Miamibound
February 15th, 2011
It was last February when my Mom and I had both decided that we were sick of Ohio winters and she suggested that we take a cruise in a nice, warm location to help alleviate the painful winter. Subsequently she took an Alaskan cruise in September with relatively short notice and had almost nixed the idea of the winter getaway. But I hadn’t forgotten. As the time got closer and the weather kicked out all of the Ohio warmness that we had enjoyed over the Summer, I began to ask if she had begun making our plans yet. Although both Denise and Ashleigh were invited to come along, they both declined, and she began making the preparations for three. Read the rest of this entry »
I was hoping for a white Christmas for 1986, mostly because I had a new sled. But hoping for and getting wasn’t always the same – as this Christmas proved. There was sickness a-brewing in my house. Denise had interrupted my movie-watching on the evening of Saturday, December 20, to let me know that she had thrown up all over her room. She spent the rest of the weekend recovering, but not before leaving the germs of a flu bug behind. By Tuesday, Dad was feeling ill and was having productive sessions over the toilet. 
It was a little over two years ago that I finally watched the TV series The Addams Family, and in fact watched both seasons of it in its entirety. For the most part, I enjoyed it, but it struck me that without the subtle, optimistic character of Gomez – played by John Astin – the show wouldn’t have been even half as good as it was. From that point on, I became a fan of Astin, and recalled seeing him in other roles throughout the years in such films as National Lampoon’s European Vacation and Freaky Friday and appearances in TV shows such as Night Court and The Twilight Zone. 
Although I had met Della Lind, leading lady from the Laurel and Hardy feature Swiss Miss, six years prior (at the Hollywood ’80 convention, seen