CAN LOVE CONQUER ALL?

                                                               GOOD AND EVIL

                         

Today I awoke to a television news broadcast. I could tell by the urgent sound that the news was not good and my immediate thought was that there some kind of horrific event had taken place. When I turned on the television, I learned of another mass shooting that had taken place in Orlando, Florida--there were 50 deaths and 53 people wounded, many of them critically. Almost immediately there was a connection to terrorism, with ties to ISIS. Over and over again I heard law enforcement, public officials and the President state that Evil would not triumph over Good and that we must "continue to love one another" even in the face of hate and violence. I was moved by the number of times that this sentiment was expressed by a diversity of individuals.

On the afternoon of the deadliest mass shooting in the United States my daughter, granddaughter and I were to attend a performance of Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs presented by The Arvada Center Dance Theatre Company, Ballet Division. One of the performers was a former student of my daughter and that was the reason for our attendance. The dancers ranged in age from quite young to seniors graduating from high school--At the end of the performance, the graduating seniors were introduced and asked to relay their future plans--almost all were going on to college with 3 planning to pursue nursing degrees. For some reason I found myself a little tearful after hearing their words. What brought on these feelings and what is the connection between the two events of my day? I am not quite sure, but while checking the Arvada Center Dance website for information about the event I found this description of Snow White: 

            "This classic tale is about good prevailing over evil and love conquering all"

Save and Organize or Let Them Pile Up?

A friend commented on my Saving Old Magazines blog, saying that she once read that instead of saving the entire magazine a person should just tear out the article they wanted to read or save and get rid of the rest of the magazine. I read this same advice somewhere also, but I know if I followed that advice I would end up with this situation:

I once found an online blog called www.makelifelovely.com that detailed a beautiful way to organize and save magazine articles and while the idea intrigued me (articles were placed in plastic sleeves, categorized according to subject matter and placed in a binder, somewhat like a scrap book); there were tabs to indicate the subjects for easy reference. All  in all it was a lovely way to save information and not the whole magazine. My idea for magazines however is different, when I first receive an issue I glance through it, sometimes reading short articles or letters addressed to the editor and make a mental note (which I probably forget in a few hours time!) of items of note that I want to go back to; when I finally do return to the magazine (and the fact that I have some issues dating back to 1984 tells you that along time will probably pass before that happens) I will undoubtedly have read it almost in its entirety. My philosophy is not to discard the magazine in the trash or recycle bin but to pass it on, usually to the library (where they sell donated magazines and books in a fundraising effort) or a thrift store. I believe someone would rather buy a "whole" magazine, rather than one with an article or articles cut out of it (because usually the one missing is the very one you want to read!). So I will continue to slowly make my way through my pile of magazines, finding and reading interesting articles and letters! But thanks for the suggestion!

Saving Old Magazines

I save many things (but I am not a "hoarder"), books, recipes, newspaper articles, ideas for decorating, papers written in classes long ago and magazines.  In the past I have subscribed to gardening magazines,  Country Gardening and Country Living magazines; I have about 7 years of monthly issues of Victoria More recently I subscribed to Smithsonian , Country magazine and was given a subscription to Yankee Magazine by a friend as a gift. Being overwhelmed with so many issues,  I have stopped all subscriptions with one exception.

                                     
Today I decided to look through a stack of Christmas issues that I have saved for years to see if I might get rid of some of them--While I know I saved them for a reason, today I failed to really see why--I know I saved some because of the recipes they contained and some for decorating ideas--today I admitted that I had so may saved recipes that I will never try and I since I no longer have much of my own space for decorating, I really did not need those ideas--


I chose 4 issues to look through and found a few crafts that I thought I might try (but probably won't) and a few recipes (including an interesting and quite complicated one for Birds Nest Pastry in an article entitled "Christmas at Winterthur)  that I thought I might like to make (but probably won't)I read about different types of trees that make good Christmas trees, a little article about Poinsettias most of which are grown at Paul Ecke Ranch in the town where I grew up. I read articles on the use of holly in early winter solstice festivals, in homes to brighten the dark days of winter, and the exchange of branches by friends as tokens of goodwill. Holly was thought to ward of evil and protect a home against witchcraft as well as provide refuge for friendly woodland sprites. I read an article on vintage Christmas cards and learned that the first Christmas cards were sent around 1846 in London by Henry Cole who wanted to send holiday greetings to his friends and associates. German born Louis Prang immigrated to America where he perfected color printing techniques and his cards were elevated to the level of artistry. There were columns written telling stories of various traditions from choosing the Christmas tree, to one towns' yearly production of The Messiah, as well as one describing a traditional Polish Christmas Eve celebration. I even read a reader's letter to the editor and found one that seemed hugely intriguing; it thanked the magazine for an article on French gypsy wagons. In the letter the reader says she met a woman in New Zealand who bought a team of horses and a gypsy wagon and every summer leads the gypsy life, exploring her country--With the current interest in "tiny homes" these wagons seem like an interesting option (with or without the horses).

