Seasonal – Page 2 – Karen's New York Love Affair

Christmas in New York 2018 – the Rockettes!

I’m going to make a new Christmas tradition, shared by many New Yorkers and tourists before me, to see the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall for their annual Christmas Spectacular.

Outside Radio City - Christmas in New York — *Outside Radio City Music Hall*

I saw them for the first time last year, on a dream date with a guy named Guy, and I was super excited to see the show again this year.

Christmas Balls outside Radio City Music Hall — *Christmas Balls*

My friends Sally S. and Heather F. (of 9 W. 10th St, my former home) know people connected with the show, including the people who sew all the sequins on the costumes (in a tiny tailor’s shop in Chinatown) and one of the former dancers. These creme de la creme fraiche dancers do up to 4 shows a day! Sally told me the choreography has been the same since the 1930s. The repertoire is too big to do all the numbers in one year, so they switch them around, with the most popular numbers being performed every year. For example, the precision dance of the toy soldiers.

Radio City Music Hall - Interior — *Waiting for the curtain to rise. During the show, the entire proscenium arch becomes a movie screen.*

There is something so fascinating and mesmerizing about the chorus line, when they are all kicking their legs in unison. I don’t know why I love it so much. It is thrilling to see, and it never gets boring… Sally, who is a prominent member of the dance community of New York (founder of the International Tap Society, on the Bessie Committee, teacher, author, etc.), said this question has occupied the dance world for decades, if not centuries, with no clear answer!

Children's choir at Radio City Music Hall — *Each year, children’s choirs perform a pre-show Christmas carol. How cute is that?*

This year I attended with my friend from work, Sally M.

We had a fantastic time, and I can’t wait to see the show again next year!

Karen’s Holiday Kvetch: Delta Airlines Sucks – WestJet Airlines Far Superior

Dear friends, it is the holiday season, and things can get chaotic, especially with a full moon like yesterday. Up until now I’ve been having a great time in New York, taking in wonderful holiday events like the Rockettes at Radio City.

But then it comes time to leave the city… And I had the most annoying non-travel experience yesterday, due to Delta Airlines’ thoughtlessness. So let me take you on a holiday kvetch, if I may…

At 6:10 am yesterday, I was prevented from checking my bags, and hence from boarding my 7 am flight to Seattle, and then endured 6 hours of the most frustrating phone calls you can image. I found Delta Airlines’ customer service to be appalling, and vow to never fly on this airline again if I can help it.

Since I couldn’t board my flight without checking my bags (though there was actually time for me to go through security and board the flight), I had to miss the flight entirely. The alternates I was offered were to pay $7,000 to book another flight the same day, or to do an overnight flight involving 5 hours’ layover in the middle of the night at LAX. Just imagine the fun! All because of a misleading statement on the Delta Airlines boarding pass… Followed by the worst customer service you can imagine, both at the airport and on the phone.

By contrast, this is the thoughtful information that WestJet sent me for the replacement flight I booked with them:

Hello Karen Y, your WestJet flight leaves in less than 24 hours…
Please remember that Holiday travel is the busiest time of the year at the airport, so give yourself the advantage of a little extra time. This email contains your flight details, and will help you check in easier. We look forward to welcoming you on board…
We strongly encourage you to arrive at the airport a minimum of two hours prior to your scheduled departure, to ensure that you do not miss your flight. Due to a higher than expected volume of guests traveling, and current U.S. Transportation Security Agency (TSA) staffing, excessive security wait times are expected.
Changes at Calgary International Airport – When you arrive at the new terminal, you no longer need to pick up your bags when you go through Canadian customs. We also recommend you allow for extra time to reach your next gate; in some cases, 25-30 minutes may be needed.

This information is so thoughtful, and tells me all the details I need to know. Plus, they offer one free checked bag!

And this is their boarding pass:

By contrast, this is what Delta said on my boarding pass, which I printed after doing an online check-in the night before my flight:

Imagine checking in online at 11 PM, tired from a week of work and a day of Christmas shopping, packing, and wrapping… Wouldn’t you be delighted to see you only need to get to the airport 75 minutes ahead of time for a domestic flight from New York to Seattle? Well, I was, and set my alarm for an extra hour of sleep, getting up at 4:40 a.m., to arrive at the airport by 6 a.m., in time for my 7 a.m. flight. Note the wording “recommended,” implying 75 minutes is lots of time and you could even allow a bit less. At least that’s how I read it!

