Movie offers look into process for selecting a pope

With the death of His Holiness John Paul II, it would behoove anyone to rent "The Shoes of the Fisherman," starring Anthony Quinn ... not only is it a good movie, it gives you a backdoor look at what will be happening during the papal conclave to elect a new pope.

This movie, made several years prior to Pope John Paul II being elected, is almost uncanny in its likeness to what really happened. We highly recommend it.

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In 1978, Maizie was in Venice, Italy, with her friend Margaret Hillenbrand when they went to St. Mark's cathedral on a Sunday afternoon ... there was a high mass in progress, with beautiful music and candles glittering off the golden Byzantine tiles ... the archbishop of Venice was celebrating the mass ... one month later he became Pope John Paul I ... unfortunately, one month after that, he was dead, and John Paul II came to the papal throne. The rest is history ...

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Anyone else wonder how much Laura Bush's five-hour stop in Afghanistan cost the U.S. taxpayers? We shudder to think ... how about staying home and sending the money to buy books and open schools over there instead? Gosh, then there'd be no photo-op ...

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We had a great lunch at The Basil with Marcie Richey and CJ Birch last week. Marcie "won" us at Jackie Maye's Larry Holloway fund-raiser at the high school. We gabbed about lots of things and learned that CJ would be speaking to Marcie's fifth-grade class at Fremont about the Civil War pretty soon. (CJ is very knowledgeable on the subject) ... should be fascinating ...

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We also had breakfast at the Sugarplum Bakery & Treats in Genoa on Saturday (783-8828) ... talk about some sinful goodies ... yummmmmm ...

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If you saw KOLO-TV's John Tyson's interesting report last week on the nuclear bomb set off near Fallon in 1963, it makes us wonder: nuclear bomb ... leukemia cluster ... 2+2=4? Just wondering ...

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Dianne Fisher tells us about a man who was exiting a grocery store and ran into a very pretty young woman who said, "Hello." She was smiling, but he gave her that "who are you" look, and she realized he didn't know her.

She said, "I'm so sorry ... I thought you were the father of one of my children," and walked on into the store. The man was dumfounded thinking that "how could she not remember what the father of her children looked like," but was flattered at the same time that he might resemble one of her former suitors. He also hoped nobody overheard her ... then he panicked and thought, "Could I have possibly forgotten a relationship, and really fathered a child?"

Still stunned, he walked to his car. He didn't realize that she was the fifth-grade teacher at the local elementary school ... (gee, Marcie, was this you?)

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The Nevada State Railroad Museum is having a reception Thursday evening from 5:30-8 p.m. for the Oasis Conference and the opening of the Loren Jahn V&T paintings ... the public is invited, along with our legislators ... so come and have a good time.

Also, the Soroptimist Club of Carson City (883-0317) will be hosting a Comedy Night with champagne and chocolates on April 16, at the Brewery Arts Center Performance Hall. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with the show starting at 7:30 .. tickets are $30 ... proceeds go to several local charities, so it's a "don't miss" ... help people and revel in chocolate, champagne and comedy ... what fun ...

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Sometimes you know when the mayor and the supervisors are spending too much time together ... they begin to look alike. In the recent edition of "Carson Discoveries" (delivered in your local Appeal) ... Shelley Aldean and Richard Staub look like identical triplets with Mayor Marv ... (yes, we know it was an error, but it sure made us laugh)

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So ... we may be getting 500 more houses in the southeast of town in a new development ... then we're told to "conserve water" ... why? ... if you're just going to keep adding on water uses ... who cares?

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Carson High junior Amanda Barnes is on MTV's "Made" as a new snowboarder .. she's the granddaughter of our friend Norma Conway ... way to go, Amanda. And Norma will be one of the bums (along with two people "you know and love") in "Bleacher Bums," opening April 22 at the BAC ... Goooooo Cubbies!

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The combined age of the following people who have birthdays this week is probably up in the hundreds ... Marty Lequerica, Sherry Hester, Mary Efford Jones, and Rory Hogen ... we didn't know people could get that old ... (draw evil grin here_____________)

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Sen. Harry Reid notified us that Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, has introduced a bill (HR 712) to exclude "male enhancement" drugs (Viagra, Levitra, and Cialis) from the Medicare formulary ... call Congressman Gibbons office (686-5760) to support the bill ...

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Terry Ward is returning from a 2-1/2 week vacation to Southern California and Arizona where he and his cousin, Fred Cessna, went motorhoming around those areas to ride trains and visit relatives ... a good time was had by all, except maybe Maizie, who had to learn to drive herself ... "Welcome home, sweetie ... "

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Apparently the NHP had no reward out for Carolyn, who inadvertently forgot her purse when she came into Carson the other day ... not only did she forget her purse, she conveniently left her money at home, so guess who had to buy her breakfast? Who says "there's no free lunch?" But it wasn't her day entirely ... on her way into town she heard a "glug, glug, glug" and discovered a gallon of water was spilling over the back seat ... she also sprained her ankle and fell in a creek this week .. ouch ...

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Remember ... "a thong and Depends do not go together ..." (contrary to what you might want to believe, this isn't us...)

n Carolyn DeMar and Maizie Harris Jesse are longtime Carson City residents. Write to them at editor@nevadaappeal.com.