If you're noticing a pattern of Arboretum pictures, it is because that is a favorite place of my family's to visit. My mom used to take us there when we were kids (and when it was free) and it is a part of my childhood that I'll always cherish. When she is babysitting my nephew, and I'm visiting, we enjoy taking him places, and the Arboretum continues to be one of our top choices. Now we are annual members.
Today Xander's big accomplishment was that he climbed the steps all the up to the top of the waterfall by himself! I held his hand to steady him, but he did the rest. What a powerful feat!
Some pictures from today:
Above is the "victory" picture. Xander walking around the pond at the top of the waterfall after a very determined climb up approximately 30 steps...
You can't take pictures of the Arboretum without including at least one of Queen Anne's Cottage...
...and a peacock!
And...we were trying to take a movie of Xander climbing headfirst into his stroller, which he did numerous times during the day, and instead we ended up with this "squealing symphony." Oh well! Still funny!
I like those words. They symbolize accomplishment, which is how I'm feeling.
Today was a productive day in some unusual ways, including the fact that I haven't left the house at all. Yet a lot has gotten done. And the TV hasn't even flickered on at all.
First of all, I am deeply immersed in the book I bought yesterday: Belong to Me. I told myself I would read 65 pages a day to be done by Saturday and I'm on page 131. I like it, it is very readable, but I also like it because the author writes as if her audience is intelligent. I respect that. Books like the Twilight series, yeah, they're fun, but they don't treat the reader as intelligent. And forget about Nicholas Sparks. He treats his reader like she is a sentimental airhead.
The book I'm reading is about suburbia. I guess it could be any middle-class suburb, but this one is a Philadelphia suburb. It focuses on the lives of 4 different families, and how they come together at times and what they go through in the privacy of their own homes. Basically it proves a theory I have operated with for years, which is: No matter how much you think you know people, you never really know what goes on behind closed doors. Not that that's a bad thing, but it is a simple fact that even the most genuine people have a public persona and a private one.
Other accomplishments today stemmed from an "appointment" that my mom and I made with each other this morning. There were things that we needed to do together that were getting brushed aside, and would continue to be so if we didn't focus.
1. Discuss the design and poem that is going on the headstone for the family plot that we recently purchased for my grandparents and 10 other--as yet to be determined--family members. I have the honor of writing the poem, but, as I explained to my mom and she understands, creativity and inspiration are not made-to-order. So we talked about some ideas and I'm going to hope that the Spirit moves me--soon. And of course there is the added pressure that THIS poem will be immortalized forever on the back of a very large headstone, whereas 90% of the others I've written are neatly tucked away in notebooks.
2. We also picked a place to go for a last-minute end-of-summer trip. We're going to Solvang, a little Danish-inspired town about 135 miles north of Los Angeles. We found a really cute B&B a few minutes walk from the center of town.
And this will be our room: The Rose Haven Room. I like it when the rooms have names. Looks cozy! Lots of places to sit and continue with my book...
Of course, going away means having to find a housesitter. Our regular housesitter is in the middle of finals right now and had to decline. So we hired the kid next door to me--a recent college grad to take care of my house and my mom's house. I hope my dog doesn't go nuts. He doesn't do well when I'm away. It's only for 2 nights, though. He'll survive.
And, last but not least, I got a hold of my official "Classroom set-up helper," Altagracia, the older sister of one of my mom's former students. We're going on Monday to begin the task. Some teachers are already at school this week (we don't get paid until next Wednesday,) but Alta is such a fantastic helper that things get done very fast. We work as a great team. Besides, I'm not quite ready for summer vacation to be over just yet.
So, everything seems to be in place for these next few days. A nice feeling.
The "dreaded letter" came today. That's the letter from the school district that says when we have to be back to work: Wed, Aug. 26th. Ugh. We're having an in-service that day. I kid you not, it is going to be a meeting about how to have meetings. If you figure that one out, let me know.
(Inside my head I just have to keep saying to myself, "I'm grateful to have a job, I'm grateful to have a job....)
