Paducah, if you wanna you can rhyme it with bazooka

There is a wall in the dining room that is huge, behind the cabinets and SCREAMS for a mural.  John told me one of our first nights here that he could see me doing artwork up there, so yeah, the challenge was made, I had to think of ideas.

I wanted something unique, something that people would say "WOW" and something no one expected.

I thought about old-timey signs, a whole bunch of them painted all over the wall to look like the wall was covered in signs.  Good idea, but not what I needed.  Then I thought about a diner scene, but I decided that needed to be in colors like pink, and neon and I wanted more earthy tones.  I decided that I love the Paducah song, I have always loved the Paducah song, and I needed Carmen Miranda in my everyday life.  I went with the vintage Paducah Postcard look, modernizing it into the things that we loved and not something everyone else thinks about. I started with the basic vintage look and in the letters added things WE LOVE about Paducah.  Of course the first thing added was Carmen (if you haven't seen The Gang's All Here, please do).  Next was the Atomic City. I really like how the city was toted as The Atomic City when all this space-age stuff was new and hip.  The "U" is full of things we love (mostly to eat), and I left room for a couple more things.  I had to include Wacinton, The American Queen, Coke Plant, and The Columbia too!  The "H" is full of things we like in the surrounding area and a little bit of Alben Barkley, who really needed a letter all to himself, but I just couldn't find a way to get it done.  Lastly, I added the Quilt City because we are the capital of all the quilts these days. 

I am absolutely in love with the way it turned out.  Next up, is another mural and a window so stay tuned. 

Flood 2011

The river ....that today is like an ocean its so big.

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The gang's all here

I do believe that I have seen this movie about 50 times. It is about a guy (Andy) in the service that is engaged to a girl (Vivan) at home but meets a song girl (Edie) in a club and falls in love, but they give each other fake names (Casey and whatever that fake name that she was using was). She comes and sees him off to war. He goes to the South Pacific fights a good fight and comes home a war hero...while he is traveling home, his wealthy father decides to throw him a big party when he gets home. Problem is the club that Andy loves is closed so dear old dad has the whole club and all their entertainers stay at his house and his neighbor's house, the party will be at Andy's home. A great scene is when the remarkable Charlotte Greenwood does this dance with a dancer and displays the highest kicks I have ever seen anyone do in a musical...Her legs are SOOOOOO longs (she stood around 6 feet tall). Back to the plot, Andy's real-life girlfriend, Vivian and Edie have no idea that they have been swapping stories about their man and that their man is the same man. Meanwhile, Dorita (played by the wonderful Carmen Miranda) figures is all out and tries to stop the two girls from discovering what's up. All fails and Edie figures are out but take the high road, when Andy does come home and is all surprised about the party and Edie being there she pretends to love another. Andy is heartbroken but after the show, he convinces Edie and Vivian that it is Edie he loves.

Why am I telling you about this corny movie? Here are some reasons that this movie is worth watching:

1. The aforementioned Charlotte Greenwood scene
2. The leaving for the camp scene in which Edie calls "Casey" (she knows him) by the name of "Andy" but later when she learns "Casey" is "Andy" she is very surprised.
3. It's directed by Busby Berkley so there are FABULOUS, over the top dance numbers.
4. Carmen Miranda sings the lady in the Tootie fruity hat and it is simply perfection!!!
5. Benny Goodman sings a song about a town called "Paducah" and if you wanna you can rhyme it with bazooka.
6. And lastly, it is just a mindless entertaining movie...a weak plot, but lots of dance numbers and shows you how much Americans cheered for their country. My favorite line is "If you had a beard you would remind me of my two favorite men, Santa Claus, and Uncle Sam".