Terry Stone
Thanks all of you for sharing your thoughts. It was a fun day of blogging!
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I love classic movies, but not just any classics. Of course, I love westerns, but even more than that, I love a really good old-fashioned romantic comedy. So much so, that I’ve started a collection of DVD’s of Cary Grant, Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Clark Cable and James Garner movies to name a few of my favorites. 
One movie I’ve enjoyed over and over again is It Happened One Night. With Claudette Colbert playing a spoiled rich heiress on the run and Clark Cable playing a ambitious journalist out to land the biggest story of his career,you have the makings of a first-class romance. The thing I love about this movie is that nothing really is as it seems – the heiress is rebelling against her wealthy father and is not really in love with the man she’s running to meet. Our journalist (Clark Gable) pretends to be a traveling man, and though recognizes the heiress immediately getting on a bus, he doesn’t let on and follows her in search of groundbreaking headlines. He wants an inside exclusive. Needless to say, Peter Warne’s disdain for Ellie Andrews changes during the course of their journey and we see such amazing character development between the two and even they refuse to recognize it for what it is, until almost too late.
The dynamics of this romance set the standards for all the romances to come. It was so cleverly written that to this day, I recall some scenes and still laugh out loud. Each time I watch the movie, I find something new, something I 
didn’t pick up on from my last viewing and that’s always a treat. It’s a feel-good, wonderfully plotted story that leaves the viewer wanting to come back for more.To your right is a picture of Peter giving Ellie a lesson in ”hitchhiking.” I’m smiling as I write this because his three attempts have failed much to his chagrin and now Ellie turns the tables and shows him that her method works the best!
To your left is a picture of the classic “blanket” scene. The two have to spend the night together in a motel, and Peter sets up a clothesline with a blanket separating them for their night’s sleep. Needless to say, neither gets much sleep that night with thoughts of the other – finally recognizing their love. Hopeful and broke, Peter gets an idea and in the morning Ellie finds him gone and thinking he’s left her for good, she retreats back to her father and her opulent lifestyle. You just have to see this black and white movie to learn the outcome. The ending to this story leaves you with a smile and wanting more.
It Happened One Night won 5 Academy Awards in 1931 – Best Picture, Best Director (Frank Capra) , Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay. It’s a feat that hadn’t been repeated until 1975 with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and then 1991 with Silence of the Lambs.
Some other of my favorites include Houseboat, Pillow Talk, Send Me No Flowers, Operation Petticoat, The Thrill of it All and Father Goose and That Touch of Mink. 
Times have surely changed. Still and all, the last movies I saw weren’t There Will Be Blood or Michael Clayton. They were 27 Dresses and Fool’s Gold. I need my romantic fix and even though these were pretty good movies, they don’t compare to the classics. Do you love old romantic comedies? Which are your favorites? I’d really love to hear about it.
In honor of romance lovers favorite holiday, Valentine’s Day, I’ll be giving away one book each to 2 winners today to help celebrate romance. I’ll post the winners at the end of the day, Pacific standard time. You may have your choice of my current Desire, The Corporate Raider’s Revenge (Romance Reviews Today’s Perfect 10) for January or March’s Taming The Texan, garnering Romantic Times Magazine’s K.I.S.S. hero (Knight in Shining Silver) for Clint Hayworth.
Happy Trails and Happy Reading!
Well, the Fillies are busy running themselves to death again. They’re ironing their Sunday-go-to-meetin’ dresses and dusting off their bonnets for our special guest, Miss Judy Alter, on Saturday. The dear lady will be chatting about the extraordinary women of the old west. I can’t help but wonder if that includes yours truly because I’m a bit of the unusual type even if do get a bit cranky on occasion. But surely Miss Alter has better subjects to pen her stories about. Ah’m just pullin’ your leg, darlings.
If you want to hear some fascinating discussion, stop by our meetin’ hall Saturday. I guarantee we’ll figure out some of the best and toughest women who won the west. Shoot, we might even get around to discussing some of the men too! Hee-hee. Don’t miss it now, you hear?
