Hercules: movie review

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Hercules, movies, postaday2014

Poor Hercules; the mighty demi God has been beaten pretty badly in the box office by Lucy. My husband and I went to see Lucy and we enjoyed it. We are fans of both film maker Luc Besson and actors Morgan Freeman and Scarlett Johansson.

But having said that, we enjoyed watching Dwayne Johnson as Hercules; he was awesome not just physically awesome as Hercules, but his acting as well. Moreover within the storyline, we really enjoyed seeing Hercules interacting with his loyal band of companions, all of which are featured throughout Greek mythology.

I am a huge fan of Greek mythology and the spin that the director and the screenwriters gave to the mythology of Hercules worked in my opinion. I don’t want to give anything away, but if you follow the legends of Hercules, the labors are acknowledged, his personal story is woven in and his friendships are likewise explained.

I enjoyed being transported for an movie length away from reality and into the rocky countryside of Greece. The vistas were gorgeous, the sets imaginative and the makeup department were stellar in their realistic scarring of the warriors, especially one of my favorite actors, Ian McShane.

A good solid action, fantasy movie.

News from the children

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band, haircut, postaday2014

Both of our children having been busy this summer. Our son is off with his band, tonight they are playing in Danbury, CT. I know that they played in Kent, Ohio a few days ago so they are rolling along playing here and there, having a good time. My husband and I are keeping abreast of the band’s progress through FaceBook.

Our daughter has been busy working full-time, going camping, went to visit her grandmother in New York and has been a great help with Jack. Today she came home from work with a brand spanking new haircut. My husband and I both adore it, for a split second her hair reminded us of a time when she had a similar haircut, when she was seven or eight, she was so, very, very cute. This haircut isn’t meant to be cute, our daughter is styling her hair to be cutting edge, sassy if you will. She can pull off any haircut.

It’s fun and interesting watching our children grow and blossom into young adults. They are definitely not boring.

Goofing around with pictures

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Jack, pictures, plants, postaday2014

This morning, I noticed that the pond pump wasn’t spraying water so I fixed it, while I was in the process of fixing it, I glanced up and got a whole new perspective of my flowers from the ground looking upwards and it was quite beautiful. So I went in, got my trusty cell phone and started clicking. I know that I have already showed you pictures of the Bell Flower but I wanted to show it in its state of bloom and bud, I don’t know which I prefer, the promise of a bloom or the actual bloom itself.

The picture of the water beads erupting from the fountain head, which is out of range in the picture is, I think, pretty cool. Jack joined me at the pond and I couldn’t resist putting him in the pictures because he treats the entire backyard as his hunting territory and I love that fact that he never gets bored, he has his pathways and byways, always on the hunt for that elusive bunny, he makes me laugh and he makes me happy to know that he is so happy with his territory and his house.

I wanted to give an update on the state of my greens, I think that they are sprouting at a healthy pace, looking all perky with a nice shade of medium green and the peppers are getting taller; I am not sure if I will see any peppers by the time autumn comes knocking, but I will have a leaf or two of spinach and lettuce, that is a promise.

Another glorious day in the neighborhood, breezy and 73 degrees, it doesn’t get much better than this, at least I don’t think so. I know some luxuriate in steamy, hot weather, not I, this is paradise.

Comfort food knows no season

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main courses, postaday2014, salads

It has been stormy and cool for the past few days; I am not complaining, I love it, we have been having cool breezes and the rain is wonderful for the gardens and the reservoirs all over the Northeast. We can never take our water for granted.

Yesterday I made a huge batch of salade de carottes or better known in English, as carrot salad; for me this salad is comfort food, both my mother here and my aunt in France would make it fairly often during the summer months and I adore it as much for nostalgia’s sake as its deliciousness. It is the easiest salad to make; grate a whole bunch of carrots, add salt and pepper, I drizzled sunflower oil, but you can use any oil that makes you happy, and I used a combination of lemon juice and red wine vinegar, taste as you go and voila, a nice carrot salad.

My husband, on the other hand, had a hankering for another type of comfort food, potatoes au gratin and with the weather, as it has been, made making it a no brainer, when it is cool outside, putting the oven on isn’t a big deal, as opposed to when it’s sweltering.

I know that as a menu, carrot salad and potatoes au gratin, make for strange bedfellows. I don’t see us eating the two together, but having the salad as an appetizer and the gratin with the main course which I don’t what it’s going to be as of yet, makes more sense.

Flowers always cheer me up

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family, flowers, pictures, postaday2014

This morning I got up early so that I could call my aunt to wish her an early birthday. Her birthday isn’t until Wednesday, but since I never know where I will be, I wanted to make sure that she knew that I was thinking of her. After I hung up the phone, I was hit with a wave of melancholy and sadness, if I could reverse the passage of time, I would do it, if only to give me more time having my aunt and my uncle in my life. I don’t want them to go. They are in their eighties and I wish that I could make them go back thirty years and have them back in their fifties. I love them both so much and I cannot imagine not having them around; they are at the heart of our family in France. So what do I do when I get overwhelmed by emotions that give me distress? I go to my flowers and gain some comfort from them. My uncle made gardening his business and became very successful at it. My aunt has a way with geraniums and begonias. Plants, trees and gardens have a place in our family and tending my own garden, I think, makes me feel closer to my family.

