Wildlife: I have seen more Whitetail Deer from the road in the last week than I saw all last month. The male Pheasant continues to eat from the box feeder on our deck every morning.



Visit: A Tale of Two Movies

Weather: The sky was blue on Friday morning, but a boiling black storm blew in from the south, and dropped a cloudburst on us in the afternoon. We still see alternating rain clouds and sun.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site A simple click helps a lot.

In The Community: The local newspaper sent a reporter and a photographer to our opening reception last Thursday, and published their story on the front page of the Sunday edition. They were interested in K. D. Swan: Splendid Was The Trail, a collection of Forest Service photos from the early 20th Century. Theresa, the USFS ranger who helped us the most with this particular show, lent welcome hands and valuable assistance on just about the busiest night I've seen at our museum. Kalispell's Daily Inter Lake
That Winold Reiss exhibit sure monopolized my time last week -- Mr. Wheeler's lecture on Friday afternoon was a real challenge, especially after we moved the venue to the theater upstairs at the KM Building -- but everything worked out well. Hockaday Museum of Art
Speaking of the old Kalispell Merchantile Building -- I joined my boss, Linda Grady, and the Reiss family for a drink and eats at the KM's new bar/restaurant "Red's" the previous night, after we finally locked up the Hockaday.
(I think its short for Red's Wines and Blues, but don't quote me.)
They had a full house, live music, and very slow service as a result. I saw people there from many walks of life, and from all over the Flathead. A few attendees from our earlier reception were there. Strangely enough, the Sunday paper printed an article about THIS place too.

Media Watch: I watched some dawg-assed movies on video tape when I finally had some time off: The Ring -- Fairly good recent flick, but derivative, with a less-than-stellar ending. Wild, Wild Planet -- An Italian trash can special from 1965, with all sorts of 60's hair, miniskirts, and cool fiberglass runabout cars. Devil Doll -- One of Tod Browning's creepy efforts from the mid-30's, with Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O'Sullivan. It had some pretty good matte work for the times. They also built some gargantuan props for scenes where "miniature" actors had to climb up "normal" stairs and furniture to perform their nefarious deeds.
None of these movies were as fine or funky as George Melies' Voyage To The Moon from 1902 -- with french-accented narration instead of title cards. This fifteen-minute, theatrical bit of whimsey owed as much to H.G. Wells as to Jules Verne, and they were both alive when it was made. (I wonder if they ever saw it?)