Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2019!  It is snowing here in Port Moody and Daisy and I enjoyed walking down to the park.  There will be a "penguin swim" later this morning.  In September, when I saw the notices for it, I thought, "oh, I should do that this year", but having walked down in my winter coat with my Second City toque and my bright red mitts and looked at the frosty sidewalk and the icy water, I think a saner head has prevailed.  I get the metaphor -- wash yourself clean and start fresh -- but maybe I can accomplish that with a nice warm shower.

I had a very quiet New Year's Eve.  I watched "The Apartment" with Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine and Fred MacMurray.  It is such a terrific movie.  I have seen it countless times and notice new things every viewing.  Like Baxter has "I and the Village" on his wall, just like I do!  I love the set in the insurance office and the whole New York atmosphere and the actors who play the two timing (or more than two, I think) husbands are all so terrific -- Ray Walston, David Lewis, David White, and Willard Waterman.  I always remember Fred MacMurray as the warm dad in "My Three Sons", but he played these nasty characters like Jeff Sheldrake really well.   I just love the scene in his office when Baxter decides to quit and then later at the New Year's Eve party where he tells Miss Kubelik that Baxter said he couldn't bring her to the apartment.  The black and white looks terrific and the music is so evocative and Edie Adams and Hope Holiday are both really memorable in small roles.  It's witty and poignant and of course, Jack Lemmon is in his element.

I usually watch "Desk Set" with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn on New Year's Day, but I can't find it!  My back has been sore for a couple of days and it is hard for me to crawl under the Christmas tree to see if it is in the cupboard behind it.

Did you make any New Year's resolutions?  I think it's fun to make them and of course, I used to say I was going to lose weight or get more exercise, but I think those resolutions are doomed to fail.  I would like to be thinner and stronger, but I think that takes more than a resolution.  I will have to look here to see what I resolved last year, but I think it probably was about writing things and about having a positive attitude, which I think I do anyway.  Anyway, enjoy your New Year's Day!  I suggest you get outside (this is always my theme).  Don't take your phone!  For many of you, that might be a good resolution.  Put your phone away!  You could give yourself a time limit.  "I won't look at my phone for 2 hours!"  See if you can do it!  As you know, it can be such a time waster.  Think of what you could do with those two hours.