How'd I Do with My Summer To-Do List?

Well, Labor Day is almost a week ago already, so I guess that means summer is kinda over, huh?  Time to see how I did on my Summer To-Do List!

~ Finish reading Sixguns and Society by Will Wright  Check!  I reviewed it here.  TL;DR:  It's wonderful!

~ Read The Shadow on the Mesa by Jackson Gregory  Semi-Fail.  I started it, decided I didn't care for it, and donated it to the library.

~ Read Much Ado About Anne by Heather Vogel Frederick  Check!  I reviewed it here.

~ Read 6 other books from my TBR shelves  Semi-Fail.  I read 4, not 6:  Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart, Greenwillow by B. J. Chute, All the Stars in the Heavens by Adriana Trigiani, and I, Claudia by Charity Bishop.

~ Read 3 books from the library  Check!  In fact, I read 5, so that makes up for my TBR pile fail, in a way, right?  Anyway, the five I read were:  The Murder of Mary Russell by Laurie R. King, A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich, Unnatural Causes by P.D. James, The Last Kind Words Saloon by Larry McMurtry, and The Dragon Turn by Shane Peacock (review coming soon!).

~ Try a new pie recipe  Fail.  I did bake pie this summer, but not from a new recipe.

~ Make Lemon Blueberry Cake  Check!  I made it when my mom was visiting, and it was delicious.  But a LOT of work.  Not something to make on a whim.

~ Watch the Ioan Gruffudd version of Great Expectations  Fail.  Again!  Man, I need to just sit down and watch that thing already.

~ Re-watch and review Branded (1950)  Check.  My review is here.

~ Watch one of the Rudolph Valentino movies I own but haven't seen yet  Check.  I watched Beyond the Rocks (1922) for the first time, and reviewed it here.

~ Watch 5 other movies from my TBW shelves  Check!  In fact, I watched 6:  The Iron Mistress (1952), Ant-Man (2015), Appointment with Danger (1951), The Great Gatsby (1949), Meet the Robinsons (2007), and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939).  (And only half of those starred Alan Ladd :-o)

~ Find out if it's okay to build a tree house on our property.  If it is, build one like this.  Half-check.  I did the research and found that it is okay to build tree houses here IF you get your design approved by HOA board in advance.  And I never drew up plans and submitted them because I don't have it entirely worked out in my head yet and... yeah... we don't have a tree house.  Yet.

~ Meanwhile, make at least one of these  Check!  And the kids have used it quite a bit this summer.

~ Visit Colonial Williamsburg while the flowers are all pretty  Check!  We only stopped for lunch one afternoon, in May, but what we drifted through was quite pretty.  

~ Make myself a new skirt  Fail.  I got the fabric measured and cut, but haven't sewn it together yet.

~ Order my costume for the Star Trek convention -- and SOON  Check.  Obviously.

~ Get a significant amount of editing done on my YA western novel, Fickle Creek  Fail.  Terrible, awful fail.  I apologize most sincerely to all the dear characters in it that I have neglected.

~ Pick which novel to begin writing next  Check.  Except I ended up deciding to write another short story instead, a western reimagining of "Little Red Riding Hood."  I don't have a good title for it yet, but I do have a Pinterest board for it...

I hope to post an Autumn To-Do List soon!

How about you?  Did you have certain things you hoped to do/read/watch/eat/enjoy this summer?  Did you get them accomplished?

My Ten Favorite "Star Trek" Episodes

Fifty years ago today, on September 8, 1966, Star Trek debuted on NBC.  Happy fiftieth to one of the most influential shows of all time!  Not to mention one of my favorites :-)

So here are my ten favorite episodes from Star Trek:  The Original Series as it's called now:

1.  "Court Martial" -- Captain Kirk is brought to trial over the death of a crewmember.

2.  "Mirror, Mirror" -- A few crewmembers encounter an alternate universe version of the Enterprise that is much more warlike than their own.

3.  "The City on the Edge of Forever" -- Captain Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy are thrown back in time to the 1930s, where they inadvertently change history and have to figure out how to fix things.  Probably the finest episode in the series.

4.  "Shore Leave" -- The crew visit a seemingly uninhabited planet that is filled with fun surprises.  My kids love this one almost as much as "The Trouble with Tribbles."

