elderly & beautiful

Sunday clouds built up all day, it was hot, occasionally breezy, rain sprinkled here and there (mostly there) and we decided after dinner to drive to the Rio Grande. Spike jumped into the car so he came along.

As we got closer to the river and the foliage along its banks, my allergies kicked in with an intensity that nearly did me in. I haven't stopped sneezing and dripping since. Am loathe to take a pill because I know it will make me dopier than I'm feeling as I'm still adjusting to 7500 feet after three weeks at sea level. Welcome home, Self. Lovely drama though, as dusk rolled in and the air grew cooler. I guess I'll survive.

5 stars for the elderly and beautiful
Went to a Sunday matinee showing of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  Oh my! what a great movie! What a great cast! The audience was predominantly the older beautiful people of Taos. Mostly women, I must admit. I saw practically everyone I know and one who was ill the last time I saw her, was recovered enough to get to a matinee! (with some help). I loved the humor, characters, colors, poignancy, settings...all of it!

Lately I've noticed that there are more movies with attractive yet older characters in them (as well as Love. And. Sex.). To see, still vibrant and brilliant on screen, Vanessa Redgrave, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, others, is an empowerment that will shape the futures of our daughters and grandaughters (as well as our own). Men, too. Marigold and Downton Abbey are filled with them! Such a far cry from the 1950's when movie stars were finished at 40. Take Bette Davis in The Star and All About Eve. And scary Sunset Boulevard ("I'm still big, it was the pictures that got small"). Well, we are a new generation, the 1960's did change the future, and the vows we made to ourselves to remain visible and vibrant - and as attractive as possible (even if it costs a fortune in maintenance) - are being fulfilled by the in-betweeners and baby boomers. Hooray for us! Hooray for the producers and writers who are changing things toward the positive. We may be of a certain age, but we are no longer invisible.