scary

mr. smith goes to washington

Yup. We did the Washington thing. Ld and I, along with two other couple friends, flew out to D.C. last week.

The general consensus from all the travel sites was Do Not bring a car to D.C. but logistically there was no way to make our itinerary work without one. So we rented a van. After experiencing the traffic there it's easy to see why public transportation is recommended and for most folks that would work best. But most people aren’t so blessed to have a driver with navigational skills that rival Lewis & Clark coupled with a Zen-like calmness. He is also very fit. He would drop us off then go park and run (literally) and catch up with us. Can’t thank him enough.

Our itinerary:
Arrived late Wednesday night. We stayed in this vacation rental home in Columbia Heights. Lovely inside.

Thursday, October 21:
Toured Library of Congress. Oh My. Went through the Holocaust Museum. Toured Washington monument, went to the top. I swear I could feel it sway. Ate lunch in Capital cafeteria & then caught up with congressional staff guy for a tour of the Capital. Then we headed to the Kennedy center. We changed into dress clothes in the car (tricky putting those pantyhose on:) and had dinner reservations at the Roof Top restaurant that overlooks the Potomoc. Afterwards we attended Yo Yo Ma in concert downstairs. Amazing.
http://www.yo-yoma.com/event/2010/10/21
The WaPo review here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/22/AR2010102206366.html

Friday, October 22:
Mount Vernon. Martha W had some weird obsession with the color green. Lunch at Mount Vernon. Supreme court tour was scheduled but nixed as no time. Visited Smithsonian (Natural History & American History buildings to see Dorothy's Ruby slippers, Julia's kitchen & First ladies inaugural gowns). Union square – ate dinner there & caught tour mobile to tour Monuments & Memorials at night. Awesome.
At Mount Vernon.

Saturday, October 23:
White house tour. World War II memorial. Lunch at hot dog stand. National Archives to view historical documents. Smithsonian (Air and Space museum). Drove out to see the temple. Ate Thai food (Ruan's Thai)
At the World War II memorial.

Sunday, October 24:
Georgetown. National Cathedral. Arlington National Cemetery for the changing of the guard.


Monday, October 25:
National Gallery of Art. Go see, go see, people! Ate in cafeteria downstairs. Bureau of Engraving and Printing (for my numismatist hubby), then back to National Gallery of Art (because I loved it so much:)



Tuesday, October 26:
Flew home. A great, fast paced trip with wonderful people.

V. Film

Break out the popcorn. The film list as promised. A bunch of artsy fartsy stuff, true, but some really good films. You will note Babette's Feast is included. I saw many of these films years ago in my film class at BYU. Ingmar Berman's Seventh Seal, Citizen Kane, Joan of Arc, On the Waterfront, and others. I'm looking forward to tackling this list. And no jla, Blazing Saddles is not included, for obvious reasons. Same goes for you ld. Sadly, Lonesome Dove did not make the cut.

Key to abbreviations: d=directed by; b/o=based on an original work by; s=starring; p=produced by

