Of "John Steed" gone~~~

Dear Darklings,

I fear I am getting old, another one of my hero's or icons if you wish, has passed away.

Patrick MacNee, "John Steed" of the T.V. show "The Avengers" passed away a few days ago at the age of 93 of natural causes as reported by his two children.

It's hard to believe that man with the twinkle in the eye and the quick quip is now gone.

"The Avengers" along with "Dark Shadows" and "Mission Impossible" was one of those shows I'd watch religiously.

MacNee loved all his Avenger leading Ladies, each had their own special brand of being the Liberated Woman and I loved each and everyone of them, along with Barbra Bain as Cinnamon Carter of "Mission Impossible".

Between them, Dracula's Daughter and my Mother and Grandmothers (and Dad and eldest brother) they all gave me the impetus to be a Liberated woman in my own darkling way.

Goodbye "John Steed" always wear your bowler and watch out for Diabolical plots.

Later Darklings 

It's Father's Day~~~

Hello Darklings,

Yes it's Father's Day, many of us were lucky to have great, or good or decent Dad's, and there were some not so lucky.   For those of you this day is just like any other but for those who were fortunate to have wonderful Father's, depending upon age, it's a time for either celebrating or remembering.

This morning Sis and I went to the cemetery to put flowers on Mom and Dad's grave, we even threw in some of those 4th of July decorations,  Just to say "Hi Dad".   Doyle was on his cell phone getting phone calls from his children and making arrangements to go down to San Diego to visit them next month. 

Sis called her ex-husband check in with him to say "Hi" he was visiting the kids and is doing well.

Later we went to my brother's for Bar-B-Que, and I'm posting from his computer, as he is doing the final touches of making burnt offerings to the Propane Gods.

It's the first really Big celebration in their new home, and they are proud of it, it still has some work to be done but all in all in good shape.

As we sit around we remember things our Dad did, espeically about the time when we were in this parking lot and some drunk nearly clipped Mom and she got so mad she slammed her umbrella on his car.  Oh he was a big brusier.  But Dad was gallant, he just picked up Mom, threw her over his shoulder and carried her to the car, while she was yelling unflattering discriptions to the man.  

I'll never forget Dad's remark "Toots, don't start something I can't finish!"   I'm not saying Dad was a coward, he wasn't, but sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.  And beside us children were with them.  But Mom was like a bantam rooster with its feathers fluffed up.

We laughed about it for days.

So Darklings, if you are lucky to have had a great Dad or a positive male role model, raise a glass to their memory, and be thankful.

Later Darklings.

22 things about Christopher Lee that we didn't know about and I'm FREE from Jury duty~~~~

Hello Darklings,

Well I am free of Jury Duty, how did the trial turn out??  We were dismissed!!!  The two culprits took a plea deal, when the defense attorney found out about security video and another witness.  If they went forward with the trial, and with that new information that just came forward, they would have been found so Guilty!! 

But when I was in the elevator I heard one of the victim's parent say to their own lawyer that to go ahead with the Civil suit, hit the defendants and their families in the wallet, and that new information will be presented.  

I am so glad I'm not going to be on that Jury!

So I am now free to enjoy the Summer, even with the on again off again warm weather.

And now my Darklings, Doyle found for me this lovely article which I am going to share with all of you~~~~

22 Incredible Facts About The Life and Career Of Sir Christopher Lee

If Sir Christopher Lee had just been a movie star, he would still have been an icon. But the late actor, who passed away last week, had an amazing life even beyond his incredible body of work. Whether you’re still lamenting his passing or unsure why his death is such a loss, here’s 22 reasons why Christopher Lee will always be a legend.

1) He was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records in 2007 for most screen credits, having appeared in 244 film and TV movies by that point in his career— at which point he made 14 more movies, with a 15th due later this year (titled Angels in Notting Hill). He also holds the record for the tallest leading actor — he stood 6’ 5” — but also for starring in the “most films with a sword fight” with 17.

2) His mother was an Italian contessa, and through her Lee descended from the Emperor Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire and was related to Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general.

3) He met Prince Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, the assassins of the Russian monk Rasputin. He didn’t do this as research for his later film role as Rasputin (in the 1966 Hammer film Rasputin the Mad Monk), but just as a child in the 1920s.

4) At age 17, he saw the death of the murderer Eugen Weidmann in Paris, the last person in France to be publicly executed by guillotine.

5) During World War II, Lee joined the Royal Air Force but wasn’t allowed to fly because of a problem with his optic nerve. So he became an intelligence officer for the Long Range Desert Patrol, a forerunner of the SAS, Britain’s special forces. He fought the Nazis in North Africa, often having up to five missions a day. During this time he helped retake Sicily, prevented a mutiny among his troops, contracted malaria six times in a single year and climbed Mount Vesuvius three days before it erupted.