Imagine my shock when I was standing in the extremely long bag drop line, after waiting in my taxi 15 extra minutes to travel the last quarter mile at JFK, due to 5 lanes of jammed traffic, and saw the notice that bags must be checked an hour before the flight. I had not been informed of this in my emails from Travelocity nor on the Delta Airlines boarding pass. Normally I do arrive at the airport 2 hours ahead of time as a matter of course, but because of this notice of 75 minutes on the boarding pass, I didn’t do this. Hence I discovered the hard way that this 60-minute limit for bag drop is evidently the norm, which everyone knows but me.

Much hilarity (actually, many F-bombs) ensued, as I waited in Delta’s so-called “Rebooking” queue at JFK. There were over a dozen poor travelers ahead of me. There was only one woman at the counter, and each rebooking transaction seemed to require from 20 minutes to 90 minutes (as in the case of one woman in a white and purple blouse who was there the whole time I was, who must have had an exceeding complicated travel itinerary to reschedule).

After dropping the F-bombs, commiserating with others in the line, and noticing the line’s slower-than-snail’s pace, I made the call to Delta Airlines. Others in line began to do the same, trying to rebook on their phones, and eventually another Delta employee came over to hand out cards with the phone number to call to rebook. Never mind adding another person to the counter on one of the busiest travel days of the year. That would actually help people! Meanwhile, there was a crowd of a dozen Delta employees in matching t-shirts sitting in the next area, waiting to assist passengers with wheelchairs. Of whom there were none.

I called Delta (13 minutes), who said I had to call Alaskan Air because they were the “overarching” carrier for my itinerary, which culminated in an Alaskan Airlines flight from Seattle to Kelowna, BC. Geez! Alaskan Airlines (12 minutes) said they couldn’t help me because the first leg was with Delta. Next call–Travelocity. (40 minutes). This is where I found out my alternative travel options. (The aforementioned $7,000 trip or the appealing 5-hour middle of the night layover at LAX.)

I declined these options, and found a cafe on the arrivals level where I could do my own research. Within minutes, I had hot coffee, scrambled eggs, and a $660 WestJet flight to Kelowna leaving at 5:20 pm the next day, arriving at 11:21 pm (unfortunately requiring my sister Kim to travel an hour to pick me up, and then another hour to take me back to her home in Armstrong). Still a crappy option, but better than the others.

So, I sorted it out and was reasonably happy, due to Google, the coffee, and the eggs. I left the airport, and had a harrowing cab ride in a Drakkar-drenched taxi back to Manhattan. I opened the window to stop from choking on the stench. The driver kept looking at his cell phone and texting, while driving at high speed! I asked him to stop three times. Can you believe this? The third time he was actually texting while going over the bridge! Geez. Then he asked me if I want a ride back to the airport tomorrow (with him). Not!

So, finally I’m home, merely 3 hours after I set out…

But there’s one more matter to attend to, which is the exorbitant $80 in baggage fees that Delta Airlines charged me. No way was I going to let this ride, when they refused to accept my bags at the airport. (Did I mention the original flight cost $1,155!?? To fly from New York to Kelowna, BC! Plus this $80 fee for bags!!)

So at 8:12 am, I embarked on a new journey into unprecedented levels of frustration, until at 12:41 pm I finally got my baggage fee refunded. That’s right, 4.5 hours. 4.5 horrible hours of rage, helplessness, tears, shouting, MF-bombs, cajoling, insistence, and rudeness (on my part). The first call was to Delta, but they said Alaska had the money for the bags. The next call was to Alaska, and they said Delta had the money. Back and forth, on hold, being told one thing by one party, another by the other, until finally someone at Delta admitted they had the money and would give me a refund. Which took her about 30 seconds to do, as I saw the refund email pop up on my phone immediately.

