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Filemon the Flying Squirrel's First Flight

Filemon the Flying Squirrel fixed his goggles fairly on his face. He took a few deep breaths to steady his fraught nerves. Really, truly, he repeated to himself, he had nothing to fear. So said his friends Bingo and Bubba Byrd who sat beside him. "Filemon, flying is what you are about," said Bingo, patting his shoulder. What if it isn't?" fretted Filemon. "Dude, you're feeling first-time jitters," Bubba said. "I was awfully fidgety before my first flight. But when I took my first hop into flight, oh my folly golly jolly. I was all fat smiles. My wings flung widely. I floated in sunshine. It was fantastic, Filemon!" Filemon found himself feeling quite calm. "Filemon! Filemon! Filemon!" The flying squirrel searched the ground below for the source of the faint cries. There, near the shoreline were his friends jumping up and down on the beach and waving funny red signs. "Filemon!" cheered Agathe the Aardvark .

Edwina the Ecru Egret

On the 88th floor of the Earhart edifice, Edwina the Ecru Egret pressed the down button to the elevator. She was exhausted. She had spent the last hour consulting with a career expert. "You have enormous empathy for your fellow egrets," the counselor evoked enthusiastically. "You would excel exceedingly well in educational counseling." Edwina sighed. How could she help others when editing her own life was sometimes an elegiac effort? Perhaps she ought to be an eyelet punch operator. The elevator doors opened. "Edwina, my darling girl!" "Agathe!" the ecru egret exulted. "How was Europe?" The two old friends hugged and kissed. "Europe was enchanting," Agathe the Aaardvark exclaimed. "I must go pay this electrical bill. Could you wait for me? Maybe have lunch?" Edwina had no other engagement so Agathe expressed herself down the hall and was back at the elevator in no time at all. "I love your

A Day with the Daffodils

"There are the Daffodils!" Bingo and Bubba darted above the dolphins. How the Byrd siblings love to visit with the triplets—Davey and her brothers Dicky and Danny—who dwell near the docks in the delta in December.  "Yi-haw!"   "Whooo-hooo!" Dicky and Danny dived out of the water in dizzy delight, nearly bumping into Bingo and Bubba. "Watch it, guys," drawled Davey. "You don't want to dump those Byrds into the drink." "We're practicing our disco moves," declared Dicky. Danny divulged how they were pretending to be John Travolta. "Delightful," said Bingo, dipping her wing in the air. "We'll join you." The Daffodils and the Byrds danced, danced, and danced some more. When they were done, they decompressed by the docks, sipping daiquiris and discussing the Byrd siblings' updates on Charlie the Camel and Agathe the Aardvark . As the Byrds departed home, the Daffodils called

Charlie the Cable Car Bell-Ringing Camel

"Caramba! The cable car bell ringing contest has already begun," called Bingo to Bubba . "It looks like Charlie's turn!" Bubba clamored. The Byrd siblings circled to the right, luckily finding an air current to coast quickly to Union Square. Clang! Clang-clang-clang! Clang-ity, clang clang, clang clang! Clllllaaaaangggg! Clang! The crowd roared their approval. Charlie the Camel blushed a crimson red, as he clip-clopped down the cemented sidewalk to the contestants' corner. "That was brilliantly cacophonous, Charlie!" exclaimed Bingo as she landed on his right shoulder. "Awesome, Dude!" said Bubba. "That was mighty crisp and clear. We could hear it from above the Courtyard Hotel." "Thank you, thank you," said Charlie, coyly covering his face with the charming beret that Agathe the Aardvark sent him from France. Bonne chance, mon ami, she wrote. Minutes later the winners of the annual San Francisco

Bingo & Bubba Byrd

"Bubba boy! Did you see me bear down over Broadway? I'm a natural barnstormer," boasted Bingo to her brother. Bubba, big-eyed and off-balanced, burped. Thank goodness for the sidewalk, no matter how bumpy his landing. Maybe he should've gone hiking with Agathe the Aardvark instead of buzzing around with Bingo. B is the theme for week two of Round 22 of ABC Wednesday . Check it out here . Thank you much, ABCW team!

