2008-10-05

We had a beautiful day of rest, with cool breezes and golden, russet and red leaves beginning to fall. Since it was a “mass in the grass” and the blessing of the animals today at church, I decided to pass on the service. There was no choir and no place to sit. So my morning was a delicious relaxation into the world of Sunday puzzles. Mick scoured the house and got everything straight for another week.

We sat down to our first of two movies with lunch. Then She Found Me starred Matthew Broderick, Colin Firth, Bette Midler and Helen Hunt. Hunt also co-wrote and directed the piece. It was an OK film romance but the tempo was annoyingly slow. Helen Hunt, listen up! For your next film, pace things more briskly!

Midler stole the show as the mother who decides, when her daughter is in her mid-twenties, that she wants to form a relationship with her. Hunt is the daughter she gave up for adoption at birth.

I am glad I watched the film, because I greatly enjoyed watching Bette Midler walk. I’ve loved her work for twenty-eight years, ever since I saw a performance film of hers in 1980. She is a stunning talent, a wonderful singer and a deft comedienne. And her walk is unique. It is almost a trot. It takes high heels and I could practice it for a lifetime and not get it. I’d know that walk anywhere. Think Jane Fonda on short legs.

We broke for a nap and then segued into popcorn and film number two, Bonneville. What a treat! Firstly, the screenplay caught something very hard to nab about losing one’s mate. It is not a time for logic. Jessica Lange should get an Oscar nomination for her very focused and nuanced portrayal of a woman who has lost her husband.

She is forced by her husband’s daughter, played with killing style by Christine Baransky, to drive cross-country from Idaho to the California coast with her husband’s ashes in order that his cremains can be buried next to his first wife's in the family plot. Lange and her two best friends, played to perfection by Kathy Bates and Joan Allen, set out in a 1966 Bonneville and have a wonderfully wacky trip of it.

The production values were terrific. Each part of the country was given loving cinematographic attention. There was a fetching sound track. Most of all, the film shone with affection as this superb ensemble took us for a ride. The depth of their co-acting was amazing and true to the bone.

Dan D. Lion McCarty Cat had his second day outside, meeting up with Talkie, the very large, old, nearly toothless and completely clawless outside cat which resides across the street in our neighbor’s yard. There was a terrific din and Mick found the two at it. It was Dan D’s first serious fight. He came away unscathed but shaken and spent a large part of the remainder of the day hiding in the garage. I am so grateful his first battle was with Talkie! Hopefully he will continue to prevail in the inevitable fight for supremacy in his territory.

Mick offered the prayer at the close of the Gaia Meditation tonight.