8 1/2 (1963, Italian) d:Federico Fellini
42nd Street (1933) d:Lloyd Bacon
The 400 Blows (1959, French) d:François Truffault
35 Up (1991, British, documentary) d:Michael Apted
Age of Innocence (1993) d:Martin Scorsese b/o Edith Wharton
Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972, German) d:Werner Herzog
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) d:Lewis Milestone b/o:Erich Maria Remarque
A Man for All Seasons (1966) d: Fred Zinnemann
American Dream (1991, documentary) d:Barbara Kopple
The American Friend (1977, German) d:Wim Wenders
Andrei Rublev (1965, Russian) d:Andrei Tarkovsky
L’Avventura (1960, Italian) d:Michelangelo Antonioni
Babette’s Feast (1988, Danish) d:Gabriel Axel b/o:Isak Dinesen
Ballad of a Soldier (1960, Russian) d:Grigori Chukhrai
Baraka (1992, documentary) d:Ron Fricke
Battleship Potemkin (1925, Russian, silent) d:Sergei Eisenstein
Ben Hur (1927, silent) d:Fred Niblos:Ramon Novarro
Best Years of Our Lives (1946) d:William Wyler
Bicycle Thief (1949, Italian) d:Vittorio de Sica
Berlin:Symphony of a Great City (1927, German, silent) d:Walther Ruttmann
The Big Parade (1927, silent) d:King Vidors:John Gilbert
Black Narcissus (1946, British) d:Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger s:Deborah Kerr
Black Orpheus (1959, Brazilian) d:Marcel Camus
Blood Wedding (1986, Spanish, dance) d:Carlos Saura
The Blue Angel (1930, German) d:Josef von Sternberg s:Marlene Dietrich
The Blue Kite (1993, Chinese) d:Tian Zhuangzhuang
Le Boucher (1969, French) d:Claude Chabrol
Breathless (1960, French) d:Jean-Luc Godard s:Jean-Paul Belmondo
Bride of Frankenstein (1935) d:James Whales:Boris Karloff
Bringing Up Baby (1938) d:Howard Hawks s:Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn
Broken Blossoms (1918, silent) d:D.W. Griffith s:Lillian Gish
Cabiria (1914, Italian, silent) d:Giovanni Pastrone
Casablanca (1942) d:Michael Curtiz s:Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman
Children of Paradise (1945, French) d:Marcel Carne
Chronicle of a Summer (1961, French, documentary) d:Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch Citizen Kane (1941) d:Orson Welles
City Lights (1931, silent) d:Charlie Chaplin
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Mandarin) d: Ang Lee
Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) d:Michael Gordon
Cyrano de Bergerac (1990, French) d:Jean-Paul Rappeneau s:Gerard Depardieu
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) d:Robert Wise
Death of a Salesman (1986) s:Dustin Hoffman b/o:Arthur Miller
The Defiant Ones (1958) d:Stanley Kramer s:Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier
Diary of a Country Priest (1950, French) d:Robert Bresson
Don’t Look Back (1967, documentary) d:D.A. Pennebaker s:Bob Dylan
Double Indemnity (1944) d:Billy Wilder b/o:James M. Cain
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) d:Rouben Mamoulian b/o:Robert Louis Stevenson
Dr. Strangelove (1964) d:Stanley Kubrick
Dreams (1990, Japanese) d:Akira Kurasawa
Duck Soup (1933) s:The Marx Brothers
Eight Men Out (1988) d:John Sayles
The End of St. Petersburg (1927, Russian, silent) d:Vsevolod Pudovkin
Fantasia (1940) p:Walt Disney
Fiddler on the Roof (1971) d: Norman Jewison
The Firemen’s Ball (1968, Czech) d:Milos Forman
The Freshman (1925, silent) s:Harold Lloyd
Gallipoli (1981, Australian ) d:Peter Weir s:Mel Gibson and Mark Lee
The General (1926, silent) s:Buster Keaton
The Glass Menagerie (1987) d:Paul Newman b/o:Tennessee Williams
The Gold Rush (1925, silent) d:Charlie Chaplin
Grand Illusion (1937, French) d:Jean Renoir s:Jean Gabin
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) d:John Ford b/o:John Steinbeck
Great Expectations (1946, British) d:David Lean b/o:Charles Dickens
Greed (1924, silent) d:Erich von Stroheim
The Gunfighter (1950) d:Henry King s:Gregory Peck
Hamlet (1948, British) d:Laurence Olivier b/o:William Shakespeare
Hamlet (1990) d:Franco Zeffirelli s:Mel Gibson
Hamlet (1997) d:Kenneth Branagh
A Hard Day’s Night (1964, British) d:Richard Lester s:The Beatles
Harlan County U.S.A. (1976, documentary) d:Barbara Kopple
Heartland (1979) d:Richard Pearce b/o:Elinore Pruitt Stewart
Henry V (1945, British) d:Laurence Olivier b/o:William Shakespeare
Henry V (1990, British) d:Kenneth Branagh
High Noon (1952) d:Fred Zinnemann s:Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly
High School (1969, documentary) d:Fred Wiseman
Hiroshima, Mon Amour (1959, French) d:Alain Resnais
His Girl Friday (1940) d:Howard Hawks s:Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell
Hospital (1970, documentary) d:Fred Wiseman
Il Postino (1995, Italian) d:Michael Radford s:Massimo Troisi
Inherit the Wind (1960) d:Stanley Kramer s:Spencer Tracy
It Happened One Night (1934) d:Frank Capra s:Clark Gable
Jean de Florette; Manon des Sources (1987, French) d:Claude Berri
The Kid (1921) d: Charles Chaplin
King of Hearts (1967, French/German/English) d:Phillipe de Broca s:Alan Bates
