Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Winter Viewing

There was absolutely nothing on television tonight so I pulled out the two DVDs that I watch each winter.

The first is a Canadian film, Strangers in Good Company.  I first saw it on public television and loved it so much I got my own copy.  It's the story of seven old women stranded in the forests of Ontario.  During the course of the movie, each tells the story of her life.  That part of it is all true, because the women were not actors. There's a lesbian, a nun, an Oneida, a woman who recovered from a stroke, a divorcee. Cissy was in the blitz in London. "Whole streets disappeared." Winnie worked in a cigarette factory. Constance, the oldest at 93, was taking many pills, but in the end threw them all away. Somehow they all endured. It is a film about being old with courage and humor. I've watched this film so many years as I've grown old.

The Ontario forests are so much like Wisconsin's in the summer, so that makes me think of our camping trips. There's a continuing call of the white throated sparrow.  The background music is perfect and that, too, reminds me of our camping trips because Gary always has classical music CDs along to play in the evenings.

The second CD is a promise of spring, Winged Migration, a French film.  The five crews followed bird migrations through 40 countries and all seven continents. They used planes, gliders, and helicopters to follow the birds.  There's not much narration, just nature at its best.  I watch the birds and wish I could fly with them, following the warm sun.

I'll be waiting for them come spring.  

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