The World of Why

I would love to go back in time. Jump over all the scheduled adult years, leap over the tumultuous adolescent years to the rich soil of new life. Why? Just so I could feel that world of constant curiosity. Just so I could recall learning about the world around me. Just so I could hear myself ask why the moon is round on some nights and why it changes its shape? Why the grass is green and the daytime sky is blue? Why I cry when I’m sad and when I’m hurt? Why I laugh when I'm happy and when I get tickled? It wouldn’t be long before I’d be ready to leap forward in time to today, bringing with me the wonder and happy of new life.

“A child can teach an adult three things: 

to be happy for no reason, 

to always be curious, 

to fight tirelessly for something.”

~ Paulo Coelho, novelist

Chapter Two, Episode 105 - Autumn Air - Situationally Theirs

Autumn Air

Samuel and Elizabeth had disappeared at the same time for the last two weeks. Emelina wouldn’t have known except, from her dining room window, she had seen Samuel leave the garden just as the kitchen door closed. She guessed that it was Cook. It could have been Digby, but it was too early for him to leave. Most days, he was here till well after six. Of course, Emelina didn’t stand at her window every day at four-thirty. She may have been in the kitchen, on the jogging track, or anywhere on the estate. She smiled to herself, feeling as though she was in on some kind of secret. Glad for them both. 

Today was different. Today Elizabeth was back in the kitchen. Autumn on the Island was still warm, but she had already started the soup making and beef stews for the changing season. She was busy organizing her fall and winter menus, talking with Miss Em about what she wanted. In the first year after pandemic restrictions had been lifted, she was often unsure about what she wanted. “You know my tastes, Cook. You just set the menus.” As she gathered strength, physically and otherwise, her tastes changed. She was not as interested in the complex meals she had once demanded. “Just simple things, Cook. I don’t need or want elaborate menus any more. Just your good food.” Since Dr. Jeremy had come into the picture, Cook found that she needed Miss Em’s approval for more groceries more often. “The poor man needs feeding on his time off. Hospital food is no better for the doctors than their patients.” 

~~~~~

Samuel had his shed in order, his summer tools cleaned and hung on pegboard in rows as straight as his garden plantings in spring. One faithful tomato plant left in the garden was still producing tomatoes. Whistling softly, he thought of the previous weeks with Elizabeth. He re-tied the supports he’d put in as the plant grew. From that one plant, he had a small basket of the ripe red fruit for Elizabeth. He would take it up to her when he went to talk with Digby. They also had a regular autumn meeting about the year’s produce and what would be best for the next year. Now that the restaurants were open, they were resuming their fall meetings over lunch off of the estate. He and Digby talked about much more than Samuel’s work ~ Elizabeth’s name came up frequently. “We don’t want anything more than what we have. Each have our own home. We do spend time together. There are times we even go away together for a weekend.” He paused and looked up at the ceiling. “I like those weekends. Always thought it was because we were away.” He pushed his plate away, finished his lunch. “I’d best get back. Whenever you’re ready, James. Need to get tidying up the yard.” James hadn’t said a word, just kept to himself. He had always wondered if the two of them really needed to change anything. He and Martha were quite happy being married after all the years they spent ignoring it. But it just didn’t seem right for Samuel and Elizabeth.

~~~~~

It is odd in any community, how people ‘pair off’, just as though it were expected of them. Even the small community of the Beaufort Estate. In rapid succession, Digby and Martha ~ butler and housekeeper ~ then Emelina Beaufort, the lady of the Manor with Dr Jeremy Crawford, an old friend of the Beaufort family. The most recent was Emelina’s sister Dez Eliot and Matt Hamilton. Dez had known him for quite some time but they had recently reconnected over apple orchards and bees. It seemed a new love. Elizabeth, the Estate Cook and Samuel, the Estate yardman were a different pair. Their lives separate but as loving as any of the others. Giles Thornton, the Estate chauffeur, was already married and had children. Not on the Estate as often as he once was, he still kept in close touch with them all. He had the advantage of that distance to watch them all and wonder about such things. Relationships ~ always changing without notice. He and Melanie had been young and in University when they fell head over heels. These friends were long out of high school. As he drove home to his wife, Melanie, he wondered aloud “What will be next for them all?” He rolled down his window to the cool island air, took a deep breath and drove on.

“No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace 

as I have seen in one autumnal face.”

~ John Donne

There Are No Steps

There are no steps 

that a child won’t try to climb

Climbing far into retirement, the steps

seem to get higher and scarier

I’m not talking about stair steps!

It's the steps to keep me growing

that whisper to my heart

‘don’t bother trying’

But! There are no steps……

I’ll just be carefuller!

“The job of feets is walking, but their hobby is dancing.”

~ Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

Book Review: Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain

In the Prologue, three children, on a ramble in the woods on March 23 1940, stumble upon a dead body. “Because though they were young, one thing they’d already learned. Colored boy found with a dead white body? That didn’t look good to nobody.”