Like last week, there isn't much on tap for these last few days of my vacation. I wanted to go away for a couple of days to someplace local, like Santa Barbara or someplace, but it just didn't pan out. So I'll just have to create my own activities. That is one of the downsides of being a single person who lives alone.
I did, however, come up with a really great reason to live alone (besides total control of the remote, that's a given.) When you live alone there is no reason to have piles of clothes laying around the house. Why? I'm glad you asked. Because, if you don't feel like folding them, you just leave them in the washer or dryer. There's no one waiting for the machines, so there you go. No piles.
Kidding, I'm kidding. I don't do that. OK, mostly I don't do that.
I realized that this morning while doing laundry and thinking about how to spend the day. I decided to go and see The Proposal, with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. I'm not going to do a big review on it, because it was a predictable romantic comedy. Better than some, not as good as others, but cute to see once. A cute date movie or chick flick. While waiting for the movie to start, I went into Border bookstore and browsed around. I'm ashamed of the lack of reading I have done this summer. Usually summer is my reading time and I get through 2-3 books, but this summer I haven't done any. So I bought a book called Belong to Me, that looked pretty good and I'm going set myself a reading schedule so that I'm done by this Saturday. Then I'll have read at least one book this summer. That's my goal. 390 pages divided by 6 days equals 65 pages a day. I can do that. Like I said--not a lot on tap this week.
After the movie I stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home. Two guys had set up a booth protesting Obama's health care proposal. In front of their stand was a big picture of Obama with a little square mustache to make him look like Adolf, the big baddie. I didn't think that was cool. And this morning one of my friends posted on Facebook that someone defaced the Obama sticker she has on her car. Again, not cool. I don't know enough about the new health care proposal to judge, but I do know that it is probably too early to do so. So I will save an opinion until I know more. I do know that health care would not have improved with McCain, so, regardless, I still wouldn't have changed my vote. Everything is too new, and Bush left behind a bucket of problems for Obama to mop up. I'm going to be patient.
Inside Trader Joe's I found some lovely sunflowers that I couldn't resist buying and putting on my kitchen table. They were potted, but I cut them and put them into a vase. Sunflowers and daisies--you can't look at them and not feel a little brighter. Here are 2 pictures--one regular and one after I was playing around with the camera settings. So pretty!
OK, those are my musings. I guess I better get to reading my 65 pages for today!
6:10pm **UPDATE** I'm going on a trip! Thursday to Saturday. Yay! I need another little getaway. Don't know where I'm going yet, though. TBA...
Right now I'm thankful for 3 things: 1. wireless laptop connections (so I can sit in bed and write on a lazy Sunday morning like today) 2. blogs (because I enjoy writing, and it is great to have an easy outlet to write and share) 3. and the last, which segues into this post's topic...I'm grateful for filmmakers who produce high-quality films
As my Mexican-born grandma used to say, "Ay, these times and days!"
That's how I feel when I see the garbage--GARBAGE--that is out there on TV and in the movie theaters. It's a shame, really, because I love movies. I'm always on the look-out for new films to watch. But what I don't like is wasting my time and being disappointed. I'm discerning and happy to be so, and I always like to know a little about the film before I watch it. It lets me know if the film is worth my time and also makes me appreciate it more.
Yesterday, after some time on the computer and an errand, I went to my Instant Viewing queue on Netflix.
I have a ROKU player. A little $100 black box that sits on my TV and wirelessly and instantly streams movies from my Netflix queue to the TV. I don't have cable, I don't want cable, and I think this is the best alternative. The movies available aren't always the newest or the most popular, but there are still really great ones that are there if you look.
Happily, I found 2 GREAT films. Here are my reviews: A Good Woman, is based on an Oscar Wilde story called "Lady Windemere's Fan." It stars Helen Hunt and Scarlett Johansson, and takes place on Italy's Amalfi coast in 1930.
Visually, this movie is beautiful. The scenery, the buildings, the costumes are just stunning. When I read the Netflix user reviews, this seemed to be the one thing that people could agree on. The reviews were very mixed, but I decided to give it a try anyway.
