POMS: NEW DIANE KEATON MOVIE PANNED

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“POMS,” the new Diane Keaton movie, was released today; however, Sun City Peachtree (“Sun Springs”) residents viewed a special screening for us on Wednesday in two of Regal’s theaters, in Griffin.
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Our community looked fabulous in the movie, and several of our friends appeared as extras.  In addition, our neighbor around the corner, Karen Beyer, has a speaking role in the movie.  If you see POMS, Karen plays a member of the welcoming committee and drives Diane Keaton around “Sun Springs” in a golf cart tour of the community.  She was great!
We all got a kick out of seeing people we knew as extras in the movie, including some friends.
Bruce (below center) is an extra in a gym scene where he walks by with Victor (pictured below) behind Celia Weston and the welcoming committee.  Unfortunately, all you see is the top of their heads, because the gym eqt. obscured their faces.
They are also in the scene in front of the recreation center where Celia Weston and Bruce McGill drive by in their golf cart; however, all you see is Bunny’s orange shirt.  Oh well, know he’s there!
As for my hopes of making it in the movie, the entire last day of filming made it squarely on the cutting room floor.  Those scenes were supposed to go into a montage of “A Day in the Life of Sun Springs,” a video that would be used as a sales pitch to get Diane Keaton’s character to buy a house in the community.  I guess they decided to cut that part of the script out.  The movie cuts straight from Diane Keaton in New York to moving into her house in “Sun Springs.”
It was interesting to see what made the movie and what didn’t.  The funeral scene took several hours to film (I watched for a couple of hours); however, only a small portion of the scene made the movie.  I also watched the main pool scene and gym scene being filmed.  Both scenes appear in full.
Although we all had a blast watching the movie, the critics didn’t.  They weren’t too amused…  I just read a bunch of reviews, and the movie was panned by all of them.
Here is an AP movie review that made it into today’s Griffin Daily News.  The paper used my picture again; however, the caption is as poorly written as the movie, according to Lindsey Bahr.
If you go see the movie, our wonderful Sun City Peachtree really shines!  Just know that our community is nothing like it’s portrayed in the movie.  Our Vicky (HOA Manager) is way nicer than Vicky in the movie (Celia Weston), and we don’t have those crazy rules!  We have no security guards like Bruce McGill’s character, and their security office is really our tennis club!  The houses, however, were real houses that were repainted (interiors) and refurnished for the movie.  That indoor pool you see through the gym?  That’s my home away from home where I train!  The gym is Bruce’s second home.

BELIEVING IN YOUR DREAMS

Kitchen Drawer is a very cool (“Free to a good home”) magazine based in Griffin, Georgia. I started writing artist profiles for the magazine last year, and my first one appeared in the November/December issue. In addition to my artist profile in the current issue (Volume 6 Issue 3), another article I wrote was published. Check it out here: http://issuu.com/kitchendrawer/docs/6_3_final?e=0/8465165

Thanks to Betsy Harris, my writing mentor/editor/friend who encouraged me to submit this article. Allison Smyly and her staff at Kitchen Drawer get a big thanks for choosing to publish it! Finally, the biggest thanks of all goes out to my husband, Bruce Cook who always patiently honors my request to photograph and/or video my races. I love you!

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These are photos Bruce shot that didn’t make the cut:

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My surgeon, Dr. Richard Braun

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SNOWPOCALYPSE AT “SUN” CITY PEACHTREE, GRIFFIN GEORGIA

For a town that averages two inches of snow per year and had no snow in 2013, this has been quite a frosty year!

We were housebound yesterday from an ice storm that caused thousands to lose power to their homes. Thankfully, our utilities are underground, so we stayed warm and toasty.

This was the scene this morning:

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LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!

As a Southern California girl, snow isn’t something I have experienced very often. Before moving to Griffin, Georgia, I could count on one hand the times I had ever seen snow either falling or on the ground, and I had only seen it actually snow once. Since moving to Griffin in 2009, this is the second good snow storm we have had. Just like in 2011, this storm is expected to leave us with a few inches of snow on the ground, just enough to build a snowman just as Bruce and I had done during our 2011 storm.

Bruce and I just returned home from a rehearsal for a play (ironically, he performs “Summertime” in the prologue) that is supposed to be performed tomorrow and Thursday. I say “supposed to,” because we all just might become housebound due to black ice!

As I sit here writing this post, the snow is falling, and the temperature is 29 degrees and on its way to a low of 18. The predicted temperature for Saturday is 64/50! Is this crazy or what? Normal temperatures for this time of year are mid-50’s for the high and low-30’s for the low.

Here are some pictures taken just before returning home:

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SUN (ICE?) CITY PEACHTREE

Never in my life would it have occurred to me that I could experience colder temperatures in Griffin, Georgia than in Qaqortoq, Greenland. After all, when I stepped off the cruise ship in Qaqortoq it was a frosty 19 degrees, the coldest temperature this Southern California girl had ever endured. I ended up adding my nose to the list of body parts affected by Raynaud’s, thanks to a full day spent hiking up and down the hills exploring the town on that frigid day. What a wimp I was! The local boys rode around on their bikes with opened flannel shirts blowing in the breeze and just a t-shirt on underneath.

More than five years later, here I am in the deep South laughing at 19 degrees! Last night before turning in, weather.com reported a temperature of 17 degrees with a “feels like” temperature at 5 degrees. The low dipped to 14 degrees with a “feels like” of -2! I didn’t stay up long enough to find out; my bed (and Bruce!) seemed like a cozier alternative.

At the moment, it’s a balmy 27 degrees, so I wrapped myself up in my warmest duds to venture out to our waterfall- uhhhh, make that “ice fall!”

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