The Non-Sheltering Sky

 (Aka True Confessions for Val, partially disguised as a movie review)

“The Sheltering Sky” was a 1990 movie with Debra Winger & John Malkovich which won awards for cinematography but got mediocre critical reviews. Michael & I were not big movie-goers, so as I recall we didn’t see it in the theatres, but rented it when it became available a year or so later. (Imagine, kids, having to wait months & months** - then go to a store, pick up a clunky videocassette, then return it the next day!?! NO SUCH THING AS STREAMING SERVICES - if you were really fancy, you could subscribe to a cable TV movie channel like HBO or Showtime to watch movies on THEIR schedule a little sooner. Michael & I, of course, did not.)

** if a movie was doing well in the theater, its release as a rental was delayed even further. It was sheer torture when I had to wait for my beloved Star Trek movies, for instance

Anyway, neither of us was particularly impressed by “The Sheltering Sky” at the time - maybe it hit too close to home, with the disenchanted married couple - by the time it came out on videotape, I already had the suspicion that my marriage was “not quite right”. (I caught Michael in his first serious infidelity in 1992 - why I stayed with the man another seven years and let him impregnate me is another question for the ages?)

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-sheltering-sky-1991 Here is Roger Ebert’s movie review - I believe I’ll go read the book, which in ALL cases (IMHO) is generally vastly superior to cinematic adaptations! I also had not realized that Paul Bowles also did “No Country for Old Men”, another disturbing film which I did not enjoy despite the fact it got MUCH better critical reviews. Whoops, I must have misread, that gem was courtesy of the Coen brothers… (I’ll go back & re-read Roger to see what he was referring to!)

So I keep on wasting time here instead of getting to the real point of my title and blog post - I had a very nice weekend going to a brief campout with my trail riding buddies; I’ll even post a few pictures when I get a chance. Went to a new campground, had a good ride, wound up sending Bo home with Christina & Marty’s 10 year-old daughter Catie - he’ll get much more individualized attention from this adoring, horse-crazy little girl than anything I could ever give him! But I got home Sunday afternoon and let Clarice stay out in the yard in the very pleasant weather conditions while I was unloading a few things and went to take a shower, etc.

In that short time frame, she vanished and I can only presume a varmint got her, because I don’t think she was capable of wandering very far. I don’t even know which big dogs to blame for inadequate guardianship, since they were going in and out of the house with me. (That’s a grim joke, since Clarice would snap & snarl at any of the big dogs that got too close, and I was constantly having to rescue her from under Tulip’s big clumsy feet)

So my mood is grim, and as usual Peran ain’t saying much  - he can’t even manage to give me a clumsy pat to tell me it’s not my fault. But of course it IS my fault because who else was ultimately responsible for my little girl? He did help me traipse around all over the place but she vanished without a trace - as I said I don’t see how she could’ve wandered very far. Coyotes skirt the edge of the yard, cutting through the woods all the time and who’s to say an ambitious bird of prey could’ve taken her also? I can only pray it was quick and (hopefully) relatively painless as for all the other dogs we’ve lost.

A man and his mustang (yes, Brownie looks like a weedy lil’ pony but he’s not quite 3!)

                                                  Now Catie makes Bo look like a warhorse!

                                                                A nice roll after our ride

   

                                        Making friends (Bo was actually stealing grass from Brownie)