6) At some point during the war he moved from the LRDP to Winston Churchill’s even more elite Special Operations Executive, whose missions are literally still classified, but involved “conducting espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers.” The SOE was more informally called — and I can’t believe this somehow hasn’t been made into a movie yet — The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

  

7) Lee never said anything specific about his time in the SOE, but he did say this: “I’ve seen many men die right in front of me - so many in fact that I’ve become almost hardened to it. Having seen the worst that human beings can do to each other, the results of torture, mutilation and seeing someone blown to pieces by a bomb, you develop a kind of shell. But you had to. You had to. Otherwise we would never have won.” By the end of the war he’d received commendations for bravery from the British, Polish, Czech and Yugoslavia governments.

8) Speaking both French and Italian, Lee spent his time after World War II he hunting Nazis with the Central Registry of War Criminals and Security Suspects until he decided to give acting a try at age 25. Yes, all of this happened before Lee was 25 years old.

9) While filming a sword-fight with a drunken Errol Flynn during the filming of The Dark Avengers in 1955, Flynn accidentally cut Lee’s hand so badly his finger nearly came off, and permanently injured. Later, Lee cut off Flynn’s wig while Flynn was still wearing it. Flynn stormed off set and refused to come out of his trailer until Lee claimed it was an accident.

10) While best known for his portrayal of Dracula in countless films, he’s also starred as the Mummy and Frankenstein’s monster. Of course he’s known as Saruman in Lord of the Rings and Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequels, but his other villainous roles include Fu Manchu, Rasputin, Rochefort of The Three Musketeers (whose portrayal was so popular the character now inevitably appears with an eye patch, although it wasn’t in the book — Lee introduced it), Lord Summerisle of The Wicker Man, the James Bond villain Scaramanga, Mephistopheles, and Death himself.

11) Lee was not only related to James Bond creator and author Ian Fleming — they were step-cousins — but Lee was actually one of Fleming’s first choices for the role of Bond, not least because of Lee’s World War II and SOC experiences.

12) He has played Sherlock Holmes, his brother Mycroft Holmes, and also Sir Henry Baskerville of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

13) Tired of playing Dracula and feeling that the movies had gotten sub-par, Lee tried to quit Hammer films, but studio executives guilted him into returning by stressing how many people could be out of work if Lee stopped churning out hits. Lee agreed to star in 1966 Dracula: Prince of Darkness, he felt the script was so awful he adamantly refused to say any of the dialogue. (Hammer decided that it was far more important to have a mute Lee as star as opposed to anyone else, and thus had Dracula hiss and yell through the film.

14) In the ‘50s, Lee was engaged to Henriette von Rosen, daughter of Count Fritz von Rosen. The Count apparently didn’t like Lee, because after hiring private detectives to investigate the actor and demanding references, he also refused to allow his daughter to marry him unless Lee got the blessing of the King of Sweden. Lee got it.

15) Lee was a major Tolkien fan, reading The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy once a year for the majority of his life. He was the only member of the movie cast to have met Tolkien personally — apparently he ran into him randomly in a pub — and fanboyed out. Tolkien actually gave him his blessing to play Gandalf in any future Lord of the Rings movie.

16) When Lee heard that Hollywood was going to finally make the LotR trilogy into movies, he took a role in the terrible 1997 TV series The New Adventures of Robin Hood as a wizard, specifically so he’d have clear evidence of his ability to be a wizard. When he heard Peter Jackson would direct the films, he sent Jackson a personal letter asking to be in the movies along with a picture of him dressed up as a wizard. Unfortunately, Lee’s advanced age and his natural ability to play villains made him an even better choice for Saruman.

17) The story has gone around a lot, but it bears repeating because it is incredible: During his death scene in Return of the King (only included in the Extended Edition to Lee’s disapproval), director Peter Jackson was describing to him what sound people getting stabbed in the back should make. Lee gravely responded that he had seen people being stabbed in the back, and knew exactly what sound they made.

18) Lee was quite interested in the history of public executions, and reportedly knew “the names of every official public executioner employed by England, dating all the way back to the mid-15th century.”

19) He’s always been a big metal fan, but he released his first full heavy metal album in 2010 at the age of 88. Titled Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross, which won the “Spirit of Metal” award from the 2010 Metal Hammer Golden Gods ceremony. He made a metal Christmas album in 2012. He was the oldest metal performer, and the oldest musician to ever hit the Billboard music charts.

