E is for Emerald and my mom’s favourite colour was green makes this post all the more meaningful. When I think of the word “emerald” however, I also think of Emerald City in the land of Oz which was the famous dream of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. I was quite surprised when I read that this children`s book was published in 1900, written by Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. If you look at the illustrations, you can see the characters in the movie (1939) were pretty darn close.
Every October the movie played on television when I was growing up and my father would call my sister and me to come watch the movie with him and my mother. It was a tradition, sort of like The Sound of Music was with my children and other holiday classics.
Ah that Emerald City was the place where Dorothy would get all her problems resolved and get home to Kansas. How I loved her red patent leather shoes!! And the famous phrase was on the lips of many after a long trip, “There’s no place like home, There’s no place like home.”
No matter how many times I saw the movie, each time I would still fear that wicked old witch and her soldiers and those trees too!!! Oh, my goodness!!
I never realized how much that movie became a part of me until I was a young adult and read The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty and every night I was so scared of the devil (being Catholic we actually feared being possessed!) for three months after reading this book, I would cross my arms over my chest and repeat “I don’t believe in the power of the devil, I don’t, I don’t, I don’t” I became the Lion that lacked courage at 20 years old! I never could see the movie…if ever it was television and I turned the channel on that movie by mistake, just a few seconds hearing a deep voice coming out of that little girl, I would have nightmares for days! Yep, that’s how scared I was.
Emerald City was such a place to be and I loved the part where Dorothy is getting all prettied up ( my mother being a hairdresser made it even more meaningful). My mother loved Judy Garland (who played Dorothy) and even when her dementia was very advanced, I would sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow and her eyes came back to life.
Emerald City
somewhere over the rainbow
dancing with Mom
Emerald City
answer to all your wishes
come true
somewhere over the rainbow
leprechauns fight over
a pot of gold
dancing with Mom
turning back the clock
unforgettable
© Tournesol’16/04/06
Interestingly as I was looking for a word synonymous with never forgotten, I heard the voice of Nat King Cole crooning “unforgettable” in my mind, and just knew, Mom was near me at this very moment.
Tournesol dans un Jardin 
I loved the Wizard of Oz….. and I have to admit I liked the Exorcist too. I haven’t seen it for decades but I know I’ve seen it several times. I never read the book.
But the Wizard of Oz… that is forever.
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Oh I could never watch the movie. Rosemary’s Baby was another book that gave me nightmares…Catholics (in my days) were so brainwashed with this…I still get the willies.
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I liked that one too…….. The one that gives me nightmares is The Shining….. both book and movie. My stuff isn’t Catholic though……
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Haha, I watched the Shining only about 10 years ago and did not find it so scary.
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Was it the Jack Nicholson version? I can’t imagine that being not scary.
I read the book when I first separated. I wouldn’t read at night because it was too scary. Then I got to a point where I couldn’t put it down so kept on going….. really scared myself.
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Im sure the book was scarier…I love Stephen King and yes it was Jack Nicholson but I had was hyped for years on how scary it was that I was not so scared I guess.
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I’ve had that experience with movies too, although this one I still can’t watch straight through….. or at least I couldn’t the last time I tried, probably ten years ago.
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I was always too scared to read Stephen King and then I saw The Green Mile and was so surprised he wrote it, so I read it and have been pleased by many of his books. Granted some I bough, I am waiting to stop work and read only a bit early in the day…haha. Needful Things was not easy for me since it has to do with the devil but it is so much about human weaknesses…very good book.
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Al, Sreejit, Chaitanya and I were always Stephen King fans. The Stand was particularly important book for Sreejit and Chaitanya. It was for me too. I hsould read it again. The Green Mile was fantastic.
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I read one book his wife wrote and as much as Stephen can get into the mind of a woman and seems to know how they think, his wife wrote the same in that book.
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I didn’t know his wife wrote books…..
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I am only aware of that one book.
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I even bought a VHS of that movie!
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I was pregnant for my son when it came out…so I read the book after.
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