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Thanksgiving was very fine, not just the food but the travel. My older son and his partner came down to meet me and we started at my sister's house in the mountains--very lovely new house her husband is just finishing builing. Looks out over many mountains, including the real Cold Mountain. Sadly, my son was a little under the weather, but managed to get it together for a killer game of hearts with my nephew and his girlfriend. We went up on the Blue Ridge Parkway, but it was murderously cold, so we didn't walk.

Then son, partner, and I went to see the Biltmore house in Asheville (I'd seen it several times before, but am always amazed at how rich people can be--a bowling alley in your basement? in 1900?) and then drove up through the NC-VA mountains, partly on the Blue Ridge, and stopped overnight at a wonderful little spa/inn (Miracle Farm, in Floyd, near Roanoke), whatever, very rustic and basic, and definitely in the middle of beautiful nowhere. We built a fire in the woodstove and woke up early to a delicious homecooked organic breakfast, then went out in the blessed sunshine to play with the cats and walk along the creek. We debated hanging around for a massage, but decided to go on to Charlottesville, to Monticello, and finally to Washington, where we would visit partner's sister and meet his dad and step-mom.

Hideously cold and rainy the two days in Washington, but our inn was (Adams Inn, in Adams-Morgan neighborhood, near Dupont Circle) was very cozy (and cheap!). We hung out in museums, and had delicious food cooked by sister. More later!

OK, third post today, to make up for months of silence. This concerns Casino Royale which I saw with son while someone else cooked our TG dinner. And I must say I liked it very, very much. The reviews said Craig is best Bond since Connery, and I agree. Hot, ripped, cool, pretty, smart. He reminds me of Steve McQueen.

I've read and watched Bond movies intermittently since the sixties, but kind of gave up after A View to a Kill--seemed unrelated to Bond as I knew it, finally. But seeing this one made me think about the context--not so much Cold War politics as cinema/literature. The early Bond novels and films were sort of on their own. Not so many spy novels had been written then (well, Greene, but I think in those days the lit/pop divide was much stronger), and certainly not many with the high-tech fun that Fleming and the movies loved. And Bond then was high-gloss, in a time that was still aware of its own roughness, loving his polish.

But now: so many spy movies. So much Bourne, Alias, Follett, etc., etc. The Bond that was is just one among many. So I see the influence of Highsmith and Greene, the looking inward, as being inevitable. With all the CG available in films like Spiderman, there's really nowhere to go with that. So part of the movie is a totally celebration of the human body (the initial chase), and part a turning inward. Had to be.