Sheesh! By now it was after noon, and I felt like a complete wreck, and sadly lacking in holiday cheer.

I spent the afternoon on the couch reading a New Yorker article about dementia, and then went to see The Grifters at the Metrograph Theater on the Lower East Side–a very civilized theater with a bar in the lobby! Both very cheering activities, as you can imagine. 😉 These reconnected me to my beloved New York.

Thanks for tuning in to my holiday kvetch, and I hope you join me in boycotting Delta Airlines forever!

Halloween Hijinks

Halloween 2018 was the fifth consecutive Halloween that I’ve spent in New York. Since I’ve always stayed in the Village, I’ve seen parts of the Halloween parade and vast numbers of revelers every year. It’s a time of year I love, and I have marched in the parade dressed as David Bowie once or twice.

This year, on Halloween night, I went to a Barre3 class with my friend Sally M. The class began at 7:45, and the parade began at 7:30. I was pretty sure that it would travel up from Canal to the studio location on Sixth Avenue at W. 8^th Street during the class. Sure enough, about 5 minutes into the class, I saw a most shocking sight from the second-floor windows of the studio, overlooking both Sixth Avenue and W. 8^th Street. The sidewalks were crowded with people, from the barricades at the curbs to the edges of the buildings. Literally wall-to-wall people, as far as the eye could see, along the aforementioned streets and Greenwich Avenue, which angles up at this intersection. This is itself was a fabulous sight, and of course many people in the crowd were dressed in costume. The three “naked” men in bathrobes particularly caught my eye. I guess they were having a spa day…

Sally acting corny on Halloween — *Sally acting corny at Halloween*

Suddenly, the fervor increased, and gigantic skeletons appeared in the clear-road parade route. There were 4 or 5 bone racks, but they were so enormous there seemed to be more. They were long-limbed, with the skulls appearing at the height of our second floor windows, and the akimbo arm bones seeming to reach all the way across the street. I have never seen such a menacing sight! Especially as they were walking with a jerky, jarring motion (with hidden people on stilts walking along and operating the limbs).

Next came glowing green skulls, and then all manner of floats and individual celebrants. The parade went on for the remainder of the class, which was unusually small due to the fact that most people were probably in the parade or watching it. (The parade was estimated to have 60,000 marchers and between 1 and 2 million spectators this year—an unbelievable and possibly exaggerated number. I didn’t count that many, but if every block along the route was packed like the West Village segment, maybe it’s possible.) In any case, I didn’t mind the small class size, and took every opportunity to peek out the windows at the parade below. The teacher had illuminated the room solely with 4 disco lights in the corners. It was the most surreal and amazing class ever. What a lucky event!

As always, there were people on both ends of the political spectrum expressing their views at the parade. This pair make a pretty convincing Trump and Pence, with a cowardly lion thrown in:

And on the other side, Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” has something to say!

From Brooklyn Vegan: “2018’s theme, ‘I AM a Robot,’ brought lots of robot and android-inspired costumes, but the biggest trend of the night was politics, with tons of people dressing up as Donald Trump, his wife Melania, Brett Kavanaugh, Vladimir Putin, and other political figures. Many carried signs urging people to vote in next week’s midterm elections, as well.”

After class was over, my friend Marlene joined Sally and me, and we watched the parade for at least 20 minutes more. I dressed in my Bowie costume, and then we went down to W. 8^th Street to join the throngs, chased down the three men in bathrobes, and went for a drink and bite at Loring Place. A magical evening!

Karen Rempel views magical eclipse

August 31, 2017 – My friend Mike Rosetta took me “down the shore” to watch the solar eclipse on August 21. We went to the beach in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, a short beat from Bruce Springsteen’s hometown of Asbury Park. Much to my surprise, we had to pay $8 to go onto the beach. Another friend, songwriter Michael Graetzer, took this amazing eclipse photo in Central Park:

The eclipse was very eerie and beautiful. Clouds kept going by, so I lay on the sand with eclipse glasses on for about 2 hours, waiting for glimpses of the eclipse to emerge. I saw the whole path of the moon across the sun and it was magnificent and made me think cosmic thoughts!

Plus I think I finally understand that whole thing from grade 9 science, with the orange and the grapefruit and the pingpong ball.