Agathe the Aardvark

After Agathe the Aardvark sipped her apple cider, she ascended the Alpine foothills, aka the Prealps. "Adieu, Antone," Agathe said to the apple cider bar attendant as she aimlessly walked away in her red boots and red pillbox hat. Adorable is she, Agathe the Aardvark. So begins the first week of Round 22 of ABC Wednesday . Check it out here . Thank you much, ABCW team! Update:  Agathe and I are also participating in the Weekend Journal Page , hosted by Jesh at Artworks from Jesh StG . Check it out here .

Molly the Cat's ABC Wednesday Movie for the Letter Z

This post ends my time writing movie reviews on the Missus Lady's blog. At least for now. Maybe I'll do more reviews, now and then. The Missus Lady would like me to do book reviews for some future ABC Wednesday round. I'll think about it. It has been fun being part of this round of ABCW . Purrrrrrrrrrr. The Zookeeper's Wife (2017) Setting: Warsaw, Poland during WWII, 1939 to 1945 This movie is based on the real-life story of the husband and wife caretakers of the Warsaw Zoo, Dr. Jan Zabinski and Antonina Zabinska, during World War II. The couple defied the nasty Nazis by hiding over 300 Jews in the zoo during the war. It is a sad and horrible, yet uplifting, tale. The movie begins with the bombing of Warsaw in September 1939, the start of the war, during which many of the animals died. Dr. Lutz Heck, an actual Nazi commander and a big-time zoologist for Hitler, transfers the best of the surviving animals to German zoos, after convincing the couple that it

Molly the Cat's ABC Wednesday Movie for the Letter Y

The Missus Lady is at a stage in her life where any story that has a combination of sweetness, magnificence, and wonder gets her crying. She was tearing up as we watched the preview of today's movie to recall what it was all about. Oh, my Missus Lady, purrrrrrrrrr . The Young and Prodigious T. S. Spivet (2013) Setting: Montana T. S. Spivet is an amazingly brilliant 10-year old boy who is into science. He lives on a ranch in Montana with his mother, an entomologist, his dad, a cowboy, his teenage sister, who wants to be Miss America one day, and Layton, his twin brother. T. S. is so gifted that the Smithsonian Institute wants to give him an award in Washington D.C. for his invention of a perpetual motion machine. Of course the institution think that T. S. is an adult and of course his family members are so self-absorbed that they don't notice when T. S. leaves the house one night. How does T. S. get to Washington D.C.? Who helps him on his quest? When the museum peop

Molly the Cat's ABC Wednesday Movie for the Letter W

Today's movie was the first feature film ever shot in Saudi Arabia and directed by a Saudi woman. Purrrrrrrr- ty cool. It's an honest story about a young girl wanting things that she can't have because she is a girl. But, that doesn't stop her. The Missus Lady says she knows what that was like. She says the Mama knew it, too, and even more. The Mama loved to climb trees when she was a kid. One day, when she was 12 years old, an older brother found her climbing up a coconut tree. When she came down, her brother beat her up, saying "Shame on you! You are too old to climb trees."  Mewr. She never said if she ever stopped. Wadjda  (2012) Setting: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Wadjda is a 10 year-old girl who lives with her mother in the suburbs. Her father lives there part-time it seems and now that Wadjda's mother can no longer bear children, he is thinking of taking a second wife.  Will he? If he does, what will happen to Wadjda and her mother? Wadjda is

Molly the Cat's ABC Wednesday Movie for the Letter V

The Missus Lady told me that Groundhog Day solidified her as a Bill Murray fan. She stops and watches the movie until the next commercial anytime she comes across it on the TV. Myself, I have yet to watch the movie all the way through. Meeew. Some people may think Bill Murray plays himself in every role. We don't think so. Playing a character loose as a goose is a talent and skill. Both the Missus Lady and I like Bill Murray in Rock the Kasbah, The Monuments Man, The Man Who Knew Too Little, Larger than Life, Olive Kitteridge, Hyde Park on Hudson, and today's movie. St. Vincent   (2014) Setting: Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn Vincent, played by Bill Murray, is an ornery old soul who gambles, drinks, smokes, and lives alone. He regularly visits his wife in a nursing facility. She has Alzheimer's and stopped knowing Vincent years ago. One day Maggie (performed by Melissa McCarthy) and her young son Oliver enter Vincent's life. Their first encounter is Vincent findi

