Cloudy, Cloudy

Fall Produce

Raspberry bushes and Gala Apples

Audubon cairns

Sedum at Audubon

I woke to the sound of rain on the roof, comforting because it was gentle.  Although there was a chance of a fierce storm last night, we avoided it and I don't think it rained much if at all  It's still warm enough, 64 outside, though it will cool off as the work moves along.  I just heard of fisherman pull out of the docks next door, the only boat on the lake as far as I can see.  It looks like a good day to stay inside and organize our new closet shelves for Evie, for me, maybe get more gravel (the pit closes at the end of the month), perhaps a movie.  And there is a chance we might go visit Lloyd Buck, who has been in the hospital for at least three weeks, batting all kinds of problems.  Vi has so far told us to stay home, that Lloyd's not doing well, is uncooperative.  We hope she will let us come to see her at least.  It's not a good situation.

We saw two good movies the last couple of days.  Last night, we watched WIN, WIN, an intelligent, character driven movie, set in middle class suburb, where the main character Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti), a struggling lawyer, compromises his ethics when agreeing to act as the Trustee of an aging retiree with Alzheimers.  Things get complicated when the retiree's grandson comes to live with the grandfather, but since Paul put him in a home, the youth ends up staying with the lawyer and his family.  Kyle's a run away, from a violent home, and just happens to be an all state wrestler, Paul just happens to be the local wrestling coach, thus the story.  It gets complicated when the Mom returns to get her son, and the money her father has saved.  Figuring out how to satisfy all sides, the Mom, her son Kyle, and himself is the core of the story.  Nothing flashy just a pretty good story about struggling to make it in the world, making mistakes, and hoping that you might get a second change.  The other film, French, called INCENDIES is a much darker, more serious film, set in Lebanon during the Civil War in the 1970's.  The story begins with the funeral of a Lebanese women, who has worked for twenty years as a secretary for a lawyer in France.  He reads the will to her two children; she demands that before they bury her, they found their father and brother.  Neither knows why she asks this, but the sister decides to go to Lebanon and the story of their mother is retold.  It begins with her being outcast by her family for having a child of a Muslim out of wedlock.  She ends up being politicized, tortured, then eventually escapes her captors and ends up in France.  As the children slowly undercover her past, they realize how this seemingly passive women has lived a life of passion and violence, that she was not just a secretary.  Through flashbacks, we see her life, her desire to find her son, the accidental discovery of who he is, the shock leading to her death.  A very strong movie, lots of violence, between Muslim and Christian, repraisals and torture, all part of the Middle Eastern scene in Lebanon in the 1970's.  It is not the kind of movie you enjoy though it was interesting and worth watching.

After a cloudy morning, it's cleared up, despite the forecasts, and its been a lovely day, in the low 70's, sun and puffy clouds, just right for fall house cleaning for Evie, gravel trips for me.  I think my ditch is going to be an never ending story, as it sinks down each time it rains, demanding more and more gravel.  Time to go read on the dock, as it's almost 3:00.

EVIE SWAM ABOUT 5:30!