5.  "Day of the Dove" -- Klingons and Enterprise crewmembers are locked in a deadly struggle facilitated by a mysterious creature that feeds on hatred.

6.  "A Piece of the Action" -- The crew encounter an alien society that has modeled itself around Prohibition-era gangsters of Earth's history.  Everyone looks so yummy in those fedoras.

7.  "I, Mudd" -- That rascal Harry Mudd from season one is back, this time lording it over a planet full of androids.

8.  "Balance of Terror" -- A Romulan ship squares off with the Enterprise and a lot of tension and excitement ensues.

9.  "Journey to Babel" -- Spock's parents are among the group of delegates gathered to discuss diplomatic and political stuff.

10.  "The Trouble with Tribbles" -- Who doesn't love those prolific little fuzzballs that help Captain Kirk discover a Klingon spy?  My kids' favorite episode, which means I've seen it a LOT lately.

Tell me -- what are your favorite Star Trek episodes?  Are you celebrating today in any way?  I'm wearing my Captain Kirk t-shirt and hope to watch an ep with my kids later today.  It'll probably be "Shore Leave," but who knows -- I might show them one they haven't watched before.  We'll see!

Announcing the John Wayne Blogathon!

Hey, guess what?  Quiggy at The Midnite Drive-In and I are going to co-host a John Wayne blogathon in December!  And you are hereby invited to attend, participate, and generally enjoy the festivities.

The John Wayne Blogathon will run for three days, December 9-11.  You can sign up for this event either here in the comments on this post, or else on The Midnite Drive-In's post.  We will add you to the list of participants, along with your chosen topic.  You can post on any of those three days, and if you want to write multiple posts, that's cool with us!

EDIT:  Please leave a link to your blog as well if your sign-in name doesn't lead to it, so we can link to it on the list.

Because John Wayne was such a prolific actor, we are insisting that there be no duplicates as far as movie reviews.  But you don't have to review one of the Duke's films to participate -- you could write about anything related to John Wayne.  A list of your favorites of his films?  Or his characters?  A review of a book about him?  An introspective look at why you're his fan?  An overview of his career?  There are so many options!  If you're not sure your idea for a post would work or not, feel free to ask either Quiggy or myself if it will be a good fit for this event.

And here's something else exciting!  Quiggy is going to host a giveaway during the blogathon!  He'll be giving a copy of the book American Titan:  Searching for John Wayne by Marc Eliot.  And his giveaway will be open world-wide.  I may or may not do a giveaway of some sort myself -- we'll see what I come up with.  You know I love me a good giveaway, so stay tuned for more about that closer to the event.

I got a little carried away with the buttons for this event, but I figure a nice variety is good, since John Wayne had such a wide spectrum of roles.  And that means you can pick the one you like best to post on your blog to spread the word about this event.

As you probably know, John Wayne is my absolute favorite actor of all time.  I'm really excited to be able to celebrate his films with this blogathon!

The List

Hamlette's Soliloquy -- The Quiet Man (1952)

The Midnite Drive-In -- Stagecoach (1939) and The Shootist (1976)

Caftan Woman -- Island in the Sky (1953)

Christina Wehner -- In Old California (1942)

High Noon -- Rio Bravo (1959) and The Big Trail (1930)

In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood -- The Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)

Phyllis Loves Classic Movies -- Rio Grande (1950)

Coffee, Classics, and Craziness -- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

Love Letters to Old Hollywood -- John Wayne's appearance on I Love Lucy (1955)

Old Hollywood Films -- She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

Critica Retro -- John Wayne's early collaborations with John Ford

Movies Meet Their Match -- The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) and True Grit (1969)

Silver Scenes -- Tall in the Saddle (1944) and the films and friendship of John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara

Ekaterina -- Rooster Cogburn (1975)

Silver Screenings -- Operation Pacific (1951)

Thoughts All Sorts -- The War Wagon (1967) and Big Jake (1971)

The Wonderful World of Cinema -- Dark Command (1940)

Mike's Take on the Movies -- Wake of the Red Witch (1948)

4 Star Films -- walking in John Wayne's footsteps

Pillow Shots -- The Searchers (1956)

Sidewalk Crossings -- Rio Lobo (1970)

"Branded" (1950)

Happy birthday, Alan Ladd!  To celebrate the day, I'm going to review one of my favorite of Ladd's films:  Branded (1950).  (I'm also wearing my only Ladd-related t-shirt in his honor.  It says "Grafton's Mercantile Co. Sundries & Saloon" on it, and pretty much no one I run into is going to know that it's a reference to Shane, but that matters not.  I know.)

