Thanks to everyone who added their favourite romance movies to My Top 10 Favourite Romance Movies post.  What awesome movie selections!  My poor husband will never get near the TV now.  I’ll put together a master list on a future post so we can share everyone’s choices.  Keep the Kleenex coming!

The Bridges of Madison County still makes me weak in the knees even though I’ve watched it oh so many times.  When Francesca’s hand is gripping her husband’s truck door handle and Robert’s truck is hesitating in front of them at the green light, his red blinker flashing like a beacon, my heart is pounding louder than the rain on her husband’s windshield.  Will she take a leap of faith with her lover Robert and abandon the life she’s grown to accept?  “This kind of certainty comes but once in a lifetime.” 

I can identify with her ambivalence.  Some days, life in my “comfortable marriage” is just that…comfortable – laundry on Mondays, grocery shopping on Wednesdays, Church on Sunday.  I love my husband and my pleasant but somewhat predictable suburbia lifestyle.  But what if one day, the very handsome man flipping through the latest bestseller beside me between the narrow bookshelves at Chapters strikes up a conversation?

“That’s a great book,”  he says casually pointing at the paperback in my hand. 
“Really?”  I answer in a nonchalant voice. 
“Yea.  I read it at the cottage last summer.  Great ending.” 
“Where’s your cottage?”  I ask while gently slipping the book back on the shelf. 
“Huntsville.  Beautiful up there.” 
“I can imagine,”  my hand flutters to my throat. 
“Hey, you put the book back?”   he says sporting a crooked smile.  “You’re missin’ a great story.  Let me buy you a coffee and I guarantee you’ll buy it.” 

Should I have coffee with him?  Would chatting with a handsome stranger about literature and life on a steamy hot summer day be so damaging?  My heart races as he brushes past me towards the end of the bookshelf where the small round tables await, a hint of Hugo Boss in the air.  What would Francesca do?

I think there’s a little heroine in all of us.  Which leading lady in your favourite romance movie best describes you?  Why?  Share your story.

Sometimes on a hot summer night, I’ll sit outside in my Muskoka chair and look up at the stars twinkling in the sky.  My mind wanders to people and places long forgotten.  A moonlit picnic on the beach.  Sipping champagne at an outdoor café.  Afternoon tea in the splendid garden of a rustic mansion. 

Indulge in your romantic fantasies this summer.  Escape for a few hours watching one of my favourite summer romance movies.

1.  The Bridges of Madison County – Clint Eastwood & Meryl Streep – my favourite!

2.  Message In a Bottle – Kevin Costner & Robin Wright Penn  — love lost and found.

3.  Autumn In New York – Richard Gere & Winona Ryder — a tender love story.

4.  Pearl Harbor – Ben Affleck & Kate Beckinsale — war brides are beautiful.

5.  An Affair To Remember – Cary Grant & Deborah Kerr — star crossed lovers.

6.  Pride & Prejudice – Keira Knightley & Matthew Macfadyen — classic story of love and misunderstanding.

7.  The Notebook – James Garner & Gena Rowlands — a gentle love everlasting.

8.  Nights In Rodanthe – Richard Gere and Diane Lane — keep the kleenex handy!

9.  Under the Tuscan Sun – Diane Lane — an elegant and inspiring story.

10.  The English Patient – Ralph Fiennes & Juliette Binoche — love knows no boundaries.

For full movie details, just Google the title.  What’s your favourite romantic movie?  I’d love to know.

I turned 49 last Friday and every year my parents give my brother-in-law, John (who’s birthday is 4 days before mine) and me a birthday party.  Along with the rest of the immediate family, we invite my mom’s best friend, Lesley and her husband, Don and their son, Tim who now has a lovely new bride, Agnes, from Montreal. 

We’ve been getting together for dinner and playing mini golf to celebrate our birthdays for over 25 years.  Creatures of habit some might call us.  Scotts you know.  Why fix what isn’t broken?  But after this year, we may be ready for a change.

