2007-02-17

It snowed all day, off and on, here, not ever enough to cover the roads, which had been salted to a nicety, but a lovely treat to the eye. I took a day off after Morning Offering and had my nails trimmed up in the morning, and then set out with Carmen T for a girlfriend lunch. We tried first to go to “211”, a restaurant which specializes in very wholesome, organic cuisine, but they were booked, so we drove down Frankfort Avenue until we found place called Sweet Pea. The food there was so good! This has been my week for delicious food. They specialize in southern comfort food, so Carmen and I indulged in fried cod for her and chicken fried steak for me. Everything was prepared beautifully, even the humble cole slaw being unique and delicious.

We then went to Margaret’s to do some consignment shopping. I got two pairs of good denim jeans and two skirts, plus a couple of really lovely sweaters that had been used so gently they seemed new to me, at a very good sale price. However we had to cut the afternoon short because my health problems ganged up on me and I became quite unwell, although hopefully I was the only one who was aware of the full extent of that! In the end I was very glad I had asked to go home early, as the snow got heavier towards the end of the afternoon, and I was thankful to have both Carmen and me home safely before the darkness fell. When that occurred, snow started covering the streets.

Jim was very kind to me in my state of discomfort, tenderly helping me bathe and then treating us both to a home movie, The Black Dahlia. This is a theme weekend! The Departed, which we saw yesterday, features the corruption, helplessness and hopelessness of little people – and big ones too – caught in the machinations of their own schemes and the blackness of their own hearts. So does the Dahlia film. Martin Scorsese and Brian de Palma both find a real pleasure in delineating these dark pathways of the human heart.

The Dahlia film was notable not for its plot, which was intricate and confused, or for its characterizations, which were a good ensemble of actors representing thoroughly ungrateful characters, but for its sepia-toned homage to film noir. I longed for a good blast of primary colors and just plain daylight long before the film ended. Nevertheless I salute the impeccable effort to recapture the film atmosphere created by Humphrey Bogart films like The Maltese Falcon. It was well done.

By bedtime I was feeling a bit better, but so grateful for my own bed! While Jim was cleaning the kitchen after the Gaia Meditation, I started watching The Long Kiss Goodbye – or a title like that – on TV, and by golly it followed up the theme of depraved people and perverse fate with panache, actually an excellent movie, perhaps the best of the three. Its production values were quite high and the ensemble work by the cast was outstanding. Jim got hooked on it when he joined me, and we watched it through before saying good night at 11 PM.

Happy Day Off! And Happy Snow! It is good to have a real winter at last.