I have been very happy seeing all the bees setting down on the thistle, the coneflowers, the lilies, the tall yellow flowers and the newest purple bloom which seems to be in the thistle family. I am sure that if my uncle were here, he would be listing the plant names one after the other without hesitation. I forget plant names so quickly, it is amazing. That is why I take pictures, so that I remember what is in my garden and I could put a picture to a name.
I do feel better now.

Nature finds a way; always.

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Mother Nature, plants, postday2014

I just get a kick out of Mother Nature. I really do. Yesterday morning when my husband and I were backing out of the driveway and out of the corner of my eye; I caught a glimpse of yellow where it shouldn’t have been, I stopped the car to get a closer look and lo and behold, a yellow pansy sprouting in the midst of the gravel of our sand filtered septic system. I forget why the rectangular structure is filled with stone gravel, but aesthetically I find it pretty, I just never thought that plants would find a home there, but they apparently do. Not only did I find the pansy, but I found two other plants; I can’t remember their names, they are perennials that I had planted last year in the tall grey containers next to where they sprouted this year; oops, they must have fallen from on high.

The other pictures are the tall phlox blooming and giving new life to the side bed out in front. I am thinking that perhaps I am going to plant something on the other side of the side bed to give it some summer color so that the side bed as a whole has balance; because as of now, the right side is pretty sad looking while the left side has gotten a second wind in terms of appearances.

Always something to do. I actually know what I am going to plant in the side bed; in the back I have baby rosebushes sprouting in the lawn once again. The last time I had noticed having baby rose bushes; I took advantage of these freebies and transplanted two “sproutlings” elsewhere, one near the pool and the other near the bamboo and they have taken root and are flourishing, so I am going to do the same thing and transplant babies to the side bed. Hopefully they will take root and grow, I am going to do it either later today or tomorrow, I don’t want to wait too long, they will need to get established before it gets cold.

I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Lucy: a movie review

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movies, postaday2014, reviews

I have a confession to make. It was only when we arrived home from having seen Lucy early this afternoon, that I went online to see what the reviews had to say. Apparently others are far more demanding than either myself or my husband; but there is a common thread between the “experts” and us, Scarlett Johansson is an amazing actress. Her face is so expressive, she can communicate a myriad of emotions with her eyebrows, lips, eyes and position of her head. We were focused on her throughout the movie.

The premiss of the movie was very interesting and very ambitious, but Luc Besson fell into the trap of not having the story idea gel with the other practical realities of the surrounding background. That doesn’t mean that my husband and I did not enjoy ourselves, au contraire we enjoyed it very much. I got to be “in France” for a brief moment and my ears heard a good bit of French, so I was very happy. Paris wasn’t completely destroyed and the world was not under threat of annihilation for a change. Home runs in my book.

If you don’t make it out to the theater for this one; don’t worry, viewing it when it comes out on Red Box will be just as enjoyable.

Daily prompt: Can’t watch this

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movie, nightmares, postaday2014, scary

When was the last time you watched something so scary, cringe-worthy, or unbelievably tacky — in a movie, on TV, or in real life — you had to cover your eyes?

The movie Sin City is the one movie that I can never, ever, ever watch again. It scared me so much that I had nightmares for days and it actually kept me, of all people, from sleeping at night. Even to this day, any reference to the movie, is enough to make me paint the inside of my mind with pure white paint.

I am not going to write about what scared me in the movie, I dare not go there with my memories or images in my imagination because I don’t want to have to spend time tonight painting the inside of my mind again. It was way too scary and unsettling for my taste.

Here is a link if you are interested. I can’t bear to watch it.

New blooms in the garden

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gardens, plants, postaday2014

This morning I was greeted by the sight of one of my newer additions, the ballon flower plant in purple, I planted him, I think, three years ago and every year, he gets larger and stronger. The bee balm has also started to bloom; I have two colors, red and light purple, and the colors go very nicely with the neighboring cone flowers and fake Astor plant. I also couldn’t help but include another picture of my lavender, lavender is just so soothing, peaceful and pretty, I can’t get enough of it.

The tall phlox are this close to blooming; I am going to have white and various shades of purple throughout the back. I already have quite a bit of tall phlox blooming out in front which looks quite pretty, breaking up the green and taking the eyes away from the spent irises and the peonies. My Mandeville has decided to show me one bloom, I hope that I will get a few more later on as the summer progresses, maybe I didn’t prune it enough. Gardening is always a new lesson with the plants as our teachers and our guides. We just need to listen.

A new project

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politics, postaday2014, posts

I know that I have been neglecting my novel, but I am not going to beat myself over it, I am stuck for now and I will deal with it. Onwards and forwards. Today while my husband and I were driving back up North, I had a thought. What if I gathered all of my political posts chronologically and polish them up a bit and see if they would interest the publishing world. I have 3 and a half years worth of posts commenting on the state of political affairs. Someone might be interested.

This post will be short because I have been compiling my posts since we arrived and I am a little cross-eyed at the moment I am excited about this.