Mrs. Teabody Remembers Audrey and Annette

Good Morning, Gentle Reader! The morning horizon is a long thick line of  deep blue sky resting on a weightier line of  deep blue mountains - - - perhaps a weather front? --  and the thinnest silver sickle moon imaginable shines in the pale lavender layer just above it. Quite lovely. In spite of the fact that a rose thorn is lodged deeply inside Mrs. Teabody's right thumb from yesterday's marathon pruning day and that thumb is quite sore, it does NOT stick out as suggested by the idiom: It stuck out "like a sore thumb." And yet it does because Mrs. Teabody is treating it gingerly. You ARE puzzled, are you not, Gentle Reader? No worries. It - - the thorn - - shan't remain there forever, and perhaps one day you will have a sore thumb of your own and then the meaning will become clear. Or perhaps not.

A maxim that Mrs. Teabody does believe is "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Mrs. Teabody never wishes to be thought of as a "dull boy" so she routinely balances spates of effort with even longer spates of ease, as any of Mrs. Teabody's acquaintances will be quick to aver. Attend:

After countless hours of internal struggle about purchasing Amazon Prime for the little "Fire," Mrs. Teabody broke into her rusty money cache and found she had only just enough for such an indulgence, and in less time than it takes  Hudson to respond to his bell, Mrs. Teabody had "thousands" of videos to choose from, among those "Upstairs, Downstairs," the 1970's precursor to  the currently popular "Downton Abbey." Yesterday morning's tea  extended into three back-to-back episodes, Gentle Reader, and in some way energized Mrs. Teabody to spend most of the remainder of the day doing what had to be done: a full frontal attack on the lambs' ears, lamium, vinca and remaining spurge - -not to mention the dead, crackly leaves, clogging up the earth around Mrs. Teabody's roses. And then food for them. And then water for them.  All this activity was buoyed by frequent glances at the impressive forsythia blasting cheerfulness in every direction.

Once the labour was completed and tools put away ( for once!), Mrs. Teabody scalded and sudsed away her efforts, donned "hostess" pajamas,  and treated herself to an enormous cuppa Tea Forte's Honey Yuzu, a "special reserve green tea with bright exotic citron flavor of yuzu sweetened with full blossom bee pollen." And then she decided on one of the thousands of videos with which to amuse herself. Imagine her great delight in finding "Wait Until Dark" starring  a much-regarded person, Audrey Hepburn. Quel excitement! This elusive film had been seen only once before by Mrs. Teabody in a cinema  in 1967. Mr. Wikipedia says: " It stars Audrey Hepburn as a young blind woman, Alan Arkin as a violent criminal searching for some drugs, and Richard Crenna as another criminal, supported by Jack Weston, Julie Herrod, and Efrem Zimbalist Jr.."  Mrs. Teabody remembers being terrified by it,  but also adoring the style and mannerisms of Ms. Hepburn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogGKBiMX8KU

Quite satisfactory, Gentle Reader, and recalling Audrey Hepburn and the influence she had  on so many women made Mrs. Teabody remember another style icon of her youth, Annette Funicello of Mickey Mouse Club  fame. Here is a video featuring Annette in a ballet number in probably 1956, a year when many of you Gentle Readers were just a happy "some day" dream in your parents' minds while others were coming of age in  what seems in retrospect a time of profound innocence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6NatiMGTH4

The morning sun now pours through the window onto Mrs. Teabody's shoulders calling her outdoors to resume  her pleasurable labour in this glorious early spring weather. Mrs. Teabody hopes  you, too, will mix work and play in suitable measure into  your Monday's plan, Gentle Reader.  Do remember past pleasures and influences and revisit them sorting out what you have cast aside and what has become some fundamental part of who you have become. No "dull boys" wanted today.  Indeed.

Cheers, Darlings!