Ah, James Bond in Chaps???

The promised rain never showed up today, and my flowers are giving up the fight even with my daily watering. The long dry and extreme heat conditions are wearing people down as well. It is hard to remember when it has been so hot for so long!



This morning we left early for DH’s lab work, dreading the heat later in the day. Once we got the blood drawn in Springfield, we picked up some things we can’t buy here at home. Then we went to a movie at 10:30 in the morning! There isn’t much to choose from in the movie offerings these days by our standards. We like drama or historical settings. My pick today was Cowboys and Aliens; DH was shocked.


Okay, so it is far-fetched, and sci-fi has never been favored at this house. But hot summer days make for seeing a wild movie. I remember taking the kids to see Raiders of the Lost Ark and Zorro and Star Wars during summer days, just right for escaping the July sun especially when popcorn and soda pop were involved! So I told DH to put on his “willing suspension of disbelief” and go with the fun.


And fun it was. Daniel Craig, aka James Bond, was a perfect cowboy. He was lean and wiry like he’d just loped in off the range. Harrison Ford was his crusty old self. The scenery was awe-inspiring since it was filmed in New Mexico, some of it near Abiqui. Panoramic shots of thundering horses made my heart pound like westerns of the old days. Why, there was even a good dog!


But the story takes a turn when the foe is lizardy aliens and aircraft from outer space. Someone had a vivid imagination. DH had a hard time going with this, but by the time the aliens showed up I could already smell the leather cowboy’s chaps, taste the whiskey at the bar, and feel the dirt and grit from the New Mexico landscape. I was into the story! Besides it was summer, and this movie was just right for escaping the strangling heat that produces numbing boredom.


When I stepped out the theater doors, a slap of 103 heat and humidity brought me back to reality but could not dampen my mood. We went to Barnes and Nobles, to linger among the books. A second high was walking leisurely through the stacks of crisp new volumes, holding new worlds. I was so exhilarated from my movie that I was not bothered by the Nook displays, the threat of the new world  reading on a tool. I just filled up a sack with old fashioned reading printed on pages!


Then it was a late lunch at Zio’s, great Italian food washed down by gallons of the best iced tea. Then reading a good book while DH drove the highway home made a great ending to a good summer’s day. I wondered if I would see cowboys in my dreams—or scaly aliens.