Hello darlings! Love is in the air all around Wildflower Junction today. I spotted cupid trying to sneak around and sling his arrows. Ah’m doing my best to stay out of the way. The birds are singing and doing what birds do and the horses are acting downright frisky. I wish you could see ‘em. Anyway, I hope y’all are celebrating the day in style with the love of your life and remembering that matters of the heart is a permanent condition.
The Fillies are sending our heartfelt thanks to each one of you who make Petticoats and Pistols a success. We hope you enjoy the best Valentine’s Day ever!
Not a great picture-fuzzy-but I’ve talked about how Clay in Petticoat Ranch wasn’t used to being around women and I modeled Clay just a bit after my husband, from a family of seven boys and now we’ve got four daughters.
This is the Valentine’s Day of 1984. My three oldest daughters–Josie 5, Wendy 3, Shelly 3 months. My husband would bring me and each of the girls flowers. I’d get three roses and they’d each get one or I’d get a floral arrangement and they’d each get a tiny one, like in this picture.
One year he went to pick the girls up from a neighbor who was babysitting them and he took the BABYSITTER a single rose.
That wasn’t so good though as she told me later that her brat husband hadn’t given her anything so my husband’s Valentine was the best she got. Not exactly good news for her husband!
Anyway, though my husband sometimes struggles to understand women, he did okay a lot of the time. 
Here’s my absolute favorite chocolate cake recipe in the whole world. It’s rich, chocolatey, and easy to make. And since Valentine’s Day is known for giving your lover chocolate as a sign of your affection, you still have time to make this!
Chocolate Fudge Cake
1 box chocolate fudge cake mix
1 box instant chocolate fudge pudding
1/2 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup water
1 tsp. vanilla
8 oz. mini-chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare either 13 x 9 pan or two 9 inch rounds with shortening, dusted with flour.
Mix together first 7 ingredients until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into pan. Bake 25-35 minutes.
Now, it’s preferable to cool the cake before frosting. But if you’re really anxious to show your love, you can frost the cake with a can of chocolate fudge frosting while it’s still warm, then cut a large piece and serve it dripping.
No telling what your lover will do to show his appreciation, eh?
Happy Valentine’s Day to all our Petticoats & Pistols friends.
We love you!
I love both Charlene’s and Cheryl’s posts. Love all those statistics. I want each and every one of our bloggers to know that we all send you much love on this very special day. You are a part of our family, and whether you know it or not, you are each one loved!
My heart belongs to my husband, Paul, whom I love with all my heart. Happy Valentine’s Day, Paul!
Please consider yourself hugged. May your day be filled with nothing but love and hugs & kisses.
It’s a day for romance!
Did you know:
15% of U.S. women send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day.
73% of people who buy flowers for Valentine’s Day are men, while only 27 percent are women.
About 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged each year. That’s the largest seasonal card-sending occasion of the year, next to Christmas.
About 3% of pet owners will give Valentine’s Day gifts to their pets.
Cupid, another symbol of Valentines Day, became associated with it because he was the son of Venus, the Roman god of love and beauty. Cupid often appears on Valentine cards holding a bow and arrows because he is believed to use magical arrows to inspire feelings of love.
During the late 1800s, postage rates around the world dropped, and the obscene St. Valentine’s Day card became popular, despite the Victorian era being otherwise very prudish. As the numbers of racy valentines grew, several countries banned the practice of exchanging Valentine’s Days cards. During this period, Chicago’s post office rejected more than 25,000 cards on the grounds that they were so indecent, they were not fit to be carried through the U.S. mail.
During the Middle Ages, the belief that birds chose their mates on St. Valentine’s Day led to the idea that boys and girls would do the same. Up through the early 1900s, the Ozark hill people in the eastern United States thought that birds and rabbits started mating on February 14, a day for them which was not only Valentine’s Day but Groundhog Day as well.
Hallmark has over 1330 different cards specifically for Valentine’s Day.
Humorous valentines of the 19th century were called “Vinegar Valentines” or “Penny Dreadfuls.” Vinegar Valentines were introduced in 1858 by John McLaughin, a Scotsman with a New York City Publishing Business. Penny Dreadfuls with comic designs drawn in 1870 by American cartoonists Charles Howard became known as Penny Dreadfuls.
