I find this quote true in my life. How about you?
One Liner Wednesday
14 Replies
Going Home
Can we go home again?
One of my all time favorite films is The Trip to Bountiful. It is a tour de force performance by Geraldine Page for which she received the Academy Award for Best Actress. Supporting cast members are John Heard, Rebecca De Mornay, Carlin Glynn and Richard Bradford. The screenplay is by Horton Foote based on his play The Trip to Bountiful. You might remember him because he did the screenplay for the film To Kill A Mockingbird.
One theme of this film is about the desire to return to the place where you felt most at home. The nostalgia for earlier times in our lives when we may have been happier.
Carrie Watts (Geraldine Page) is an elderly widow who is living with her son and daughter-in-law in a cramped apartment in Houston. She wants to make a visit to her family home in Bountiful, Texas once more before she dies. Her son and daughter-in-law can not or do not want to understand her need to make this one last trip.
She plots to hide her pension check and make her escape by bus or train while her son is at work and her daughter-in-law is out of the house. She has made attempts in the past but they have always caught her.
Carrie has some behaviors that really get under her daughter-in-law’s( Jessie Mae) skin. She loves to sing old hymns all day while doing housework and she is always rushing about the apartment in spite of her heart condition that brings on a few fainting spells.
The opening music for this film is an old hymn that gets me weepy every time I hear it, ” Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling. ” I am not really very religious. It is just very soulful to me. Anyone familiar with the old southern hymns will recognize many that Carrie is fond of singing.
Carrie needs to make this journey home to complete something in her life. To lay things to rest. As the film progresses we learn the story of her life.
Another theme in this film is the relationships between parents and children and how these relationships impact their lives. It is about how these relationships bind them together. And it is about how people can be bound to the land.
Have you wanted to return to an earlier time your life? Have you wanted to go back to a certain place? Would going back help to complete something in your life? Like completing a circle.
Have you even seen this film? What were your impressions of it?
All Quiet on the Western Front
Today, November 11, is Veterans Day in the US. It is when we remember the veterans of our wars. It is too bad we have so many wars to remember but we can not forget the men and women who fought in them even if we hate to remember the wars.
I have noted that many of the British bloggers are remembering Armistice Day. My husband always reminds me that Veterans Day was originally remembered here for when WWI ended as well.
Just recently we watched one of our classic DVDs All Quiet on the Western Front. It was based on a book by the same title written by Erich Maria Remarque. The film was the winner of the 1930 Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director. This was before my time but I have been aware of this film for quite a while.
Even though this film was made long ago it still has a universal appeal and message. The setting is WWI but it could apply to any time and place.
It is about a young man and his friends who are caught up in the nationalistic fervor of their country during WWI. They are idealistic when they enlist and go off to fight for their country. The young men quickly become disillusioned and it becomes a fight for survival. This film gives a realistic depiction of what is what like for the soldiers who fought in that war.
The message of the film is the great human waste of war and how it swallows up our youth with all their potential lost.
The Nano Poblano Oddly Specific Gratitude Blog Hop
My good friend Rachel has nominated me to add my list of things I am grateful for to this long list of what other folks in the Team Pepper are grateful for. Check out Rachel’s blog Could Do Worse – to read about adventures in London.
Here’s what to do:
- Add to the list with your own oddly specific bits of gratitude. Add as few or as many things as you’d like. Include a picture or two if you’d like… but you certainly don’t have to. Put your name at the top of the list to see where yours started and the next blogger’s begins.
- Tag the post with the usual pepper tags and oddly specific gratitude.
- Tag another pepper to add to the list by linking to their About page, but there’s a catch! When you tag the next blogger, be sure to include a bit about why you’re grateful to be in the same blogging world with them.:) (Try not to tag anyone who has already been tagged that way more people get to join in the fun.)
The List of Oddly Specific Gratitude
Nerd in the Brain:
- the smell of wild onions when I mow the lawn
- coffee makers (having the coffee already prepared in the mornings is magical)
- the way my crazy dog barks likes a vicious beast at the horses across the road, but then cowers behind me like a needy wimp whenever a horse actually comes close
- hearing my husband talk on the phone to the rest of his team at work… it reminds me that he’s not just my silly, sweet, awesome husband… he’s also my competent, responsible, highly skilled husband
- opening a blank lesson plan book and imagining the possibilities to come
- sausage balls
- watching Grace’s enthusiasm for all things musical
- the way I can hear a smile on Olivia’s face whenever we say hello or goodbye on the phone
- knitting with really soft, squishy yarn
Not a Punk Rocker
10. Getting a random text when Matthew is in cell-signal range. (“Hi”)
11. Awesome stuff in the mail, including Legos and letters from friends, making me smile when I need it the most at the end of a long day.