Because of things people said, I expected to be bored or disappointed. I was neither. The story was riveting and there were twists and turns all the way up to the last scene.
Helen Hunt plays a tainted woman named Stella Erlynne, who, in her own words is "infamous and poor." She circles through high society having affairs with married men, and letting them support her financially. If she can't charge something to one man's account, she'll use another's, and is always on the lookout for more.
Enter newlywed Robert Windemere. He's incredibly rich, devoted to his wife, and very naive. Stella has been luring men for years and has it down to an art form. He's no match for her and can't resist. And it isn't because she is a beautiful woman, but because she has a way of catching people off guard, which she does throughout the film.
Scarlett Johansson is Robert's wife, Meg. She's only 20, never had a mother, and holds herself and others to an impossibly high standard of decorum and propriety.
Around these 3 key players is a nest of gossipy, rich men and women played by great supporting actors. They add the fluff and fun to an intriguing story that keeps you guessing and interested every minute. It reminded me a lot of another film, An Ideal Husband, with Cate Blanchett and Jeremy Northam--also based on a story by Oscar Wilde. But I think I actually liked yesterday's film even better.
Despite the torrid story, it is very good, very sharply written, and worth seeing. A nice surprise! Here's the best trailer I could find. You can watch it full screen too.
The 2nd film I saw was a documentary that I turned on late last night as I was falling asleep. It was great...one of the best documentaries I've seen, mainly because the filmmaker does what every filmmaker should do, which is to make the audience care about who they're watching. This film is called STOLEN, and it documents the attempted recovery of 13 paintings that were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. The most famous of the paintings is one of only 34 Vermeers in the world, entitled The Concert, pictured above.
Even though it is a documentary, there is a cast, and they are fascinating. There is Harold Smith, the art crime detective--75 years old, and slightly shocking to look at because he has advanced skin cancer. There is the newpaper reporter who was secretively taken to view the paintings AFTER they were stolen, and would love to be able to retrace his steps and lead the authorities to them. There is the British police informant, nicknamed "Turbocharger," because of his high-energy demeanor. There is the gallery attendant, who gets weepy thinking about his first experience in the museum as a 13 year old boy, who felt such a connection to it at a young age, that he knew that he was destined to spend his life there. And there is William Youngworth, the unbelievably arrogant art dealer/former con who says he knows how to recover what was stolen, as Harold Smith listens, trying to hide his annoyance and frustration. Then there are the authors--mostly Vermeer biographers, who ache at the thought that there is one less painting by this revered artist available to the general public.
There are also the 2 ghostly voices of the past--those who conceived the idea of having a gallery of beautiful art in Boston in the early 1900's-- a time when no such thing existed there. Isabella Stewart Gardner (below left) and her art agent, Bernard Berenson, voiced by Blythe Danner and Campbell Scott. Letters between these two are read back and forth and you understand the love and care (not to mention the money) that was put into making this collection wonderful and special for all to enjoy. Learning that makes the theft even more offensive, especially because in her will, Mrs. Gardner specified that no paintings should be added or subtracted from the collection. She put it together as a unit that should stay that way after her death. In keeping with her wishes, this means that in place of the stolen paintings hang only empty frames--a constant reminder of the crime.
With a $5 million dollar reward, there are certainly a lot of leads, and Harold Smith needs to sift through them and decide which are worth pursuing. This pursuit starts to involve more and more people, ranging from the IRA to Boston's top mob boss. As the viewer, I felt myself very involved and invested in solving the case too. And you feel the sadness and the loss that these beautiful things were taken, especially when you see the expressions and emotions of those who love them most. They look at prints of the stolen art like they're missing family members, children who cannot cry out on their own behalf.