Branded is one of those thinky westerns.  Not a bang-bang-shoot-'em-up western, but one that's more of a character-driven drama that happens to take place out west.  It's kind of about swindlers, but not totally.  It's kind of about mistaken identity, but not totally.  It's a little hard to define, except that it is definitely about a man's search for acceptance and belonging.

The movie has two parts -- the first concerns the main character's fall, and the second shows how he tries to atone for what he's done.  And the ending is all about forgiveness and acceptance, not about having a big showdown and killing off all the villains.  No wonder it fills me with joy, huh?

Also, in case you're curious, no, this has nothing whatsoever to do with the Chuck Connors TV series called Branded (1965-66).  Not related in the least.  (Though Mona Freeman, who stars here as Ruth Lavery, did appear in an episode of the TV show, but as a totally different character.)

So... on to the story!

Choya (Alan Ladd) is a Bad Guy.  When we meet up with him in the first scene, he's using an innocent old man as a shield to escape the wrath of a bunch of townspeople.

He killed a townsperson (in self-defense, they're careful to point out), so now the whole town is out to get him.  But he's clever and resourceful and quick-thinking, and is soon beyond the reach of the law.  However, he's not beyond the reach of other Bad Guys.

Two hombres named Leffingwell (Robert Keith) and Tattoo (John Berkes) find him and convince him that they have the greatest get-rich-quick scheme of all time.  Leffingwell knows about this wealthy ranching family whose only son was kidnapped twenty years earlier and never found.  The son had a very distinctive birthmark on his shoulder.  Choya looks enough like the family that he could conceivably be that son, so all he has to do is get that birthmark tattooed on his shoulder, convince the family he's their lost son, and then make off with lots of money.  Which, of course, Leffingwell expects a good cut of for masterminding the whole thing.

Choya's skeptical at first, but finally agrees to go along with it.  But he insists on going to the family on his own and running this con game his own way.  Leffingwell doesn't like being left out of everything, but doesn't have much choice.

Choya meets up with some of the cowhands on the ranch, acts all tough and mean, and somehow wrangles himself a job.  He goes on being antagonistic, like a guy with a grudge against the whole world.

He does soften up a little around Ruth Lavery, the boss man's daughter, but he growls at everyone else.  And then he deliberately gets all dirty trying to break in a horse, which means he has to take off his shirt to clean up, thereby revealing his "birthmark."  And then he gets into a big fight with Mr. Lavery (Charles Bickford), before anyone notices the "birthmark," but they do see it eventually.

I will pause here a moment to mention that poor Alan Ladd was forever having to take off his shirt in movies.  And forever having to get beaten up.  I almost suspect there was someone at the studio keeping a tally -- every Alan Ladd movie has to have either the Obligatory Shirtless Scene or the Obligatory Beating.  In some, like Branded, we get both, just for good measure.  I've watched 14 of his films since February, and I've started wondering at the beginning of each new one just how they're going to work a shirtless scene and a fight scene into it.  The only one I've seen so far that doesn't have either one is And Now Tomorrow (1944).  I'm sure this trend says a lot about movie studios in the '40s and '50s (Alan Ladd is trim and muscular -- we must show off his body!), audiences then (we want to see our hero suffer!  While shirtless!), and myself (Must comfort and protect my Alan from those meanies!), but anyway, back to the story.

After they decide that he's their son, Choya acts like he wants nothing to do with the Laverys, making them really really really want him to accept them as family.  It's quite genius -- they have no reason to suspect he's conning them because he insists he doesn't want to believe he's the long-lost Lavery heir.

No sooner does he have them convinced, by letting them convince him, than he starts to have second thoughts about this whole affair.  Mrs. Lavery (Selena Royle), a fragile and bewildered woman, dotes so on him that he can't help but start feeling guilty about all his lies.  Which is what makes casting Ladd such a good move, as he does "guilty and repentant" looks so effectively.

