  And it continued growing.  In 2008, when I decided to remove all the yews around my deck, I again moved the tree.  It has done quite well.