Fair Winds and Following Seas, Mr. Morton

Robert Dowdell
10. March 1932 - 23. January 2018

Another of my heroes has passed on. Robert Dowdell played the Exec, Lt. Cmdr. "Chip" Morton on the television program Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea from 1964 to 1968

Fair winds and following seas, Mr. Morton.

The Friday Five Good Things.

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Himself attended a Master Clinic for black belts. With him out of the house, it was a perfect excuse not to cook. I took The Eldest out to dinner.

2. New books arrived.

3. As Chip would say: Ten degrees down bubble. Level off at XXX feet.

4. Perhaps,  new work on the drawing board. Waiting for confirmation.

5. Valentine's Day. Any excuse to eat chocolate.

How was your week?

The Friday Five

As a kid I loved watching television. Ma worked and as a latch key child (only we didn't have a name back then) I spent a lot of time in front of the electronic babysitter. The television was controlled by The Brother, sixe years my senior, but I loved most of the shows he watched. Shows I watched when I was around 8 or 10 years old.

1. Lost in Space. A family of space explorers knocked off their course to Alpha Centauri. Too bad they didn't have a GPS. Hokey even back then with monsters made from plastic garbage bags and giant artificial palm fronds, I loved this show. Starred Guy Williams from Zorro fame.  Loved the Robot the best. Family Network is now showing this chestnut at 5p and 6 p EDT. I sometimes tune in while making supper. Still hokey, but lots of fun especially seeing some big name actors guest starring: Albert Salmi, Michael Rennie.

2. Before Guy Williams starred in Lost in Space, he was Zorro righting wrongs in Spanish California. I loved the way he slashed a Z on poor Sgt. Garcia's ample girth.  As an adult I watched the movie starring Tyrone Power. Wonderful movie, but Guy Williams is still Zorro to me.

3.  From Irwin Allen, the same producer as Lost in Space came Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Following the adventures of the submarine Seaview and her crew. One of the first shows produced in color (second season on) Monsters from Lost in Space were recycled for this show. My favorite character is the Exec, Chip Morton. What can I say, hard to resist a blond fella in uniform. 20th Century Fox has been releasing the series to DVD. Happy to say the 2nd half of season 4 the final season is scheduled to release just before Christmas.  The show is as outlandish as ever but wonderfully entertaining.

4. The Outer Limits a sci-fi show was good for producing heebie-geebies. The show opened with a voice announcing "We have control of your television...." One episdode especially gave me the shivers. Something about a group traveling to Mars. Everyone was sitting in the space ship all excited. The pilot was wearing a helmet with the sun visor down. He lifted his visor and his eyes!  Oh my gawd! They looked like fried eggs! At that scene, I buried my face in the carpet. Later, The Brother thought it was hilarious to circle his thumb and forefinger and place his hands over his eyes and chase me around the house, the fried egg-eyed pilot chasing me. I was not amused.

5. One of our favorite shows came from England, The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Richard Greene. This show was broadcast on WMUR TV channel 9 from Manchester, New Hampshire. The only way we could see this show was for me to hold onto the television rabbit ears and dance around until the static snow cleared to a grainy image. Didn't matter I loved the handsome and dashing Richard Greene.  I even got to wear the Robin Hood hat I coveted from The Brother's Halloween costume. It wasn't until I was a young adult that I saw the movie starring Errol Flynn as the outlaw hero. The fencing scenes in the television show aren't nearly as well choreographed as the movie, but Richard Greene cuts a fine figure and makes a very believable Robin of Locksley  fighting for good and justice. I also fell in love with the book adventures of Robin Hood illustrated by Howard Pyle. Most likely this was the seed that led to my studies of Middle English Literature in college.

 A year or so ago, I found the entire first season of the show in the bargain bin at Wal-Mart. I couldn't resist. I still love the show. Last week, The Young One pulled out the DVDs and became totally engrossed in the story.  Made me proud. Good to edumucate the younger generation.

So what "modern" novel does the character of Robin Hood first appear? Cue the Jeopardy music...

The Friday Five

This week we had the annual one to two inches of heavy rain. With the ground frozen and a hefty snow pack on the ground, the water had nowhere to go except in my basement. Fortunately, we did not lose electricity or the sump pumps and were able to keep the flooding to a puddle with the two shop vacs. Swabbing the deck made me think of my favorite submarine movies.

1. Richard Widmark in Hell and High Water gritty Cold War story meets filme noire love story aboard a stubmarine.

2. Run Silent, Run Deep. Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster. A popular commander is passed over for promotion in favor of a tough captain with a personal score to settle.

3. The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming misunderstanding and a common goal lead to detente in this Cold War comedy with Carl Reiner and Alan Arkin

4. The Hunt for Red October The Soviets and Americans in a cat and mouse game searching for the Soviet sub, Red October. Sean Connery "One ping only, Vasily." and Alec Baldwin "Next time, Jack, send a memo"

5. Das Boot Jürgen Prochnow. The hunters become the hunted.

And for good measure let's toss in K-19, The Widowmaker, U-571, and seasons 1 - 4 (part 1) of the television classic Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

When bad weather keeps you inside what movies do you like to watch? Or if movies aren't your cup of tea or coffee, what books do you like to read?