Choya knows he's falling in love with Ruth Lavery, but he can't act on it because she believes he's her brother.  He tries to keep up the deception, but eventually, he realizes how wrong it all is.

He confesses to Ruth, then leaves, vowing he'll find the real Lavery boy and return him to the family to make up for all the pain he's caused by tricking them.  His partner-in-crime Leffingwell isn't at all pleased about this, as you can imagine.  The rest of the film is about Choya's quest to atone for his misdeeds by finding the man he was impersonating (Peter Hansen), who grew up in Mexico believing he was the son of a bandit chieftain (Joseph Calleia).

And I won't spoil any more of the film, because if you like classy, thought-provoking westerns with lots of character development and deep moral and emotional questions, you need to watch this yourself.

The name Choya, of course, is an Americanization of the Spanish word cholla, which is a kind of cactus.  It's the perfect name for this character -- he is so prickly and hard to eradicate, you expect him to sprout actual spines at any moment.  And yet, when treated well, he blooms.  Also, it seems that cholla plants will attach themselves to you and refuse to let go -- at least, according to my extremely cursory internet research.  And Choya does the same.  Once he's attached to the Lavery family, he will not let go of them, even if it means trading his life for their real son's while returning him to his rightful parents.

One of the things I like best about Branded is their handling of Ruth Lavery.  She could have been clingy and annoying.  She could have been naive and heedless.  She could have been bold and tempting.  Those seem to be the cliches that female love interests in westerns fall into all too often.

But Ruth Lavery is much more realistic that that.  She really feels like a woman who has grown up on a ranch, used to lots of independence and responsibility.  She's authoritative and intelligent, but also kind and affectionate.  I would like to be her friend.

Doesn't hurt that Mona Freeman has a fresh, spunky prettiness that contrasted really nicely with the bitter toughness Alan Ladd was projecting.

Anyway, happy birthday again, dear Alan.  If you want to drink coffee at my chuckwagon, I promise not to point any rifles at you.

The Lyric Medley Tag

SW from A Free Mind tagged me with this a while back.  Thanks, SW!  I looooove learning music lyrics, and both Cowboy and I can generally come up with a song to fit just about any occasion, occurrence, or situation.

(Created by Rose)

The rules: 
1. Thank and link back to the person who tagged you
2. Make a collage that represents your taste in music to go along with your post
3. List a song for each of the 10 questions (or make up your own) and include your favorite lyrics
4. Tag at least 5 other bloggers

So here's the collage I came up with that pretty well represents my musical taste.  Yes, Bobby Darin is on there twice because he is such a huge part of what I listen to.

A song that describes me perfectly:  "Happy" (Love Theme from Lady Sings the Blues)  Specifically, of course, I love the Bobby Darin version.

The happiest song I know:  "I Know That My Redeemer Lives."  Now THAT is true and lasting happiness!

A song that makes me want to dance:  "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis.  I love songs with super-complicated lyrics, which I find a fun challenge to learn.  I still haven't quite mastered this one even though I've been working on it, on and off, since that remix came out in like what, 2002?  I get tangled up in this part of the refrain:

Don't procrastinate,
Don't articulate,
Girl, it's gettin' late,
Gettin' upset waitin' 'round.

Favorite Tayor Swift song:  "Love Story" (I'm amused that this tag assumes everyone has a favorite Taylor Swift song.)(It's all Taylor Swift's fault.)

Favorite song from a movie soundtrack: "Finale" from Hans Zimmer's The Lone Ranger score.  I've blogged about this one a few times before, and yeah... it's pure joy for me.

An "I can't even" song:  the theme from The Big Country -- I can't describe it.  Just listen:

Favorite classical song:  "Pas des Deux" from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky, possibly.  Or "Rodeo" by Aaron Copeland.  Or the "Lachrimosa" from Mozart's Requiem.  I love a lot of classical music.

New favorite song:  I have had the Postmodern Jukebox running on YouTube a lot lately, ever since Cowboy introduced me to it last week.  And I had never cared for Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" before, but the PMJ folks added this vamp that grabs hold of me and won't let go, and I have had it on repeat a LOT lately.

