Guan & Chachalaca

Well, they are new for me and my first photos:

Crested Guan seen on Isla Barro Colorado

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Grey-headed Chachalaca found in Gamboa Resort

Where I'm staying through tomorrow morning

Yellow-headed Caracara

It is my first sighting and photo of this tropical bird, Yellow-headed Caracara

Today we visited the Gatun Locks and watched the huge ships go through, pretty much like what we saw yesterday at the Miraflores Locks. Most of the ships are piled high with the huge shipping containers. But what I liked best today was getting to the rainforest. We had lunch overlooking the Chagres River in the forest and then took the boat ride in Gatun Lake around Monkey Islands which I have done one time before during my Panama Canal Cruise in 2011. But I love it and we saw White-faced Capuchins very close plus some Howlers from a distance. Plus we saw two Keel-billed Toucans, several White-tailed Kites and well, several other birds. We also saw a sloth, agouti, crocodile, turtles and fish. Then we checked into the Gamboa Resort Hotel and I took a walk looking for birds. Saw a few but my big catch was this bird I have never seen or photographed before. My list is growing. He was on a back road picking insects for supper I guess. When I got closer he just hopped up in the tree and posed for me! Tomorrow I skip the boat ride through the canal and go for a tour of the Isla Barro Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute on the island in Gatun Lake. Having a good time!

Captured by Pirates in Old Town

It's all part of the tour of Panama Viejo!   :-)

Exploring on My Own Today

Spent the morning photographing in Casco Viejo, the Old Town, and this was my favorite photo. From now on it is just one photo per day, so I will have to choose! This Kuna (formerly San Blas Indians) woman was selling her molas in market near the French Plaza. I didn't buy anything today because we are scheduled to go to a special Kuna Market this next week. But I did buy a Panama Hat because the sun was so hot and I had left my cap in the room.

 Our group will go to the old town tomorrow but for a shorter time and there were a lot of buildings and views I did not want to miss. After some yummy French ice cream (mango-passion fruit) I took a cab to Punta Culebra, the local nature center. It was not worth two cab fares, but was my nature fix for the day. Got some butterflies, birds, iguanas and a sloth that was only a fuzzy ball high in a tree. The aquarium was okay for younger children who come here a lot on school field trips. Time for a meeting!

Arrived in Panama City, Panama

All day travel is taxing but it went well and the evening has been very nice with a delicious Latino dinner. No great photo today, so I will show 3 lesser ones that tell where I am:

Landing in Panama City under the wing . . .

Road construction & rush hour traffic, no different than Nashville!

Christmas Spirit in Metro Mall

next door to my first hotel

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Just okay - not a great movie. Like too many American movies they glorify and emphasize the violence over any meaningful dialogue or story line. They have left J. R. R. Tolkien behind with their adaptations. Plus it looks like they are trying to copy Harry Potter movies with the same actor as the wizard AND the spiders AND the ugly, snotty-nosed monsters AND the dragon, etc. The problem is that the Harry Potter movies did all of the above better or maybe it helps to be first! Though they left the story in mid-crisis for the 3rd episode, I'm still not anxiously anticipating it because it will obviously be more death and carnage. A double trilogy worked well with Star Wars but not as well with this. The story is just not there. A single Hobbit movie would have been better or better yet, made it a part of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Bilboa Baggins is not the focus of this movie.

And don't waste the extra money for 3-D or IMAX. There were very few scenes that artfully used the technology or the bigger screen. I actually enjoyed The Book Thief better for half the cost.

Write!

After starting three blogs and having goals of books with more words than photos, I decided I needed to get some help writing. I joined a senior adult writer's guild that meets monthly here at McKendree Village, but they don't even critique each others writings. The only help provided is the mutual motivation to write. So I studied the writing courses offered in "The Great Courses" online and CD/DVD. I chose to start with "Building Great Sentences" and the first two lectures have been good with the short writing assignment after each lecture already proving to be the most helpful part to me.

We live in a world of words! Though now maybe more digital than on paper, they are words, sentences, paragraphs and propositions to be expressed just the same. Thus I'm hoping to improve my writing. More later on this I'm sure!

And as a bonus motivation, in The Book Thief movie yesterday, the Jewish young man in hiding gives the little girl who loves to read a book of blank pages. On the first page he wrote one word: "Write"   And soon she started writing, becoming a famous writer by adulthood. I don't have such ambitions, but would like to express myself better and maybe this course will help!