Wouldn't you just love to spend at least the summer in this beautiful wagon? I think I would. Now that I think I have gleaned about as much as I can from these issues, I will donate them to the library where they sell them for a mere 50 cents.


                                                      "Time, you old gypsy man,
                                                      Will you not stay,
                                                      Put up your carvan
                                                     Just for one day?" 
                                                      Ralph Hogdson

Friends, Fun and Film

                                                            Movie Night

I belong to a Book Club that has about 16 members several of whom have become friends I see outside of the Book Club.  This is group of special friends numbers 4-6 and we get together to see exhibits at Museums, the Botanic Gardens, art galleries, movies, concerts,even a ballet. Sometimes we go out to eat or just have coffee.Once we got together around Halloween for a Witches Hat Tea and in December a Dundee Cake Tea (see December 13th Blog).We have started a "Movie Night" that has become something I look forward to once a week or every other week. It started as a one time thing when we watched "WAR AND PEACE", we enjoyed a lot and I suggested it would be fun to continue watching other movies perhaps once a month or every other week. One friend likes to entertain at her home and we always meet there to talk, eat and watch a movie. Everyone brings something to eat--one night we had a veggie pizza with a big salad and dessert, another night Pasta Fagioli soup and dessert crepes, once it was savory crepes and cookies, another time just "finger food" that we ate while watching the movie.

Leo Tolstoy

We have watched 4 episodes of ",WAR AND PEACE", "SUFFRAGETTE ", and "ROOM"--All serious and one disturbing ("ROOM"). I must confess to never having read "WAR AND PEACE"  so I got an abbreviated education while watching the BBC adaptation on PBS. I learned that the film and the novel cover the period of 1805 to 1812 and details the French invasion of Russia and the effect on the Tsarist society by telling the stories of five aristocratic Russian families (paraphrased from Wikipedia). The film took us through marriages, affairs, deaths, war and as far as I could see, not much peace.


                                                                 Emmeline Pankhurst

While the first two films were serious and dramatic, the third film we watched, "ROOM" , was to me the most unsettling--It is the story, taken from a book of the same name, of a young woman who was kidnapped at age 17 and repeatedly raped by her captor, she eventually becomes pregnant and bears a son, Jack

Both  mother (Joy) and Jack are kept in a place they call "Room", which turns out to be a garden shed outfitted with electricity and heat as well as a small space for limited cooking, a bathtub,a toilet,a bed and closet. Joy struggles to maintain some sense of normalcy for her son while protecting him as best she can  from the horrors of their situation. Eventually Joy makes a plan for Jack's escape and he is able to take the police to the shed where his mother is rescued. While Jack experiences the outside world for the first time in 5 years he eventually adjusts to it easier than Joy. Despite the disturbing and all too true to life story of the film, it is the bond between mother and child which gives hope and cautious optimism to the situation.

On the most recent movie night, there were only two of us and we somehow miscommunicated about the movie we were going to watch (I thought she had it and she thought I was going to get it from the library which I hadn't) so we were without a movie to watch. My friend said "you just pick one from the Netflix list available on my Smart TV and we'll watch it." I browsed the list of numerous movies in several genres and picked one that I thought sounded like something we would like to watch. I choose "LIKE SUNDAY, LIKE RAIN"--it is the story of a friendship that develops between Eleanor, a 23- year old woman who is fired from her job in  a cafe after the boyfriend she has rejected due to numerous infidelities, confronts her at work causing a scene, and a 12 year old  genius and cello prodigy Reggie, whose mother temporarily hires Eleanor to act as a nanny for while she leaves the country to visit his step-father. Reggie's father died in a automobile accident and his mother has re-married. As his mother and step-father are often absent, Reggie lives a rather lonely life having only one friend. He fills his life with reading and playing the cello. When Eleanor takes the temporary job as his "nanny" they begin to form a bond. Through a series of events with Eleanor's dysfunctional family from who she is estranged, Reggie finds out that Eleanor once played the coronet and had been accepted to Julliard, but was unable to attend due to a lack of funds. Reggie has given up playing the cello declaring that "art is dead", yet tries to convince Eleanor to again play.   Eleanor declares that "she will if he will". Reggie tells her that he will write a revised version of a piece he has written (and Eleanor has greatly admired) entitled "Like Sunday, Like Rain" to include a part for the coronet. The job caring for Reggie was just temporary and as it comes to an end, Reggie wants Eleanor to stay, but she declares that she must return home, where she hopes to get her life in order--I was somewhat mystified by that development since Eleanor declared in a recent visit home that she was leaving and never returning. The movie ends with Eleanor finding a package on her front porch which contains the coronet Reggie has sent her along with the revised music or "Like Sunday, Like Rain". We first see Reggie begin to play his cello again and the last scene is of Eleanor putting the coronet to her lips and beginning to play the music as well.

