We'd been talking about it for weeks: a sleepover at the farmhouse, with Snowdrop's mommy joining us for a double feature movie! Snowdrop will share with me her favorite (Moana) and I get to share with her a favorite from my childhood.
We could not have picked a better day and evening for it. It continues to be cold and there is no pleasure in doing anything outdoors. I know we will have great improvement in the weather in weeks to come, but we're still chugging along through early spring misery here (I don't consider a high of 40f, or 4c to be reasonable for mid April). Forget about prepping flower beds. Forget about sitting on the picnic bench and watching spring unfold. A double feature in the living room of the farmhouse sounds just great to me.
But of course, there are the morning chores.
(well well, look who has coming calling, looking for breakfast! Hi Jacket, hi Dance!)
(at least we have morning sunshine!)
(sigh... a rabbit, right there on the path. Possibly the culprit in the butchering of tulips out front.)
It's the first day of the farmers market downtown. The hardy and the tourists are there for it. And Ed! He scoots down on my moped to deliver four dozen eggs to a farmer and returns with cheese curds. It's a fair exchange!
Breakfast. Fruits, flowers...
... and cheese curds and Ed.
And in the afternoon, the girl and her mom come over.
It's not a smooth beginning: I asked Ed to test the ancient DVD player he dragged over from the sheep shed (to replace my almost as ancient one which indeed is broken) and sure enough, unless you enjoy hiccups and pauses throughout your viewing experience, you may as well give up. Consider it broken. I send Ed out to get a new player just as the girls arrive.
No matter. There are books to read in the interim!
Finally. The movie theater is open for business.
We start with Moana. [In case you're not familiar with it, it has to do with a girl venturing across the waters, away from her island, to find and return the missing heart to its rightful place.] She has seen it several times and she has coaxed me into improvising the Moana story, with our own unique twists and turns added to it, on numerous car rides to and from her house. But for me, it is a totally new viewing.
I think -- how different are her movie adventures as compared to my own childhood stuff! True, I remember liking "101 Dalmations," but otherwise, I did not watch cartoons and I rarely saw animation on the big screen. My own daughters were the transition: they endured some of my favorites from the "olden days" (I was a huge Hayley Mills fan), but they also loved the new Disney hits. You know the stuff -- Lion King, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast. Snowdrop is a total fan of film and so one has to meter out things slowly and only in bad weather! Where will her tastes fall? We will see.
(munching predinner veggies and watching Moana)
(dancing to Moana)
First film, with all its ocean storms, pirate greed, and fire and fury behind us, we sit down to pizza. With asparagus on the side, because I said so. It's a running joke that Gogs pushes vegetables on the side with pizza dinners.
Movie number two is to be from my childhood. What to pick for this freshly four year old, who tends to be sensitive to hurt and drama in stories or movies?
Mary Poppins! I mean, where might you find fearful stuff in this lovely film of flying nannies and dancing penguins?
Watching Mary Poppins after Moana (by a girl who has only seen a handful of movies in her life, all of them animated) is like riding a camel after getting off the Polar Express.
Her eyes never leave the screen. (Popcorn!)
For all 139 minutes of it.
(Ed, on the other hand, gave up the ship halfway through...)
I hadn't quite realized how long the movie is!
There are many things to discuss, talk about, explain. We'll save it. The girl is up two hours past her bedtime already.
What a thrilling day! Volcanic lava, chimney sweeps, twopence for birds, flying kites and all!
We could not have picked a better day and evening for it. It continues to be cold and there is no pleasure in doing anything outdoors. I know we will have great improvement in the weather in weeks to come, but we're still chugging along through early spring misery here (I don't consider a high of 40f, or 4c to be reasonable for mid April). Forget about prepping flower beds. Forget about sitting on the picnic bench and watching spring unfold. A double feature in the living room of the farmhouse sounds just great to me.
But of course, there are the morning chores.
(well well, look who has coming calling, looking for breakfast! Hi Jacket, hi Dance!)
(at least we have morning sunshine!)
(sigh... a rabbit, right there on the path. Possibly the culprit in the butchering of tulips out front.)
It's the first day of the farmers market downtown. The hardy and the tourists are there for it. And Ed! He scoots down on my moped to deliver four dozen eggs to a farmer and returns with cheese curds. It's a fair exchange!
Breakfast. Fruits, flowers...
... and cheese curds and Ed.
And in the afternoon, the girl and her mom come over.
It's not a smooth beginning: I asked Ed to test the ancient DVD player he dragged over from the sheep shed (to replace my almost as ancient one which indeed is broken) and sure enough, unless you enjoy hiccups and pauses throughout your viewing experience, you may as well give up. Consider it broken. I send Ed out to get a new player just as the girls arrive.
No matter. There are books to read in the interim!
Finally. The movie theater is open for business.
We start with Moana. [In case you're not familiar with it, it has to do with a girl venturing across the waters, away from her island, to find and return the missing heart to its rightful place.] She has seen it several times and she has coaxed me into improvising the Moana story, with our own unique twists and turns added to it, on numerous car rides to and from her house. But for me, it is a totally new viewing.
I think -- how different are her movie adventures as compared to my own childhood stuff! True, I remember liking "101 Dalmations," but otherwise, I did not watch cartoons and I rarely saw animation on the big screen. My own daughters were the transition: they endured some of my favorites from the "olden days" (I was a huge Hayley Mills fan), but they also loved the new Disney hits. You know the stuff -- Lion King, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast. Snowdrop is a total fan of film and so one has to meter out things slowly and only in bad weather! Where will her tastes fall? We will see.
(munching predinner veggies and watching Moana)
(dancing to Moana)
First film, with all its ocean storms, pirate greed, and fire and fury behind us, we sit down to pizza. With asparagus on the side, because I said so. It's a running joke that Gogs pushes vegetables on the side with pizza dinners.
Movie number two is to be from my childhood. What to pick for this freshly four year old, who tends to be sensitive to hurt and drama in stories or movies?
Mary Poppins! I mean, where might you find fearful stuff in this lovely film of flying nannies and dancing penguins?
Watching Mary Poppins after Moana (by a girl who has only seen a handful of movies in her life, all of them animated) is like riding a camel after getting off the Polar Express.
Her eyes never leave the screen. (Popcorn!)
For all 139 minutes of it.
(Ed, on the other hand, gave up the ship halfway through...)
I hadn't quite realized how long the movie is!
There are many things to discuss, talk about, explain. We'll save it. The girl is up two hours past her bedtime already.
What a thrilling day! Volcanic lava, chimney sweeps, twopence for birds, flying kites and all!
