The main highway has reopened, other roads in the area have been closed. The snow continues to drop like a veil from the sky. Gusts of wind make it difficult to see, even from the living room window; I can just imagine how poor visibility is from the vantage point of a moving vehicle.
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There was some kind of activity next door today. It could have been that they are taking out trees, because from time to time I heard a chain saw. What a day to do a yard clean up! Hold on, I resorted to peeking out through the closed blinds, master spy! They had a man in an elevated basket, with a chain saw, lopping smallish branches from the trees. From the sound of all their high volume verbal communication, they were having a great time.
Attila managed to make it home for lunch, but could only get the car into the driveway far enough to get it off the road. Then he had to shovel that out before he could get the car out of the driveway, to go back to work after lunch.
My day began at 3:30 a.m. My first thoughts were a clue to why I needed to be awake. I awoke thinking about a film I recently watched, Amour, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, and Isabelle Huppert among others.
“SYNOPSIS
Georges and Anne are in their eighties.
They are cultivated, retired music teachers.
Their daughter, who is also a musician, lives abroad with her family.
One day, Anne has an attack.
The couple’s bond of love is severely tested.”
Source: Sony Classics
I will think about what this film meant to me until I find myself thinking of it no more. I found it touching and deeply disturbing. So, as the white snow flew through the dark night, I sat thinking about how sad it is, the way illness and vulnerability are dealt with in the modern world. It always touches me deeply when people manage to find dignity in difficult circumstances. The everyday hero/heroine has so much substance.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
SNOW SQUALL WARNING IN EFFECT
-11°C
Date: 3:41 PM EST Wednesday 11 December 2013
Condition: Cloudy
Pressure: 102.1 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: -11.0°C
Dewpoint: -14.9°C
Humidity: 73%
Wind: NW 8 km/h
Wind Chill: -16
Quote
“Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness – I wouldn’t know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness.”
Aaron Copland
1900 – 1990
There are no Like buttons on your marvelous photographs, so accept this as one.
Thought about renting Amour. Don’t think my dad needs to see it, given that his daily reality is, or was until recently, much the same.
Trintignant is 83 today!
Thank you Steve-Paul.
I feel for your Dad, and celebrate his courage. The film is intense, and as you say, your Dad has lived that story, it would not be entertainment from his perspective. I cried. My thoughts have returned to the characters, their circumstance, and their courage over and over again.
Trintignant, 83! What an actor! He and Emmanuelle Riva had me in the palm of their hands throughout the film, and still, today.
Was that movie in French or English? Since I don’t speak or understand most French, I don’t enjoy watching a movie that I have to “read.” That said, however, I saw a movie on TV a while back, called VOLVER starring Penelope Cruz. It is a Spanish movie with subtitles. I watched it all on TV by myself and couldn’t turn away. I’d never seen her in a whole movie before, and she was fabulous, even though I couldn’t really understand the words. The subtitles were very brief and easy to read, but you just know that the characters’ dialog was much more than what the subtitles were showing!
I went and bought that DVD for Paul – he loves Sophia Loren and in this movie, Penelope Cruz was like another Sophia Loren in her heyday… it’s a movie I highly recommend. It’s very touching concerning family matters and has a lot of comedic aspects but mostly is a drama. She shot up to the top of my favorite actresses list with that movie.
The movie Amour is a French language film. I watched it on Netflix, and the subtitles were large and easy to read, fading in importance once I got used to them. The dialogue is relatively sparse in the film.
I will try and find Volver, it might be on Netflix; it sounds interesting!