The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - a movie review

A long time ago I read "this" book by "F.Scott Fitzgerald." At that time, in my youth, I deemed it both ‘a bit soppy’ and ‘highly improbable,’ because I read it as a ‘story’ and not as a literary critic.

For "one" reason and "another" when the movie debuted I failed to connect the book to the film. I wanted to watch the film but there was a lot of "stuff" going on at the time. By happenstance, as is so often the case, my "daughter" borrowed a copy from the library, watched it and suggested that I do likewise. It was a nudge. I was reminded of "This Mom’s" project and thought……why not just make the time? The trouble was that I needed a lot of time because the movie is nearly three hours long. So I did what I always do, cut it up into manageable chunks.

If you have elderly relatives or young children or if you're middle aged or just human, it's well worth finding the time for this poignant drop of escapism.

I won't add a spoiler but I knew as soon as the backwards clock was revealed. There again, it could just be that the recall was prompted by my original reading.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - a movie review

https://alien-in-a-foreign-field.blogspot.com/2009/08/curious-case-of-benjamin-button-movie.html

Evensong – I’ll have the nutty version

On Sunday Evening my jolly good neighbour hands me a plate of cookies with a warm and beaming smile. “And here’s a pack of diabetic cookies but they’re still frozen.” She has taken pity on me after enduring 30 minutes of my moaning about my catering woes. We chat about families, hers and mine, special diets and special needs. As she turns to leave she adds, “anyway, I have to get back now as I still have a bit of cooking to do.”
“Always cooking to do it seems.”
“Yes…….just enough time for divinity.” A string of words bounce up in a blue ribboned silk banner in my brain with gold lettering:- Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline but I cannot recall divinity?
“Divinity?”
“I’ll bring you some.”
“You will?”
“You probably won’t like it but the kids will.”
“!”
“Haven’t you ever had it before?”
“Never.”
“It’s just sugar , eggs and corn syrup, I’ll bring you the recipe next time too.”
“How delightful. "Thank you.”

Evensong – I’ll have the nutty version

https://alien-in-a-foreign-field.blogspot.com/2009/07/evensong-ill-have-nutty-version.html

Never trust a skinny cook*

Just before four in the afternoon, I put away the last clean, dry plate and pause for a cup of coffee, black. A couple of hours ago everyone was full of barbeque, salads, bread and cake, which took the edge off the hunger pangs after breakfast of pancakes, in-between morning snacks and afternoon snacks.

Because I am so badly organized, I haven’t managed to squeeze in a trip to the supermarket as the prospect of dinner looms. Some time between now and 6 in the evening, I am doomed to hear those fateful words “what’s for supper?” Right on cue, my husband appears, “so how can I help with dinner?”
“Give me suggestions about what to cook?”
“Don’t we usually have left-overs on Sunday?”
“Yes……..but they’re aren’t any, left overs that is to say. In fact, come to think of it, I’m sick of the sight of food. My brain has died. I have no imagination. I can’t think of anything.”
“Ah…….so you’re in need of a little inspiration?”
“That or a cheap slave.”
“To eat or to help?”
“Quite frankly, I beginning to wonder how I’m ever going to keep up with all these permanently hungry people? It’s a complete nightmare. Either I’m shopping for food, cooking the food or cleaning up after the food.”
“Hmm….so ‘and Nonna makes 8’ is proving too much?”
“Not exactly. It’s just the sheer quantity. Everyone seems to have hollow legs. Just think of something……anything……..an idea?”
“Do you know I heard an interesting discussion on the radio about why women were such abject failures …….under-represented in public life.”
“!”
“I mean……too busy with domestic duties.”
“!”
“Sounds like a take out is in order.”
“Ooo you do have the very best ideas.”
“I do try. I expect Mileva Maric would have been a public figure if they had take out back in those days.”
“Who?”
“Oh……Mrs. Einstein.”

p.s. I actually have quite a few adults around here that help a great deal but I do martyrdom so well.

* "Nonna's" favourite phrase.

Never trust a skinny cook*

https://alien-in-a-foreign-field.blogspot.com/2009/07/never-trust-skinny-cook.html

Wool Gathering

I sit down for the first time at one in the morning on the small patch of dry carpet with my knitting and a glass of white wine when my bleary eyed husband walks in. He shouts over the din of the washer and drier playing catch up.
“Blimey. Am I married to a secret drinker?”
“Well that's certainly a plan.”
"Why are you wearing that old sun-dress?"
"It was the only thing I could find in the dark after my shower."
“Why are you sitting on the floor?”
“Because the rest of the carpet is still wet even though I’ve steamed cleaned it twice.”
“Ah. Do you want me to help you move the furniture back? It looks a bit odd piled in the corner.”
“Tomorrow when or if the carpet ever dries.”
“What’s that terrible stink?”
“Bleach in the bathroom, swiffer liquid throughout the kitchen and hall floors of his flight path and essence of vomit here and generally around the bazaars.”
“Ah. Why didn’t I hear any of this?”
“Probably because you passed out after you changed the last bed again upstairs.”
"Well they're fast asleep now. I'm sure they'll be fine by tomorrow, batteries fully re-charged again."
"Now there's a fact guaranteed to aid sleep."
"Happy 4th?”
“Cheers!”

Wool Gathering

https://alien-in-a-foreign-field.blogspot.com/2009/07/wool-gathering.html

Ivory Wedding Anniversay

"Let me make this quite clear. I don't care how tired you all are I want everybody there, bright and early at breakfast for our gift exchange."
"Sure. Are you expecting a surprise?"
"I am expecting something duty free from the airport shop."
"Oh."
"However, he will be receiving a minor heart attack in a box."
"Really? What did you have in mind?"
"Something age appropriate for an old codger."
"Such as?"
"Meet Fred. I look positively youthful by comparison."
"Are you sure about that?"
"!"

