Dead Birds Or Art?

Leslie Caron in "Gigi" -Notice the feathers. Magnifique!

Hello Fellow Travelers!

This past week we went "back east" for a wedding.  The bride is a cousin of the PS.  The wedding was spectacular!  The bride was beautiful, the wedding party was adorable, the mother of the bride was resplendent in my favorite color, the food was awesome, it was, in a word., perfect and I was thrilled to be a witness to the celebration.  One very special detail for me was where we sat, or more specifically, who we sat with.  I sat at a table with a European woman in a stunning red, column dress that was beautifully fitted.  She even had a great name - Oona.  She undoubtedly had great shoes too but I don't remember.  What I couldn't stop looking at was her "hat".- a small, whimsical, confection, that complimented her hair and skin.  Oona wore this tiny chapeau at a rakish angle, cocked to one side, like an afterthought.  Very French!  Tres chic!

Other ladies rocked feathered hats which mostly looked like molting birds stuck on their heads, proving Coco Chanel's maxim, "Not everybody can wear a hat".  Or my own maxim, "Not everybody should wear a hat".  Thankfully, hats are more of an option, an accessory not a requirement.  Being incapable of leaving any seat without assistance I greatly appreciate something, a flower, a stylish watch, a great hairstyle, an interesting brooch - art.  Oona's ornament was like the bubbles in champagne - magical, fun!

After a final day of NY exploring (the entire city needs a anti-bacterial wipe) we boarded a plane for home.  I really believe that planes are death traps.   I'm extremely claustrophobic.  Airplanes are just a few seats strapped onto tons of jet fuel - could explode at any minute  Add a spider and you'd have all my phobias in one place!  So I was pleased to utilize the TV/Movie feature on the plane.  I've been watching a lot of horror films lately so I when I saw "A Ghost Story", was available, (wouldn't need close watching, sounded simple) I chose it. I thought it would be a pleasant distraction.  Like my disastrous burned eyebrow experience (don't ask) it was nothing I expected!  If I had bothered to see who was in it, I'd have known not to select it.  It starred Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara - two of the gloomiest actors in film today!  You want to know why I didn't know Mr. Affleck was even in this?  Of course you do. Affleck wore a sheet with eyeholes!  He rarely speaks and when he does it's in subtitles!  Seriously!  A sheet!  (Despite the crappy costumes the film tackled "big" questions)  It required my full attention.

A heartbreaking and a serious view of the "afterlife" .  Another view of love perhaps  Really stupid love.. Mopey actors wearing sheets and being way too serious - like burned eyelids, it was nothing I needed or wanted.  I like movies that don't say much.   Movies that you don't have to actually follow.  Movies you can start watching and instantly know where they are.

I totally "get" NYC and I understand why people live in New Jersey.  I will never understand a lovesick ghost wearing a flowered topsheet.

I Am Always Trying To Be Ready For Surprises - Even Good Ones

Long Duck Dong from "16 Candles"  -  The Donger

Hello Fellow Travelers!

One of the many devices I have absorbed into my post-astrocytoma life is replacing my wristwatch with a Fitbit.  A Fitbit still tells time but also tracks heartrate and physical activity, useful information for me.  Apparently, to reset anything in a Fitbit you have to use a dongle, seriously, that's it's technical name!  Yep.  A dongle.  It's in the owner's manual.  Actually seeing the term "dongle" in print, had me in 80's hysterics!  My PS figured out how to reset the time/date without a dongle, but the idea that "dongle" is a word for a Fitbit part still cracks me up!  Just hearing that "you need a Dongle" was hilarious!  I didn't just want a Dongle, I needed one.  To quote Molly Ringwald's annoying little brother in "16 Candles", "Classic!"  Ha-ha!

In another example of a happy surprise, the PS and I went to Woodland to visit a retired priest who had undergone some horrific surgery. And he had a stroke.  The information we had was that he was living with "sisters" in hospice care,  I know what a DNR is and I've seen people in hospice so I had an expectation of sorts:  silent nuns in wimples, lots of quiet prayer, dark lighting, maybe incense?  Maybe not.  Very somber.

The reality?  We arrived at a sunny house to a very sunny woman!  Fr. Mike was in a bed in the living room, front and center under a colorful indian blanket.  The "sisters" are not nuns they are actual sisters. Energetic sisters.  Sisters who really care about Fr. Mike's recovery, sisters with a plan.  No one in that house was ready to "go into the light". Hospice?  Nahhh. It's definitely a rescue scenario not a recovery situation - he's recovering with some friends who care about him.  I don't know much, but I know something about brain trauma and rehabilitation.  I hope I see him again, soon.  I connected with him, and I think I could help him on this part of his journey.  He's at the beginning, I already have a few exercises and rehab toys he can use.


A word about the current crop of Hollywood sex scandals, and I think I speak for most people here, "Eeeeeeuuuuuuwwwwwww!"

And that's all I have to say about that.