Molly the Cat's ABC Wednesday Movie for the Letter U

Six more weeks and I am done with my movie reviews. The Missus Lady has asked me if I would be interested in doing book reviews for the next round of ABC Wednesday . I told her I would think about it. It sounds interesting but I'm not too keen on doing reviews for awhile. Maybe if she wanted Jane Austen, Action Doll, and me to collaborate on something, I might give an absolute purrrring yes. What do you think? My House in Umbria   (2003) Setting: Umbria, Italy Emily (played by Dame Maggie Smith) is a middle-aged British expatriate who lives in solitude in the countryside of central Italy. She's alone not so much as to write romance novels but more so because she has closed down her emotions due to horrible things that happened to her in the past. Emily only trusts her agent. One day everything in Emily's life changes. The train that she is on gets blown up by terrorists.  In the hospital, Emily finds herself drawn to the young girl from the U.S. that Emily met o

Molly the Cat's ABC Wednesday Movie for the Letter T

I'm with the Missus Lady. I can't decide which movie not to talk about. So, this week you get two thoughtful kindly hearted stories. Both are British films. The Humans really ought to visit the British Isles one day. This Beautiful Fantastic (2017) Setting: A British city   Some people classify this story as a modern fairy tale. I don't know why. Isn't it possible for a timid soul to dream possibilities for herself, fall in love with an unlikely person, become almost like a daughter to a grumpy neighbor, and grow a beautiful garden seemingly overnight? This is definitely a feel good movie. It's also a tearful one for sentimentals like Missus Lady. Hero Man looked quite satisfied with the ending, too. Their Finest    (2017)   Setting: London, 1940 World War II Catrin is hired by the Ministry of Information to provide a woman's point of view on propaganda films in production. Proving herself to be a decent script writer, she is assigned to work on the next f

Molly the Cat's ABC Wednesday Movie for the Letter S

Something good, happy, nice, and wonderful is developing in our home. I can't put my finger on it. Just feels like it. Purrrrrrr. Miss Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (2005) Setting: Any bucolic town USA (movie was shot in the Pasadena and Glendale area) Frank (played by Robert Carlyle) is a grieving widower who gets passed on a dangerous mountainous road by happy guy Steve (performed by John Goodman). Minutes later Frank catches up to Steve who somehow crashed on a wide portion of the road. Frank keeps Steve talking while waiting for the ambulance and during the ambulance ride. Steve tells him about being a kid in love with Lisa and taking ballroom dance classes from Miss Hotchkiss. Young Steve and Lisa promised each other that they would meet on a certain day in the distant future at Miss Hotchkiss' school, which was where adult Steve had been heading. Steve got Frank to promise to go to the school and tell Lisa that he tried to get there. Frank does. Before h

Molly the Cat's ABC Wednesday Movie for the Letter R

Today's movie is about "So what that I'm an old person and screw you for thinking so." Pause. "I'm doing it anyway." My Humans are those kind of people. At least I think so and they think so. That's all that counts. Purrrrrrrr. Redwood Highway (2013) Setting: Oregon Marie lives in a retirement facility in southern Oregon. She has been invited to her granddaughter's wedding on the Oregon coast about 80 miles away. Because Marie is a difficult woman, meaning she and her kids have major friction, she can't get a ride there. So what else can the old coot do but sneak out one morning with her backpack and fishing pole and start walking up the Redwood Highway. Road trip! Is Marie a experienced hiker? What does her family do when they find out she's gone from the facility? Does Marie's orneriness get ironed out by the people she meets on the way? Does she meet someone who may be her true love? What caused her to be such an unh

Molly the Cat's ABC Wednesday Movie for the Letter Q

According to the Missus Lady, if you asked the Mama, who I knew as the Tiny Old Lady, "What have you been doing?" and she happened to be very tired, she would answer, "I have been to see the queen." I miss the Little Old Lady. Mewwwwwww Queen of Katwe (2016) Setting: Katwe, a slum in the city of Kampala Uganda This movie is based on the life of Phiona Matessi, an Ugandan chess queen. This young woman won several junior chess championships in Uganda, as well as represented the country in four Chess Olympiads, which are tournaments with teams from various countries. What is very inspiring about Phiona's story is that the odds were quite high against her learning to play chess when you consider her circumstances. Mewwww. Phiona and her family lived in a large slum called Katwe. When she was nine years old, she had to leave school because her father had died and the family could no longer afford to send her to school. She was also needed to help care fo

P-u-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!