The Friday Five

I am in love. I am just loving my new Samsung Omnia 2 smartphone. The five features that have sent me to cloud nine:

1. It has a touch screen. Touch a button, touch a screen. Sleek. Even though there's a screen protector, I do find myself wiping my greasy prints off the screen. I like that shiny, out of the box look.

2. Typing on the virtual keyboard can be a challenge with my sausage fingers. I don't know how the young people can make their fingers fly over the tiny keyboards to text. The phone comes with a stylus which is a godsend when adding appointments to the calendar.

3. Since the phone can be synched with a computer (it didn't like synching with Vista 64, but works well on the laptop with XP), I can use my own sound files for ringtones. Plus downloading old television theme songs from TelevisionTunes.com I've been having a blast picking out tunes for family members. The best one is the one I picked for my dad. He's 90 and we've been dealing with some problems/health issues for my 91 year old ma. Dad's been calling a lot lately. His ringtone is Johnny Weissmeuller's Tarzan yell. Cracks me up when I hear it and is a great stress buster.

4. The phone has a large screen. For someone who just got new glasses with lenses manufactured by the same company that made the Hubbell telescope lenses, this is a huge plus. The better to see you, my dear.

5. The best feature of the phone is the Call Recognition. Press a button and a female automated voice prompts you to say a command. Like Call Home. The downside is the automated voice must have been trained to respond to a flat, midWestern accent. You know the one. The one all the television news anchors have. So the phone has a hard time interpreting my Boston accent. Call Home has me having a conversation with the phone.

"Did you say 'Call Glow'?

Glow? Ok, glow might be considered an eye rhyme with home.

No.

"Did you say 'Call Pizza'?

Pizza? What ah ya? That one doesn't even come close.

I try to speak slower. I've heard that complaint from those outside of Boston. Seems we talk too fast (though I think some just can't keep up (-; )

"Call one mississippi, two mississipi, three mississipi Home

The screen lights up with Dialing... and the home phone number.

Add a sixth feature. I just love to customize my brains out to make my phone unique. The picture on the lock screen is Mr. Morton, the XO, of the submarine Seaview from the television show Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. The XO keeps all areas running smoothly on the boat. Seemed a fitting mascot for the phone.

Do you have a phone or other gadget you love?

Celebrity Birthday

Happy 77 to Robert Dowdell who played Mr. Morton on Irwin Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Can't resist the blond guys especially when in uniform.

Photo Tag

Erica tagged me for this game. The rule is you have to go to the fifth photo folder on your computer and then pick the fifth picture you find. After you post the picture, you tag five friends to do the same.

The fifth folder is the Chip folder. The fifth pic is Mr. Morton from the episode Return of the Phantom Doesn't Chip have beautiful blue eyes?

Sadly, I don't have five friends to tag. If you want to play consider yourself tagged. Let me know because as a Facebook Flair I received says: Enable the nosy.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Morton

Happy 76 th Birthday to Robert Dowdell who played Lt. Cmdr. Chip Morton, the XO on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Sweet

You know what I love about this time of the year? No, not the 10 inches of reminder in the driveway that winter is still with us. No, not Peeps. They are disgustingly sweet, though they do provide some savage amusement when placed in the microwave to explode.

I love this time of the year, because it is the only time of the year you can get Hot Cross Buns. Hot Cross Buns are made from a sweet yeast dough. Raisins, currants, or dried fruits are baked into the dough. Each bun is iced with a frosting cross. Mention Hot Cross Buns to me and I'm salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs.

The other day I had to take my ma to an eye doctor appointment. Her appointment would end around lunch time so I stopped at the supermarket to pick up some lunch items. First place I headed? Yup, the bakery. There was a whole display of tin pans filled with bunny goodness. Did I pick up an extra pan to take home to my family? D'oh!

This morning I really wanted a Hot Cross Bun. What to do, what to do? I made a batch! Well, I can't really say I made them. I had a recipe from Betty Crocker. Dumped all the ingrediments into the bread machine bucket. Pushed a button. Watched an episode of Chip Morton and voilá, Hot Cross Bun dough! I shaped them into buns, put them in a warm place to proof, and then baked them. When cool, I made a simple powdered sugar glaze.

Thanks to Betty and the bread machine, I can make them any time I want. As The Young One would say, "Sweet!"

The One Word Meme

Found this on Erica's page

Here's a fun game....
You. Can. Only. Type. One. Word. (not as easy as you might think!)

1. Where is your cell phone? pocket

2. Your significant other? cute

3. Your hair? peppered

4. Your mother? exasperating

5. Your father? befuddled

6. Your favorite thing? art

7. Your dream last night? compost

8. Your favorite drink? tea

9. Your dream/goal? teach

10. The room you're in? playroom

11. Your ex? none

12. Your fear? spiders

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? alive

14. Where were you last night? here

15. What you're not? tall

16. Muffins? Thanks!

17. One of your wish list items? Chip

18. Where you grew up? Massachusetts

19. The last thing you did? Glued

20. What are you wearing? polartec

21. Your TV? on

22. Your pets? lounging

23. Your computer? working

24. Your life? contented

25. Your mood? happy

26. Missing someone? yes

27. Your car? greige

28. Something you're not wearing? bra

29. Favorite Store? BN

30. Your summer? short

31. Like someone? yup

32. Your favorite color? blue

33. When is the last time you laughed? supper

34. Last time you cried? Thursday

35. Your favorite animal? Ink

36. Last thing you ate? Glop

37. Dream vacation spot? Heidelberg