Mushroom Soup

I took this photo series while I was creating the Warhol in the Forest treasure hunt for Val and Garry at Starshine Valley. It was mid-September, and mushrooms were blooming shyly, peeping out from grasses and bits of wood.

Mushroom Soup

VIFF Picks 2014

It’s the most romantic time of the year in Vancouver. Glorious fall, which brings us the most vibrant display of colour on Victoria Drive, and the Vancouver International Film Festival!

Here are my picks for this year. France, China, Spain, the UK, Canada, and the US are represented. I’ve mostly gone for light entertainment, romance, and inspiration, with some exposure to other cultures as well. As lovely as Vancouver is, it will be wonderful to experience the romance of faraway places for a while.

Miss and the Doctors, France – Romance, Women Directors, 102 min

Sunday, Sept. 28, 5:45 PM, Tinseltown

Two very different pediatrician brothers (Cédric Kahn, Laurent Stocker) fall for the same barmaid (the luminous Louise Bourgoin) in Axelle Ropert’s (The Wolberg Family) intelligent romance. “Reminiscent of… [the] cleverly scripted adult dramas of François Truffaut’s late period. It’s at once astutely observed and deeply, though subtly, passionate… The direction and performances are spot-on throughout.”—Hollywood Reporter

My review in brief: A charming film. All three main characters are wonderful. The men are heart-breaking. The woman is beautiful. It’s in French. It made me cry. What more could you ask for?

Dirty Singles, Canada – Comedy, 99 min

Tuesday, Sept. 30, 7 PM, Rio (on Broadway near Commercial)

Jack (Paul Campbell) and Meagan (Alex Paxton-Beesley) have got it all. They’ve just bought a house, they’re thinking about a family and they have a close-knit circle of zany friends that love them. A few hookups, breakups and breakdowns later, the circle unravels and then regroups in this sharp-edged and libidinous comedy from writer-director Alex Pugsley.

My review in brief: Ho hum. Not nearly as sexy as it was cracked up to be. Though I found Melissa Hood to be luminously, classily gorgeous and inspiring in her role as Caprice. A bit of sharp dialogue, but neither I nor my friend found ourselves caring about these characters. The emotion didn’t touch us. There was nothing fresh about the situations or insights. Nice to see real Canadian snow falling in some of the outdoor scenes, though! All filmed in a 3-block radius in Toronto.

Martin’s Pink Pickle (How could you resist that title?), Canada – Drama, Romance, 79 min

Wed., Oct. 1, 1:30 PM, Tinseltown

A boy follows his girlfriend to Hope, an ironically named town where his dreams die a slow death. However, his settled lifestyle is disrupted by a trip back to the city for a medical appointment, where he and a friend become stranded for 24 hours. René Brar tells the story of two troubled kids who never really grew up while examining the complex nature of relationships.

– And presumably filmed in Hope and Vancouver!

My review in brief: I enjoyed this one a lot, in part because of the familiar locations. Downtown Hope! Commercial Drive (in one very brief flash). The pier and tunnel at New Brighton. So that part was fun. The two main characters were very likeable, and the story revealed depth to Martin as it unfolded. Very moving use of archival photos, as well. In some random glitch of the universe, there were problems with the sound. After about 10 minutes of not being able to hear the main sound track, though the background sound was loud and clear, VIFF staff apologized and said the film would be re-run from the beginning. Since this was a film festival, we were all wondering if the sound was supposed to be like that. Was this a way to evoke Martin’s inner world—a sense of being cut off and distant from his life? This glitch might have done more to establish his character than the film would normally convey!

The Iron Ministry, China – Experimental & Avant Garde, 82 min

Thursday, Oct. 2, 9:15 PM, Cinemateque

Award-winning documentary filmmaker J.P. Sniadecki travelled throughout China by train for three years, capturing—with dazzling range and astonishing intimacy—the public and private spaces, faces and thoughts of Chinese people on the move. The film’s visceral forward-charging play of light and sound is pure cinema; what its Chinese passengers have to say to us is nothing short of revelatory.