Favorite music video:  I've long loved the video for Bon Jovi's "It's My Life."

Favorite song from a musical:  "Put on Your Sunday Clothes" from Hello, Dolly! never fails to brighten my mood :-)

Being something of a rebel, I have NOT included lyrics for each answer, and I'm also not going to tag anyone because I just tagged lots of people in my last post.  If you want to do this, you may consider yourself tagged by me :-)

Liebster Award #? Who's Counting, Right?

Quiggy at The Midnite Drive-In nominated me for the Liebster Award.  Thank you, Quiggy!  I'm sorry it took me several weeks to finally post this.

Of course, for the Liebster, you're supposed to answer 11 questions from the person who gave you the award, then make up 11 new questions and tag 11 people, etc.  Here are my answers to Quiggy's questions:

1. What is your favorite genre of movie?  Westerns!  They are my happy place :-)

2. And what movie do you consider to be the paragon of that genre?  The Magnificent Seven (1960)

3. With which actor or actress, living or dead, would you most like to have a one-on-one (strictly platonic) dinner and conversation date?  At the moment, Alan Ladd, obviously.  I want to hug him (hugs can be platonic!) and reassure him he's a good actor and will not be forgotten.

4. If you were an actor or actress, which movie character would you most like to have played?  How to choose?  Oh, I'll just say I'd love to have played Maureen O'Hara's role opposite John Wayne in The Quiet Man (1952).

5. What is your favorite movie opening sequence, and, on the other side of the coin what is your favorite movie ending?  I love the way The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) opens, with Cold War headlines and retro opening titles giving way to grainy '60s-style footage of East Berlin that pans over the city and focuses in on Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill).  It's such a downright groovy way to kick the film off.

As for a favorite movie ending, um... I love a lot of movie endings.  Okay, just to pick one, I love how Gunfight in Abilene (1967) ends very similarly to High Noon (1952), with the sheriff having dispatched the bad guy, standing in the empty street with his love interest at his side -- only in Abilene, he doesn't drop his tin star in the dirt, he's proud to be the sheriff.  It's a nice nod to the earlier film, while ending quite differently.

6. Which movie was the worst remake ever, and which one was the best?  There are a lot of bad remakes out there, and I'm not sure I can (or want to) choose a worst.  Sabrina (1995) is the best remake I have ever seen.  The original lacks chemistry, humor, and charm, but the remake has all of those in spades.

7. If you were a director, which movie would you like to direct? It can be one that hasn't been made yet or it could be a classic in which you replaced the actual director.  I want to write, direct, cast, and produce a movie version of The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery.  I would cast Michael Fassbender as Barney Snaith, and I think maybe Elizabeth Henstridge as Valancy Stirling.

8. On average, how many new movies ("new" to you, not necessarily new theatrical releases) do you watch in a month?  Two or three, usually.  More in the summer, when I go to the theater more often.  But I only watch four or five movies at home most months, and often it's less than that, so yeah... not a ton.  That's why my TBW pile grows instead of shrinking.

9. List at least one actor, actress or director you thought SHOULD have been given the Oscar as opposed to the one who did. Specify which movie they should have gotten said Oscar.  I've always been horribly upset that Harrison Ford did not with the Best Actor award for Witness in 1985.

10. Which movie has the best dialogue (meaning most eminently quotable)?  I quote so many movies!  So Very Many.  I'll just go with The Avengers (2012) on this one, cuz Joss Whedon writes the best dialog ever ever ever ever, and that's one of the movies I quote most.

11.Which of your movie blog posts is the one of which you are most proud?  Probably my totally made-up review of the fake film noir version of Hamlet, Murder Most Foul.  It was soooooo much fun to imagine up, find photos for, and write.  I just wish it really existed!

(You KNEW I'd slip a photo of Ladd in here somewhere, right?)

Okay, I'm also supposed to list 11 facts about myself that I think are interesting.  It's hard coming up with new facts all the time, so I'm sorry if I repeat some I've used previously.