Do they turn up at the end? I'm not going to tell. But whether they do or not, the journey is incredibly interesting. (You can always go to the museum's website and find out, along with seeing what was taken.) *wink* One of them was this turbulent Rembrandt (I love his work,) thought to be his only seascape. It's gorgeous. You can almost see the boat fighting against the storm, the thunder pounding around it.:
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, 1633
When pieces like this are taken, how can you not care? This film not only makes you feel that way, but also reminds you of the importance and role of masterpieces like these. A great documentary. And, yay! It took some hunting, but I found the trailer...
P.S. An interesting thing--if your name is "Isabella," you are allowed free entry to the museum for your entire life.
What an interesting day! LOTS of time of the computer--probably too much! LOL But the house is clean and the yard is looking great and it was a day to relax and be creative. Maybe I'll make some more blog headers in the next couple of days.
And tonight I did one fun song over on MySpace Karaoke. I wish they had more of these great old songs to record!
Tomorrow I need to get out of the house more. The next door neighbors are having a yard sale and my bedroom window faces their driveway. And across the street my mom is hosting a retirement party for a former colleague. And me? I've asked tons of people if they were available to do something tomorrow and no one was free. *sigh* So I guess I'm on my own tomorrow. I'll head to Montrose in the morning to exchange the toy I bought for my nephew (the one I bought had a crack in the wood) and then, if I'm feeling really ambitious, I might drive out to Long Beach and visit the Aquarium of the Pacific. I love looking at fish--it must be the Pisces in me!
I heard this John Mayer song on the radio for the first time the other day and just fell in love with it. As a daughter who never really had much of a father, it struck a chord with me. But it's more than that. The lyrics talk about how love trickles down through the generations.
This is a truly beautiful song.
I encourage you to read through the lyrics and then scroll down to the video below. Enjoy.
LYRICS: I know a girl She puts the color inside of my world But she's just like a maze Where all of the walls all continually change And I've done all I can To stand on her steps with my heart in my hands Now I'm starting to see Maybe it's got nothing to do with me
Fathers, be good to your daughters Daughters will love like you do Girls become lovers who turn into mothers So mothers, be good to your daughters too
Oh, you see that skin? It's the same she's been standing in Since the day she saw him walking away Now she's left Cleaning up the mess he made
So fathers, be good to your daughters Daughters will love like you do Girls become lovers who turn into mothers So mothers, be good to your daughters too
Boys, you can break You'll find out how much they can take Boys will be strong And boys soldier on But boys would be gone without the warmth from A womans good, good heart
On behalf of every man Looking out for every girl You are the god and the weight of her world
So fathers, be good to your daughters Daughters will love like you do Girls become lovers who turn into mothers So mothers, be good to your daughters too
I get bored with the same blog background after a very short time, so it was time for a facelift (on the blog...not me!) I know that a lot of people who stop by here have blogs of their own, so let me tell you about the sites I use.
ONE CUTE BLOG (great backgrounds, but a lot are not made for widescreen monitors)
There are others, of course. The ones I listed often have links to others.
And those headers I make are all done at this COOL online scrapbooking site called SCRAPBLOG.COM.
Scrapblog is FREE and very, very user-friendly. You set up a free account (no personal info required) and can start creating using one of their templates or a blank sheet. Then you save it and publish it. I use the "print screen" feature on my keyboard to save it into a file on my laptop and then I resize it to the "web--large" size, otherwise it doesn't upload well.
Super easy. And very fun for the creative or "wants-to-be creative" person...
Some headers I've made: If you have a blog and want to make a header, and need some help on Scrap Blog, let me know and I'll walk you through the process. You feel so great when they're all done!
Beware of saying, "I need adventure." You just never know what the universe will throw your way.
Today's real adventure came in the form of hoards (hoards!) of ants trailing all around my mom's gazebo. Seriously, they were everywhere: building condos, bearing offspring, visiting family--everywhere. Together we sprayed them with Raid, sprayed the beams and pillars and perimeter of the gazebo, and hosed down the foundation and some of the garden furniture. They may be small, but they can be pretty hearty little creatures!
A late start and an hour-long delay of ant-zapping called for some creativity of where to go today. I needed to get out and have a change of scenery, perhaps feeling the weight of the summer's end. Lying around the house is just plain depressing. This is Los Angeles, after all! There are hundreds of things to do and places to go.