My review in brief: A curious mixture of bleakness and hope for the future. Hearing the passengers’ views of the political situation in China was heartening. The overall feeling of the endless train noise, shaky camera view, and vibration was uneasy and vaguely disturbing. Some humorous moments and a feeling of shared humanity creating the most lasting impression of the film.

The Two Faces of January, UK, France – Crime, Thrills, Mystery, 96 min

Saturday, Oct 4, 9:30 PM, Vancouver Playhouse

Bizarre circumstances make reluctant bedfellows out of American con artist Chester (Viggo Mortensen) and Athens hustler Rydal (Oscar Isaac) in Hossein Amini’s absorbing 60s-set adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel. As they evade the authorities, Chester’s wife (Kirsten Dunst) finds herself torn between these seductive charlatans. “An elegantly pleasurable period thriller, a film of tidy precision and class.”—Telegraph

My review in brief: Entertaining and gripping. Beautiful faces, plot twists, and the drama of being on the run made this a fun movie to watch on a Saturday night. Some beautiful Greek scenery too. And a psychological element that added some depth and interest to the male characters. Kirsten Dunst’s character was more a plot element than a character in her own right.

Advanced Style, USA – Fine Arts, Style, Women Directors

Sunday, Oct. 5, 7 PM, Vancouver Playhouse

Prompted by Ari Seth Cohen’s wildly popular blog (itself indebted to Bill Cunningham’s guerrilla fashion photography), Lina Plioplyte’s inspiring documentary profiles seven New York women—aged “between 50 and death”—whose eccentric approaches to style and glamour reflect their inextinguishable vitality. “They reject the youth-culture diktat that age makes you invisible, and offer us all an example of self-acceptance.”—Globe & Mail

– This looks very inspiring! For us women of a certain age!

My review in brief: Advanced Style was fantastic, and the women attending at the Vancouver Playhouse put considerable effort into getting into the mood of the film with an amazing display of beautiful dresses and footwear! I wore my beautiful green suede boots with 5-inch wedgie heels. It was an uplifting, touching movie, very inspiring, and the director did a Q&A at the end. She started filming these women when she was about 25. She’s now 32. She spoke of starting to get wrinkles (give me a break!), and being inspired by the possibility of aging with verve. Definitely, it was very inspiring to see these women living life with beauty and style, not fading into the background. I was also interested in the New York setting, as I will be visiting there for the first time during the last week of October. They mentioned a few places in the film that I hope to check out while I am there: Patina Vintage Store in Soho (oops, seems to be closed now), Off Broadway Boutique (one of the women in the film, Lynn Dell, owns this store), and Katz’s Deli (where Meg Ryan had a very enjoyable salad!).

Advanced Style started as a blog by Ari Seth Cohen, because he appreciated the style and wisdom of older women, and loved roaming the streets of New York to take pictures of sassy divas. He is now taking pictures of stylish older gents as well.

Looking for Light: Jane Bown, UK – Fine Arts, Biography

Tuesday, Oct 7, 6:45 PM, SFU Woodwards

“An excellent, intelligent, and unfussily traditional documentary about a gifted artist who photographed many key 20th-century figures, including Mick Jagger, John Betjeman, Queen Elizabeth and Samuel Beckett. Now 89, a frail and lucid Bown reflects on her life… Others pay homage… and speak insightfully about aesthetics, technique, and the context of Bown’s work. Directors Luke Dodd and Michael Whyte’s austere filmmaking eminently suits the material…”—Guardian

– Mick Jagger caught my eye, of course! (I have removed the film promo pic after viewing the credits and seeing that Jane Bown asserts her copyright to all her photos. Though I am sure the film promoters had recevied the rights to use the pic of Mick to promote the movie, I will err on the side of the spirit of Jane’s wish.)

My review in brief: A gentle film, full of longing. I enjoyed this view into the quiet dynamo that is Jane Bown. The stills of her portraits were stunning, conveying the realness and complex humanity of her subjects.

Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed, Spain – Audience Award Winner, 108 min

Wednesday, Oct 8, 6 PM, Center for Performing Arts (777 Homer St.)

