Lars and the Real Girl…

Every once and awhile I see a movie that I just loved and don’t want to forget…Lars and the Real Girl struck me that way. I had this on my Netflix list for so long that I didn’t remember why I added it on in the first place…didn’t remember which review I read that got me interested…didn’t remember reading the plot line…didn’t remember if it was considered comedy or drama…Now I don’t know why I didn’t read more about it when it first came out. Sometimes you just need a movie that makes you smile…

It is funny, but it is more than a comedy. It is a very sweet and very quirky story of how a family and town reacts to the delusions of a lonely man. Well written and well acted, it doesn’t shove the reasons for or the consequences of the delusion in your face but lets answers slowly develop…Do I think a town this caring really exists? …No, but if it did I would want to live there…

Things I liked about this movie:

• Ryan Gosling…he made it real…

• The costumes…the sweaters! I couldn’t find a picture of the “horse vest”

• The accepting community – at church, work, or the mall!

• And the screenplay by Nancy Oliver…I always enjoyed Six Feet Under too…

Sweet 100…

Finally…

Mr J helped me pick some cherry tomatoes…

They just needed a little bit of salt…

…the taste of summer, even if very small…

What in the World?…

You know there has been too much rain when you find mushrooms hanging from the trees on your local walk…

…I haven’t tried to look these up yet but they sure look like upside down mushrooms…

 

 

 

They seemed to be only growing on the same type of tall shrub…but were very abundant…

 

 

 

I’m guessing it will be a good year for all types of fungi…

32…

Another birthday celebration…This time Happy Birthday to my firstborn!…

How I wish I had a digital camera in 1977…

Ms O…the beautiful woman on whom I had to learn everything about mothering and who is now doing a wonderful job mothering her own children…I am always amazed at how lucky I am…

And her husband Mr H has a birthday in one week…

…In case anyone is counting, that is 4 birthdays in 3 weeks!

Potluck Dish…

I wanted a nice, simple vegetarian and gluten-free side dish for my weekend get-together and my very best friend shared a recipe she found and adapted.  It is so simple and yummy that I may keep it as my “go to” potluck dish…Originally called “Wild and Nutty Rice”…she made it with quinoa…a gluten free grain…

…so I guess I’ll call it “Wild and Nutty Quinoa”…

First cook 16oz. of quinoa according to the package…it cooks a lot like couscous…

 

 

 

It looks a little like couscous too ….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…

 

 

While that is cooling,  lightly toast about 1 and 1/3 cups of sliced almonds…nothing exact here…

 

 

…

 

 

The recipe next says to add 1 and 1/3 cups of raisins but I had some wonderful dark, chewy apricots from Trader Joe’s…not the soft mushy kind that stores seem to think everyone likes now… so I chopped some up to raisin size…

…and combined them with golden raisins…

…then slice a bunch of scallions…

…. get the zest and juice from one large orange…and 3 Tablespoons of olive oil..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…and combine everything  together…

So simple…and I bet it tastes good made with the rice too…

Feline Aids…

…is something I never heard of until yesterday.  My ten year old cat, Miss Sally, seemed to have a red watery eye all weekend , which I ignored due to a house full of guests…and Sally tends to hide when we have guests.  Tuesday I got an appointment at the vets and Sally was diagnosed with feline uveitis…an inflammation inside the eye.  The question that now needs to be answered is why did she develop this infection…A battery of tests were taken and today I heard that my cat tested positive for Feline immunodeficiency virus.   Tomorrow I talk to the vet again…

…Today I am having fun hiding pills in sardines and putting eye drops in eyes…

First Sail of the Year…

Usually I manage to go out with Mr O for my first sail on our sailboat sometime in early June…Not this year though…This year it was too cold and rainy to go out until July…

A few days earlier we had some help getting the boat ready….

…And after a sail? or even a non-sail?…naps, lobster rolls,  and ice cream…

Queen Anne’s Lace…

Legend has it that Queen Anne, the wife of King James I,  was challenged by her friends to create lace as beautiful as a flower.  While making the lace, she pricked her finger, and it’s said that the purple-red flower in the center of Queen Anne’s Lace represents a droplet of her blood.  In reality this spot attracts insects… It was  interesting to discover that if the cut stems of this flower are placed in colored water the white florets will absorb it…much like carnations do…I will have to try it someday to impress the grandchildren…

This is one wild-flower that has always been ubiquitous in my area…maybe over-looked …but always a sign of summer for me.  Thanks to a summer library booksale I came across this William Carlos Williams poem…

 

…

 

Queen-Ann’s-Lace

by William Carlos Williams

 

Her body is not so white as

anemony petals nor so smooth – nor

so remote a thing.  It is a field

of the wild carrot taking

the field by force; the grass

does not raise above it.

Here is no question of whiteness,

white as can be, with a purple mole

at the center of each flower.

Each flower is a hand’s span

of her whiteness.  Wherever

his hand has lain there is

a tiny purple blemish.  Each part

is a blossom under his touch

to which the fibres of her being

stem one by one, each to its end,

until the whole field is a

white desire, empty, a single stem,

a cluster, flower by flower,

a pious wish to whiteness gone over -

or nothing.

27…

Happy Birthday to my youngest…Mrs. R…

 

 

 

From 1982…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…to 2009…

 

 

 

How quickly these 27 years have gone by…how much has happened in these years…how proud I am of my beautiful, accomplished,  adult daughter…here’s to you my dear!

And to Mr. R  who had a birthday two days earlier….

The Fish Tale Diner…

The Fish Tale Diner…on the Merrimack River in Salisbury,  Mass…is a beautiful old wooden diner that is fortunately still in use and just across the river from the city my sister lives in…In  beautiful weather we sat on the deck overlooking the river…but I love it just as much indoors in the warm wooden interior…

 

The ceilings are curved, the booths still have juke boxes with push buttons, and the breakfasts are yummy…

 

 

…If you’re too late for breakfast I can highly recommend their fish chowder…I thought it was the perfect thing to eat while sitting under an umbrella watching the ducks and the river traffic…

   

 

…I love coming here with my sister…

Simple Pleasures…

Simple summer things I’m loving…

• black-eyed susans
• a sunny day!
• the smell of warm strawberries
• goldfish pretzels
• New Yorker magazines
• Campari and soda
• Grandchildren hugs
• Watching the Red Sox win or lose
• Sitting in the dark with the smell of honeysuckle and watching fireflies
• Adam Lambert on American Idol
• Switching from a charcoal grill to a gas grill
• Adirondack chairs..old or new
• watermelon and feta and mint together
• farmer’s markets and flea markets
• the solid feel of my little camera
• sailing with Mr O on Little Narragansett Bay

Thanks to Christina of SoulAperture for hosting a Simple Things day which started me thinking about this list…I’m sure it will get longer…