King Lear (1984, British) s:Laurence Olivier
Knife in the Water (1962, Polish) d:Roman Polanski
The Last Laugh (1924, German, silent) d:F.W. Murnau s:Emil Jannings
Lavender Hill Mob (1951, British) d:Charles Crichton s:Alec Guinness
Lawrence of Arabia (1962, British) d:David Lean s:Peter O’Toole
Life is Beautiful (1998, Italian) d:Roberto Benigni
Listen to Britain (1942, British) d:Humphrey Jennings
M (1931, German) d:Fritz Lang s:Peter Lorre
Malcolm X (1992) d:Spike Lee
The Man With the Movie Camera (1929, Russian, silent) d:Dziga Vertov
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) d:Vincente Minelli s:Judy Garland
Metropolis (1927, German, silent) d:Fritz Lang
Modern Times (1936) d: Charles Chaplin
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1930) d:Frank Capra s:James Stewart
M. Hulot’s Holiday (1953, French) d:Jacques Tati
My Brilliant Career (1979, Australian) d:Gillian Armstrong
My Darling Clementine (1946) d:John Wayne s:Henry Fonda
My Father’s Glory; My Mother’s Castle (1991, French) d:Yves Robert b/o:Marcel Pagnol
My Night At Maud’s (1969, French) d:Eric Rohmer
Nanook of the North (1922, silent, documentary) d:Robert Flaherty
Napoleon (1927, French, silent) d:Abel Gance
The Nasty Girl (1990, German) d:Michael Verhoeven
Night and Fog (1955, French, documentary) d:Alain Resnais
Night of the Hunter (1955) d:Charles Laughton
Night Mail (1936, British, documentary) d:John Grierson
Ninotchka (1930) d:Ernst Lubitsch s:Greta Garbo
North by Northwest (1959) d: Alfred Hitchock s: Cary Grant
Nosferatu (1922, German, silent) d:F.W. Murnau
Notorious (1946) d:Alfred Hitchcock s:Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman
Oliver Twist (1948, British) d:David Lean b/o:Charles Dickens
Los Olvidados (1950, Spanish) d:Luis Bunuel
Olympia (1938, German, documentary) d:Leni Riefenstahl
On the Waterfront (1954) d:Elia Kazan s:Marlon Brando
Ordet (1954, Danish) d:Carl Dreyer Otello (1986, Italian, opera) d:Franco Zeffirelli s:Placido Domingo
Pather Panchali (1955, Indian) d:Satyajit Ray
Plow That Broke the Plains (1934, documentary) p:U.S. Government d:Pare Lorentz
Prelude to War (1942, documentary) p:U.S. Government d:Frank Capra
Raise the Red Lantern (1991, Chinese) d:Zhang Yimou Rashoman (1951, Japanese) d:Akira Kurosawa
Red River (1948) d:Howard Hawks s:John Wayne
Rome, Open City (1946, Italian) d:Roberto Rossellini
Romeo and Juliet (1968, British) d:Franco Zeffirelli
Room at the Top (1959, British) d:Jack Clayton
Rules of the Game (1939, French) d:Jean Renoir
Safety Last (1923, silent) s:Harold Lloyd Scarface (1932) d:Howard Hawks
Schindler’s List (1993, English, Hebrew, German, Polish) d: Steven Spielberg
Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) d:Steven Zaillian
The Searchers (1956) d:John Ford s:John Wayne
The Seventh Seal (1965, Swedish) d:Ingmar Bergman
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964, Ukrainian) d:Sergei Parajanov
Shop on Main Street (1965, Czech) d:Jan Kadar
Singin’ In the Rain (1952) d:Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly
Some Like It Hot (1959) d:Billy Wilder
Sparrows (1926, silent) d:William Beaudine s:Mary Pickford
The Spirit of the Beehive (1973, Spanish) d:Victor Erice
Stagecoach (1939) d:John Ford s:John Wayne
La Strada (1954, Italian) d:Federico Fellini
Streetcar Named Desire (1951) d:Elia Kazan s:Marlon Brando and Vivian Leigh
Sunrise (1927, silent) d. F.W. Murnau
Sunset Blvd. (1950) d:Billy Wilder
The Ten Commandments (1923, silent and 1956) d:Cecil B. De Mille
The Thief of Bagdad (1924, silent) d:Raoul Walsh s:Douglas Fairbanks
The Third Man (1949, British) d:Carol Reed b/o:Graham Greene
Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1994, Canadian) d:François Gerard
Tokyo Story (1953, Japanese) d:Yasujiro Ozu
To Live (1995, Chinese) d:Zhang Yimou s:Gong Li
Tom Jones (1963, British) d:Tony Richardson
Top Hat (1935) s:Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Touch of Evil (1958) d:Orson Welles
La Traviata (1991, Italian, opera) d:Franco Zeffirelli s:Placido
Domingo and Teresa Stratas
The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948) d:John Huston s:Humphrey Bogart
Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978, Italian) d:Ermanno Olmi
Triumph of the Will (1939, German, Documentary) d:Leni Riefenstahl
Twelve Angry Men (1957) d: Sidney Lumet s: Henry Fonda
Ugetsu (1953, Japanese) d:Kenji Mizoguchi
Vanya on 42nd Street (1993) d:Louis Malle b/o:Anton Chekhov
Vertigo (1958) d:Alfred Hitchcock s:James Stewart
Viridiana (1961, Spanish) d:Luis Bunuel
West Side Story (1961) d: Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise
White Heat (1949) d:Raoul Walsh s:James Cagney
Wild Strawberries (1957, Swedish) d:Ingmar Bergman
The Wind (1928, silent) d:Victor Sjöstrom s:Lillian Gish
Wings of Desire (1988, German) d:Wim Wenders
Wizard of Oz (1939) d:Victor Fleming s:Judy Garland
Yellow Earth (1984, Mandarin) d: Kaige Chen Z (1963, French) d:Costa Gavras

