A Multitude of Movies in March

I spent the first week of March watching quite a bit while staying with my mother. She calmed to every musical and somewhat when I watched the BBC's The Monarch of the Glen (a series I have no access to, but my parents own 7 seasons of it - I only managed 3-1/2 seasons). We watched her beloved Meet Me in St. Louis, The Wizard of Oz, The Sound of Music, Singing in the Rain, Les Miserables (a staged production), and my favorite, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. My house is very quiet. We don't watch television at all (don't have cable or any other access points). Still, the practice of watching must have influenced me because I watched more movies in March than I have in a long time.

Not long ago, I discovered my library access to a documentary/movie portal called Kanopy. It is like Hoopla (a certain amount of credit per month), but focuses on documentaries and movies. I watched a documentary about William's Syndrome called Truelove: The Film. Then I got on a Felicity Jones kick. I watched Like Crazy, about a British student attending college in America who overstays her visa. It was a sad and disturbing movie about how bureaucracy stood in the way of her marriage. Not one I recommend. My next Felicity Jones fare was the Masterpiece Theater production of Northanger Abbey, a book I read 5 years ago.

After that, I explored famous writers who lost children (don't ask me why). So, I watched the Roald Dahl story, To Olivia. Then, I watched the 1977 movie, Mary White. William Allen White was a writer and author in Emporia, Kansas. His 16-year-old daughter died when she struck a low-hanging branch while riding her horse. The actress who played Mary did an outstanding job of communicating the girl's spunk and convictions.

Sean was interested in the Mary White movie because it corresponded to a period in history that he was then studying in his AP US History course. I also watched another movie at his behest. He had read the book Into the Wild for another class. I regretted that choice because it had a few minor nude scenes in the telling. No doubt this is why the teacher didn't share the movie with the class, ha!

Watching some of the Viking TV episodes about Great Britain led me to seek some more British fare. Thus, I watched Irish Wish, a cute little movie set with gorgeous footage of Ireland. It is about a young American girl who makes a wish on an ancient stone in Ireland. She wishes to marry her best friend's fiancé. As her wish unfolds, she learns it wasn't the best wish. I also made a 20-mile trek to the closest theater I could find showing the movie One Life. I adored Anthony Hopkins and Helena Bonham Carter in the film. Yet, I think I would have been fine waiting for library access and watching it at a later date. In my opinion, the documentary my husband and I watched on Kanopy in February (called Nicky's Family) was a more compelling telling of Nicholas Winton's story. Oh well.

So, what did I do besides all that movie watching? Well, nothing much. It seems I've been expertly avoiding thinking about difficult things. I did, however, begin purging in the kitchen. At this point, I only have two bags and am through a third of the cupboards. I attended a webinar on memoir writing (not for myself, but because a close friend has asked for help in writing her memoir). I would love to pick up where my writing stalled out mid-year, but still haven't made that happen. If my friend can get me writing again, even in a quasi-manner, it will be helpful.