Spain, 1966. A hapless English teacher (Javier Cámara) hits the road for the strawberry fields of Almeria, hoping to meet his idol John Lennon. David Trueba’s whimsical dramatic comedy is delightfully unpredictable. “This small gem offers a lovely evocation of Spain as well as a touching tribute to an unforgettable moment in time…”—Hollywood Reporter. Winner, Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Goya Awards 2014.

My review in brief: I loved this movie: the characters, the Spanish countryside, the simplicity of another time. The film speaks to the desire many of us have to connect with the people we admire, and to feel we have made an impact. The fact that I could relate to one of the film’s bullies as he tended his meagre tomato crop shows the movie’s capacity for evoking compassion.

Blind Massage, China, France – Disabilities, Literary, Romance, 114 min

Thursday, Oct. 9, 9:00 PM, Vancouver Playhouse

Based on Bi Feiyu’s best-selling novel, Lou Ye’s sensual drama explores a Nanjing massage parlour and the desires of the sightless masseurs and masseuses employed there. As the camera and actors (including the extraordinary Guo Xiaodong and Qin Hao) grow as intimate as lovers and Lou artfully conveys how his characters experience the world, the film becomes “entirely engrossing…”—Variety. Winner, Best Cinematography, Berlin 2014.

– I had heard this was a practice in Japan, during my massage training at Esalen. I didn’t know it was also the practice in China. I wonder what they will see through their fingertips?

My review in brief: A major disappointment. I walked out. The write-up said nothing about the graphically horrible scenes of spurting blood that occurred in the movie. If I had wanted to see this, I could have gone to any slasher movie at the local multiplex. I wish I had walked out at 7 minutes instead of 70. Unfortunately, there was nothing about the skill and art of blind massage, which was what had interested me in the film. This is an ancient tradition, and I thought the film would honour it and provide insight. Sadly, no.

Last Minute Addition – Welcome to New York, US, France – Cinema of Our Time, 125 min

Wednesday, Oct. 1, 3:45 PM, Vancouver Playhouse

This fictionalized account of the meteoric fall of Dominique Strauss-Kahn is luridly rendered and lent enthralling velocity by Abel Ferrara. A sexually explicit sensory assault, it stars a magnetic, magnificently vile Gérard Depardieu as gluttony personified. The former IMF chief may go by “Mr. Devereaux” here but his transgressions and vices are instantly recognizable as those that came to a head—and made scandalous headlines—in 2011. While Devereaux controls the economic fate of nations, his debauched desires go unchecked, allowing Ferrara to craft a portrait of corrupt authority every bit as incendiary as Bad Lieutenant.

“A bluntly powerful provocation that begins as a kind of tabloid melodrama and gradually evolves into a fraught study of addiction, narcissism and the lava flow of capitalist privilege… Ferrara is no stranger to drawing great, uninhibited, end-of-tether performances from his actors… Depardieu is remarkable here on several fronts: He seems more present, more committed to the role than any of the several dozen he has played since Claude Chabrol’s Bellamy in 2009, and he charges brazenly into whatever breach Ferrara demands of him… When Devereaux is forced to strip nude by prison officers and must agonizingly contort his body to complete the task, it’s the actor and not the character who conjures our sympathies. Elsewhere, though, it is Depardieu the canny, empathic performer who finds a tragic dimension in the heretofore monstrous Devereaux…”—Scott Foundas, Variety

My review in brief: Wow! Very powerful film. A humanizing account of a sex addict. This movie was fascinating on so many levels. The documentary style was Dogme 95-like with its avoidance of background music to cue viewers on what to feel. The script was realistic, with unique voices for characters from the different milieux. Depardieu’s depiction was brilliantly complex—animalistic, self-absorbed, and yet with moments of brutal clarity about human nature. Jacqueline Bisset’s performance as his wife Simone was also an inspiration, particularly in the scene where she is almost drawn back into love with him through her own animal response to his body.

Final Addition: A Different Drummer: Celebrating Eccentrics, Canada – Comedy, 87 min

Friday, Oct 10, 1:15 PM, SFU Woodwards

Academy Award-winning director John Zaritsky (Leave Them Laughing), a bit of an oddball himself, returns with an engaging, light-hearted look at eccentrics. From a desert hermit to Denman Street’s Duck Lady, we’re introduced to those who dare, or are driven, to be different. Eccentrics are healthier and happier, as we discover in this funny, touching and thought-provoking film.