“Everybody ok back there?”
“You’ll have to get over soon, Ed,” Dad says motioning to the right.
“It’s a ways yet, Dad.”
“I don’t like waiting till the last minute.  And look at how they’ve taken that right lane out for a few bikes to use.”
Ed slowly inches the car back into the left lane.
“The mini putt’s closed!” shouts Mackenzie.
“Where?” Dad says.
“Look the sign’s gone and everything!”
Unbelievable.  We’ve been going to this mini putt for over 15 years.
Getting out of the cars, we have a mini pow wow in the parking lot.
“Let’s try the beach strip,” Tim suggests.
“Sky doesn’t look too promising,” Dad announces.
“It might blow over,” Mackenzie reassures him.
So we pile back into the cars and head off to the beach strip.

“Doesn’t look like it’s too busy today.  That’s good,” says Dad, looking around the empty parking lot.
“Didn’t you see the lightening, Grandpa?”
“Might be why everyone’s going the opposite direction,” adds Ed.
“Let’s just get ice cream,” I suggest.
We hurry under the awning to the ice cream stand.  The cold wind and rain start whipping at our clothes and thunder rattles above our heads.
“Take your ice cream to the pavilion over there,” I shout to my sister, Carol.
I continue ordering.  “I’ll have 2 single scoop chocolate ice cream cones….”
“Grandpa! Are you ok?”
“Earl!” shouts Ed.
I turn and see the giant wooden ice cream sign that was mounted on the wall a few minutes ago on the ground beside my Dad.
“Hit me in the ankle!” Dad shouts pulling up his pant leg.
And then out of nowhere like in slow motion, come half a dozen very pretty young female employees of the park running over to help Dad.
“Are you ok, sir?”
“Come and sit in the party room.”
“I’ll get some ice!”
“I’m ok.  I’m ok,” Dad says shooing them away.
“Just go with them, Dad.”
“I’ll go with Grandpa,” volunteers Mackenzie, with his eye on a pretty blond girl.
“I felt it brush past my head,” Ed pipes up.
I stare at him for a moment.  “I don’t think so.  Agnes is a nurse. You can stay here and help me with the ice cream.”

Soon, we’re in the party room eating our ice cream and only one of the entourage of employees is left.  Dad’s ankle seems to be fine.
“I heard someone say it’s a birthday party today” she asks cheerily.
“Mine and my brother-in-law’s.”
“Where is Uncle John?”
“John and Carol!  Oh my God.  I told them to wait at the pavilion!”
Agnes darts from her chair and heads out of the building towards the open pavilion.
“That would be funny if we forgot them.”
“Forgot who?” says Dad impatiently.
“We wouldn’t forget them, Earl,”  Tim assures him.
“Auntie Carol and Uncle John, Grandpa.”
“Let’s just carry on shall we,” I say brightly while heading for the door.

We hurry to the parking lot  and head back home to my mom and dad’s house. Just as we’re pulling into the driveway, Mackenzie says, “Hey look, it’s sunny, Auntie Kathryn.” 
And as we all look up, there’s not a single cloud in the beautiful clear blue sky.
“Thank you for pointing that out to me, Mackenzie.”

In every life, a little rain must fall.

Verona, Italy – the city of the most famous lovers in history, Romeo and Juliet.  Tourists flock to the tiny romantic courtyard of the House of Juliet and the hopelessly love lost send letters to Juliet looking for answers to sooth their troubled hearts.  Feelings of love twinkle on paper like stars in the heavens.  Volunteers reply to the letters adding a touch of magic to an already mystical story of two star crossed lovers.

Luciously romantic don’t you think?  But what’s happened to the passionate art of writing love letters?  Throughout history lovers have bared their souls to one another through the written word – the scandalous letters of Henry the VIII to his forbidden mistress Anne Bolyn or the romantic letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning to her husband Robert Browning.