1.  I named my first dog "Spunky" after a book by Janette Oke.
2.  I named my second dog "Lucas" after the main character on the show The Rifleman.
3.  I named my third dog "Westley" after the main character in The Princess Bride.
4.  I like listening to vinyl records.
5.  I went to the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA, in 1996.
6.  I collect Coca-Cola merchandise and decorated my kitchen with some of it.
7.  My MBTI type is ISFJ.
8.  I love Wolverine more than Thor.  (Try not to faint.)
9.  I've eaten bear, moose, and elk.
10.  I love playing with Legos.
11.  My middle name and my daughters' middle names all end with an 'e'.

I hope those were interesting.  Now to tag 11 bloggers!

Captured by the Word (Eowyn)
Classic Film Observations and Obsessions (Jocelyn)
Classic Forever (Millie)
A Free Mind (SW)
A Girl's Place (Rachel)
J and J Productions 1809 (James)
An Old-Fashioned Girl (Rose)
Phyllis Loves Classic Movies (Phyl)
Preppies of the Apocalypse (Morgan)
Silents and Talkies (Kate Gabrielle)
Sunshiny Corner (Miss March)

Play if you want to!

Here are the 11 questions I want YOU to answer:

1.  Is there a movie that has really yummy-looking food in it that you'd love to eat?
2.  What era do most of your favorite movies take place in?
3.  What two actors/actresses have you always hoped would make a movie together, but didn't/haven't yet?
4.  If money and time and supplies (and crafting ability) were not considerations, what movie character would you love to cosplay or dress up like for Halloween?
5.  Have you ever cosplayed or dressed up like a movie or TV character for Halloween?
6.  What movie would your friends/family be surprised to learn you truly enjoyed?
7.  What's one book you hope no one ever makes into a film?
8.  Do you know the Wilhelm Scream when you hear it?
9.  When a character onscreen has to hold their breath, to you try to hold your breath to match theirs?
10.  What upcoming movies (or TV series) are you excited about?
11.  What are some of your favorite movie-oriented blogs?  (Or just blogs that post movie reviews sometimes.)

If I didn't tag you, but you want to answer these questions anyway, feel free to do so in the comments.  Or on your own blog -- you can ask me for an "official" tag if you want to :-)

Star Trek Convention AAR -- Sunday

Sunday was the last day of the convention, and we managed to pack plenty of fun into it.

To begin with, we dressed in our costumes again.  DKoren did my hair in a different way this time, with a braid on either side that went up and around a ponytail.  I thought it was way more impressive and interesting than Saturday's hair, but I got way fewer people saying, "Wow, cool hair!" about it -- only one that I can recall, and Saturday I got at least a dozen.  But there were fewer people around on Sunday, so maybe that was it.

Anyway, we crammed our feet back into our boots and went to get our photos taken with Jonathan Frakes.  Of course, he is most famous for playing Riker on Star Trek:  The Next Generation, but several years earlier, he appeared in one episode of the Disney TV show Five Mile Creek, where he played Adam Scott, husband to series regular Maggie Scott (Louise Caire Clark).

My family discovered Five Mile Creek on VHS when I was in single digits, and for years, we would rent one video tape (which contained two episodes) every Friday night and watch both eps while eating pizza -- it was a huge tradition.  I still count Five Mile Creek as one of my absolute favorite TV shows, as one of my top ten favorite western shows.  So, long before I ever saw an episode of TNG, I had seen the FMC episode "Gold Fever" multiple times.  To me, Jonathan Frakes is first Adam Scott, then William Riker second.

So anyway, last Sunday, we waited in line to get our photos taken with Jonathan Frakes, nursing sore feet, but feeling pretty chill nonetheless.  I wasn't really nervous at all, unlike the day before, and we had a lot of fun waiting in line.  Helped that the line was a lot shorter too, as Frakes had done previous shoots already.

He arrived a few minutes before his shoot was scheduled to start, photo bombed someone else's shoot with another Trek actor, and then sort of rambled around the room, checking out peoples' photos from other sessions that hadn't been picked up yet, taking selfies with people, chatting, generally being very approachable and affable.

