To be fair — yesterday, I was exhausted. But it was a great exhaustion, because I finished those 2 final scenes of the TV pilot script and I was so happy with what I had accomplished.

It took about 6 hours and it was intense. But, wow. I’m so happy.

We’re still going to tweak everything, but now we have a lot of great stuff to work with, that’s already on the page.

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Okay.

I don’t have time to really post today, because I have to leave soon to go see my 94-year-old Japanese client that I absolutely adore.

[How could you not adore him? When I arrive, he’s always still asleep in bed. I go into his room and say, “Good morning.” And his eyes open, and a huge smile breaks out across his face. He reaches his hand out to me, and says, “MARILYN! My angel!” And I say, “Do you want to get up now? I’m making your coffee.” And he says, “YES! I only have 2 more minutes to live!” And then the day begins.)

But I wanted to post about this other sort of incredible thing.

Yesterday, when I was sitting at my kitchen table, getting my dinner ready before I went off to see my evening client, there was a knock on my kitchen door.

It was a girl who lives down the road from me. She’s maybe 16 years old, at the most. And she wanted to use my phone to call her friend.

So I gave her my cellphone and she stood out on my kitchen porch and called her friend. She tried three times. (I saw it on my “recent calls.”)

I don’t really know who this girl is. I know the house she lives in, but I don’t know her name or her family. But last Spring, she came by and did the same thing — wanted to use my cellphone. But that time, she was wearing her pajamas in the middle of the day and wanted to call her mom.

She also seemed to be sort of “wandering” along the road, and maybe even medicated. I let her use my phone three times that day, but then I also went over to the police station, to alert them, in case something was wrong with her and she shouldn’t be out wandering the road in her pajamas.

Well, this year, she’s of course a little older. And she was fully dressed. And seemed totally coherent.

She came back again about 45 minutes later, right when I was really getting ready to head out for my shift, and she wanted to borrow my phone again. And she said, “I need to text my sister, do you have snapchat?”

I told her: no, I didn’t.

So she said, “That’s okay. I’ll just download it onto your phone.”

And she did (!!). And she texted her sister (I know this, because her sister texted my phone later, and her name was “fav sis”.)

Anyway. So strange. I’m just going to leave the snapchat app on there in case she comes back again.

But what I thought was sort of incredible, is that this girl totally trusts me, and she has no clue who I am. I’m just this neighbor lady, halfway down the road, who is absolutely old enough to be her grandmother. Just the thought of how her mind works: Oh, I’ll ask that lady. She’ll help me. And I always do.

Just another thing that I love about this little village in the Hinterlands — tucked away in a valley somewhere, in the foothills of Appalachia.

Okay. I gotta scoot.

Enjoy your Saturday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting!

I love you guys. See ya!

****************

Gotta leave you with this again!!!

I am so hoping that whoever buys this TV series, will be willing to license this amazing song for the final scene of Episode One!!!!

Enjoy, gang. Play it LOUD. I sure do.

Alas, that’s not what I’m doing today.

What I am doing — before going to my evening client — is painstakingly revising the final 2 pages of the TV pilot script. Then I will send it back over to Peitor, who will make notes, send it back to me, and then we’ll revise it yet again, together, either Sunday or Monday.

Those final 2 pages are possibly my favorite scenes in the whole show. And to make the scenes work, they just have to be really tight.

Meanwhile…

Peitor is in London right now, working on a film score for an upcoming movie that I can’t wait to see! And in his downtime (i.e., in cafes drinking god only knows what — probably coffee), he’s making even more notes on the entire script.

So, bowling will simply have to wait. (I actually have no clue where there is even a bowling alley out here in the Hinterlands…)

*************

Wow. So this was really, really helpful.

I don’t know if you ever have to deal with trolls online — I only have to deal with them occasionally, thank God. But oddly enough, when I do, it’s usually on Instagram, when I’ve made what seems to be a perfectly harmless comment on someone else’s post. Then other readers of the post — not the person who posted it — begin a verbal assault that won’t quit.

A case in point was last night. It’s actually sad, the number of screaming young white Leftist females out there who are now completely terrified of life because Trump became President again. (Sadly, part of the Leftist programming agenda — it never occurred to them to be terrified of what was actually going on, which Trump, et al, are bringing to a halt.)

I usually make an attempt to be polite but also stick to my guns, but that only pisses them off more.

Anyway, I finally just turned off my phone last night and let it go, but WOW. They didn’t stop. All through the night and into the morning, more and more angry comments. So, anyway. I found this video perfectly timed for me this morning, and also really helpful. It’s actually very compassionate.

Nigel Watson – (UK/Finland) – DEALING WITH TROLLS (12 mins):

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Well, it is a sunny day today!! Cold, but sunny. So that alone is fantastic.

And tonight, the client I work with — the 99 year-old blind lady who’s had an incredible life — has 3 frisky & quite huge Labrador Retrievers, and 2 wonderful old big black cats. So it’s a nice way to spend a few hours. Plus, I always learn something new from her.

I really enjoy talking with her, even though we don’t share the same views on politics, we just move past that and spend time talking about other things instead. Her mind is still so sharp, gang. At 99 years old. It is something to strive for.

However, every one of her friends, her family members, one of her children and her husband, have all passed on now. She has 2 grown children and a grown grandchild that are still alive, and some younger neighbors who she’s friendly with — but all those people she knew throughout her life, they are all gone now.

