Last night we arrived at The Flower Tree in four cars, transferred ourselves into one - Michelle the driver, me the instigator, and off we went to Reno. We had a scrumptious picnic packed up in the back and we had plenty of time before the show to sit by the Truckee river and enjoy the meal, the conversation and watch the kayakers practicing in the river park on what is sure to be one of the last of the 90 degree days this year. Michelle and I had planned a surprise for three of our dearest friends and we had managed to keep the secret for over a w
eek. When they figured out we were headed to Reno, the guessing began on what the evenings event could possibly be. Street Vibrations is going on this week, so it was everything from tattoo's to white water rafting coming from the backseat.
Arriving in Reno we found our way to Wingfield Park, and choose a semi-shady spot right on the river. We unpacked all the goodies and enjoyed our feast. A relaxing hour later, we packed up the last of the picnic and Michelle and I picked up the cooler and off we went back to the car, skipping our way across the grass singing, "We're Off To See The Wizard....." By the time we reached the bridge that crossed over to where the Century Theater is, we couldn't stand it any more,so we turned around, and told them.....WE ARE GOING TO SEE THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY - ONE NIGHT SHOWING - OF THE WIZARD OF OZ!!! The smiles and laughter began as we all starting sharing our memories of the many many times we had watched the movie at home on the little screen. In our part of the world, the South, the movie always ran at Easter time, and I think it was Danny Kaye that introduced it. Seems out here in the West, it ran every year at Christmas, a
nd Charmaine shared memories of years and years of the family all gathered during the holidays to watch it. We made our way up to the theatre: thankful that we h
ad ordered our tickets online weeks ago as we heard the "sold out" coming from the ticket booth, entered and found our seats, and settled in for a magical experience. We were almost 45 minutes early, and the theatre was already half full. We still found great seats though and we listened as Lucia regaled us with historical facts from the film, once more living up to her much deserved title of the "Movie Trivia Queen" of our group. They had a 15 minute historical documentary on the making of the film..............and then the lights dimmed even further, and off we went, to Oz. Oh my, the costumes, the sets, the music..........the entire theatre was filled with laughter and song, with applause filling the room at special moments. I think we all sat and wondered what our parents must have felt when they saw this movie as a child on the big screen in the late 30's. I always thought I had a "favorite" part of the film.....I don't think I can say that anymore, the entire film was magic. Now if only
Gone With The Wind ..........................
ning to use some of them to make a patio area. I told her about Mrs. Cooper's tree that we had planted in her memory in 2004, a lovely flowering crabapple that is out in our shade tree line. The tree has grown beautifully over the last 5 years, and is now quite large. Mr. Cooper has been out a few times over the years to see it and always has a smile for us as we share memories of Norma's many many many trips to the nursery. She asked if we might like one to put out under her tree as a memory marker. Of course I said yes, and we made plans for her to bring Mr. Cooper out the following week.