The Book Thief

The Book Thief is one of the best movies I've seen this year! I came out crying, but that may be more me than the movie, though it is to me a very emotional story. It's a WWII tale told from the hearts of German citizens (unusual!) featuring a girl, Liesel, who is abandoned by her mother with her brother dying en-route to their older adoptive parents. There's the coming of age story of this girl and the cute neighbor boy Rudy that gets overshadowed at times by Hitler, war, death, and the Anne Frank like hiding of a Jew in their house. The hard scrabble everyday life of poor people in a Charles Dickens like German village is beautifully filmed with a just-right music score not calling attention itself but supporting a story of faith, love and survival. Then there is the whole other story of books and the power of writing and even a motivation for me to write! I'll see the second installment of The Hobbit soon, but I'm already pretty sure this will be the better of the two movies. The adoptive older father and the girl's loving relationship reminds me in some ways of the supportive relationship of father-daughter love Juli and I had during our difficult years. Powerful!

Living Large: The Adult Years Scrapbook, 1970-1999

Living Large: The Adult Years Scrapbook by Charlie Doggett | Make Your Own Book

12 Years a Slave

Last week I went to the theater again, the first time in awhile because there have been no movies to peak my interest. 12 Years a Slave is an exception and I'm glad I saw it! It is the best or most realistic presentation of the daily life of a slave I have seen and a powerful true story of a free black man in New York being kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South. He wrote a book about it in 1853 after he managed to get out of slavery. It was a best seller before the Civil War! It does not make me proud of my white southern roots.

Dunbar Cave & Point Royal

Yesterday I had a great fall, half-day trip near Nashville to check out two more state parks I've now photographed. See the trip gallery in my online photo gallery. And by the way, I learned after there that Point Royal has an original section of the "Trail of Tears" preserved. Neat!

A Fun Family Week!

My sister and brother-in-law, Bonnie & Tom, visited me this past week and I had a ball being a tour guide of Nashville. It included everything from Antique Archaeology to Studio B tour. Here we are at a Nashville Visitor's center in the Bridgestone Arena acting like music stars.

Scary Coincidence

On tonight's PBS Newshour they shared what was known about the Navy Yard shooter. One was that he came to Washington from Texas on September 7, the same day I traveled to Washington. Then he checked into the Marriott Residence Inn Capitol, the same hotel I checked into that day. He was staying in the same hotel with me the whole 8 nights I was there. The Navy Yard is less than 2 miles away. I don't remember seeing either of the faces they have shown on TV and in the paper. Just weird to know that I slept in the same building with a soon-to-be notorious murderer.

Washington DC Book is Ready!

Just click to preview my 54 page book with 93 photos:    http://blur.by/18srRPP

White House & Museums Today

Saw it at night the first day, but it is better in the daylight!

Then did the American History & Natural History museums 

Plus National and Hirshhorn Sculpture Gardens

Those photos will be in the book!

As most days, my transportation was three-way

Took "The  Metro" train to White House then

Walked to other venues including lunch and

Rode a bike back to hotel

Getting around Washington is easy and fun!

Two Days of Reports

Yesterday was spent mostly at the National Gallery of Art which is two large buildings and wonderful! But I will not post a photo from there. I then went across the street and saw the Newseum and my favorite photo is this shot from their 6th floor deck looking down Pennsylvania at the capitol with the next door Canadian Embassy showing.

One of my favorite views of the capitol.

Today I met a new friend at the National Zoo, Pat is a docent who was on the Cuba trip with me. I got a tour and then she took me to lunch at a great little bistro nearby in or near the Adams Morgan neighborhood. I waited to see the Panda, but it was too hot for him to come out. This is a hot and humid city! Then I spent nearly an hour in the bird buildings and exhibits. I thought I had seen all of the hornbills, but found a new one today called the Wrinkled Hornbill. So that is the photo I chose to share:

Monuments Day

Lincoln Memorial seen through the World War II Memorial

 A beautiful day to see all of the monuments, though hot and humid.

Many photos for my online gallery and photo book.

I don't claim a favorite, though I might lean toward Lincoln's

Though the wall of names is powerful for Vietnam, I think Korean is more moving.

Roosevelt's is too much, though I really like all the waterfalls!

Tomorrow is art museums on the hottest day of the week in forecast.

