Monday, November 24, 2003

cloudy, with a chance of sunshine

i'm working on a "review" of the novel i've mentioned here before, American Woman, and will be putting it up on The Biblio Philes pretty soon.  other than that, i'm trying to put one foot in front of the other until weds p.m., when the all-too-tiny thanksgiving break will start.  i try to sound newsy and cute and interesting and funny (sometimes) here, but the truth is i am none of those things.  in real life, i'm an exhausted depressive who suffers from panic attacks and insomnia and fibromyalgia.  when my SO reads this journal she is always amazed at how it doesn't sound anything like the tormented wreck of a person she knows.  so, there we are.  hello, it's me, the tormented wreck.  on a monday afternoon in november.

the weekend was pretty good.  the three movies were terrific, every one of them.  and we did see all three:  "Winged Migration"  "Whale Rider"  and "Bend it Like Beckham."  three very different movies, having only "artiness" in common.  and the fact that none of them came to the big screen in our area.  so it's good that there's blockbuster.  Winged Migration was stupyfyingly beautiful, spiritually overwhelming.  one of my  passions in life is birding. G and i have spent our best hours  traipsing through woods, across beaches, up hillsides, all over this country, with binoculars and bird books.  we have a dear friend in MA who is our bird mentor and guide, who got us started on this path.  i could happily do nothing but bird, and once we quit working, that's our plan. 

anyway, after we saw this film on saturday night, we got up early on sunday morning and went up to Bombay Hook, a wildlife sanctuary on the Delaware River.  (where you can look across to New Jersey and see the nuclear power plant puffing steam into the air.  appropriate symbolism for the age in which we live.  a wildlife sanctuary in the shadow of a nuclear reactor.)  we spent some magical hours there with the geese, ducks, herons, hawks...even a very close bald eagle sighting, and what may have been a juvenile bald eagle.  then to dover for an enormous amount of very good mexican food, and home to grade papers. 

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooh! The only one of the 3 movies you mentioned that I didn't get around to seeing is "Whale Rider"...heard it was great, though. Birds (and trees) have always been a challenge for me to correctly identify! Anyway, your weekend sounds phenomenal...!!! Glad the wildlife sanctuary still has life -- given its proximity to the nuclear reactor!

Anonymous said...

I find it hard to believe that you are a "tormented wreck of a person," but Mondays in November have a way of bring that out in people.

Anonymous said...

truly, you don't sound depressive at all. you always sound so gay (in the traditional sense of the word, that is). what a fun day you had; i haven't seen any of the movies you mentioned, which is odd because i do like indies. i guess it's just a busy movie season, hopefull will get to it eventually.

Anonymous said...

ah, dear silly people...i speak the truth. you don't have to believe it, but it remains the truth. i have my bad days and my better days, yes, but on the whole i'm much less than delightful. especially within myself. a howling wilderness in here much of the time. exercise helps.

Anonymous said...

Did you love Bend It....? I did. Elle and I saw The Station Agent yesterday and Bonhoeffer today. Saw Fr. Rochus coming out of Bonhoeffer. The documentary was very very good. Bly's poem in your Biblio Philes reminded me of Bonhoeffer and his fellow resistors' attitudes about keeping quiet as sparrows during Hitler's rise to power..

Anonymous said...

Alright. I believe you when you say you feel a wreck. Why put on the face for us--let all hang out and see what happens. We'll still be here reading you.

have I told you before that reading this is like reading my own--well, the one I don't necessarily write? Except I haven't seen any of the movies yet....and haven't been to Bombay Hook--but have now put it on my list of places to see in spite of the nuclear reactors nearby. Thank you.