My review in brief: After the horrible experience of Blind Massage I had to add another movie so I could end VIFF on a good note. This film was the perfect antidote. An uplifting, inspiring celebration of people who are not afraid to express their uniqueness in the world. Check out the movie’s website and take the quiz to see if you are an eccentric! Bottom line: eccentrics seem to inspire people and bring joy into the world. And they are smarter than your average duck!

John Zaritsky gave a Q&A after the movie. Wow, this guy has won a lot of awards! He was able to reassure the audience that Laura-Kay is living in an SRO hotel on Granville Street and receiving medical care for her MS. Her duck is allowed to live with her. The film was inspired by a book by Dr. David Weeks that documents a 10-year study of eccentrics. Zaritsky contacted some of the book’s subjects as a starting point for his film, and he mentioned two eccentrics who declined to appear in the film. One of them was Lord Bath, a British peer who has 75 wifelets living on his estate! 😮

Zaritsky’s next project might be a follow-up film on the Thalidomide babies that he has filmed twice previously. They are now about 50 years old.

A bit about the study: “One of Dr Weeks’s most vexing diagnostic tasks was to distinguish between eccentricity and neurosis. “Simply put,” he says, “neurotics are miserable because they think they’re not as good as everyone else, while eccentrics know they’re different and glory in it.” After the research was completed, Dr Weeks and his team came up with a 15-point empirically based list of characteristics that define eccentricity.” From an article in The Independent.

Blessings for the winter solstice – pecan fudge pie!

May the trees rest peacefully this winter, under their blanket of snow. May the earth continue her turning, gently nudging the darkness toward light. May all beings be happy, fed, and warm.

The winter solstice gathering at Monkey Valley was cancelled due to early snow and overworked snow plowers. I drove out of the valley last Saturday evening, through 7 inches of sparkling, light, fairy-dust snow. I was very proud of the Tracker, in 4WD low and with new winter tires, for driving out of there like a tank, over 12 KM of unplowed roads! It was -15° Celcius, and the snow was still falling. Truly a magical drive, with the roads completely drifted over, and the snow-laden boughs of the pine trees hanging low on either side, giving friendly wishes for my safe journey.

So instead of having a gathering on the land, I will have a small tea party in Vancouver, taking tea with my friends Geoff and Azusa Blake. In honour of the solstice, I am going to bake a pie (instead of the traditional bread). I’ve never baked a pie before, so this is quite momentous! I’ve been inspired by my expert pie-making friend, Devona Snook. And just today my friend Tim Kelly gave me a fantastic book for travelling vegetarians, called Vegan A Go-Go, by Sarah Kramer. I’m going to try her Fudge Pecan Pie. If it works out, I’ll let you know! Though if it doesn’t, I will probably blame it on pie babyhood, not the recipe.

So I invite you to take a moment to notice the deep darkness of the longest night. Feel that brief moment when the earth makes a tiny shift in rotation. Wish her blessings on her journey. And then celebrate with friends, with or without pie. Happy winter solstice.

Basic Flaky Pie Crust

1.25 c flour
.25 t salt
.5 c vegetable shortening
3 T very cold water

Stir together the flour and salt. Cut in the shortening until well mixed, then add the water. Mix until a dough forms. On lightly floured surface, knead for 1-2 minutes, then roll into a ball. Wrap dough in wax paper and chill for 30 minutes. Roll the dough into a pie crust with floured rolling pin.

Fudge Pecan Pie

.5 c water
.25 c vegan margarine
2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
.75 c chocolate chips
.33 c flour
1 c sugar
.175 t salt
.5 c soy or rice milk
1 T vanilla
1 c pecan halves
1 9″ prepared pie crust (see above)
2 t soy or rice milk

Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C). Bring water to a boil in a pot, then remove from heat. Stir in the marg, cocoa, and choc chips and whisk until melted. Add flour, sugar, salt, .5 c milk, and vanilla, and whisk until smooth. Stir in pecan halves and pour into pie crust. Bake for 55-60 minutes, until a toothpick or knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. Brush top with 2 t milk. Let cool to room temperature before serving.