A Turkish Friend Tonight

I ride a BikeShare bike over to the reflection pool in front of the capitol before sunset to see if I can get a good image of the Capitol. A college student from Istanbul, Turkey was doing the same thing. We spoke and he asked if I would take his picture in front of the capitol with his smart phone, which I did. Then I asked him to take my picture which is below. Then we talked at length. He is a mechanical engineering student who came to the states on a summer work program. He finished his job as a dishwasher at some conference center in upstate New York I think and he is sightseeing for a couple of weeks before going back to school in Istanbul. His name is something like Ahnish, but I did not ask how to spell it. I gave him my card and asked him to email me. Visiting with him was the highlight of the evening! Sorry I did not get his photo.

Capitol Tour +

I was one of 5,000 people herded around National Capitol today, though note that there are 17,000 per day in the peak month of May. It is a beautiful old building with too much security to easily enjoy, but glad I did it! That is my only guided tour for the week. I then saw the gorgeous Library of Congress and had lunch at the Eastern Market. It is a dining/shopping magnet for the young and hip, like our 12 South or East Nashville Five Points. I ate Cuban food today.

One of the many tour groups in the Capitol Rotunda

There was more excitement outside the capitol!

Demonstrators both for and against going after Assad

Reading Room, Library of Congress

I was "people-watching" through the window of

the Banana Cafe for lunch, but also intrigued by

this window across the street

Full Day After Church!

After lunch at a fantastic Mexican restaurant in the edge of China Town

I found this neat Chinese church steeple

(I know, why not Chinese food? My cultural preferences are showing!)

The Museum of American Art and Portrait Gallery.

A favorite of mine, "Cape Code Morning" by Edward Hopper

Yeah - you can make photos in this museum!

Then my early evening at Shakespeare Theater for

a silly comedy, "Potted Potter" - No photos allowed

But this view of another building from their 2nd floor lobby

Washington is a great mix of modern and historical architecture!

Worship at National Cathedral This Morning

Gorgeous building, simple rituals, lots of Scripture,

good short sermon, nice music, and my 1st Communion

in an Episcopal Church - good experience! 

At the White House the First Night

Where will I go from here?

Arrived in Washington, DC

Flew into Reagan this morning and took the Metro to near my hotel just 3 blocks off the Mall. Had late lunch at American Indian Museum, my first Smithsonian to visit. Tonight I'm on a night tour of the lighted monuments and landmarks. Might be my best photo op of the week. As the picture shows, it's American Tourism through and through, kind of a national or patriotic Disney World, but that's okay. I'll have fun!

DNA Family History

I have now seen the results of my DNA research as a part of National Geographic's Geno 2.0 Genographic Project. 

I have the DNA sequence for both the maternal and paternal side of my family and maps showing how my line traveled out of Africa through the Middle East and Asia to Europe for one and through Mediterranean to Europe. Interesting and slightly different for several branches of both sequences.

I am 2.7% Neanderthal, 45% Northern European, 35% Mediterranean, and 18% Southwest Asian. My primary population reference is British and secondary German.

Beyond getting a glimpse of my ancestry over thousands of years, I'm participating in a National Geographic research project. "The Genographic Project is an ambitious attempt to help answer fundamental questions about where we originated and how we came to populate the earth. Our team, led by renowned population geneticist Dr. Spencer Wells has created a revolutionary new platform for studying deep ancestry to lead us on this journey." In the bigger picture they are creating a genetic history of the whole human race and each person who participates adds to the research. Part of what I paid for the results goes to help them take swabs of DNA from villages and cities around the world to make their research more valid.

It is fun to see it and participate in a larger research, but of course does not at this time help me with specific names in my genealogy, though by being online with it, I might someday make a contact that helps.

"The Butler"

Saw the movie today about the White House Butler who served about 6 presidents and how his life and family mirrored the civil rights movement in America. In one sense it was almost a documentary, just more intimate than most. On the other hand it was a great and moving biography that brought tears to my eyes. And I've always liked biographies. It will not be a blockbuster movie, but a great piece of history!

Rain Forest Immersion

An article written for my Writer's Guild:

Rainforest Immersion

By Charlie Doggett

The chatter of birds and frogs set the atmosphere as I feel and hear the gentle breeze through deep green foliage. Our boat glides smoothly up the Tortuguero River, headed for this two-night stay in the Costa Rica jungles I’ve come to love. My simple camera with only a 300 mm lens is ready around my neck for the next bird, monkey or other bit of color and excitement.