Because of time we decided to keep it simple and go to Montrose, a less-trendy, but cleaner and smaller version of Old Town Pasadena about 10-12 miles away. While there I got some new pajamas and a fabulous little toy for my nephew, (he turns 18 months old today.) It is a toy that my brother and I had as kids--a little mallet pushes colored pegs into a board and then you turn the board over and start all over again.
We also had dinner at the Star Cafe'. Man, that place is good! I had only been there once before and it was in the morning. Tonight I had chicken carbonara on penne pasta and Mom had the Chicken Caesar with grilled salmon. And, since I take my camera everywhere I go now, we took some pictures. Because... "I know you care!" Yeah, right.
As of today, my house is totally, completely, and 100% finished on the outside. The only things that had prevented it from being so before were the rain gutters. The brick guy left behind a problem that Sonny--my heroic painter (!)--took it upon himself to solve. Problem: how to reinstall the old rain gutters now that the brick was in the way?
I'm telling you, I wish every painter, brick guy, contractor, etc. could have a work ethic like Sonny. After some experimenting, he used a hack saw to cut the gutters and reposition them around the brick. Two of the gutters even needed to be moved to one side, which he also did.
When that was done, he painted them the color of the house. ALWAYS paint your gutters the color of the HOUSE, not the accent color. They're gutters, after all. They don't need that much attention.
And, because cutting them also meant eliminating some of the length, he bought some pieces to add to the bottom. Part of the dilemma is that these are the older style of gutters, which don't have all of those bendable parts like the new ones. And, yay! They're all done.
The finished product
This one had to be moved over a few inches to the right. The original spout was exactly where the bricks are down the corners of the house. That meant cutting a new hole and patching up the old one.
And this next thing has nothing to do with gutters, but it is still really cool. This afternoon I was getting cabin fever and offered to chauffeur my mom around town on some errands. She's having an old O.W. Lee table restored and powder-coated and we had to stop at San Marino Tile and Pool to pay the bill before it is delivered tomorrow. Cool store! And very nice employees. Inside I saw 2 things I have been needing for my backyard: an outdoor clock (mine died months ago,) and a light for my umbrella.
The umbrella light is SO cool!! I've never seen anything like this before. I don't know why they aren't available everywhere patio furniture is sold. It is like a donut that opens up and then clamps around the umbrella. It has 6 LED lights and a rechargeable battery + the charger. I love it! And that concludes the adventures of my exciting day.
My goodness, yesterday went fast. It wasn't as sluggy-slug as I thought it would be, but it was still a quiet day mostly at home.
A little laundry, a little watering, a quick errand, and a little miracle with some big relief.
Some friendship mending took place, something I wasn't sure would ever happen. But it did, and this part of me that has been frozen in time for the past 5 weeks finally feels like it can start to heal. Awkward, yes. Regrettable, no. Baby steps, slowly but surely, but it's something. "Something" sure feels a lot better than nothing. Communication is an amazing thing.
I feel so much better.
And today I'm celebrating my friend, Bobby's, birthday with him by heading back to Disneyland this afternoon. Dinner reservations at the Blue Bayou, baby! That place is so cool, and I haven't been there in ages.
And now it feels like I'm celebrating 2 things, Bobby's birthday and the reconnection with a dear friend. Both very good things.
With only 2 weeks of freedom left before I have to go back to work, if I don't slow down the pace I've been keeping for the past week, I will burn out before I have to set up my classroom, which is very intense.
So today I have dubbed as "Slug Day." No outings, no housework except watering the flowers and maybe a little bit of laundry. This is "lay around-read-nap-blog-sing-veg-shirt/shorts day."
So far so good...I've blogged, I've sung (la, la, la, and la,) and have done plenty of laying around. (Each "la" is a link.) My philosophy? When you know you've earned them, never feel guilty about days like this.
Three cheers for "Slug Day!" Slugs Unite!