yet another baby shower

(Click to enlarge, people. I want you to see all the pink cardboard crafting and gingerbread giraffes. Yeah, I dream in pink, too:)

Whoo Whee. Friends and family whooped it up last night. We ate, played games* and guests shared prepared advice on all things maternal. Breastfeeding successfully, the low down on eco friendly and cost effective diapering, and a quick recipe for a new mommy - it was all delightfully dispensed.

My fav advice from the evening and a direct quote from Lexie: My advice is don't ask me for advice as I don't have any knowledge whatsoever about mother matters.
Our bookworm Lindsay gave some great reading tips on how to interject girl power morals into fairy tales. A little embellishment and extra dialogue is key.
Then Aunt Kathy shared her tips on the medicinal and psychological value of breaking open a bag of chocolate chips to relieve stress. Uh, Kath. You forgot to mention how cathartic spooning and dipping directly into a box of cake mix is, too. Not that you used to do that. he he he
Penee didn't disappoint either. Her category of "How to put on pantyhose when you are 9 months pregnant" was informative and useful. And hilarious. You had to have been there. Oh, Arnett wimmen. You are all wonderfully endearing.


Other exciting shower news:
We recruited ld to babysit for the evening as Brig had to unexpectedly work. ld appeared to have everything in control upstairs when all of a sudden we heard a thud and a baby crying. Kenz and I rushed upstairs. Maddie had fallen off the bed and ld had her in his arms trying to soothe her. He appeared quite flustered and distraught. Before I could say or accuse him of anything like how could you let Maddie fall off the bed for heaven sake you nincompoop ld beat me to the punch and blurted out "in my defense I was dealing with something big" and then pointed to Cate. She had pooped (um, diarrhea to be exact) all over herself and had left a trail, if you know what I mean. ld in his frantic assessment of the situation had pushed Maddie far back on Cate's bed and was attempting to help Cate. In his anxiety he apparently forgot that Maddie can crawl and is quite mobile and therefore plunged to the ground. Whoo whee such drama. But even that mishap couldn't marr the evening and gratefully our tough Maddie recovered. Good man, that ld.

I love the whole baby shower thing. A group of family and friends coming together to celebrate and show support for the coming of a new life. It is a sweet little tradition that exemplifies sisterhood and family at its best. Thanks family and friends of Meghan, you're awesome.

It is a major faux paux on my part that I neglected to get many pictures of those attending, Megs especially. Too busy chatting it up, I suppose. Kudos to ld's mother and sister driving down from Ogden. We hadn't seen them in ages.


