Sunday details

The sun is shining and the weather forecast has been upgraded again. Now they tell us to expect sunshine through Thursday. I’d like to believe them. I really would. Sure looks perty on the weather map.

I was planning to scrub down the deck...right about now, but was informed that the lad has friends coming over to film a scene from a movie they’re making. They needed a cafe table and chairs which I have. This is supposed to be a French countryside cafe scene and I have the countryside-ish backgrounds facing the back of the deck. So, they will probably spend about an hour shooting a three minute scene. And then off they go for other scenes and locations this afternoon. This is what he and his buddies do for fun. They write scripts and go shoot them. This is the second they’ve done in the last month. There is another script waiting in the wings. They have a lot of fun and I get to enjoy some fun videos. They have one young lad who is a fantastic actor. He’s a total joy to watch on video. It is interesting to see a young talent develop like this. He has such ease in front of a camera and he doesn’t even need dialog to tell a story. His facial expressions and gestures and body language are a language all by themselves. He’s fascinating to watch.

This particular movie is an adaptation of The Stranger. Last week they arranged with the local police department to shoot a scene in the local jail. The lad coordinated with his police officer contact, who thought this was kind of cool, and they locked into a time during which there were no prisoners in the holding cell where they would film. Unfortunately, about half way through the filming, a prisoner arrived and they had to vacate. But they set up a time for the next day to finish the scenes and the cop even made a cameo appearance in the film. He said it was the most fun he’s had on the job in a long time.

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The birds claimed a small portion of my late morning. They informed me in no uncertain terms that the feeders were empty and they wanted to be fed immediately. What a cacophony! And what a funny sight to see little birds perched around the deck looking into the house and scolding. They seem to know the source of the goods.

The weird thing is, I just filled the feeders yesterday afternoon and they were as empty as can be by late morning. I wasn’t around to see how they managed to empty three feeders this morning, but we must have had quite a flock out there. And a family of squirrels besides. My next door neighbor came out on his deck while I was filling them and reported that, indeed, there had been considerable activity early this morning. He and his wife had thoroughly enjoyed the show. He wondered if I minded the squirrels cleaning me out and I said no, not really. They have to eat, too, and I don’t mind. They limit themselves to one feeder, which seems like a fair deal.

While he was out talking with me, he wrote down the name and address of a good friend who does lawn mower repair. He’s supposed to be very good and inexpensive. He said, “Tell him Bill sent you. He’ll do right by you.” I love my neighbors.

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The neighbor across the street did throw the straw down on top of the grass seed this morning. And he dragged his hose across the street and watered it all, too. I didn’t expect that. What a nice surprise. This is the neighbor I bellyache about all winter long for parking his car behind my driveway. Perhaps he’s trying to make amends. Mainly, I think he’s just a nice guy and I had better remember that next winter.