I can’t really imagine how that feels and I’m kinda hopin’ I don’t find out. It’s hard enough being 64 and adjusting to my dad being gone. But I guess we’ll see.

**********

Okay.

Enjoy your Friday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

*********

I leave you with this!

I had been eagerly anticipating this new TV show on Tubi, which launched last night. I wasn’t crazy about the first episode, but I’m going to give it a chance and let the show sort of settle into itself.

“Generations clash when the award-winning C-suite at Atelier Ad Agency is canceled and pushed out and the Gen Z social media team is put in charge.”

Here is the trailer, in case you’re interested. (Tubi is free, btw.)

The Z-Suite | Official Trailer | A Tubi Original (1 min):

Well, sadly, I have today off.

One of my clients that I just adore was admitted into the hospital yesterday and I’m usually with her on Sunday afternoons.

I was really at a loss as to how to pray for her this morning, gang. Without betraying her confidences in me, I’ll just say that for the last couple of weeks, she has been expressing to me in private that, for the most part, she did not want to continue living.

She suffers from something that there is no cure for, and it only continues to get worse. What quality of life she has left is based strictly on the fact that her husband keeps her at home and is her full-time caregiver.

Even though they have a great (and long) marriage — and so many wonderful memories fill their home — that full-time caregiver thing is still extremely stressful on any marriage. And so she also feels guilty about that, too — what her husband has to go through, 24/7.

That said — I could not bring myself to simply pray for her to “be back home as soon as possible”. Or ask God to restore her — health? She barely has it, you know? It was a tricky morning of prayer for me.

I want to see her again! I love spending time with her and her husband. I really, really enjoy being with them, regardless of the tasks involved while I’m there in their home. I don’t want her to die.

Yet, I know for certain, she is, at best, ‘conflicted’ about wanting to remain here.

The bottom line, for now, is that I have an additional day off today. And I guess we all know that I will spend it working on the TV project.

*************

I did see this on Instagram this morning and it cheered me — and I researched it a little bit, because I thought it was so cool.

When Wayne & I took our honeymoon back in 1993, we rented a car and drove out West to Nevada and back. And when we weren’t staying with various family members along the way (Wayne was originally from the South), our goal was to stay at motels that had really cool, retro neon signs.

For our honeymoon, $25 a night was on the expensive side!! We had such a blast. Back then, at least, there were still so many old motels operating across the country.

Here are 2 random examples from my honeymoon scrapbook — both motels were on Rt. 66, in Tucumcari, New Mexico. We stayed one night in each motel.

So, when I saw this on Instagram this morning, I immediately texted it to Wayne and he texted back, saying: “Somehow, I’ll sleep better knowing this. Thanks.”

Built in 1937, the lunch counter and gas station are gone, but motorists can still sleep in a wigwam in Cave City, Kentucky!

You can visit their website here and see old & current photos of the place.

I researched a possible road trip, but it’s over 5 hours a way from here, and looks like it’s more of a place for families. I would be really out of place there all by myself. And, you know, driving alone for over 5 hours is not my idea of a fun “road trip”.

************

That aside, I’m trying to stay in a good head space today. I should feel excited because I have two days off this week — possibly three. Oh well.

On we go.

I hope you have a great Sunday, wherever you are in the world, gang.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

************

In keeping with the above theme —

Here’s a song I’d forgotten about until last night!! Wayne & I certainly played this CD a lot while on our honeymoon road trip!

The fantastic Marty Stuart. From his hugely popular Country album, “Hillbilly Rock,” 1989 — the title song!! Enjoy, gang!!

Hillbilly Rock

It comes from Mississippi, and down in Alabam’
Creepin’ like a fever all across the land
From deep in the Delta on the Louisiana shore
The people got to have it, they wanna hear some more

It’s the hillbilly rock, beat it with a drum
Playin’ them guitars like shootin’ from a gun
Keepin’ up the rhythm, steady as a clock
Doin’ a little thing called the hillbilly rock

Some say it came from Memphis down in Tennessee
Or it drifted in from Georgia about 1953
Just as long as it’s greasy, as long as it’s fast
As long as it’s pumpin’ honey, it’s gonna last

It’s the hillbilly rock, beat it with a drum
Playin’ them guitars like shootin’ from a gun
Keepin’ up the rhythm, steady as a clock
Doin’ a little thing called the hillbilly rock

Way back in old Kentucky where the bluegrass grows
Through the Carolinas on them dirt red roads
Burnin’ like a fire runnin’ wild in the woods
From Arkansas to Texas, it sounds so good

It’s the hillbilly rock, beat it with a drum
Playin’ them guitars like shootin’ from a gun
Keepin’ up the rhythm, steady as a clock
Doin’ a little thing called the hillbilly rock

So when the heat starts to risin’ and you gotta blow some steam
Take a ride down the river, you’ll see just what I mean
The juke joint’s jumpin’, when that cat goes on
The whole place is shakin’, there’s a something goin’ on

It’s the hillbilly rock, beat it with a drum
Playin’ them guitars like shootin’ from a gun
Keepin’ up the rhythm, steady as a clock
Doin’ a little thing called the hillbilly rock
Doin’ a little thing called the hillbilly rock
Doin’ a little thing called the hillbilly rock

c – Paul Kennerly