Rabbits on a Foggy Morning

The last couple of mornings I woke to a rabbit, just a black shape on the white snow, making his way through the snow.  He creates quite a path, much wider and deeper than a squirrel, which made me wonder who made it until the last couple of mornings when I saw him.  I am surprised because I have never seen rabbits at this time of the year, though they obviously are around.  What they eat is a mystery, I suppose what ever is left at the bottom of bushes, plants, and trees.  Because it warmed up yesterday and will cool off today, the lake and opposite shore are shrouded in fog, nothing visible beyond about twenty feet beyond the shore.  Not the kind of morning that makes you want to kick off your Uggs and put on some skis and go.  Rather, it sounds good to sit around, as I am doing, listening to NPR, sipping my mock latte,  reading and getting ready for our trip to Cleveland, not something I look forward to, just want to be over, so I can get back to the lake and my routine.

We saw a great movie last night, THE KING'S SPEECH, the story of England's King George VI, who reigned during WW II and suffered most of his life from a stutter. Based on a true story, it chronicles his struggles to overcome this problem until he finally finds a speech therapist from Australia, a man who worked with soldiers who had returned from WWI with the inability to speak without stuttering.  The movie is about the relationship between a King and a commoner, rocky at first, but eventually it becomes a warm and lifelong friendship, with Geoffrey Rush playing the therapist Lionel Logue,  and Colin Firth played George.  Firth just won the Golden Globe the other evening for his role.  It's a moving story of a man who struggles with this terrible problem, mostly a result of the anxiety he feels, the sense of inferiority he developed, a result of an older brother and strict father, or so it seemed to me.  Rush plays Lionel so well, impertinent and demanding, in that they become intimates and calls George Bertie, despite his being a King. The movie ends with his first really successful speech.  In a small room, with Lionel more or less conducting and leading George VI along, the King explains why England must declare war on Germany.  As the speech is being given, the camera cuts to various views of Londoners listening to their King, a wonderful sequences, the most powerful in the film.  It's nice to see a film without sex, violence, juvenile vulgarity, and silly jokes.  One wonders if a film like this could be made in the States?

After the movie, we went to the Seezurn House, with Ron and Linda, for dinner.  As usual, Evie had her  chicken breast with barbecue sauce sandwich and I had a chicken, vegetable, and scampi pasta, not my favorite.  I should have gotten the usual, a cheeseburger with the works.  Ron and Linda are up here till Thursday, and will return home to Murraysville, outside of Pittsburgh, until mid February, when they hope to return for a couple of weeks.