Hello, Posse!
I hope you and your loved ones all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's celebrations. P.R. and I had a nice quiet holiday at home. P.R. is getting very inventive with my Christmas gifts. I have no idea how P.R. even finds half the things P.R. gives me for gifts, but it's impressive. I'm not talking about the cost so much as the thought behind all of the gifts. Some of the least expensive gifts were the most thoughtful. I think P.R. understands me and my tastes better than almost anyone else.
One thing I realized while we were on vacation was how stressed I had been. While we were both working on numerous projects, I really didn't notice how stressed I was because I was so busy I didn't have time to stop and really self-assess. Once I slowed down and took a few days off, I realized going forward I need to focus a bit more on self-care. That is something I have never been very good at doing.
My first day back to working on my writing, I already started over doing things. I was doing a major update on my social media schedule calendar, started a major update on my website, completely reworked my author profile page to completely come out as the author behind the Stephen Burckhardt books, and then remembered I still need to write the blog today and I have groceries being delivered here in about 2 hours. Like I wrote earlier, I'm not good at slowing down and focusing on self-care.
Watching movies can be a great way to slow down for at least a few hours. With that thought in mind, let me tell you about a Sam Elliott western called Molly & Lawless John.
This western was released in 1972 and was directed by Gary Nelson. The movie stars Elliott and Vera Miles as well as Clu Gulager, John Anderson, and Cynthia Myers.
This movie is definitely a cautionary tale depicting the old adage of "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."
Molly (Miles) is married to a sheriff (Anderson) in a frontier town. She is becoming increasingly restless and unhappy with her life and her husband when he refuses to discuss having children. When visiting the jail, Molly meets John Lawler (Elliott), a prisoner who takes advantage of her emotional state. He flatters her and wins her trust and her heart. She breaks him out of jail. Once free, Lawler confesses that his only interest in her is her ability to help him escape the posse still trailing them.
While on the run, Molly and John find a dying Native woman with an infant. John wants to do away with the child, but Molly talks him into letting her keep the child. They make their way to another western town where John's girlfriend (Myers) lives. Molly goes to town and brings the girlfriend back to meet up with John. The couple make plans to leave together and head off to Mexico. Molly makes another trip to town, but is followed on her way back to the hideout.
Molly and John escape again, but John's girlfriend had to be left behind. John demands to know how the posse could have known to follow her. She admits while in town she had the child baptized in John's name. John is furious and wants to take out his anger on the child but before he can do any harm, Molly takes out a gun and shoots John dead.
Molly puts John's corpse on a horse and returns to her husband's frontier town where turns the body over to her husband's deputy (Gulager) and tells him she was kidnapped by John and forced to flee with him. She claimed to have shot him the first chance she had so she could return home. Then she claimed the reward for his capture.
Movie Snack Recipe
With just a few simple ingredients and basically ans fruit you like, you can make a quick and healthy snack for your movie night. Just remember, fruit still has a lot of natural sugars so moderation is alway the key to any healthy diet. This Cream Cheese Fruit Dip Plus Fruit Board comes from The Cookie Rookie. (<--- click for recipe)
With just a few simple ingredients and basically any fruit you like, you can make a quick and healthy snack for your movie night. Just remember, fruit still has a lot of natural sugars so moderation is alway the key to any healthy diet.
Great Entertainment
If you are looking for some wholesome entertainment, why aren't you reading my Into the West Saga Serial Collection (<---click to view books). Parts one through six are available now on Amazon.com and BN.com. I'm currently writing the final installment of this saga, part seven, Into the West: Family Ties. It is currently set for a Spring 2022 release.
Don't forget, you can join my mailing list and never miss out on news or upcoming release dates. Just go to our subscribers page (<--- click here) and give us your name and email address. When you join up, you get to read the first chapter of Into the West: The Orphan Train for free. If you haven't read my books this is a great way to try them out with no risk to you or if you have Kindle Unlimited the entire Into the West Saga Serial is available to read free with your subscription.
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You know what time it is now, posse! It's time to grab your snacks and settle in for another great western movie!
Enjoy,
Stephen
(Pen name for Dianne Burckhardt)
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