Hi Ren; National Flags in Food

It’s so dangerous to make rules. I made one once, about cowboy culture. I couldn’t stand westerns on TV, so I wouldn’t watch any western movies. And I loathed country music and southern American accents. I couldn’t stand all the Stetsons and boots in Calgary, and all the guns and garters in the cars in Dallas. And then I read Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner. It became one of my all-time favourite reads.

When this video popped up on my YouTube home page, I clicked on it because I thought the title image was of an Indian man playing a musical instrument. Instead, I got the film below. As I started to watch the video, I quickly realized it was a young Caucasian man with a guitar, and when he started playing, the heaviness of his fingers on the strings told me we were in for an angry ride.

I was enthralled through every second of this film. And, as happened with Angle of Repose, I find myself thoroughly engaged and impressed by an artform outside my fields of interest. It certainly isn’t for everyone, but this is as intimate as I have ever heard in a song. This is music taking you inside of a place I can’t imagine. I think this young lad just might be a genius.

This ain’t background music. This is pay close attention music.

I am about to kind’a rap my story of illness (FND) in the monologue festival, telling my story using components of song, rhyme and rhythm, to achieve fluency. I feel kinship with this amazing young man who turns his experience with mental ill health into art. 

I don’t go out much. I cannot attend a movie in a theatre or a concert or a play. There’s too much likelihood of being triggered to a seizure. I don’t want to be disruptive in public. So, I get my culture online. Finding this fellow and this film thrilled me.

I think I may have to get started on my Halloween costume for something to do. It will give me something fun and interesting to do on rainy days and on evenings. It will also give me something to write about and document with photos on my blog. 

I plan to go ‘all out’ with this costume. It’s a chance for me to show off my paper costume skills. I’ve decided to build it as was built a suit of armor: a single costume built of component parts. And … both costumes require an assistant to don. If there’s dancing, my costume will be a convenient excuse not to dance. If there’s loud music, I’ll be leaving.

I’m building a costume for Flamboyo Narcissi, an Italianate dandy. The challenge involves creating all these component parts and engineering their cohesion invisibly.

Elaborate Crown

2 earrings

Elaborate fluted collar

2 shoulder pads

2 Upper arm shields

Breastplate

Backplate

Necklace

Breast ornament

2 sleeves

2 cuffs

Skirt – 2 sections

22 leggings

2 cuffs/shoe covers

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The weekend was a lovely slow couple of days, as was Monday. As I do so little now, I am not posting as regularly as I used to. I have nada to say, but come the good weather, I’ll likely have photos to share and things to tell you. Come Thursday, we expect a week of sunshine and temperatures in the low twenties. YAY!

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I’ve finally found someone who’s given me a date and time to commence work splitting my felled and bucked trees. He’s coming tomorrow morning. I’m a little worried that he will freak out and leave when he sees the size of the bucked pieces, but if he does, I’ll just ask him to do the smaller ones and see how much wood I get. 

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I’m chuffed! I’ve very, very comfortably lost 8 pounds since I decided to do something about my weight three weeks ago. I’m losing 2.5 pounds a week and I feel really good about it.

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To promote the Sydney International Food Festival, Australia's largest food festival, the imaginative team of the Australian advertising agency, Whybin/TBWA, created a collection of 18 national flags using foods native to each nation:

Greece

France

Switzerland

Thailand

Australia

Spain

India

Indonesia

USA

Italy

Japan

UK

Brazil

Viet Nam

Turkey

South Korea

Lebanon

China

Movie Mania

Thursday night, I watched a movie called Keep the Change. I thought it was a wonder of a movie. I knew nothing about it, I chose it because in the synopsis, the protagonist is described as a filmmaker. Quite quickly into it, I took a disliking to the protagonist. He was rude and coarse, and we learn this as we watch his encounters with women he meets online. The other thing he does, is go to a social group program for Jewish people wherein everyone is differently enabled. Our protagonist, David, wears dark glasses and sits outside the group. 

I won’t reveal the rest in case you want to see it. I think it is an extremely powerful and emotionally compelling film. As the credits rolled, I watched for names because I was so impressed and fulfilled, I wanted to write a fan letter to the screenwriter and the director.

I love movies that reveal something unfamiliar. That’s why I love foreign films. Keep the Change slips me into sympathy and understanding of a very different way of living. And it’s American! Go figure.

Last night I watched a wonderful, and very, very French, film set in Provence. It concerns a family of four—2 grown sons and the parents who run a small corner grocery store in their village. It’s sunny almost every day in the film, the views of the scenery are spectacular, it’s in a thick heavily accented French of southern rural France. What’s not to like?

