SECRET SONGS

Provential Scruples

The country dance, a scene in becoming none other than a famous spinster authoress. Enjoy the cadence of the lines exchanged during a stroll among the Hampshire Woods. Delicate music was perfectly timed to chime during the ardent flair of nostrils betwixt a silent pair that seemed unlikely ever to find a commonality. She saw him stomping and stumbling over fallen branches and her face expressed a muse of delight while she picked up her pace in order to not be approached. As history imagines what was perhaps the soul riveting compulsion behind Miss Austen's brilliantly written "Pride and Prejudice" ~ the magic of "Becoming Jane" gives Austen fans a glimmer of the love that inspired her best works. The scene of the country walk has Mr LaFroy obviously out of his preferred element. He happens upon Jane alone, taking a walk along an unkempt forested trail. "Oh come! What rules of conduct define this rural situation? We have been introduced have we not?" To this request for a kind welcome Miss Austen replied "What value is there in an introduction when you cannot even remember my name? Indeed you can barely stay awake in my presence! Such scruples must seem very provential to a gentleman with such elevated airs, but I do not adivse these rules, I merely am obliged to obey them." Mr Lafroy searches for words to continue in conversation and blurts "I've been told there is much to see upon a walk but all I've detected so far is a general tendency to be green above and brown below." Immediate defense is taken up by Miss Austen as she affronts "Well others have detected more, it is celebrated ~ there is even a book about Southern Wood." Mr LaFroy engages her further "A novel perhaps?" Again Miss Austen's reply is abrupt and it challenges Mr LaFroy to consider why she seems so defensive "Novels, being poor insipid things read by mere women? Even, God forbid, written by mere women!" Mr LaFroy dug deep and came up with insight "I see we are talking about your reading". Miss Austen is quickly incensed and pounces back with "As if the writing of women does NOT display the greatest powers of mind, knowledge of human nature, the livliest diffusions of wit and humor using the best chosen language imaginable!" Mr LaFroy is apt in his assessment as he inquires "Was I deficient in rapture?" Ah Miss Austen reflects his lucid behavior during her evening reading and stiffly replies "In consciousness!" Taking time to gather the appropriate yet delayed compliment he says clearly "It was accomplished." With her beguiling smile she simply says "It was ironic!" The scene ends with Mr LaFroy calling out to Jane as she strides quickly ahead "And you are sure I've not offended you?" She hails back "Not at all!" The script of "Becoming Jane" is absolutely stunning! To gather all the brilliance I suggest watching it with a cup of Earl Gray, on bluray with subtitles! You will thrill in the wit of it! Many movies miss the timing of lines. Another favorite is when Mr LaFroy humbly asks Jane for a dance "I would regard it as a mark of extreme favor if you would stoop to honor me with the next dance." Her readers are as aflame as she with Mr Darcy's, I mean Mr LaFroy's offer.

LYRICAL THINGS

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite thingsCream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite thingsGirls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite thingsWhen the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

(Sound of Music)

GHOST WRITER

To supplement my decreasing income with the City, and to use the gift God gave me, my 2nd job as a ghost writer finds me fascinated with this movie. A new unknown ghost-writer lands a once-in-a-lifetime lucrative contract to redact the memoirs of Adam Lang, the former UK Prime Minister. After dominating British politics for years, the Prime Minister retires to the USA with his wife. They live on an island, in an isolated yet sprawling home. They employ a security detail and a secretarial staff. Adam Lang gets embroiled in a major scandal with international ramifications that reveals how far he was ready to go in order to nurture a "special relationship" between England and the USA. The PLOT thickens with a controversy for the ghost writer before he closes the deal with the publisher. The ghost-writer gets unmistakable signs that the draft he is tasked to put into shape inexplicably constitutes highly sensitive material.

NEVER WANTED NOTHIN MORE

Could'nt wait to turn sixteen
and drive all the boys around
Foot on the gas and
hands on the wheel
was all I could think about
A little rust in the bed of that truck
and a four speed on the floor
$500 dollars and it was mine
all mine, and I never wanted nothin more

I took Katie down by the river
with a six dollar bottle of wine
Just a fool tryin to play it cool
hopin she'd let me cross the line
I was prayin she could'nt tell
I had'nt been that far before.
The first time is a one time feeling
and I never wanted nothin more
No I never wanted nothin more.

Well I'm what Iam and I'm what I'm NOT
I'm sure happy with what I've GOT
I live to love and laugh a lot
and thats all I need.

My buddies all tried to change my mind
but I told them that I thought it thru
Katie laughed and my momma cried
when they heard me say "I DO"
A little ring is a little thing
but its all I could afford
Now shes mine all mine
till the day I die
and I never wanted nothin more,
No I never wanted nothin more.

Well I'm what Iam and I'm what I'm NOT
I'm sure happy with what I've GOT
I live to love and laugh a lot
and thats all I need.

One Sunday I listened to the preacher
and I knew he was preachin to me
I could'nt help it
I walked up front
and got down on my knees

Right then and there I swear I changed
When I found the Lord
Glory Halleluiah, God Almighty
I never wanted nothin more,
No I never wanted nothin more.

Well I'm what Iam and I'm what I'm NOT
I'm sure happy with what I've GOT
I live to love and laugh a lot
and thats all I need.

RED DIRT ROAD

RED DIRT ROAD, Brooks & Dunn
I was raised off rual route five in Stockton ~
Out past where the black top ends
down that 8 mile dirt road.......
We'd walk to church on Sunday mornings,
Race barefoot back to the Castle's fence
That's where I first saw Mary,
On that roadside ~ pickin black berries.
That summer I turned a corner in my soul,
Down that red dirt road.
It's where I drank my first beer,
It's where I found Jesus.
Where I wrecked my first car,
I tore it all to pieces.

I learned the path Heaven ~
is filled with sinners and believers.
Learned that happiness on earth ~
Ain't just for high achievers.
I've learned ~ I've come to know....

There's life at both ends of that
good red dirt road.