Wendell Berry

Gosh, bad day yesterday, apparently.
Anyway.
Today was better. For one thing, acquired two new books, one of which is "A Timbered Choir" by the farmer/writer Wendell Berry.
Here's a sample:

Coming to the woods' edge
on my Sunday morning walk,
I stand resting a moment beside
a ragged half-dead wild plum
in bloom, its perfume
a moment enclosing me,
and standing side by side
with the old broken blooming tree,
I almost understand,
I almost recognize as a friend
the great impertinence of beauty
that comes even to the dying,
even to the fallen, without reason
sweetening the air.

5 Mistakes All Women Make

Or so says this snippet.
Can you think of others?
I'll add one (which is purely biographical but probably applies to others): How women rake ourselves over the coals. Over. The. Coals. Rebuttals?

Pretty in Pink

Here's an interview clip about the 1986 John Hughes film "Pretty in Pink." Sadly, Hughes died today, of a heart attack.
This movie definitely was part of my era. There were others lumped into these "Brat Pack" films, including "Some Kind of Wonderful," "St. Elmo's Fire," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "The Breakfast Club." I've been trying all day to think of a favorite; but each one has its own merit.
Funny but Andrew McCarthy, interviewed in the clip, was chosen for the part largely by co-star Molly Ringwold. In high school, my girlfriends and I would go on and on (and on) about our deep crushes on him. Our guy friends didn't get it. They'd whisper to us that he was gay. And we'd hit them.
Rest in peace, John Hughes. You "got" us.

'Grudge' report

Holding a grudge can be bad for your health. Or so says this blog.
Learning how to let go and forgive old hurts can help with blood pressure and other ailments. Who knew?

Boy Interrupted

If you get a chance to see this on HBO, do.
Michael and I watched it last night. It's gripping. Sad and tragic and awful, and gripping. If you know someone who suffers from manic-depression, this likely will be helpful. (Though it's not an instructional documentary by any means.) Each family has to navigate its own way through mental illness. Unfortunately there's not a road map.
Yet there are tools, and more and more tools everyday. I'm thankful to this particular family for shedding even more light on an often misunderstood, misdiagnosed and maligned illness.

Gratitude

"Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul."
--G.K. Chesterton

I'm grateful to and for these friends. Part of a reunion weekend for us, they (and others not pictured, who couldn't come) shaped me even beyond my knowing. Thanks be.

Melissa d'Arabian

Egads. We watched this Food Network reality show last night--what's the world coming to? (We typically would want to have a root canal before watching a reality show.) Melissa d'Arabian, a homemaker, defeated the rest of the competition, and will get her own cooking show. The fact that she's a homemaker probably gave her the edge--an Everywoman who has to juggle life like most of the rest of us; and yet she had time to come up with inventive recipes and communicated them well.
The part of me that dislikes competition (hence the dislike of reality shows) wanted her and the runner-up to win. I always feel for the loser. He was just as talented. But they didn't ask me, haha.