***UPDATE*** 1:45pm Slug Day continues with no guilt. I did decide to drag myself into the shower, just so I wouldn't offend myself. Then I put in a little quality time in Farm Town. There are no more levels to reach for, but it's still fun "maintaining the farm." Click the pic to see full-sized. You know you want to... :-)
In the tradition of this entire week, yesterday was another very full day. I went to Disneyland for the 5th time this summer, meeting my friend, Tracey, at 9am, which means leaving the house at 7:30am, which means getting up at about 6am. I always plan 90 minutes between driving, parking, tram to the park, getting through the entrance, and walking to the meeting place (the Walt and Mickey statue.)
As a Disneyland Premium Pass owner, I can go any day of the year (which is awesome,) get "free" parking (again, awesome, so you're not paying $12 before you're even in the park,) and I get discounts on all food and merchandise. Seriously, if you live in So. CA and enjoy Disneyland like I do (close--about 30 miles, clean, safe, and fun) it really does pay to have a pass.
We went early because I had a family party to attend in the evening.
As soon as we met, Tracey had the idea to go on Splash Mountain, a log ride which has very high water that has a habit of spilling into the log and onto you. The inside of the ride uses the characters from the old America Sings attraction (which I still miss a lot--that Innoventions thing is ridiculous...) After a few wet drops through the ride and seeing the Song of the South characters, you climb this very tall slope and plunge down a STEEP hill about 80 feet high into the "briar patch." Somewhere in that plunge you see a flash off to the side as you get your picture taken, immortalizing your silly reaction.
I don't know if it was because we were sitting in the front of the log (I made Tracey sit in front of me, to block the water a *little,* since it was her idea,) of because it was first thing in the morning and the water was extra high--but we got SOAKED. Absolutely soaked. I was drenched from my mid-section to my feet. My sandals made a nice squelching sound as I walked for the next 2 hours. Tracey got splashed in the face and hair and soaked her denim shorts. Yes, walking through the park you can always tell who has just been on Splash Mountain. Definitely more a summer than a winter ride!
If you want to "experience" it, I found this very good POV video on YouTube that someone shot. I didn't realize the ride was almost 8 minutes long! And don't let those little drops fool you, that is where you end up the wettest!
After Splash Mountain we pretty much stayed in Frontierland and New Orleans Square, which are my favorite areas for the rides and the atmosphere. Is it crazy that a 38 year-old enjoys Disneyland so much? I really do. The sights, sounds, smells, all transform me into a 10 year-old kid. I feel it every time I get off the tram. And guess what? I'm going again tomorrow. My friend, Bobby, has a birthday, got the day off, and we're going to spend it at the Magic Kingdom. We even got great dinner reservations at the Blue Bayou (the restaurant that opens into Pirates of the Caribbean.)
Because Splash Mountain is on the end of the park, we were in the Winnie the Pooh area, which gave me a chance to go into the candy shop and take a picture of the honey machine that my Uncle Ruben built in his garage (my mom's brother and the family's super-talented artist-in-residence.) Sorry for the quality...cell phone camera... We also had lunch at the Cafe' Orleans. I had some wonderful French Onion soup and chicken gumbo crepes. Those things were spicy! Good, but spicy. I was holding back the tears by the end of the meal: One of the best things about the Cafe' Orleans is the view, because you're right next to the walking areas between Pirates and the Haunted Mansion and across from Tom Sawyer's Island and the Rivers of America where the steamship Mark Twain and the Columbia go by. Here's our view at lunch. The park stayed pretty empty for the first 2 hours we were there and we got to do a lot. By noon there were a lot of people. The weather was great, though, so it was a good day to go.
I was getting pretty tired by about 2:30pm after this past non-stop week and getting up early. We left at 3:15 and I got home at about 4:30. We had a great little impromptu family party at my mom's house, BBQing hamburgers and hot dogs in the back yard, laughing with my aunts and uncles and sharing everyone's current goings on, eventually moving to the family room to watch a DVD slide show of my cousin Robby's flight training ceremony at an Air Force Base in Mississippi.