There’s something intimate and exciting about reading a handwritten love letter.  You can turn it over and feel it in your hands, read it again and again, fold it and tuck it into a book for safekeeping.  And then years later when the long forgotten book is opened and the tattered letter flutters to the floor, the overwhelming feelings return as if time has stood still. 

Handwriting conveys a certain intimacy.  The penmanship, the curves of the letters, crossing of the t’s – they all mean something about the writer.  Something significant.

In the cold impersonal world of texting, instant messaging and cell phones, I would welcome the thrill of holding and reading a handwritten love letter.  Wouldn’t you?

“You have the greatest soul, the noblest nature, the sweetest, most loving heart I have ever known, and my love, my reverence, my admiration for you, you have increased in one evening as I should have thought only a lifetime of intimate, loving association could have increased them.”
– Woodrow Wilson to Edith Bolling Galt (who soon became First Lady)

The first salad I ever made in Home Economics (remember that class, girls…I don’t know what it’s called now…Life Skills…or something) was Waldorf Salad.  There sat this creamy, no-skill-required salad right beside my prize winning pin cushion and gingham apron.  I was somewhat “domestically challenged” back then but…the Waldorf Salad…now that was my saving grace. 

I’m trying to stay away from starchy foods like potatoes and rice, so I’ve replaced potato salad with Waldorf Salad.  I’m not a big potato fan but I love potato salad.  I think it’s the mayonnaise.  So apples instead of potatoes makes perfect sense to me!  I’ve taken my low-fat version of the classic Waldorf Salad to a couple of outings with no leftovers!

So here it is…Bon Appetite!

Kathryn’s “Alternative to Potato Salad” Recipe
1 cup of chopped celery
¼ cup of chopped pecans
¼ cup of chopped walnuts
½ cup of raisins
3 chopped Royal Gala apples (you can use any tasty apple!)
½ cup Lite Miracle Whip
½ cup Fat Free sour cream
1 tablespoon of honey

Mix the apples (I peel them but you can leave the skin on), celery, nuts and raisins together and set aside.  Mix the Miracle Whip, sour cream and honey together and add to the apple mixture.  Refrigerate for at least 1 ½ hours before serving.  Presto…a party pleaser!

“The chicken might be too spicy for you, Dad.”
“You think so?”
“Yea, it says Cajun.”
“I’ll just scrape off the sauce.”
I shake my head.
“What do you think Mom’s having?” He carefully places the menu on the table.
“Some disgusting gruel I suppose.”
He chuckles. “Hospital food all looks the same. Grey.”
It’s been years since my Dad and I ate at a restaurant alone.
“Remember we used to go Christmas shopping, Dad? Mom would take Teresa and you’d take me?”
“Gosh haven’t thought about that in years.”
“I’d have my Christmas list and we’d go to Eatons so we could talk to the elevator operator.”
He takes off his glasses. “It was nice having someone tell you what floor to get off.”
I remember her crisp white gloves and the clank of the elevator’s cage door closing.
“Then we’d eat at the Chicken Roost. Their sauce was so good eh, Dad?”
“Too bad they’re gone.”
“Remember those juke boxes on the walls in the booths?”
He pauses. “You kids had to read every song title.”
“That’s because they were so funny.”
Our dinners arrive.
“Chicken’s too spicy,” he complains.
I study my Dad as he scrapes the orange coloured spice off his chicken breast. Don’t ever change, Dad, I think to myself. I feel like time is nipping at our heels. Relentless.
“Here, did you want some of mine?” I’d ordered the salmon.
“No, no…you go ahead.”
“I love you, Dad.”
“I love you too,” he smiles. “Wouldn’t find chicken like this at the Chicken Roost.”

Happy Father’s Day, Dad.  You’re the best!