 My friend and I both liked the movie and I decided to look on the Internet for reviews where I found that there were several very favorable reviews" well acted", :"sweet"," tender"and "hitting all the right notes",  but others panned it; dismissing it as "obviously sentimental", "overly written"," thin" and "too precious". So like all books and all movies there are many differing opinions and the opinion is ours alone. I know that I enjoy these evenings because it's a chance to discuss what we have seen and talk about our interpretations of the film, eat good food and enjoy  good friendships,whether we agree on the movie or not.

4 Friends at "Movie Night"

***12-30-2017 For some reason I was looking back on my posts and after reading this one I discovered several minor errors which I decided to correct. In reading over the post I realized I had not much mention of the movie SUFFRAGETTE. I could swear that I researched the Suffragette movement in England, thus the picture of Emmeline Pankhurst above. I remember writing about the movement and the movie, but find that it is not in this blog post??? Did I accidentally erase it? Was it in another post? I looked forward and backward and don't see that part anywhere? It's probably confusing since the only mention is the movie title and then a picture not connected to any text! I could correct that omission but I am in the middle of trying to write a current post and so will just leave the notation and move on.

What Do You Do?

What do you do the day after approximately 24 inches of snow fell? Though the sun is out and it actually feels pretty warm, it is difficult to get out of the driveway because the snow plow came by and left a bid side of snow all along the side of street as well a a pile all down the center of the road--Main roads are probably just fine, but when your car is low to the ground it is not a good idea to drive over those giant lumps of snow So I clean out the refrigerator and throw away some things past their prime, roast some vegetables that are looking somewhat sad, hard boil some eggs (in case we decide to dye them for Easter), make chicken salad Try not to watch too much CNN coverage of the bombings in Brussels (see previous blog of 3/23)

Worry and Fear

Just as I was expressing delight and pleasure in the fact that my granddaughter is studying abroad for a semester as well as traveling in Europe getting to visit many different countries, comes the news of the airport and Metro bombings by terrorists in Brussels--Not only is my granddaughter in Europe, but her parents (my daughter and her husband) just arrived in Italy, taking the opportunity to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary and visit with their daughter--I was concerned when my granddaughter first went abroad as the attacks in Paris happened shortly before her long planned for trip, but she went and has been enjoying visiting Scotland, England and Paris as well as many places in Italy all the while using public transportation  I began to relax and feel happiness that she is able to make these memories--Now most of my family is in Europe and the US State Department has issue a warning about travel to and in Europe, to stay away from public transportation, public places, sporting events, etc Sitting here at home I am fearful and worried about them all and dismayed that this situation will affect what may be a "once in a lifetime" opportunity--The President and other "experts" espousing opinions tell us not to give in to fear, not to curtail our activities, etc So since I am confined to home due to at least 12 inches of snow and blizzard winds, I will sit and monitor news coverage and think of my family

Coffee and a Post Card from Paris

Today was a sweetly pleasant day--it started with a cup of Chai tea and a piece of toast while reading a book--In the afternoon a friend and I stopped at Caribou Coffee for a wonderful cup of coffee mixed with dark chocolate  We sat in front of a fireplace-- which was not burning since it was a very warm day-- in two comfortable leather chairs and chatted about everything from grandchildren to books--

After dropping my friend off at home, I returned home to finish some laundry and think about what to have for dinner--When the mail came I was pleased to find a post card from my oldest granddaughter who is spending a semester abroad studying in Italy--her post card was mailed from Paris where she was spending time during her "spring break"--She knows that I have dreamed about going to France and Paris for a while-
The front of the post card contained various images of Paris Landmarks

Arch de triumph

Notre Dame

Sacre-Coeur  Basilica 

Black Cat  Cabaret Poster

1889 Paris Expedition

She wrote that she was sitting on the grass in front of the Eiffel Tower eating colorful macaroons:

She related that there were bookstores and cafes on almost every corner--"a city meant for you" she said! She hoped that someday I would get the chance to experience its beauty myself! She was lucky enough to have a friend who was once a foreign exchange student who stayed with her family who lives in Paris in an apartment overlooking the Seine and Notre Dame! Her closing words were "I wish you were here to share it with me" which of course brought tears to my eyes!