12. Cherry chapstick.
13. Somebody found my blog by searching for “deadpool talks about political social issues” yesterday.
14. Skype and chat for keeping me in touch with friends in “real-time” when one or the other of us needs it the most.
15. Finding new blogs to read and follow through this challenge!
Jackie P (tobreathistowrite)
16. Having friends like I do here in the blogging world. You all make my days brighter.
17. My dog Sam. He loves me unconditionally, wish more people could love like that. Plus, he makes me laugh daily.
18.Coffee. Without it the world would be a much sadder and thirsty place. And I would be a much harder person to deal with.
19. All the bright and cheerful colors around. Something about bright colors makes me happy. The gold of the sun, the cerulean blue of the sky, the wonder of a rainbow, they never cease to make me glad I’m alive.
20. Books…… you all know what I mean.
Fish of Gold
21. Spell check. Even though it did just strangely try to correct my horribly botched spelling of “another” to “Antoine.” I don’t even know anyone named Antoine, spell check.
22. I’m grateful to myself for being the sucker who couldn’t walk away from my dog’s cage at the animal rescue. My failure to do so has converted 70 dog pounds into a metric ton of joy and unconditional love.
23. Male’s hilariously failed attempts at sexting.
24. My sense of humor. I wouldn’t have survived this long without it.
25. To the Peppers for continuing my harebrained Nano Poblano Blog Hop Story idea and turning it into something unexpectedly awesome. Go Team Pepper
26.I also second #18.
Knocked Over by a Feather
27. My aunts Oreo truffles. They are addictive.
28. Finding my comfy spot in bed.
29. Receiving a spontaneous real hug from my daughter, which rarely happens.
30. Watching stupid TV with my husband.
31. Hearing my mom call me sweetie or something similarly saccharine sweet on the phone
Mental Mama ( Mental in the Midwest)
32. the world’s best tiny mommy
33. Evie and Sissy Cats
34. lithium, depakote, and gabapentin
35. the world’s most amazing support network
36. good dark chocolate, preferably with cherries
37. the jumbo margaritas at Romeo’s – lime, on the rocks, extra salt
Mark Bialczak
38. My dear wife Karen for buying me two season tickets for Syracuse University football six years ago, going to every game with me (but one when she went on a cruise) since and turning home game Saturdays into Happy Happy days win or lose.
39. That Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle usually looks like this on the end of the living room couch and her specially covered ottoman daily come 10 p.m. after a day of enthusiastically ruling our Syracuse city home we call Little Bitty
40. That Karen talked me into going to the Paws for the Cause rescue dog event that March day four years ago when we saw Ellie marching around in her orange “Adopt Me” vest.
41.That my daughter Elisabeth was smart enough and confident enough and brave enough to go back to school this fall to get her associate’s degree and New York State certificate to become a physical therapist’s assistant, 2 1/2 years after getting her bachelor’s in biology.
42. That writing every day on markbialczak.com since Oct. 27, 2013 has turned out to be so much fun.
43.That Sheena Not a Punk Rocker talked me into hosting Nano Poblano this year, allowing me to meet so many interesting new bloggers! Wait. I want to add two more exclamation points to this one!!
Coulddoworse (Rachel or Lundygirl)
44. The park that I walk through four mornings a week
45. Iced fingers
46. Crochet and blogging; though never at the same time
47. making something beautiful
48. flowers
49. Hot toasted sandwiches with my family on a very rainy bank holiday.
50. beauty that you see in the detail
51. Great memories to mull over and enjoy.
Notes Tied On The Sagebrush
52. I am grateful that I was able to copy this whole list with pictures and get it pasted on to my post without messing it up at all, I hope.
53. I am grateful for my kids xoxo, and my husband xoxo
54. I am grateful to read good books, and watch good films
55. Good food, good wine and good friends
56. That I live in the state of California, USA
57. Discussions with my blogger friends and getting their support for my writing
The List of Oddly Specific Bloggers
I nominate Linda G. Hill because she has always been so gracious to me on her blog site. I really like the way she encourages all the bloggers in her events to read each others posts. It really helps promote community and is very nice for newcomers as well.
|Nano Poblano| among other things.
Our DVD Collection
I love reading books and I love films.
We have quite a library of DVDs we have acquired over the years. We do not buy them as often lately. I borrow many DVDs from my local public library.
I recently purchased some great DVDs from PBS that I thought would be good additions to our collection. They were on sale so I decided to go for it. My husband and I have been watching them the past few days.
A perk of owning DVDs is that you can watch them over and over. If I haven’t watched something in a while I forget enough parts of it that I can enjoy it all over again. Or even if I remember the story, because I love them so much, I don’t care how many times I have seen them. Like re-reading a beloved book. I may even see more of the nuances that I may not have seen with the first viewing.
I like collecting older films or classics. We have a few. One reason I want to collect them is I am afraid that eventually we won’t be able to find them. That they won’t be available anymore. It is like old books that go out of print.
We just finished watching The DVD of Mark Twain by Ken Burns. Very good. It is a 2 Disc set. It covers Mark Twain’s life from beginning to end. It includes many great and funny quotes and excerpts from his books and some great photos. I really love many of his quotes and will be using them from time to time. There are interviews with some Mark Twain scholars, Hal Holbrook and Arthur Miller. It has special features that go into the making of the film and more Mark Twain quotes and photos.