In 1929 in Chicago, gunmen in the suspected employment of organized-crime boss Al Capone murder seven members of the George “Bugs” Moran North Siders gang in a garage on North Clark Street. The so-called St. Valentine’s Day Massacre stirred a media storm centered on Capone and his illegal Prohibition-era activities and motivated federal authorities to redouble their efforts to find evidence incriminating enough to take him off the streets.
In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week. To wear your heart on your sleeve now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling.
In Victorian times it was considered bad luck to sign a Valentine’s Day card.
In Wales, wooden love spoons were carved and given as gifts on February 14th. Hearts, keys and keyholes were favorite decorations on the spoons. The decoration meant, “You unlock my heart!”
It wasn’t until 1537 that St. Valentine’s Day was declared an official holiday. England’s King Henry VIII declared February 14th a holiday.
One single perfect red rose framed with baby’s breath is referred to by some florists as a “signature rose,” and is the preferred choice for many for giving on Valentine’s Day, anniversary, or birthday.
Only the U.S., Canada, Mexico, France, Australia and the U.K. celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Some people used to believe that if a woman saw a robin flying overhead on Valentine’s Day, it meant she would marry a sailor. If she saw a sparrow, she would marry a poor man and be very happy. If she saw a goldfinch, she would marry a millionaire.
Teachers will receive the most Valentine’s Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, and then, sweethearts. Children ages 6 to 10 exchange more than 650 million Valentine’s cards with teachers, classmates, and family members.
The 17th century a hopeful maiden ate a hard-boiled egg and pinned five bay leaves to her pillow before going to sleep on Valentine’s eve. It was believed this would make her dream of her future husband.
The ancient Romans celebrated the Feast of Lupercalia in honor of Juno, the queen of the Roman gods and goddesses on February 14. Juno was also the goddess of women and marriage.
The Empire State Building in New York City played a prominent role in the movie Sleepless in Seattle. This year 15 couples will take (or renew) their vows on the 80th floor of this famous landmark.
The heart is the most common symbol of romantic love. Ancient cultures believed the human soul lived in the heart. Others thought it to be the source of emotion and intelligence. Some believed the heart embodied a man’s truth, strength and nobility. The heart may be associated with love because the ancient Greeks believed it was the target of Eros, known as Cupid to the Romans. Anyone shot in the heart by one of Cupid’s arrows would fall hopelessly in love. Because the heart is so closely linked to love, it’s red colour is thought to be the most romantic.
The most fantastic gift of love is the Taj Mahal in India. It was built by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan as a memorial to his wife, who died in childbirth. Work on the Taj began in 1634 and continued for almost 22 years. required the labor of 20,000 workers from all over India and Central Asia.
The oldest known Valentines were sent in 1415 A.D. by the Duke of Orleans to his French wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. It is still on display in a museum in England.
The red rose was the favorite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Red stands for strong feelings which is why a red rose is a flower of love.
Wearing a wedding ring on the fourth finger of the left hand dates back to ancient Egypt, where it was believed that the vein of love ran from this finger directly to the heart.
In America, the pilgrims sent confections, such as sugar wafers, marzipan, sweetmeats and sugar plums, to their betrothed. Great value was placed on these gifts because they included what was then a rare commodity, sugar. After the late 1800′s, beet sugar became widely used and more available, and sweet gifts continued to be valued and enjoyed.
What was your favorite Valentine to give or receive? (Mine was a homemade video from dear hubby to the tune, “You are so beautiful to me”)
Tomorrow’s Blog with Charlene: Romancing the Classic Movies and win a chance for an autographed book!
After seeing Music and Lyrics I sang that silly ”I’ve been living with a clown above my bed” line to myself for days. Don’t you hate it when a really irritating song gets stuck in your head? I love sound tracks and have several I listen to for inspiration. Notting Hill is one of my favorites, as are Lonesome Dove and Hope Floats.
