July 5, 2008

• Impressions of July

     
      Peculiar, isn't it, how some stuff just gets in your head and sticks there forever?  Until something else comes along and dislodges or rearranges it?

      That's pretty much how I am about July.

      Even though my mother was born & partially raised a Tennessee Belle, she always was extremely particular about grammar and pronunciation.  She did not speak "suthuhn" with only two exceptions that I can recall.  She said "Sayer-dy" for "Saturday" and "Sundy" for Sunday.

      In any case, as kids tend to do, I spoke the way I heard my parents speak.  Thus, I grew up pronouncing the name of this particular month as Ju-LY.

      And, for the better part of my life I never gave July any credit at all -- it was a heathen and indecent summer month that generally turned out to be hotter than the hinges of hell, regardless of where we lived at the time.  Since I am chock full of fair-skinned genes from Ireland, Scotland, Wales & England -- possessing a complexion similar to the "chicken under plastic" that you see in the grocery -- I truly despise hot weather and hot sun.  It is most unkind to me in that it (1) burns me to a crisp and (2) sudks all the energy and gumption from my very soul.

      But then 1989 came along and the original six-night TV series "Lonesome Dove," from the novel by Larry McMurtry, aired on television.  You know -- the one with Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones -- not that other series that came out later.  (Never watched the latter version, because hey!  Who could possibly improve upon perfection?)

      Gawd!  I liked that movie so dammed much that I bought the Video the day it came out, and later purchased the DVD. 

      I liked that movie so dammed much that I developed an ENORMOUS crush on Robert Duvall. 

      I liked that movie so dammed much that I bought it for "my-brother-the-cowboy" who rarely watches anything at all and foisted it upon him mercilessly, thereby converting him to a "Lonesome Dove" fanatic as well.

      And I liked that moved so dammed much that every July I wake up thinking about it, and end up watching it again before the month is over.

      I never say "Ju-LY" anymore.  I always say "JOO-ly."

      Because, after seeing Chris Cooper play the role of Sheriff JOO-ly Johnson, nothing else sounds right anymore.

      Thanks, Larry McMurtry. 

      Thanks, Chris Cooper.

      In my estimation, y'all did a fine, fine thing for the month of July.

  

  Actor Chris Cooper, who played the role of
  Sheriff JOO-ly Johnson in the original "Lonesome Dove."

  (Note:  There was also a Sheriff July Johnson in the earlier
  movie"Bandelero."  But it wasn't Chris Cooper and it
  t'warn't NEAR as good, neither!)
  

     

  Update:  Yessiree, Bob!  (Or Yessirree, Doahsdeer, as the case may be.)  Larry McMurtry's novel "Lonesome Dove" was even BETTER than the miniseries.  But in this unusual instance I saw the movie first and THEN devoured the book.  Which is good......because generally I prefer to read and never bother to watch/listen.  Had I not strayed from my norm in this case, I might never have learned how to pronounce Sheriff Johnson's first name!

  • 3:42 pm
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