Along the river shore on a sandy beach, a black-necked stilt struts along on his long

pink legs in a tuxedo-like dress. Leaning as our boat comes around a sharp bend in the river a flock of snowy egrets is spoofed into the treetops with a thunderous swoop. The yellow feet at the base of black legs make me sure they are snowy and not great egrets. At the same time a large green iguana stares at us from a tree limb above our boat as if to ask what we are doing here. Before I can answer my camera focuses on a brilliant blue, white and orange Amazon Kingfisher. My how wonderful this is! Have I already gone to heaven?

With the smell of fish in the water we are approaching our camp, but not before seeing

the silent two-toed sloth hanging high above us and the much noisier white-faced capuchin monkeys jumping from limb to limb near the water. Always hoping to see a toucan, we see two! A chestnut-mandible toucan too high to photograph, but best of all a closer keel-billed toucan looking like he flew right off a Fruit Loops box to the palm tree just for us. Click, click, click!

Being surrounded by animal noises in the thick jungle while eating tropical fruit or hunting for colorful frogs with flash lights makes a night in the rainforest too memorable to ever forget. As were visits to other lodges like one looking out on an active volcano or another on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean with scarlet macaws feeding on nut trees below while monkeys and hummingbirds come right up to our little rooms surrounded by tropical flowers. The cloud forest is just a rainforest in the mountains and where I got my coveted photos of the resplendent quetzal. Two trips, coast to coast and hundreds of photos help make the rainforests of Costa Rica one of my favorite places in the world to visit. It is a wonderful immersion in nature and wildlife! Pura vida! (Pure Life!)

Roo at the Zoo

One of our 17 Red Kangaroos at Nashville Zoo

Docents got a preview last Saturday

Walk-through exhibit opens September 14

Bledsoe Creek State Park

In my continuing effort to visit all 53 state parks in Tennessee

I visited Bledsoe Creek near Gallatin last Thursday

and found it to be another delightful walk in the woods!

See also my Nature Notes Blog for wildlife photos or

My Bledsoe Creek Photo Gallery

Yankee Doodle Contemplation

The young couple was happy that day,

Out on their sunny day picnic hooray!

Sandwiches and watermelon adorn

The holiday their child was born.

I was born on the Fourth of July you see,

That each year is celebrated with glee!

Being in Boy Scouts and marching bands,

Reminded me to love these lands.

As I draw older with many quirks,

I mostly avoid annual fireworks.

And while the nation salutes the flag,

This Yankee Doodle will not brag.

I share my birthday with a nation

And find a time of contemplation.

Can I live a life to somehow represent

Our great nation’s most blessed event?

Charlie Doggett

July 27, 2013

As an assignment for the Hermitage Writers' Guild

Open House & Art Show Today

I invited the other independent living residents to my house for an hour and a half open house and showing of some of my art collection. The McKendree Head Chef did the snacks and it was wonderful with, I'm guessing, 40-50 people.

A Nice Birthday!

I turned another year older today and had a great day! Got to sleep late with my favorite breakfast, then my sister called with greetings. I had a 4th of July grill lunch here at McKendree Village, choosing a chili dog to not be too full for dinner which was treated by the Kevin Hunters' at Famous Dave's BBQ. We shared a feast of ribs, brisket and BBQ chicken. And I found time to create another photo book today, images made Tuesday night at the farewell party for our docent supervisor Chris Kline:
http://www.blurb.com/b/4436368-docent-s-farewell-party

Plus I got lots of birthday cards from other residents here at McKendree Village and dozens of greetings on Facebook! Quite a day! Now I'm hearing the fireworks but not watching. My next adventure is an open house and art show on July 22 for all the residents of McKendree.

I finally yielded to GPS

Kissed by a Bactrian Camel at "The Wilds" of Ohio

Yes, I finally broke down and bought a Garmin GPS for my Ohio zoo trip and actually enjoyed it! It told me to turn the wrong way on a one-way street in Cincinnati and on my rural travels in eastern Ohio it returned me from The Wilds a different and longer route. But those were the only two "bads" I was aware of. I have generally not trusted them in the past, but got tired of printing out Google Maps which is the same thing as GPS and more trouble. So I'm now a lazy traveler who just goes where the nice lady in the box tells me to go. I guess it is part of slowing down in my elder years.

And oh yes, I tried it out locally first and it is funny how she pronounces the names of some of the streets - obviously a computer talking rather than a thinking person. But I can live with that.

