Hilton Head Island: glassed; two favorite movies; landed

 

I am fond of glasses as well as the liquids in them.  Above you have the Norlan whisky glass containing a measure of Laphroaig 10 year.  You can see how the shape differs from their Rauk Heavy Tumbler intended to concentrate the aroma, which is one of the pleasures of whisky, certainly of Laphroaig.  

http://self-portraitinthepresentseajournal.blogspot.com/2021/05/hilton-head-island-gannet-worthy.html

Norlan recommends a pour of 0.75-1.5 ounce, which I follow.

There is the appeal to the eye, the nose, the taste, and the cool, smooth feel of the glass in hand.  Norlan’s whisky glass is double walled, light, and as I have noted far too fragile for life on GANNET.  However, it has become my glass of choice for Laphroaig ashore.

The last few nights I have rewatched two of my all time favorite movies, neither of which I have seen for many years.  The original 1956 version of AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, and CHARIOTS OF FIRE.

I would have been 14 or 15 when AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS was first released.  I was as land-locked as anyone can be.  I had seen little of the world.  I had never been on a sailboat.  I had never been in love.  I was enchanted by the film.  I still am.  This is not profound, except in being profoundly entertaining.  David Niven is perfect as Phileas Fogg.  So is Robert Newton as Inspector Fix.  Shirley MacClaine is prettier than I remembered, but unlikely as an Indian princess.  And Cantinflas streals the show as Passepartout.

Who would have thought in 1956 that within a few decades I would have sailed alone around the world in then record time and a few decades later other sailors would sail around the world alone in far less than 80 days?

I had forgotten large parts of CHARIOTS OF FIRE, lost to the opening scene, the soundtrack, and the Olympic races.  The movie is much better than I remembered and about more serious subjects including religious and racial prejudice.  One would have to be far more hard hearted than I not to rejoice that both Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams won their gold medals.

My life for at least the next two months will be dominated by the land.

I fly to Chicago on May 15.  A week later I ride with Carol as she drives an SUV load of stuff from Evanston to Hilton Head.  Two weeks after that I probably ride back with her to Evanston, only to turn around and fly back to Hilton Head to be on hand when a moving van arrives.  Then back to Chicago to assist in moving some Evanston furniture to the place Carol has rented in Lake Forest, close to her office.

A lot of to-ing and fro-ing.  After which our lives should be simpler.