I really enjoy the family get-togethers, and this one was no different, even though it was a small group and we were missing a few cousins.
After days of errands and gardening, I was due for a break. Today I met a friend at the mall and we went and saw the new movie, Julie & Julia, together. Amy Adams (Enchanted) plays unfulfilled cubicle worker Julie Powell, who decides to cook and blog her way through 500+ recipes in Julia Child's cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Meryl Streep plays the iconic TV chef who paved the way for all the Nigella Lawsons and Rachel Rays who followed.
Although the 2 women never meet, they lead somewhat parallel lives decades apart. Both former government workers, both happily married but childless, both using cooking as a way to fill life's voids.
The main differences are that Julie has Julia's cookbook to use as a tool and doesn't come off quite as likable as Julia. That lack of likability really isn't Amy Adam's fault as an actress. I just felt that the audience was never given a reason to invest in her character. OK, her job kind of bit, but other than that, I didn't understand why she was so unhappy. Instead of counting her blessings, she focused on everything that was wrong with her life. I guess she should be heralded for finally being proactive about doing something fulfilling, but she whines her way through the journey so much, that by the time things start looking up, you just don't care.
Meryl Streep was probably the best choice to play Julia Child, not only for her looks, but for her ability to adapt a character's voice and mannerisms. And, boy, Julia Child's voice is unforgettable. The character comes across slightly over the top because Julia Child was somewhat over the top in real life. Also, because Child was 6 feet tall, there were obvious adjustments that were made to create that height in Meryl Streep, like low ceilings, shorter supporting characters, and even the proportions of things in her kitchens. At times she looked positively Amazonic, and it was like watching Hagrid the giant's mother (from Harry Potter) cooking dinner.
So how did the director want us to feel about these two women? I'm not sure. I found myself slightly annoyed with both of them by the end of the movie. Although things were probably intensified for entertainment's sake, their culinary journeys come across as narcissistic at best. They don't feel heroic or interested in anything or anyone but their ultimate goals: for Julia, writing a book about French cooking for Americans, and Julie, cooking her way through the book. And the more whiny Julie gets, the more you try to tap all the likability out of Julia, who, unfortunately, disappoints the audience towards the end of the movie.
Thank goodness for the 2 supportive and saintly husbands--Stanley Tucci as Paul Child (he and Meryl Streep seemed oddly mismatched after she played his controlling boss in The Devil Wears Prada) and Chris Messina as Eric Powell (how he put up with his wife's constant meltdowns I'll never know.) But again, when the most likable characters are the supporting characters, there is something wrong.
Overall, it was "cute," but not something I need to see again or own. I'd be curious to hear what other people think.
I don't know what has gotten into me. I have been so motivated to work in the yard and go non-stop all week. Today was the 4th straight day that I've created an ultra-busy day from morning 'til night.
This morning I woke up earlier than I wanted to, spent a little while sitting in the backyard reading, and then realized that, yes, I did have the energy and the time to do that last flower bed today. It was the only thing standing between me and a 100% completed backyard. After a good breakfast, I set to work cleaning out that rascally thing, all overgrown with weeds and calla lilies popping up hither and thither. Those blasted things are impossible to get rid of! I dug until I hit the bulbs, but I know there are still some I missed that are going to start popping up again. I need to stay on top of them.
The cleaning out took a good 2 hours, plus distributing new soil until I ran out. After some errands and lunch at Ruby's Diner with Mom, I went to the nursery and stocked up on colorful flowers. I didn't even start planting until 5:30pm and finally finished at 7:30pm. Then of course there is putting away all the gardening tools, throwing away the empty containers, and cleaning and sweeping up the dirt and debris.
I'm so proud of myself! It is going to be a festival of color once the flowers start to fill in!
CLICK ON PICTURES TO SEE THEM FULL-SIZED...