Cincinnati Zoo & Superman Today

Lemur

I finished seeing the Cincinnati Zoo today including a nice visit with some of their docents. More great photos on an overcast day with only a couple of little short showers. Then I had time to see the new Superman movie. The good and the bad from my perspective: The new story line was creative and enjoyable after so many versions with him just chasing some criminals - possibly the best one from that perspective. But as Hollywood does now, they ruined a perfectly good movie by blowing up every building in Manhattan, one at a time! The war-like fighting and explosions did not add anything to an otherwise good script. And their use of 3-D was pitiful. Don't pay extra for 3-D! It did not make the experience any better.

Tomorrow I head home! It has been a good week for an retired old man! 73 next week!

Started Cincinnati Zoo Today

Polar Bear

Couldn't post yesterday but had a great day at "The Wilds" a 100,000 acre safari park in eastern Ohio near Cambridge, just 50 miles from Wheeling, WV! It was the highlight of my week with the head animal keeper leading a small Wildlife Tour with just 3 participants. Up close and personal with many animals - a real treat!

Drove to Cincinnati and spent about 3 hours starting their large zoo. If not raining tomorrow I will finish it. I never realized how "zoo-rich" Ohio is! My collection of animal photos just keeps growing! If I finish early enough tomorrow I may see the new Superman movie in a theater here. Then home Friday!

Started Columbus Zoo Today

Koala

Columbus Zoo is very large even without their amusement park and water park! I saw the North America and Asia portions today and hope to see all of the rest tomorrow, including a behind the scenes tour of their Veterinary Clinic. I got several interesting photos but this hotel computer is not set up for me to easily download photos. I may try to add one later as I did last night in Louisville.

Louisville Zoo Today

The first day of my week-long "zoo tour" was spent driving to and visiting Louisville Zoo - a very good zoo and bigger than Nashville's right now. It was very HOT but still enjoyable and of course a got a lot of new animal photos! My favorite section of the zoo was probably "The Islands" which features animals of the South Pacific. The Polar Bear exhibit was great but all indoor on a hot day and the bears were lethargic and same with the gorilla exhibit which might have ranked first for me if not so hot and the primates were more active. Tomorrow I drive to Columbus, Ohio.

Well, photos will be chosen without my usual enlargement or editing because I forgot my laptop and will have to use a hotel computer without being able to see if it is a good photo.

New Look for My Website

http://www.charliedoggett.net

My host has changed servers and software and the new look was done with Joomla! a CMS website software that is free with lots of free extensions such as the slide show I have on the Home Page now. I plan to add some small photo galleries to go with some stories, but my main gallery will continue to be on Pbase.com. I still haven't done much with the family section but hope to soon. And the travel section will continue to grow. Check out the new look!

Gustav Mahler

The big star tonight at the Nashville Symphony Concert was Gustav Mahler's 1st Symphony which was the
second half of the concert. You can see and hear it performed by the Vienna Symphony on YouTube.
It is a "Titan" of a symphony which was it's original name but later Mahler didn't like that and just called it The 1st. I think it ranks up there with Beethoven's Ninth and the ending reminds me of the Hallelujah Chorus. particularly the part where they sing "Forever and ever and ever . . ."

And if that wasn't enough, the evening started off with Mahler's Blumine which was originally written as a part of this first symphony but soon removed by Mahler. It is a beautiful 8-minute musical painting of spring flowers blooming. The first movement of the above symphony had some similar nature elements but was different and both are beautiful. See and hear Blumine by Berlin Symphony Orchestra on YouTube.  I am so impressed by what all is available on YouTube now!

The American Composer part of this concert was by Nashville's own Edgar Meyer, "Double Concerto for Violin, Double Bass and Orchestra." It featured him on bass and Joshua Bell on violin. Neat! But not as good as Mahler's works tonight. News Report  -  couldn't find it on YouTube

My Cemetery Cousin

That's a strange title I realize, but of all my cousins it is Gene Hugh Hardgrave who appreciates and cares the most about cemeteries and the honor and history they represent - especially Hardgrave family cemeteries! On his way back from South Carolina with his new wife Theresa they called Saturday afternoon to say they would arrive in Nashville that evening and spend the night at a hotel in the Bellevue area - would I be interested in showing them the Hardgrave Cemetery here in Middle Tennessee? Of course! Sunday morning I did my greeter duty at door 3 of the church, then changed clothes during Sunday school and headed for Bellevue.