So when it came time to get our photos taken, DKoren and L went first, since I'd gone first the day before.  And when it was my turn, I didn't really say anything when I walked up, just kind of stood next to him and smiled, and he put his arm around me, and that was nice.  But then after they snapped the shot, I said, "Thanks," he probably said, "You're welcome" or something, and as I walked off, I turned a little and said, "I've always liked you on Five Mile Creek."  And he said, "Wow!  Really?  Man, that takes me WAY back!  You've seen that?  Cool!"  And I just grinned and said, "Yup!" and walked off to join DKoren and L, who were probably grinning and giving me thumbs up or something for talking to him, but I was busy making sure I didn't trip over my own feet and don't remember what their reaction was.

And I had come to regret not sitting in the captain's chair the day before when we visited the little photo op place, so we went back there and I got to sit in it after all, which has been a dream of mine for decades, really.  It was a very comfy chair, made me feel very commanding.

I will admit that, ever since becoming a Captain Kirk fan and deciding I really just needed a captaincy of my own, I have made it a habit to sit in any chair with arms just the way Kirk sits in his, arms on the chair, shoulders back, head high, ready for anything.  So it felt deliciously natural to take that seat and make it my own.  For a minute or two, anyway.

I didn't realize it at the time, but you could actually push the buttons, and they would make noise.  Some people asked us to take their pictures in it right after me, and they tried all the buttons out.  The hailing button made the little whistle noise, and the red alert button made the siren noise -- it was cool!  I made sure to get a close-up of the right instrument panel just because it plays such a pivotal role in my favorite episode, Shore Leave:

We also spent a bunch of time just standing around by a wall in our costumes, just chilling, absorbing a few more convention vibes.

(Photo courtesy of DKoren)

I do not know why -- maybe it's because there were a lot fewer people in costume that day.  Or maybe because there were a lot of people there on Sunday who hadn't been able to get tickets for the rest of the weekend, so they were all excited by people in costume because they hadn't been seeing costumed people for days on end.  Or maybe it's because there didn't seem to be a lot of groups of women in costume together, and here were three of us together.  Or maybe it's because we clearly weren't doing anything important, so it was easy to interrupt us.  Or maybe it's because DKoren and L in particular looked very foxy in those uniforms.  But for whatever reason, we had loads and loads of people stop and ask to take our picture!  Random people!  Sometimes just one, and then sometimes, when one person was taking a picture of us, several more people would stop and ask if they could as well.  It was hilarious!  We stood there for like an hour, texting family, checking email, chatting with each other, and at least twenty people stopped and got our picture.  After the first few, we would kind of bust up every time someone would ask to take a photo, and I'm sure they wondered what the joke was, hee.

Anyway, we eventually went back to our room to change, chilled in the pool area a while, where we got a wee widdle bit sunburned (WHY was there no clock in the pool area???).

That day, we ate an early supper.  Really early.  Like, at 3pm.  Then L stayed in the room and had some quiet time while DKoren and I went to get a box for me to mail a bunch of stuff home in, since I bought some souvenirs for myself, my kids, my brother, and a friend, and there was no way everything was fitting in my luggage.  We also took one last spin through the convention center, where they were packing things up.  It was quiet, but still had such a happy vibe that we weren't saddened at all by seeing it all packed up.  One thing I forgot to post about earlier was the cool poster they had in memory of Anton Yelchin.  You could write a personal message on it, which we did, along with thousands upon thousands of others.  Here's what it looked like:

(Photo courtesy of DKoren)

That night, we watched our last Pushing Daisies episode early, then went back down to our favorite restaurant (the only one we ate at all weekend) for dessert.  We'd wanted their chocolate lava cake as a special way to sort of cap off our incredible time together, but they were out of it :-b  So we ordered apple pie instead, and um... they brought us this:

It was like apple pie stuff fried on a skillet, with ice cream on top, and then after they brought it to the table, they poured caramel sauce over it, which then caramelized on the skillet and became basically inedible because it was so chewy.  And the pie crust kind of burned.  But the ice cream was yummy.

We hit our beds early that night and slept for a good ten hours, so exhausted by the incredible weekend.  The next day, DKoren and L dropped me off at the airport, I flew home, and that was the end of the adventure.

DKoren and L, thank you both so, so much for inviting me to attend with you this year!  You've given me countless wonderful memories, and I really hope we can do this again sometime soon.  It was beyond fun.  I miss you both.