STEP 1: Blecch!! This area needed to be cleaned out so badly! It's a big job... STEP 2: OK, big progress, need to add some dirt and smooth everything out, but it already looks a lot better! STEP 3: All done! Ah, the feeling of satisfaction is awesome! And, all through the day I was followed around by my 2 little gardening buddies, Bailey and Ramius. I finally got a shot of Ramius up in the orange tree and a really cute picture of Bailey. They were both underfoot all day! Can you find the kitty? On the branch above the birdhouse...
Attention Buffy and Twilight fans! A friend just shared this on Facebook and I thought I'd post it. It is a cleverly edited 6 minute video that splices together clips from the Buffy series and the Twilight movie. It's very well-done and sometimes even funny, thanks to Buffy's endless sarcasm.
If I seem prejudiced, I am. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of my top 3 favorite shows of all time, and probably the cleverest of them all. Still, this is a lot of fun, especially if you're familiar with both stories. Who knew that Edward was stalking Buffy on the side?
Today I set aside as the day I would plant a new round of flowers in the backyard. Because I have such large windows in my house, the backyard really feels like an extension of the house, and I feel a responsibility to keep the yard looking nice. You see it the minute you walk through the front door.
I purposefully got up nice and early so I could get to the nursery before it got too hot. There were some cute planters I saw the other day and I got 4 of them for the corners of my brick patio. They match the planters along the wooden fence. The good thing about the planters I got today is that now, Bailey the dog won't be able to pee on my flowers! I got them for the looks, but it's a perk, that's for sure... I also learned about a new potting soil, called Danish Potting Soil. Apparently it has more peat moss in it and holds the water longer, so you don't have to water as often and it doesn't dry out as quickly. Good for CA weather and for people like me who can get kind of negligent about watering sometimes. Got 3 bags of that. Another upside is that the bags are much lighter.
So I did the 4 new planters around the brick, the 5 planters along the fence, and 3 pots. I was in the mood for pinks, red, purples, and white. Bright and deep colors. Got lots of dianthus and a few vincas and pansies. Let's see if the pansies do better in these planters off the ground. Sometimes they attract bugs when they're in pots on the ground. I also got 2 pre-planted color bowls for the front porch. One of these days I'm going to have to plant more flowers in the front yard. I also need to clean out the area under the kitchen window in the backyard and plant some flowers there. Another day...definitely, another day.
From the nursery trip to the final clean-up, the whole project took about 3 hours. Wow, was I hot and I tired. I went through 3 bottles of water and really had to rest. The sun was blazing by the time I was done. After a little while I also went out and trimmed the birch tree. It was getting a little out of control.
OK, pictures! The 4 corners of my yard. I recommend clicking on the pictures to see them full-sized. It's hard to see all my hard work in these tiny little ones! The wall planters up close... And, as always, there are leftovers because I end up getting more flowers than I need just to be on the safe side. They turned out pretty good! The front porch got spiffed up a little bit too. I hope I don't forget to water these! (An occupational hazard with them in the front of the house...) I'm feeling very accomplished these last few days! Selling my car, tons of errands yesterday, and gardening today.
And, on a more solemn note, yesterday I went to the cemetery and visited where my sweetie, Brad is. I found this really pretty bouquet of red-dyed sunflowers at a local market and felt inspired to take it to him. I've been thinking about him a lot with all the improvements on the house. I wish I could share that with him. 3 years he's been gone. Wow. Feels like so much longer. This picture turned out really pretty. My sweet, sweet man. He was so wonderful. Sorry, I don't mean to end on a bummer note! The last few days really have been very good. Busy and good, good and busy. Click on any of the pictures to see them full-sized.
How cool is this? One of my mom's friends from her Tuesday night Weight Watchers receptionist job is in a commercial. Jennie is the gray-haired lady responsible for the "head-butt" at the end of the commercial. Funny! We were just at her house last week. She recently started getting into commercial acting, and here she is!
Above is the "victory" picture. Xander walking around the pond at the top of the waterfall after a very determined climb up approximately 30 steps...
You can't take pictures of the Arboretum without including at least one of Queen Anne's Cottage...
...and a peacock!
