First Snow of November

Dawn

Snow Fall Looking north

Snow Fall Looking south

Sunrise

Moonlit Night at 9:30 PM

I woke about 6:10 to snow falling, a yard covered with white, our limber pine sagging with boughs of snow.  The lake, of course, has not changed, just a shimmery calm kaleiscope of grays, the Bemus coast line off in the distance, with patches of white, darken trees, dark gray hills, and a slice of light just above the horizon.  It makes me want to jump in my kayak and go, or put on my boots and hike in the woods.  By the time I get out of my chair, all may have melted unfortunately.

We had a lazy day yesterday, walking Bemus in the morning, kayaking in the afternoon, but getting little done otherwise.  I did spread, finally, my final pile of stones on to our parking space.  Now I am really ready for winter, with not much else to do outside except rake the leaves from our Bradford Pear in the backyard, the last tree to lose it leaves.

We did watch an old movie last night, one of my favorites from the sixties, MIDNIGHT COWBOY, and I am still amazed by its power, it's violence and sexual content (which I didn't remember).   Both John Voigt as Joe Buck and Dustin Hoffmann as Ratso Rizzo, are perfect, and its no wonder they have had such amazing careers.  We had started watching SUPERBAD, but were so bored and turned off by its stupid language, infantile humor and grossness, that we went to MIDNIGHT COWBOY.  What a difference in seriousness, film making, and acting.  Many of today's popular movies appeal to the lowest intelligence in the audience.   It's sad.  True, their were scenes of violence and sexuality in MIDNIGHT COWBOY but they were necessary to the  film, to Joe Buck's loss of innocence, his need to friend Ratso.  I am still moved by the final scene, when Joe finally realizes that Ratso, now arrayed in an aloha shirt, has died in his seat on the bus.  Joe puts his arm around him and scene fades, the movie ends.  Best film of 1970!  Both Voight and Hoffmann were nominated for best actor but did not win.  A gritty film, no doubt daring for that year, it still rings true forty years later.