Diane Chamberlain develops two stories that pose the questions: How do they connect; when do they come together. Anna Dale, a young artist in 1940 and Morgan Christopher, a young artist in 2018 share the same painting. Morgan is in jail in Raleigh, North Carolina for a crime she didn’t commit. Anna, from Plainfield, New Jersey, has just lost her mother and has won a contest to paint a mural for the Edenton Post Office in Edenton, North Carolina. In June of 2018, Morgan is released on bail on with an ankle bracelet on the provision that she finish restoring a mural in two months. A benefactor, unknown to her, has just passed away leaving those provision in his will. She has no idea how he knows her but is glad to be out of jail ~ and she knows nothing about art restoration, merely painting. In December of 1939, Anna Dale receives notice of the contest winnings. She is completely unfamiliar with the culture ‘south of the Mason Dixon line’ and is unprepared for the racism that was prevalent there. 

Anna Dale’s mural depicts the character and history of the town of Edendale. The Edenton Tea Party, a local woman's movement, is central to the mural ~, the Mill Village, the Cotton Mill and the fishing boats were all parts of the mural. Decades later, as Morgan works on restoring that same very damaged mural, strange other images came through - a motorcycle, tiny skulls in the Mill Village windows, a hammer with blood drops coming from it. What do they all mean? Had Anna Dale lost her mind? With each chapter, one for Anna and the next for Morgan, the story becomes more convoluted and tangled.

Their benefactor, Jesse James Williams, connects both women. To Anna, he was a young black boy who had great artistic potential. To Morgan, he was only known as an admired and impressive artist but did not know how or why he knew of her. Another conundrum. In 1940, to protect Anna, he took the mural and kept it for decades. Only when he passed, did he bring it out of hiding for Morgan to restore in 2018.

“You have to make peace with the past or you can never move into the future.”

Diane Chamberlain, Big Lies in a Small Town

Title: Big Lies in a Small Town

Author: Diane Chamberlain

Copyright: 2019

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group

Type: Novel

Format: Soft Cover

ISBN - 978-1-250-08733-1 (hardcover)

ISBN - 978-1-250-08735-5 (ebook)

ISBN - 978-1-250-27052-8 (international, sold outside the U.S. subject to rights availability)

Movie Review: THE GOOD HOUSE directed by Maya Forbes & Wallace Wolodarsky

Taken at Southland Cineplex

Hildy Good, a successful New England Realestate agent, has control over her life. Or at least she believes she does. In the small seaside community of Wendover, Massachusetts, Hildy Good, played by Sigourney Weaver, has been the sole agent until an employee steals her client list and becomes her competition. She is funny, charming and honest. Unfortunately, Hildy’s alcohol use creates problems in her family as well as her business. After an intervention by her family (Emily and Tess) and ex-husband (Scott Good), she had gone to Rehab. However, she only tempered her alcohol use. Frank Getchell (Kevin Kline) is an old crush. Their relationship, reestablished, is mature and tender. Then, Hildy’s business is in jeopardy. Unpleasant family memories begin to surface. Life for Hilary Good is not in control after all. 

As I write this, I’ll admit I am concerned that many will see this as just another story of what alcohol does to a family and community. But Sigourney Weaver and all her supporting cast, show a community with all its foibles ~ not all of them alcohol affected. I found it a very engaging and enjoyable story. A movie I would see again.

“The simple truth is this: Most humans are very much alike. 

The simple and obvious truth is that there are very few variables

 to what a person might do, think, fear or desire in any given situation.”

~ Ann Leary, The Good House (Hilary Good)

Directed by: Maya Forbes, Wallace Wolodarsky

Writing Credits: 

Thomas Bezucha - Screenplay

Maya Forbes - Screenplay

Wallace Wolodarsky - Screenplay

Ann Leary - Novel

Cast:

Sigourney Weaver: Hildy Good

Kevin Kline: Frank Getchell

Morena Baccarin: Rebecca MeAllister

Rob Delaney: Peter Newbold

Molly Brown: Emily Good

David Rasche: Scott Good

Rebecca Henderson: Tess Good

Kathryn Erbe: Wendy Heatherton

Kelly AuCoin: Brian McAllister

Georgia Lyman: Cassie Dwight

Into the Blue

Before sunshine brightens and

wind strokes trees and flowers

the full moon silvered the world

and shone through my window

lighting the page as I wrote ~

and nestled into the treetops

while the sky softened

into the blue.

“Go slowly, my lovely moon, go slowly.”

~ Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

Where Gratitude Lies

Never-never land is 

everywhere and nowhere

magic or too sharply real

Never-never land is 

the journey in-between with

a smidge of magic or lump of coal

Never-never land is 

where gratitude lies

waiting for a flash of faith.

“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.”

~ J.M.Barrie, Peter Pan