20) In addition to his impossibly prolific film career, Lee was a world champion fencer, an opera singer, spoke six languages, and was a hell of a golfer.

21) He was made a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2009, a Commander of the Venerable Order of Saint John in 1997, made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 2011, earned he British Academy of Film and Television Arts Fellowship in 2011, received the The Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1994, and so many more.

22) Last but not least: Despite everything you’ve heard about the “six degrees of Kevin Bacon,” Christopher Lee was recognized as being the most connected actor in the world in 2008, again by Guinness. He connects to virtually any actor in 2.59 steps, beating Bacon.

[Via Wikipedia, Guinness World Records, Badass of the Week, Factfiend, The Independent]

 

In watching a You Tube video of Lee acting as Sauruman, everyone on the set was more interesting in listening to all the various experiences he had with other actors that it got to the point where one of the "Script women" or someone, I know it was a woman, had to get everyone back on point or the movie would run over budget. 

Even Doyle said that if Christopher Lee told him to take a "Long Walk off a short pier" in that precise voice that he used in the Johnny Depp version of "Dark Shadows" he would have done it willingly.

He should have be claimed as both a National Treasure as well as an International Treasure, and we are all poorer for losing him.

Later Darklings,  I'm going to go and cry some more.

RIP Christopher Lee~~~~

Darklings,

Today I'm having a hard time trying to not cry.  My Heart is broken, the man for whom I turned Goth for is gone.

Christopher Lee, the vampire count, the Villain of Villains,  the man who has "saved" my virtue a number of times, is gone.

Except for Doyle, he is the only man I ever had a serious "crush" on.

Mother would not let me go to the movies with a boy unless it was a film starring Christopher Lee, because she knew I would be more interested in the film, instead of a pimple-faced boy trying to make like an eight-armed octopus,  needless to say I never had repeat dates with those callow youths.  My heart always belonged to Him.

Doyle admired him too and could understand my "crush".

As I understand it he passed away this last Sunday of respiratory problems, he was 93.  He now joins, Vincent, Peter, John Caradine, Boris, and Lon.

I say that he is NOT DEAD, but only resting, waiting to haunt us in our dreams.

"Good Night Sweet Count and flights of vampire bats help fly thee to thy rest"

Of being a "Murderess" and a "nut job"~~~~

Well Darklings,

I did promise to tell you what is happening with the wacky-doodle son of our neighbor.   Trust me Darklings the parents are wonderful people but they are burdened with a paranoid schizophrenic son, who has living quarters in what used to be his parents garage, they fixed it up with a shower and toilet and sleeping room with a small dorm type refrigerator.  I had a chance to see it before the son moved in.

Every so often, the voices in “crazy sons’” head just leap out and he does weird things like dancing naked and such, but for the last year or so it’s changed.  He now has it in his split-level head that we somehow cause him problems. 

On several occasions we’ve had to call the police on him when he stands on our sidewalk in front and yells at the house, for my sister with her profession something like that is not good.

Monday morning I woke up to the bright sunlight and thought what a wonderful but hot day, but that got spoiled quickly by 8:15 a.m.  when Crazy Son stepped in front of his parents house, (that's across the street) yelling to quit invading his privacy and sending mind messages to his parents, and then the usual about the ultra sound machine and that we’re going to jail.  

Then he went to the front door of his parents’ house and pounded and pounded on it, they wouldn’t let him in and talked to him through the door and he was yelling and gesturing at our house, and then he walked up and down the porch and yelling at them again while looking over at our house, but we faintly heard something from inside the house, and “Crazy Son” just stomped off the porch and into his sleeping quarters.

Doyle and I thought well that’s it for the day.  But in the evening about quarter to 6, Doyle and I decided to get something from our favorite Deli, Doyle said it was too hot for me to cook, I  said I would call the order in for Doyle to pick up and he said O.K. I called it in but before he could leave “Crazy Son” walked up to the edge of the lawn and started yelling at us.

This time he was really wacky, saying we were invading his privacy, sending messages into his parents head with the ultra sound machine, and then the usual rant calling us  some choice names, that I murdered the previous owner and buried her in the basement ,  I’ve committing a felony, I committed fraud and  going to jail.

Well that was it, if he stayed on his side of the street in some way we could deal but when he walked in front of my property it went to Code Orange and I called the Police on the non-emergency number. Then I called the Deli saying that there would be a delay picking up our order, because Doyle didn’t want to leave.

About 30 minutes later the police showed up, because it’s at their availability.  And they always send a Newbie, and I have the fun of breaking him in.