Gene has been here before and helped with a cemetery cleanup several years ago. But it was a first visit for Theresa. Before I met them at the Hampton Inn at 10:00, Gene had already shown her the DeMoss cabin in Red Caboose Park made by a contemporary of our 5 great grandfather Francis Hardgrave who lived in the Bellevue area.and had served in the revolutionary war with Louis DeMoss. He had also already shown her the little church cemetery where we first thought Francis was buried. (One of his sons had donated the land for that church and cemetery now located in the River Plantation Condominiums.)

But I get to take them to the Hardgrave Cemetery across the Harpeth River in the edge of Williamson County. I was embarrassed that I had not cleaned it up this spring, but was surprised at how short the weeds were. Though I do need to get it cleaned up and work on removing some dead trees. Gene has offered to help financially. Here is Gene & Theresa at the cemetery:

State Parks Exploration

One of my "Bucket List" plans is to visit all 53 Tennessee State Parks and I have already done more than half. One missing section has been the majority of parks in West Tennessee, so last week I spent 4 days finding and photographing 12 parks I had either not seen or at least had no photos of (in the case of 3). It was a good week, just wish I had taken longer and spent more time at a few of them.

There's a sample photo of each park at  http://www.pbase.com/charliedoggett/travel_state_parks_west
and I plan to eventually have a separate photo gallery for each state park. We have a very good state park system and a perfect place to take "A Walk in the Woods" which is the working title of the photo book I am preparing with photos from all 53 parks. It will eventually be available in my bookstore, maybe this fall.

One of four lakes at Natchez Trace State Park

Sickness & The Great Gatsby

A week ago yesterday I got my weekly allergy shot and an hour later I started a bad cough that would not stop, taking me back to the allergy office several times since then. They are not sure, but the high mold in the community with several days of rain and then more in the shot may have started it. But it grew into stopped up sinuses, a sinus infection, and bronchitis. I'm on an antibiotic, a steroid, my regular allergy meds plus a once-a-day inhaler. Still not well.

I was the volunteer coordinator for the week-long Festival of Homiletics at church and worked all day Monday which made me sicker and I have been home and in and out of the docs office ever since. I'm staying home at least through Sunday when I will miss church and the grand opening of the new Music City Center where I was to help represent the Zoo. That's the way it goes. But if I feel better Monday, I will continue my plans to visit several TN State Parks next week since I have reservations.

In preparation to see the latest version of The Great Gatsby movie in theaters now, I have seen the Netflix 1974 version which was really good and tonight watched a Junior-High to College one-hour book guide on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was really helpful to understand the imagery and historical significance of the story about America in the 1920's. Understanding makes everything more interesting and fun! I still have the 2000 version of the movie coming and then I will go see the new one in a theater.

George Washington

George Washington was a Netflix receipt and Indie film that I did not care for. Though the subject was
good and the lessons learned were good, it was disjointed and amateurish after just seeing a much better coming of age movie in Mud. And the kids being black had nothing to do with my dislike of the film. It was just poorly presented in my opinion - choppy, disjointed scenes and some weak camera work. The actors actually did a good job, better than the script-writer and director. This is described as:

Four youngsters who are coming of age in rural North Carolina share a slow and regretful summer. After an accident claims one of their members, the group conspires to cover up their tragic mistake, thrusting them into the world of adult choices.


Some reviewers raved about it. 

MUD The Movie

/

I saw this new movie filmed in southeast Arkansas Friday afternoon and really enjoyed it. Of course the "filmed on location" Arkansas scenery and small towns was a reminder of childhood there. Then it was an adventure by two 14 year old boys doing things I might have done at that age. Plus the story kept you alert and spellbound about spurned love, not giving up, and the danger of revenge. But I won't spoil the story for you - just recommend seeing it. The adult stars are Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon and the two boys Ellis and Neckbone are played by newcomers who are good. Then I liked the typically old south teen girlfriend's double name of Pearl Mae and activities around an old drive-in and the Piggly-Wiggly store. Fun nostalgia with some good morals learned the hard way, though I don't like the hero literally getting away with murder. As in too many movies, they make it okay if you are the good guy - kind of like we glorify war. I don't like promoting the idea that it is okay to kill a bad guy because as Christians it is not. Killing is never okay except maybe in self-defense which part of this was.

http://mud-themovie.com/