Before you grab that prescription from your gynaecologist and dim the lights the jury is still out on the benefits of taking testosterone to increase your sex drive.  Dr. Sandhya Pruthi, Internist at the Mayo Clinic says, “testosterone therapy isn’t recommended to improve low sex drive. For women, other factors are generally more important in determining sex drive — and much remains unknown about the effects of testosterone therapy in women.”

No long-term studies of the risks and benefits of testosterone therapy in women exist.  Pretty scary huh?  And testosterone therapy isn’t safe for every woman.  “Testosterone therapy isn’t appropriate for postmenopausal women who have a history of breast or uterine cancer or those who have cardiovascular or liver disease,” advises Dr. Sandhya.  Might be time to do a little more research before pulling up to your local drive through pharmacy. 

There’s no question that testosterone levels decline at menopause but is a lack of testosterone the only reason for our loss of libido?  Stress, depression, fatigue – name your poison.  Or is it that we’re unhappy with our partners or unsatisfied with our marriages?  A truckload of testosterone won’t improve an unhappy woman’s sex drive.  In the words of Maya Angelou, “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” 

See you next Tuesday.

I find it astounding that many women still don’t make wearing sunscreen a regular part of their daily skin care routine! Buying sunscreen can be a daunting task with the shelves full of brightly coloured bottles and sprays not to mention the need for a PhD. to understand the labels!  But we have no choice.  It’s sunscreen or skin cancer.

Here’s the skinny on sunscreen:

• UVB rays burn the skin and can cause skin cancer. 
• UVA rays cause wrinkles, age spots and skin cancer because the rays penetrate more deeply into the skin.
• The SPF (Sun Protection Factor) number represents the length of time you can stay out in the sun without burning multiplied by the corresponding number.  So with an SPF 15, if your skin starts to burn in 20 minutes, you could have 300 minutes (5 hours) of sun protection.
• SPF numbers are deceiving.  Sweat, swimming and clothing rubbing on your skin can reduce the amount of time you can spend in the sun without applying more sunscreen.
• Choose an SPF 15 or higher.  If you have fair skin, have had skin cancer, laser skin treatments or peels, choose an SPF 50 or higher. 
• UVA rays are not reflected in the SPF number. 
• Choose a “broad spectrum” sunscreen.  The product should have Avobenzone (also called Parsol 1789), Octocrylene and Oxybenzone listed on the label to protect you from both UVA and UVB rays.
• More expensive doesn’t mean more effective.  A new Consumer Report featured on Msnbc.com in March 2010 found that Target’s brand, Up & Up Sport Continuous sunscreen selling for less than $10.00 for TWO 6 OUNCE bottles, offered better protection from burning than La Roche-Posay Anthelios 40, the most expensive product priced at $18.00 FOR 1 OUNCE.

I use Banana Boat Ultra Defense SPF 15 and I like Hawaiian Tropic SPF 30 Sunblock, both broad spectrum and contain the ingredients I mentioned above.  On the days I don’t mind smelling like fruit I wear the Hawaiian Tropic.  The Banana Boat product is fragrance free.  I’ll be in the US this Saturday so I’m going to buy Target’s brand of sunscreen and try it out.  Let me know your favourite brand of sunscreen.

Remember Ladies…purses look pretty in leather.  Not faces!

Scammers seep into every crevice of society including online dating sites. Spotting one of these pros may not be as easy as you think. If it’s too good to be true…it probably is!

Savvy meets Suave
I have a friend who’s a savvy, attractive businesswoman in her early 50’s. Moving on from an ugly divorce, she posted an honest profile of herself on a well-known dating site and waited for the “smiles” to arrive in her mailbox. And smile they did.

She responded to lots of nice men, including a very attractive European entrepreneur. A successful architect in Europe, he was out of the country designing buildings in South Africa. Handsome, rich and well travelled he seemed like the perfect match. They’d talk well into the night about everything and seemed to have a lot in common. He might be the one, she barely whispered to me on the phone one night. She sent me pictures of him and he certainly was nice eye candy. But I had to check him out myself so I Googled him. He was a well-known Dutch architect with impressive work.