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This past Monday, very suddenly, my speech got bad. Today, I could not run my lines aloud, and I can barely talk to friends. It’s very, very difficult to get words out. I haven’t written about my voice like this in a year. I can’t even make a sound when I try to run my lines.

This situation surprises me because I don’t do anything except go for walks, do grocery shopping, read and watch TV. I’m nearly always at home, which is my favourite place to be, and I rarely see anyone except my dog walking friends. Plus, it’s Springtime, and I’m not stressed about anything. I’d expect my speech to be good.

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It’s a very damp Saturday. The clouds are thick, so I am staying indoors with Her Highness and the cats. Another day like every other.

My new favourite bird.

A '⭐️' Shines

Wednesday began with a walk in the cool morning air with Sheba and our friends, then I came home to clean and tidy up before the arrival of my tiny audience. What was nice, was waiting but feeling confident. I know my lines.

Everybody arrived right on time, and before I knew it, I was done. It was nice having my dog walking friends in for a bit of a socializing as well as the monologue. But what a blast my ‘performance’ was. It was my first time, with an audience, that I have done it perfectly. I was very, very pleased with the entire experience. My friends loved it. They were kind and generous with their praise. I am stoked and ready!

Once it was done, they left, and the sky had cleared. It was a lovely sunny late afternoon, so Sheba and I headed off to the park to play fetch together. It felt wonderful in the sunshine, and I felt wonderful inside about the success of the monologue. We had a great time in the park, and then I came home to celebrate with cookies. I’ve had no sweets for the past five weeks. 

The evening was spectacular. I was relaxed and I felt very, very good about the monologue and to be free of the clinic. Life is wonderful!

Today has dawned dark, damp and cool. What’s new? But come Monday, temperatures rise and the sky clears. We’ll be close to 20° next week and I am ready! I’ll spend the day chillin’. I’ll read, maybe do some shopping, and Her Highness and I will do our usual walks.

I ❤️ Kanopy!

Well, I now have a working cell phone, but what a process it involved. I pity my fellow seniors who, like me, must tangle with the demands of this technological age. I found the whole process very trying, getting it set up and working. But it’s done now.

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Last night I watched a Turkish film. Kanopy now has a zillion films online for streaming that are “free.” Kanopy limits me to 10 films per month, but the “free” films don’t count so I can go to Kanopy every night. Every night I watch a movie. There are no commercials and I nearly always watch foreign films. I particularly love watching films from Africa, Russia, Poland, Serbia, Cuba … countries that make films that feel free of conventions of Western cinema.

I’ve seen some mighty odd films, but I watch each one to the end. Some, I will never forget. I love immersing myself in the sensibilities of the culture of the film. I also love stories in bright sunshine—especially when set in a coastal community. I love films about food and flowers, documentaries and dramas. I’m not a fan of comedy, really, but I’ve seen some great comedies at my Pinecone Park Film Festival. 

Watching a (preferably un-dubbed) foreign film leaves me feeling like I’ve been away, and I have been away from my world. I am free of all the shite in the world. 

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I do another ‘performance” of my monologue this afternoon. Next week, I do it at the local library. I have no more such rehearsals planned but I hope to do some for friends—live or on Zoom. I run my lines to myself or out loud (quietly) as I walk Sheba in the forest trails. I know it all well now. I am so happy to have it set and I’ve another month to go before I do it.

My friend, Judith, is a publisher. She is part of my small dog walking group that walks together three times a week. Her company is a big deal here, partly because of the success of her books, and partly because she provides interesting jobs for locals. We walk often about films and books. I really like Judith and her partner, Anthony.

She was greatly taken with my monologue, bless her. She was effusive afterwards. But we walked together Monday morning, and she told me something that was kind of lovely. She told me how wonderful it was to “discover” me. Judith and I have walked together three times a week for well over five years. We have a good sense of each other, and we all like each other. What she enjoyed was discovering a part of me that she knew nothing about.

I once had a similar experience. My dear friend, Dianne, became the head of the BC Film Commission, and one day, at some large arts gathering of some kind, our paths crossed. I merely attended the event. Dianne made a speech. I was incredulous as she spoke. I was, at once, astounded by her professionalism and speaking skills, and bewilderment. It was like I was seeing a genius twin sister of my friend.

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We’re back to rain and it’s still cool. I’ve to get through the rest of this week with wet and coolness, but next week is looking more like real Spring weather. I can hardly wait.