The scholars, Holbrook and Miller share their knowledge, insights and impressions of Twain’s writing, motivations and personality. It is interesting to hear about the man behind the writing.
We all like to think that we are revealing our truth(s) with our blogs. Here is a quote from Mark Twain about honesty:
I think we never become really and genuinely our entire and honest selves until we are dead–and not then until we have been dead years and years. People ought to start dead, and then they would be honest so much earlier.
Do you like having your own collection of films? Have you watched this particular film about Mark Twain and what did you like about it or learn from it? Do you have some favorite classic or older films?
|Nano Poblano| among other things.
Day of Rest
Now that I have found my voice I am getting tired of hearing myself talk.–D.
Introverts do not like making small talk. I think blogging daily is like trying to make small talk. I wondered if blogging is for introverts at all. I googled the topic and found an old blog about it. It claimed that introverts like to blog because it is easier for them in that they do not have to talk to someone face to face. That is probably true but on the other hand to endlessly blah, blah, blah is not the introvert way.
So today I am taking a day of rest from blah, blah, blogging. Happy Sunday!
Do you think bloggers are introverts or extroverts?
|Nano Poblano| among other things.
Zombie Fishing in Lake Michigan
When I first saw the headline in the Huffington Post it did pique my curiosity. Oh no! Could this be another environmental disaster? There have been stories about zombie fish. Thank goodness they are not some horrible mutant caused by toxic pollution. The fish become zombies because they are shocked with an electric current so scientists can study their health status. The fish recover and are released back into the water. Although some people argue that being shocked with electricity is not a great experience for the fish.
Another zombie nature story that is not as benign. I was upset to read about zombie bees. There are so many accounts nowadays of the severe environmental stresses on honey bees. Now there is a parasitic fly that has been invading the bee colonies and using the bees as a host for its eggs. As a result of this parasite the infested bee’s behavior becomes very erratic and they demonstrate zombie night-time activity. Fortunately they die right after they begin to act this way.
So when I saw the headline that they were fishing zombies out of Lake Michigan I reluctantly clicked on it. I was relieved to find that it was not about any poor creature, neither human, animal, fish or insect becoming a zombie. Turns out a Halloween barge with a bunch of mannequins dressed as zombies sunk during windy weather. Now they are fishing them out of the lake.
I can see this as being the impetus for a good horror tale. ” Yup, we were out there fishing those zombie mannequins out of the lake when we noticed one of them looked like it had flesh rotting off of it. Then it’s eyes opened and it let out this high pitched inhuman scream……..” Or maybe a new reality TV show like ” Already Dead Catch.”
Huffington Post: Crews Have Been Pulling Zombies Out of Lake Michigan
|Nano Poblano| among other things.
Going Batty
“She’s got bats in the belfry, squirrels in the attic, owls up in the loft. She’s apeshit, bughouse, batty, mad as a march hare” –by gramaticon
Bats are interesting. I have heard their echolocating cries in the evening. They do eat insects which helps control the insect population. I am glad we do not have any in our attic or any nearby belfries however.
When I first started posting daily for NaBloPoMo and Nano Poblano I thought I would go batty. I have gotten a bit less batty lately coping with the demands of writing.
I do attempt to read others blogs and courteously check in on most of the people who like mine. It has been nice to meet some new blogger friends.
One of my goals has been to connect with other writers and I think these events have helped.
So thanks to all the bloggers who have visited, liked and commented on my blog. Hope you keep visiting and I get to know you better. And welcome to anyone who may not have visited yet.
Inspiration
There are a multitude of synonyms for inspiration like fountain, spring, root, well, guide, creativity, vision, spark and illumination.
Sometimes when I re-read my writing, after I have had a good session with words flowing, I think to myself how did I come up with that thought expressed in that way?
I am not sure from where in me this creativity originates. Is it part of the brain? I think more likely the soul because it is spontaneous. It is not contrived or mechanical.
Some have credited a muse or external source. A spirit guide or angel.What do you think is the source of your creativity? Is it external or internal?
|Nano poblano| among other things.
Different
” Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” –Apple Inc.
Abolitionist and Suffragette
Too Passionate
I think there is a passionate temperament. A person that can feel so strongly. There have been many times when I have been standing upon my soapbox and declaring my opinion about something I found wrong in the world.
During those times of strong emotion I have noted others looking on calmly, almost disinterested. I have thought to myself how can they not feel anything about this? How can anyone not feel strongly about this ? How can people feel so dispassionately about things? It is like they are already dead.
I realized that I was different.
It is not just passionate indignation that I feel. When you have the capacity for strong feelings you can feel great joy and elation as well. Like when you see something you find beautiful or hear music that you love.
I am glad I am different if it means to feel deeply and be more aware in the world. Maybe this is why I always wanted to stand up for people’s right to be different. To be who they truly are.
Have you ever felt different or been told you are different?
|Nano Poblano| among other things.
Notes Tied On The Sagebrush 