One final note. The banner is in French. Appropriate, no? Meghan and her hubs speak French. And wondering about the giraffe theme, eh? Well, we went with that because, well, because Kody is Tall. This was a shower fraught with symbolism. he he he


*I'll post more about the games later.

a party for 'lil sprout

Kody’s family threw Meghan a baby shower Tuesday night. It was a lovely evening with great food, great conversation and hilarious entertainment! The Sweet Pea theme was fitting for ‘lil Sprout, eh? Everyone was assigned to bring a favorite easy recipe for a new mommy and share it in a creative way. Thus we enjoyed cooking demonstrations to rival anything on TV. Good times!


Oh, and Kayci (Kody’s lovely sister) had the most clever idea for an activity. She baked sugar cookies in the shape of baby shoes and then provided frosting, sprinkles, fruit roll ups, etc and had us decorate them to suit our fancy. Winners (all of us!) received chocolate. Mmmm. Such a clever idea and we all enjoyed decorating, chatting and licking frosting.

The website she used for this, found here:
http://www.cutest-baby-shower-ideas.com/baby-shoe-cupcakes.html

So many wonderful gifts. Kody’s family are such kind and generous people. We love them.

greet the day with a song

I was once a Gaynote in Primary, complete with cool green Bandlo and a cross stitched sampler that read "Greet the day with a song, make others happy, and serve gladly." That old timey wisdom still holds true for me when I let it. It's a little cloudy this morning, but I'm greetin' the day with a song.

Where troubles melt like lemon drops and even if they don't it's a wonderful world.

More about those cross stitched samplers of my Primary days:
http://www.womenofthemountains.org/files/Microsoft%20Word%20-%2007-02-02-From-Embry-Final-Paper-Mormon%20Samplers.pdf

just ducky

Yesterday afternoon in the dentist chair nearing the end of my root canal.

Dentist (ld’s cousin): It’s good you came in, given the amount of infection we cleaned out in there, I’m surprised you weren’t in a lot of pain.

Me: Yeah, we’ll I’m tough, I guess.

Dentist: Seriously, as bad as it was your jaw should have swollen up like a baseball. You didn’t have any symptoms at all?

Me: Well, I haven’t felt exactly right, whatever that means. And I haven’t been eating on that side of my mouth for like a month.

Dentist: Hmm. Your body most have been churning out the white blood cells for sure, trying to fight it. That’s good.

Me: I guess. Maybe that’s why I’ve felt like I've been 'nibbled to death by ducks’ lately. You know, exhausted, overwhelmed and easily annoyed, eh?

Dentist: (Pats me on the arm) Well, hopefully this will help. We’ll know in a couple of weeks and then if all goes well, we’ll put a crown on it.

Me: (Softly): Quack, quack.

Dentist: What’s that?

Me: Er, nothing. (I smile) Thanks for your good work.

Dentist: (Pats my arm again) We’ve shot you with antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory and we’ll give you something for the pain before you go. See 'ya soon.

 

Tucson. Summer '09. Harmless fun. Until they nibble and chase. And bite you on the butt.

the trick to remaining sane? being comfortable with irony and ambiguity. --cs

Thus, we need to develop the capacity to form judgments of our own about the value of ideas, opportunities, or people who may come into our lives. We will not always have the security of knowing whether a certain idea is “Church approved,” because new ideas do not always come along with little tags attached to them saying whether the Church has given them the stamp of approval.

Whether in the form of music, books, friends, or opportunities to serve, there is much that is “lovely, . . . of good report, and praiseworthy” that is not the subject of detailed discussion in Church manuals or courses of instruction. Those who will not risk exposure to experiences of life that are not obviously related to some well-known Church work or program will, I believe, live less abundant and meaningful lives than the Lord intends. We must develop sufficient independence of judgment and maturity of perspective that we are prepared to handle the shafts and whirlwinds of adversity and contradiction that are so likely to come along in our lives. When those times come, we cannot be living on borrowed light. We should not be deceived by the clear-cut labels some may use to describe circumstances that are, in fact, not so clear. Our encounters with reality and disappointment are in fact vital stages in the development of our maturity and understanding.

Yup. Two of the most difficult concepts we struggle with in life: Irony and Ambiguity. Elder Hafen does a great job addressing the latter and spiritual shallowness. Go read:

http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=6727&x=34&y=8
Love Is Not Blind: Some Thoughts for College Students on Faith and Ambiguity BRUCE C. HAFEN 9 January 1979

Let's Discuss.