Easy-peasy! (As my old friend Bev Lytton used to say. I hope all’s well with you, Bev.)

Thanksgiving and appreciation

My Diamond Approach group met in September and we explored the topic of appreciation. Have you ever felt an upwelling in your heart as you think about a person, appreciating him or her, or perhaps appreciating something they’ve done? Appreciation can cause an open warm feeling in the heart. It can be tender and sweet, light and delicate, or deeply yummy like a baby whose cheek or arm you’d like to bite.

At the DA weekend I was mostly resistant to feeling this kind of sensation. My heart was pretty closed, well-protected, and I felt like keeping it that way. As it happened, there were moments working with others where the vulnerability of the exploration we were doing just naturally caused my heart to open. In some case to myself, and in other cases to the other. But at the close of the weekend something happened that irritated me and that I allowed to close and harden my heart again. This is just the nature of the work! At the point in my inner journey that I’ve been occupying this year, I’ve been letting myself be hard, closed, irritated, or whatever is there, with a little bit of clear space around the experience that’s big enough to hold it. There is a gentleness about accepting my experience rather than rejecting it and trying to change it. There might be some self-indulgence too. But no one can force their heart to open.

Perhaps the recent DA weekend was still working in me the other morning when I read a 2006 article in the Globe and Mail, part of a stack of papers my friend Geoff Blake saved for me a few years ago, for use in starting fires in the wood stove. The article was about parents who send their kids to summer camp. It was somewhat sentimental and also humourous, about how parents enjoy having the time to themselves while the kids are gone, but worry about them until they know they’re having a good time. It made me remember that my parents sent me to summer camp one year. And suddenly, for the very first time in my life, I understood and appreciated how much my parents had made the focus of their lives caring for my sister and me (and later for two more sisters and a brother).

I’ve heard the Christian crap about honour thy parents, and due to various childhood events that hurt me I never bought it. I thought my parents did not deserve to be honoured. That they had failed me so utterly I would never forgive them. I’ve done a lot of work to get through this. Therapy, spiritual work, and wilderness work including vision quests and other nature retreats. I’ve made conscious choices to heal, and done a lot of that. But suddenly, this Sunday morning before Thanksgiving, I was able to understand and appreciate my parents in a new way. To open my heart and feel the love and caring they showed in their choices and actions as parents. I cried for a while, and moved by this experience, cried many times throughout the day.

Wow, so this is what it feels like to be a normal person who feels her parents cared for her! I feel moved by so many aspects of the parent-child relationship and bond. With this comes a feeling of fragility, though. A poignancy about knowing these relations all come to an end. My dad died in 2000, long before this understanding blossomed in me. I shared my appreciation with my mom though (on Thanksgiving Day), and, due to a friend’s mother dying recently, feel the tug of fear and loss that will come with my own mother’s death. (Unless I die first, of course.)

We are so fucking vulnerable as humans. I don’t know how we manage to stand it. I think closing down the heart a little is probably a pretty popular defense.

Anyway, in closing this musing about thanksgiving and appreciation, I want to mention a few other things I am thankful for.

The black ghetto-blaster my sister Kim gave me in my early 20s. It has been working for several decades now! Lately I’ve been using it to listen to DA teacher Karen Johnson’s tapes on relationships while I do crunches. I feel grateful to Karen for the tapes, too.
Our dear earth mother, for nourishing me from her body with the food and water I enjoy every day. And all the people who raise, transport, and sell the food. And myself for preparing it.
My sister Katherine, for offering to come to Monkey Valley to spend my birthday with me.
My cat Donald, for his companionship, purring, and never being fake with me. If he doesn’t want me to pick him up he growls. If he doesn’t want to come home, he stays out!

I could go on… I spent a lot of the day on Monday thinking about things I am grateful for. Probably the warm humanness that keeps us all struggling on, doing our best, is what moves me the most in this moment.

Thanks to you, too, for reading and having your own response to what I’ve written.