I'm tired of writing about movies. But, I have to say something. Missus Lady says so. She says she's not filling in for me like last time.  So, okay. The other day Missus Lady received a surprise package from Miss Georgy (You rock!) of Jubilee Street . In it were sweet stuff including a couple of blank journals and blank postcards to invite creativity. Purrrrrrrrrr.  This morning Missus Lady and Hero Man painted postcards in the backyard.  She painted an island, I think, while he painted Me! Purrrrrrrrrrr. A note from Su-sieee! Mac: This week the theme is the letter P on ABC Wednesday . Click here to check out what bloggers from around the world have written. Thank you,  ABCW team! P.S. Maybe Molly will be back with a movie review next week.

Molly the Cat's ABC Wednesday Movie for the Letter O

I love a movie with penguins. Who wouldn't, I ask you? Who? Maybe owls. This movie stars a dog. Rrrrfh . I like dogs. My first friends and protectors were dogs. I love dogs. Rrrfh . Sometimes Missus Lady and Hero Man remark how much like a dog I am. My Humans so know me. Rrrrfh. Oddball and the Penguins (2015) Setting: Middle Island off the coast of Warrnambool, Australia Fairy penguins do indeed have a breeding colony on Middle Island off the southwestern coast of Australia. And, Oddball was an actual maremma sheepdog who saved the colony of fairy penguins from dying off on Middle Island in 2006. So, purrrrrrr , this movie is inspired by a true heart-warming tale. Why were the fairy penguins dying off? How did the farmer who owned Oddball knew he could protect the penguins? Also, who among the townspeople didn't want the little penguins to flourish, and why didn't they? I love this movie. Rrrrfh! Purrrrrrrrrrr. A note from Su-sieee! Mac: The letter O

"Nothing from Me," Says Molly the Cat

No movie review from me today. But, here's a photo of purrrrrrrrrrrrty me taking a snoozer of a stretch .  See ya next week with a movie . Ciao. A Note from Su-sieee! Mac Molly the Cat refused to write about today's selection, A New Kind of Love , a 1963 silly comedy romp starring the sparkly and sparking duo of Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman. She said, "How can I write about the movie, Missus Lady, when I've never seen it? Also, it's not on Netflix." Always the logical cat, Missy Molly is, by golly. Molly gave me her glare of a stare then a turn of her back when I said she could paraphrase what I told her about the movie. That Girl! She didn't care that it was one of my favorite movies from my teenage years, making the circuits of the day, evening, and late Saturday night movie stations. It was a funny, sexy, actually quite layered, love story, but one I'd probably cringe at a lot if I were to see it for the first time today. A Ne

Molly the Cat's ABC Wednesday Movie for the Letter M

Sir Billy Connolly is one of the Missus Lady's favorite actors. Until she saw Mrs Brown , she thought of Connolly as being that Scottish actor in a 1980s high school sitcom who played the teacher of a class of specially smart, and troubled, kids in New York City. It was when the Humans first signed up for Netflix that Missus Lady got on a Billy Connolly kick and came to realize how versatile an actor he is. The Man Who Sued God (2001) Setting: Some place in Australia Steve (so wonderfully interpreted by Billy Connolly) is a lawyer turned fisherman. Not sure if he does it for a living or just says that's what he does. One day his fishing boat is struck by lightening. Ka-Bloom! The insurance company tells him that they will not honor his claim because it was destroyed by an Act of God. Oh-oh. Steve sees red. And, sues! But, who does he sue? Uhm...the churches. Yup. Steve sues the churches because they are God's representatives on Earth. How are the churches g

Molly the Cat's ABC Wednesday Movie for the Letter L

This week's movie selection is an old one starring Timothy Bottoms and a young fetching Dame Maggie Smith.  Some film guys categorize the movie as a comedy-drama, while others call it a bittersweet romantic comedy. Mister Hero Man says that often a movie is considered a comedy because a drama just happens to have natural funny elements to it. I suppose. But isn't that the life of humans anyway? Missus Lady says that this movie is in the same vein as Harold and Maude , which was released two years prior to this one, except the story of love is more obvious between a woman twice the age of a young man. Missus Lady says she doesn't know how she missed this movie when it first came out. Maybe it had a small run because of the theme. I don't know why many people are askance at a May–December relationship. The Missus Lady would know. The First, and Late, Husband was twice her age. People had asked if the First, and Late, Husband was someone famous or if she (not knowing