Olympia

I thought that the shell of this snail was pretty because of its bands of colors. I watched him for a while and it is true about how slow they go. This one was climbing up the wall of the garage. But he wasn't the only one, there were many others.

Some things seem to relax me, like the song River of Dreams by Billie Joel. It is one of my favorites. The music video of this song which can be found on "you tube" is pretty good also. I can just listen to the song over and over and I never seem to tire of it.

Recently I had the pleasure of watching part of the movie Driving Miss Daisy. I have seen it a number of times before. I thought that Morgan Freeman was excellent in the movie. I had heard that he played the same role for years in the Broadway version of Driving Miss Daisy. No wonder he was so good in the role. Similar to Yul Brenner playing the king of Siam in the both the Broadway play and movie The King and I.

Last week Mary and I went to the movies to see the new movie Splice. It is a sci-fi movie about scientists doing human genetic engineering. Out of tradition I always get a popcorn and soda. But we have a coupon for a free popcorn and so we only have to pay for the soda. But being in a nice air conditioned movie theater on a hot, humid afternoon is just the place to be. When my parents first moved from New York to Miami, the heat bothered me terribly. At times when it got too hot to bear, I would go to a theater in downtown Miami called The Olympia.

It was one of those grand theaters that looked like a palace inside.

It was just so ornate. And only one screen, no multi-plex back then. Admission for the matinee was 25 cents (obviously this was a very long time ago, circa 1960).

It is hard to believe that this a movie theater and not the palace of Versailles in Paris. There was a sign outside the theater advertising that it was refrigerated and nice and cool inside. And it was. I would sit in the theater seat and relax as I got cooled down. I would spend the afternoon in cool comfort. And I usually fell asleep. But eventually I would have to leave the theater and go back into the tropical heat and humidity. But at least I had relief from the heat for a few hours. So if it gets too hot for you, just use that as an excuse to go to the movies. And don't forget the soda and popcorn. Lew