What are your favorite unforgettably romantic songs from the movies? Here are ten I came up with, but there are a jillion more that I love. Are any of these on your favorites list? Which movie songs are stuck in your head for life?
* No Matter What, Boyzone, Notting Hill
* Take My Breath Away, Berlin, Top Gun
* Unchained Melody, Righteous Brothers, Ghost
* You’ve Got A Way, Shania Twain, Notting Hill
* To Make You Feel My Love, Tricia Yearwood, Hope Floats
* Summer Nights, John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Grease
* Under the Boardwalk, Bette Midler, Beaches
* My Heart Will Go On, Celine Dion, Titanic
* The Time of My Life, Jennifer Warnes & Bill Medley, Dirty Dancing
* Pretty Woman, Roy Orbison, Pretty Woman
First let me preface this by saying: Everything is all right NOW!
But—I read an article in RWR magazine a while back about how you cannot miss out on MySpace if you want to promote your work. Well, I’m on MySpace and all 759 of my close personal friends are no doubt reading Petticoat Ranch right this second.The page is up and running now, but it wasn’t always so easy.
RWR didn’t tell me the dark side of MySpace—and no, I’m not talking about the vampires who have their own pages. That is the subject of another column. Far darker than the blood-sucking living dead is me trying to create my own page. I’ve spent, oh, I’m sure it just seems like a decade trying to figure out MySpace.Finally, my 17-year-old daughter Katy took pity on me and showed me how to invite people to be my friends and how to—forgive me—pimp my page. Where do kids come up with these things?
And why do they have the nerve to say them to their mothers?!
Anyway, I invited a bunch of people to be my friends. It felt kind of, well, nervy, you might say; like a bad high school party you go to and everyone gives you the “Who invited you?” look. But Katy pep-talked me into it, so I did it.Then after all the invites went out, I tried to, umm, you know to my page and—forgive me again—somehow ended up with a stripper as my background picture.
She was not there when I selected from among the 1,000,000 background choices. And sure, they can’t show you everything on the background, but c’mon! You’d think they’d include it if there was a stripper!! And she was moving—there were shots of her wearing less and less. It was very high-tech in a triple-X kind of way. Did I mention I did this after I invited all these friends? Excellent. Nice surprise if they come and check things out, huh? I invite you to MySpace and a stripper opens the door. Just the impression I want to make!So, of course, on the very day someone might actually agree to be my friend—“hello 38 Double D.”
And the only way I could get rid of g-string girl was to get rid of everything, including a bunch of scary-looking lines of code. Think “Nightmare on Elm Street” with a computer monitor.
I don’t even really know what code means, except it’s numbers and symbols and letters that mean nothing to me. I hated to erase it because once it’s gone, there’s no getting it back—not with my computer skills. But either the code went or the stripper stayed and honestly, there was just no chance the clothing challenged girl could stay, what with my friends coming over soon, so I had to delete it all.
So, I lost the stripper and everything else too, except my book cover and a blurb about the book, and of course this nice, growing list of friends. Did you know I’m now friends with Tim McGraw? Yeah, right! Me and Tim! BFFs.
I now have many friends, most of whom I have stolen from other author acquaintances’ sites and, well, I’m worried. I mean, honestly, do my friends love me for myself? I think not. I’m guessing I’m not going on Tim McGraw’s Christmas card list. And how badly can we abuse the word friend, huh? And why, oh why, did Faith Hill dye her hair brunette—what was she thinking?
So that’s my adventure into cyberspace. If you want to invite me to be your friend (and you’re not afraid), I’m completely open to it (http://www.myspace.com/petticoatranch). Just remember the more I drag you inside my head the more you’re going to need a
Next up? Facebook. If I survive, I’ll report back.
So how are you with technology? Ever accidentally logged onto some site you were afraid would make Homeland Security kick down your door? And what about research? Authors are always looking for a way to kill someone in a fresh and entertaining way…good luck running for President and not having the, “Seventy-five Fastest Acting Poison’s” website show up in the opposition research. Or the fact that you’ve checked out, “Severing A Human Head” from the library…six times.
Tell me about you and technology. The wonder…and the terror!