He asks what’s going on and I said that if I went back 10 years it would take all evening to tell, but I gave him the version starting with the fun and games that started less than a week ago, he said an investigating officer was going to show up who is more familiar with this and he did show up, So between Officer Newbie and Officer Experience I told them what the most recent events have been.

 Officer Experience knows “Crazy Son” and I told them that “Crazy Son” has been harassing and intimidating us, for over a week we need to clear off the porch so we can paint (except if it’s too hot) and he harasses us preventing us from doing the work, and they could see the porch  needed to be painted, and things have been moved around on the porch.   They understood.

Officer Experience said to Officer Newbie that it’s listed as an ongoing “415” which is disturbing the peace, and I am always the reporting person.  Officer Experience said we really should look into a restraining order, I told him I talked to a lawyer a while ago and it was considered that it might ramp things up in “Crazy Son”’s mind.

Officer Experience said that “Crazy Son” has some cognition as to what he can and can’t do and the R.O. might work, either way it would be another weapon that the cops can have to deal with “Crazy Son”.  I said I’d look into it again but the hard thing is having it served on “Crazy Son” because no one I know wants to get near him.  But I’ll consider it.

Officer Experience said that the parents are not going to do anything with “Crazy Son”, they won’t turn him in, he’s there to stay and I said I knew that and that I knew the parents,  the sister and grand-kids are good people, I and Doyle really like them,  and then there’s “Crazy Son”, Officer Experience agreed.    He said that he’ll read “The Riot Act” to “Crazy Son”, he not supposed to harass us, it’s illegal and that should take care of things for a while and gave me an I.R. number so I can get a copy of the report.

They talked to “Crazy Son” who was waving his arms and saying that we were invading his privacy to watch him poop!!!  Like What??!!   PooP???!!!   I didn’t want to see his pitiful third leg when he was dancing around naked last year, and we’re invading HIS privacy to watch him POOP???!!!

And the new one that some how using Ultra Sound I’m projecting messages into his Parents heads,  and a few other things but Officer Experience read the riot act, Officer Newbie has met “Crazy Son” and now knows what is not going on in his head, and they left.  

About 10 minutes later “Crazy Son” left his quarters and walked off, where to we don’t know but so far that night things were quiet.  I thought we might be good for 6 to 8 weeks.

Doyle thought that maybe there is a Civil type of Restraining order and I am at least going to find out what it takes to get that type of  R.O. and we have to consider costs as well to have it served.  

This morning we woke up to Crazy Son yelling that we can’t stop free speech and proceeded to go to the corner to announce my address and said the woman living there killed the former owner and buried the lady in the basement, he was yelling that to all who would listen that I was a murderer and in between that we cannot stop free speech. 

Doyle and I just rolled our eyes, my sister came over and said she had several clients coming over and she was going to call the police, I said she may want to call his parents too.  The ranting went on for about another 30 minutes and then we saw a police car show up and talk to Crazy Son.  And then the father walked down to the corner as well. 

They were still there when Doyle took me to the court house before he drove to the City and to his office.

While at the court house on the court lunch recess  I was lucky and ran into an old friend a recently retired judge, he had some free time and joined me for lunch and was willing to talk to me on the matter Pro Bono.   And the answers I got saved me the cost of consulting a lawyer.

 Knowing that he just wants the facts, I summarized it saying this has been going back some years but in the last 7 it has been accelerating, and I quickly leading up to the most recent events.

He asked me a few questions, and then explained to me that at this point in time our hands are tied, because even though “Crazy Son” is a paranoid schizophrenic, he does have some limited cognition of the law with the exception of the fantasy that is playing as a loop in his head, and as I said it does not matter what people he knows (family, a few skanky friends) say to him or the cops say to him, he refuses to believe it. 

It’s a fixation because “Crazy Son” was familiar with my Great Aunt who owned my house, he grew up with an antagonism towards her because she was kind to his parents and even helped them out with medical bills gave the money to them as a gift, and even helped their daughter with funds to go to college, but for some strange reason he hated her for that.  When I moved into  the house, I was a serious major change in “Crazy Son’s” life, and he equated my moving in with the deaths of two relatives that happened 5 months later and  another a year after that.

Of course any Normal person would know that’s life, people grow old, get sick and pass on, but “Crazy Son” through some sort of strange superstition (he never made it through high school) put the two events together and came up with this bizarre scenario.

But my Judge friend summarized the important points for the reasons why it would be difficult to get a Restraining Order are these:

1.        Its not domestic violence, “Crazy Son” is not a boyfriend, family friend, spouse, or family member, so we cannot do that kind of restraining order.