During a steamy phone conversation, he told her he was falling for her. First red flag. She was excited, but sceptical. He was persuasive. She was losing her head and her heart over this guy. Weeks passed and they decided to meet. He told her he’d taken his profile off the site because he was falling in love with her. That sealed the deal for her. But he was still in South Africa and experiencing financial difficulties. Second red flag. He had to use all of his disposable cash to pay his workers.

Busted
Late one night, she was startled by her cell phone ringing. Frantic and out of breath, he asked her if she could send him $300 US. “What for?” she asked, “and why are you calling me at 3:00 am?” Apologizing, he asked her to call him back in the morning. Instead of calling him, she called the online dating site’s information line. The representative told her that he was off the site because he’d used a stolen credit card to pay for his membership. He was not a Dutch architect. The name of the architect was legit but it wasn’t him. And the photos – pictures of a model from a popular European magazine.

Somewhere on the planet this guy was probably sitting in a little sweat shop with a bunch of other guys calling dozens of women at the same time and giving them the same story. The dating service representative told her when he calls to tell him that she was calling the FBI and not to contact her again. The authorities were aware of the scam but the representative said it’s almost impossible to track these people because they use stolen credit cards and stolen identities. Humiliated, she hung up. Later that day, he called. She told him to get lost and that she was calling the FBI. Of course, he cried and said he didn’t know what she was talking about and she hung up. Surprise. She never heard from him again.

A Dangerous Emotional Game
My friend became emotionally attached to this guy by talking on the phone and emailing. She’d fallen for someone who didn’t exist. It’s a dangerous emotional game to untangle yourself from. These guys are good at what they do. They tell you exactly what you want to hear and before you know it, bang! You’re hooked. You run to your Inbox every morning to look for his email and if it’s not there, you panic. Why hasn’t he written? He’s probably found someone else. You drive yourself insane going over everything you’ve said and written to this guy wondering what you did to turn him off. Trust me, he’s like a drug. He’ll be back. And he’s lethal.

A Therapist’s Advice
My friend’s therapist suggested she follow these simple guidelines:
1. Choose a person who lives in your area.
2. Have a brief conversation or two on the phone.
3. Meet for coffee in a public place.
4. Go home – alone.

No long drawn out love affairs fuelled by technology. No tears. And most of all no empty bank accounts!

In 1878, this magnificent mansion was built for successful businessman Charles Smith Hyman.  His political ambitions included Mayor of London and the prestige of serving as a Cabinet Minister with Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier. 

An athlete at heart, Mr. Hyman was the captain of Canada’s most successful cricket team and won the men’s singles tennis championship seven times in his professional athletic career.

Maryann and her sister Janet were my partners in crime as well as

Maryann’s beautiful daughter, Shelli.

Derek, our gracious Guest Services Representative

showed us the elegant private diningroom

and the rustic guest rooms authentically furnished.

We couldn’t wait to get to the diningroom for our 5:30 dinner reservation!

The table was beautifully set including

a special “Women Rock” menu skillfully designed by one of the Inn’s talented and acclaimed Chefs.

Katherine, our awesome server presented us with

exquisite cuisine from the menu prepared especially for us!

We’re so stuffed from eating our amazing dinner that we can hardly make it up the stairs

to our tastefully decorated room on the third floor that at one time, would have been the servants’ quarters.

Instead of going to a club in Wortley Village we chose to have a quiet night in playing Scrabble,

a game of complete concentration

and bitter defeat!

But Monopoly is Maryann’s game of choice

where she managed to snag Boardwalk AND Park Place but ultimately lost the game to Shelli.

Morning came quickly after staying up so late

and we’re back in the diningroom for our delectable breakfast

of French Toast with fruit

and fluffy omellettes with homefries! 

As the saying goes, “all good things must come to an end.”  But we’ll be back to this historic gem next year!

See you next Tuesday here at MySaggyButt!