Category: Writing

December 23, 2014 / Vickie Lester

“There is science, logic, reason; there is thought verified by experience. And then there is California.” Edward Abbey

December 14, 2014 / Vickie Lester

Design For Living – 1933 – and a very merry movie for the holidays!

For some reason I always think of this as a holiday movie… . First, it was a play written by Noel Coward, and let’s just say it was inspired by his relationship with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne (titans of American theater, notably they brought a modern naturalist style to…

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December 13, 2014 / Vickie Lester

“I don’t care what’s written about me as long as it isn’t true.” Katharine Hepburn

December 11, 2014 / Vickie Lester

Reprise: in Palm Springs, the dog ate my sandals and flung them in the pool

I’m lucky they didn’t fling me in the pool. My aunt and uncle, besides the venerable parrot, favored large dogs (I mean dogs that outweighed me) who my uncle trained in German as to foil evil doers, I presume. I’ve been talking quite a bit about my aunt, but my…

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December 11, 2014 / Vickie Lester

Reprise: I have a Pavlovian response, and when I’m feeling peaked I have to go to Palm Springs

When I was a youngster we didn’t spend much time there. My mother spoke of it disdainfully saying, “It’s fine if you’re a Republican or play golf,” neither the party or the sport interested her. I did, however, have an aunt and uncle who had retired young and decided to…

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December 5, 2014 / Vickie Lester

“A Modern Hollywood Whodunnit: you find yourself wondering how closely some of these folks might be modelled on current A-list stars.” click on the picture

December 5, 2014 / Vickie Lester

“I remember the day she left me, sunlight glinting in her hair, baby Cliff balanced on a cocked hip, smiling with all the wonder of Christmas morning. It’s a gift you know: utter charm laced with pure poison.” click on the picture

December 3, 2014 / Vickie Lester

Snow and F. Scott Fitzgerald, just before the end of The Great Gatsby…

“When we pulled out into the winter night and the real snow, our snow, began to stretch out beside us and twinkle against the windows, and the dim lights of small Wisconsin stations moved by, a sharp wild brace came suddenly into the air. We drew in deep breaths of…

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December 3, 2014 / Vickie Lester

The Snow Man – O. Henry 1862-1910

“Snow is a hell of a thing,” said Ross, by way of a foreword. “It ain’t, somehow, it seems to me, salubrious. I can stand water and mud and two inches below zero and a hundred and ten in the shade and medium-sized cyclones, but this here fuzzy white stuff…

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December 1, 2014 / Vickie Lester