Making a Movie

I don't get to sit in The Director's Chair with a bullhorn by my side and dark shades and a beret that make me look like a Jazzy VIP. - or is it a celluloid visor they wear?  No, that's for poker players....

I do get to confine myself in the computer room though, - oblivious to what is going on around me and to the swift passage of time as the clock mechanism outraces the gears in my thinking apparatus and I am lost in puzzling creativity.

My elbows are getting all rough and chafed from leaning them on the computer desk, supporting my head on my hands as I try to locate directions and follow them meticulously so that I don't, by mistake, hit the wrong key and have everything disappear on me (as sometimes happens....)  I have some nice Planet Spa elbow cream that I rub in faithfully every night so that I won't be deterred by rough elbows from continuing with my movie making project.

Charles says I take far too many pictures, - ten, where one would do.  But one has to take advantage of the scenery when one is out 'on location'!  When I start trying to choose pictures for this wonderful movie I am making (which I am calling Indian Summer) I am inclined to agree with him.

I bring up the days' pictures on the screen and study them, - this one?  Or is that one (taken a smidgen of a second later) better?  Or the same?  Eventually I have made my choices and I turn to Movie Maker, the program, and request that they all be displayed in the media box.  Sometimes Movie Maker is in a good mood and humours me, but sometimes only a couple are sent, and I have to go back and retrieve the rest.

Then I drag them to the Timeline, and pretty soon I have a long line of cloud pictures, sky pictures, garden pictures, - all mixed up because I'm doing this project chronologically.  That's O.K., - I tell myself they will look just fine.

When all the pictures are in place it is time to insert a little transition between each one, - do we want to 'pan'?  (Oh, that word makes me feel quite professional) .  And should the picture flip, or fade or dissolve while the next one appears?  I discover that if I make the right choices I can Select All, and presto, there is a transition between each slide.  Wonderful....

Now to choose the music to go with the movie, in case someone who is watching gets bored and closes his eyes, the music will still soothe him!  Shall we have something lively, or a more classic concert?

I go through every last album I have that is even remotely suitable, - and finally I make my choice.  A little Chopin and the music will last the length of the movie, as long as I remember to click the little box that tells whoever runs this show to do this.

Done!  I am so pleased with the wonderful way the valley has cooperated in providing beautiful scenes that have produced the makings of a movie that is over an hour long!!

Now to save it, and burn it on to a DVD - a long process, I discover, that causes me to stay up long past my bedtime.  The moment of truth is when I slip the disc into the DVD player, fingers crossed, praying audibly.   Yes, yes yes!!  It works.  While we have breakfast the music of Chopin wafts through the house, - there are scenes of sunsets and sunrises;  glorious autumn colours of scarlet and gold and russet shades; lakes and streams, mountains and rills; the wedding, the shower, people who come to visit, dear Caspar and Callie and I am so pleased I think I might go out and invest in a beret and a pair of snazzy shades - and a bullhorn.

I would play this creation for you, but as I said, it goes on and on and on for over an hour, so you will have to come and visit and have tea while we watch.......

ABC Wednesday

and the letter is P

Hope you enjoy this wonderful rendition of PERFIDIA by Nat King Cole



For other interpretations of the letter F pop on over to ABC Wednesday, here.

White Rabbits, White Rabbits, - scouting out shelter on the 1st of November.

But before we welcome the Melancholy Month a fond farewell to Glorious October.

The last day of the month gave little promise of the pleasures to come, - damp and misty, and the clouds hung low as we went to church.  We came out of the church doors to a pelting rainstorm, but two hours later the sky was blue, the clouds were summery and the sun was in and out, playing hide and seek with first one grove of golden trees, and then spotlighting another lone light shimmering beacon.

Before the after lunch nap I went for a short walk, down through the orchard

The newly picked apple trees extended a cool and shadowy invitation to linger

The arching boughs made a dim tunnel that stretched into the distance and 

as they flickered through the golden branches a half a dozen

woodpeckers searched for gleaners apples

The subdued colours in the garden glowed in the sunlight

and on the deck an inquisitive ghost hung from the ceiling,

anticipating Halloween visitors

A few of these seen on the streets of town

But the ones who delighted our hearts most were the two little

pumpkin great grandsons who came to entertain

us with a tune and fill their little pumpkin pails

with goodies.

At midnight, precisely, November sent swirling winds amongst

the trees, and this morning the ground was

covered with gold and russet leaves.

But still, on the way to Penticton  the hills were alive with the most

beautiful shades of yellow, and I wished for 

wings to fly over the countryside and follow the creek that flows down from 

 Yellow lake, lined with golden Aspen and Poplars and beautifully shaded shrubs

A lovely day and I came home with some paper whites and three new Amaryllis!