2.     In   Looking into the Civil Harassment restraining order I don’t quiet qualify for that, because he has not harmed Doyle, me or the dogs, he has not done any damage within the last 18 months to the property.  (Although I did suspect him of poisoning a rose bush)  Nor do we have either photo proof or acceptable independent witnesses to any attempts at harm.

3.       Verbal harassment or Verbal intimidation is not acceptable as a reason for a civil harassment restraining order.  Unless it is in addition to what I listed above.  A Judge will not even entertain the motion.  (That’s why the Westburro church can do what they do)

4.       Trespassing has to be proven with proof such as an independent witness or a photo, but does not necessarily meet the CHRO requirements.  Unless in the act of trespassing, vandalism or harm is done but again we’ll need proof.

And of course until the mental health laws change, the parent’s hands as well as the police’s hands are tied.

So at this time we’re stuck, all we can do is call the non-emergency number unless “Crazy Son” ramps it up.  But now, if the cops say get a restraining order I can tell the Police that we are stuck on all levels and at this point in time they are our best option to keep things calm.

But Doyle is going to buy security camera’s for the house, and I am going to install a vintage style gate on the driveway to prevent anyone going to the garage.  Once we can buy and install those cameras then we’ll have any video proof we’ll need, especially if he does any physical damage.    

Doyle told me that he’s going to buy them on his “dime” so nothing out of the household budget.   He’s also thinking of getting a dash cam for the Van, primarily because of the way other drivers, pedestrians and bike riders create dangerous situations, and it will help prove we are not at fault.

It’s getting to be a pretty sad world where we have to install security cameras on our homes and dash cams in our vehicles, “1984” is here and it’s because of criminal activity, nut jobs, and people who think they are self-entitled.   

And to make it worse women fighting in Wal-mart!! And one woman got her 6 year old son to join in and kick, throw punches and hit the other woman with shampoo bottles, it was on the news last night, both women are banned from Wal-mart and the police are looking into this, someone took cell phone video of it.   That is a new low for Wal-mart.    But it only goes to show no one has any class or respect, just mouthing off, and teaching their children the same thing!   

It just confirms that we need camera’s to put people on notice to show what is truth, but if it only comes on after the reasons for such incidents are happening  then you only get half the story, body cams and dash cams on cops will be important as well.  Like that mentally ill man who was drinking and on meth, throwing his Mother into the street and banging her head into the pavement, no one had a chance to record that, only the cops using their batons to subdue him and he was trying to grab their guns.  Again only half the story was videoed.

I’m so glad that the children were not around when Crazy Son went off his rocker the other day.  I’d be very worried then.

Court let out early today, and I’ve been home for over an hour, I managed to get a taxi to drive me home and asked the driver to wait until I got into the door, which he did after I told him the reason why.  I did spot Crazy Son hiding behind some bushes on his parent’s property, but after I got inside and carefully looked out the window he was gone, most likely back into his sleeping quarters. 

Sis came over and I told her what the Judge said, and she was unhappy about that, but said she’d do her part.  She told me that the police came over and read the riot act again to Crazy and the Father also scolded him and took him away.  So her clients were able to come over without any problems.   And if he acts up she will be quick to call the police, in a way she has a far better immediate reason than I do, especially on a “Disturbing the Peace” call.

She suggested that the best thing if Crazy Son stays on his side of the street is when I’m out in front working on the plants trimming the roses, (I have to hand water them as well) if he starts yelling to just ignore him, pretend he doesn’t exist. 

But keep one eye on him, in case he makes a move.   Eventually he may become bored with his mental game or by holding off as long as possible calling the police, his parents will take a firmer hand in it as it does embarrass them.   Unless it becomes too egresses.

In a strange Gothic type of way, to be called a Murderess is kind of Gothic, considering the pet cemetery I have in back.

But not so much dealing with a Nut Case. 

So tomorrow we’ll see what develops, today I am just so glad that we had RAIN, beautiful glorious Rain, much of my runoff from the gutters and such helped to fill the underground cisterns, now I’ll have to throw in stuff to prevent mosquito’s from developing but the water should be good for 5 or 6 weeks maybe a little more.

Sadly I did not plant any new annuals in the garden, but nasturtiums have “volunteered” here and there where it has been bare, and make a very tangled almost “malevolent” addition to the garden, so I’m going to let them do their thing,  the seeds may have blown over or was dropped by birds.  But who am I to question a flowering bounty.

And now to see how dinner is coming,  I am so glad that Sis and Brian are joining us, I cannot talk about the court case, but we can have fun talking about “Crazy Son”.

Later Darklings