Ivory Wedding Anniversay

https://alien-in-a-foreign-field.blogspot.com/2009/06/ivory-wedding-anniversay.html

Ware were you when I needed you?

I talk to my pal on the phone as I am in need of a therapeutic moan.

“It’s just impossible. Rarer than hens teeth. I knew I should have bought them in England. Even after all these years, this country is completely infuriating. The most basic items are totally unavailable. How do people cope?”
“So……..what exactly is it that you’re lookin for now?”
“Sheets. Proper flat floral twin sheets. See! I even know to use the word ‘flat’ and the word ‘twin’ even though it’s really a single because I’m so completely acclimated now.”
“I recognize that catch in your voice, so you won’t get the sarcasm past me this time.”
“Hmm.”
“Stop sulkin why dontcha. We’ll figure this out. I’m sure just about all the high street stores will have them.”
“No. I don’t want to physically go anywhere. I need to do it on line.”
“Of course, wouldn’t like you to have to rub shoulders with the natives would you?”
“Don’t tease. I’m I a foul mood.”
“Like I didn’t notice? So. What’s the main issue?”
“When you look up floral sheeting the results show loads of sites for some weird stuff to decorate floats!”
“Hmm that makes sense.”
“It does?”
“Yeah. So what happens when you search on floral flat twin sheet?”
“You get ‘sets’ of bedding. I don’t want a set. I just want one single sheet, or maybe two.”
“Single or twin?”
“Two twins. Is that what I mean? Yes, I think it is. It’s all so confusing. I’m toying with Paisley. Do you have Paisley out here or do I have to translate that too?”
“Of course we have Paisley.”
“Anyway. I think I’ll just have to find a source of sheeting and make them up myself but it would be so much easier if I could just by ready made sheets instead.”
“So who’s into Paisley and florals?”
“No-one in particular. I may just have to admit defeat and get plain.”
“Plain?”
“Solid.”
“Ah.”
“But I can’t find anything wide enough. Everything seems to be 90 or 115?”
“What?”
“Oh……36 or 45. No use to man nor beast.”
“So how big is the bed?”
“Bed?”
“Yeah. How big is the…..mattress that want the sheets for?”
“I don’t want it for a bed.”
“But I thought…….what do you want the sheet for?”
“For the table. Now we’re 8 in the family we’ve had to drag out the big table top and I don’t have any table cloths big enough to cover it, so I thought I’d use sheets instead.”
“How big is the table?”
“In metric?”
“No imperial.”
“Er…..that would be about……84 inches or 2 yards and one foot by 5 foot or 60 inches…..ish.”
“!”
“Did you just snort? Did you snort on the phone?”
“Er…..I may have done….so how come yur not lookin in table where?”
“Table where?”
“Ware! Table WARE!”
“Because my table is too big for tableware table cloths.”
“Dya know, it just kills me to tell you this but 84 by 60 is pretty much standard for an American table.”
“!”
“What can I say……everything in America is bigger and……”


Tip of the day

Best way to avoid sun burn = garden in the moonlight and take advantage of your jet lag.

Ware were you when I needed you?

https://alien-in-a-foreign-field.blogspot.com/2009/06/ware-were-you-when-i-needed-you.html

Enterprise allowance – child exploitation

My daughter moans about lack of funding just as her big sister returns from pulling poison oak in Santa Cruz, dressed like a yetty for protection. I observe the girls in silence as I pot up seedlings which are technically weeds.
“Geez you look disgustin.”
“Disgusting but rich, which suits me just fine.”
“Rich?”
“Yes indeedy.”
“Howmucha got?”
“That’s for me to know.”
“Can I come with you next time?”
“You’ll be at school I’m afraid.”
“How can I get some money too?”
“Work.”
“Can I do some chores for money Mom?”
“You already do your chores to earn your pocket money….er……allowance. There isn’t really anything else that the budget can stretch to right now dear.”
“Maybe you could set up one of those American lemonade stands in the summer?” offers her big sister.
“I need money now. I can’t wait til the summer.”
“I don’t think they have paper rounds out here do they? How do children earn money do you suppose?”
“When she’s a bit older she can do baby sitting.”
“I hate babies.”
“Well that’s another career door slammed shut.”
“Maybe you could make something to sell? Friendship bracelets perhaps?”
“What are you doing mum?”
“I’m just making these little paper pots and plopping weeds in them. Mainly Morning Glories and Tomatoes. They seem to have seeded the entire garden. I really need to conquer the compost heap but I don’t want to just throw them away.”
“Geez I could sell em!”
“Er……I was going to give them away to my friends.”
“Friends suck. I’ll set em up at the end of the driveway. What’ll they cost? $10 bucks each?”
“In your dreams dearie. More like 25 cents if you’re lucky.”
“Really? Still if I sell four that’s a dollar.”
“Now hang on a minute. If you’re really going to do this then we should do it properly.”
“Properly? What’s properly?”
“First of all, you need to be making the pots, finding the seedlings and filling them.”
“I do?”
“Yes……unless you want to pay my wages for making them for you?”
“That sucks. How much do you charge?”
“I believe you said the going rate is ten bucks an hour?”
"Make that ten pounds Mum. Much better exchange "rate!"

Enterprise allowance – child exploitation

https://alien-in-a-foreign-field.blogspot.com/2009/05/enterprise-allowance-child-exploitation.html