There are moments in life,
unfortunately,
where the line between
hate and love becomes blurred.
Not everyone subscribes to that idea,
but there are some that do,
all too often.
It would certainly be
a perfect world as,
the old saying goes,
if we could all
just get along.
I am going to try
to live up to that old saying today.
February is coming around quickly
and that means a sure sign
that love is in the air.
I present to you,
a Valentine's Day table and,
even though it appears to be
a table for two,
it is much more than that,
and you all have a seat
at this table.
If I do say so myself,
I am obsessed with the garland
that is fast becoming a staple
at the Cottage.
I have moved it back
into the dining room and included
more flowers and ribbons
that proclaim a
statement of love.
The pink flowered place settings
are included in my "best dishes" category.
They are by Wood & Sons of England.
They were acquired, specifically,
when the dining room's decor
leaned to the more traditional.
Now they only come out
when romance is the issue.
Also included are
candle sticks and sherbet dishes
in hob nail milk glass
patterns...
...and pink glasses,
of which the smaller size
was a beautiful gift from
Jake and Jacenda
at Christmas.
Festive paper pinwheels
hang from the chandy
above the table.
The food
is the least of the equation.
First and foremost
is the presentation and
all the rest
comes later.
Now
that all of that has been
figured out and put in place,
I want to tell you about a movie
that we watched the other night.
It is called "Maudie"
and we got it through Netflix,
but not the streaming part.
I checked
and it doesn't seem to be available there.
The following is a short run down:
Maud Lewis
was born in South Ohio, Nova Scotia,
in 1903.
She died in 1970.
She spent the last three decades
of her life
painting in a corner of a one room house
where she lived with her
fishmonger husband, Everett.
The couple was destitute
and she painted on anything
that she could get her hands on,
shingles and pieces of wood,
using house and boat paint.
She sold her paintings
out of her home
and also when she went door to door
with her husband
while he was selling the fish he caught.
Over time
she covered every surface of her home
with bright and charming flowers and birds.
Her paintings were
happy and cheerful and
certainly belied the fact that
she must have been in constant pain
from rheumatoid arthritis and
curvature of the spine
that she suffered from all of her life.
I had never heard of her and, in fact,
until I read in the credits
at the end of the movie,
that her paintings are on display
in the Nova Scotia museum,
I didn't know that the film was based
on the true story of her life.
This was a sad,
and at the same time,
uplifting story
about two people that were
social outcasts,
who found each other under
unlikely circumstances and
who made each other's lives
bearable and productive,
although not always in the best of ways.
To me,
in spite of all the dysfunction,
it was a love story.
Not an ideal one,
but one carried out in ways that
only these two individuals could and,
in the end,
I found myself so happy
that they had found each other.
(After doing some research on Google,
I read that some critics
were unhappy with the way
the story was depicted,
but I thought that
all of the parts in question were addressed,
maybe just not to the extent
that the critics felt satisfactory).
The acting is wonderful and
the cast very believable in their parts.
I was not familiar with
Sally Hawkins, who played Maud,
but she was remarkable, and
I have always enjoyed performances
by Ethan Hawke,
who portrayed Maud's husband, Everett.
This was a rather simple,
but well done film
of a story that deserved to be told
and a life that deserved
to be appreciated.
I hope you get a chance to see it,
if you haven't already.
I would love to hear
your thoughts on it.
Now,
on to menu planning and more.
See you next week and
I appreciate
your stopping by.
"It is not only necessary to love,
it is necessary to say so."
French Saying
...Judy...
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