Gone Girl

I can't believe I did not write a post about this book "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn but I can't find one. It was one of the most suspenseful books I have ever read and I noted her down as a new author I want to follow.

Today I heard on the news what a best seller it has been and they are now making a movie of it!!! Gillian Flynn had lost her job in 2008 and decided to write--four years later, boom, what a success!!! I can't remember the details of the book but I don't think I will read it again before the movie--evidently the ending will be a little different.

She was asked how she could write such a dark movie about marriage when she appears to have a very happy one and has a little boy also.  She said she had to be careful to never write just after they had had a fight...but it is all her imagination what she writes in the book.

Easter break with the Stewarts

Easter fun and school holiday!

Darling little Molly--wish I could snuggle her!

 Future heartbreaker at the swimming pool, Ryan hits the water.

Brynn and Kate share a tube.  Thanks, big sister.

Brynn does a little sunbathing.

Look what is in the Easter Basket!  Sweet Molly!

A Good Week

From a LACC Memo:   Lake Almanor has water. While many of California's lakes and reservoirs are experiencing extremely low water levels, Lake Almanor is holding steady for the time being.  

That is good news!!!

Thought for today--

“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.”

― Epictetus

I remember my college friend Marta telling me that same thing when she came to visit.  I was stewing over something and she said, "Is there anything you can do about it?"  NO--"Then stop worrying about it."  Good advice.

This has been a great week, I accomplished a lot though it takes me forever to do things and I have to keep resting.  I get too tired too fast. 

Every time I drive to Susanville or to Chester I think what a beautiful place I live in,  I don't mind the drive at all.  There is very little traffic and just scenic views on both sides.  The snow is still atop Mt Lassen and the Sierras and Cascades but the temperature is up in the 70's,

I also enjoy going to the branch each Sunday and meeting with people who know my name and who are friendly and enjoyable to listen to and be with.  This is a good place for me to be, it is still lonely, of course, but thank heaven I have Sadie.  

She sometimes sits at the end of her "run" and cries because she wants to go play with the big dog in back of my lot.  Yesterday the big dog and the two golden labs from the next house came and played with her at the same time.  It was three big dogs all taking turns tussling with her and the owners stand and watch to make sure they don/t hurt her but she just loves it.

The branch has a new tabletop flat screen tv that we can play our teaching videos on.  Maryanne used it today and then showed me how.  She even looked online to show me what connector I needed to use with my Samsung.  Yes, very nice thoughtful people here.  And I am glad I willl not have to drag my computer and speakers to church anymore when I teach!

Hula Plus is A Plus and Matt and Mitch are My Heroes

The other day I asked Mitch why I needed Hulu Plus as one of my Roku Channels.  He said he had just read that they had added a lot of the old black and white Classic movies.  He knew I had been looking for some on Netflix and could not find them.

Sunday I had been talking to my sister Marilyn who had her 83rd birthday that day.  We were giving each other advice on how to live our remaining years and she left me with the admonition to just "do what you want to" so Monday after cleaning my little house I sat down for an afternoon of the "Classics"  on Hula Plus.

I have a list from somewhere of Classics to see before you die so that is the list I am using.  But first I was fascinated by an Ingrid Bergman film called "Stromboli".  Loving anything that Ingrid Bergman was in and not remembering ever seeing it (I hadn't, it was a foreign film) it was my first to watch. She was a left over prisoner in a refugee camp after WWII and was proposed to by a Greek prisoner who had a home to go back to.  He described the island in the Mediterranean as a desirable place and since he was a handsome young man and she did not have family left to go back to, she was married and left with him.

Feeling somewhat sad and lonely myself after Mitch and Matt left and I was alone for the first time in a few months it was a great film to cry to.  The town on the island was called Stromboli and it was town which was destroyed by a huge volcano at the top of the island every once and while and there was hard lava all over with little green vegetation and the homes were cracked and barren.  There was little furniture in his home. Anyway with her emoting and feeling rejected as a foreigner and he being a young jealous husband who believed in beating a wife who smiled at anyone else, etc, etc, etc it was a movie of tears...but I enjoyed feeling her emotions.

Then I found "Tokyo Story" on my list.  This was the story of an older couple who goes back to rebuilt Tokyo to visit their married children.  Since I had just been to San Diego to visit my married children this was a great movie to relate to.  As you can imagine their married children are all very busy with their jobs and family and having the parents is more a burden than a joy.  It really tells the story of just how it is--they love their parents but they do not have the time for them and the parents feel slighted and go home early. However, it is nothing that they talk about.  In fact they do not have so much in common to even converse anymore.

There were many excellent views voiced "your children grow away from you gradually"  "a married daughter is like a stranger"  "it is hard to lose a child, but it is not easy to get along with the living either".  The timing of watching the movie could not have been better for me.  I had just moved on to another film when Maria called and we had an excellent discussion about it all.  As she said you can't take these things personally it is just the way it is...we all adore you but everyone has so much that they are involved in, it is hard to do it all--or something like that.  Anyway excellent movie and I enjoyed the conversation with Maria very much.  I needed that.

The last movie I watched was not a Classic but a new one that had been added and it was excellent as well.  "33 Postcards" is about a Chinese orphan who is sponsored by a young man from Australia for 10 years from age 6 to 16.  They have corresponded faithfully and she has grown to love the life he depicted in Australia.  When she goes to Australia to perform in a children's choir she looks for him and finds he has been in prison for 10 years and was not living the life he depicted at all.  It is a very beautiful film about innocence and love and crime and prison life and the unfairness of life and how far love can go in helping each other survive and thrive.

Hula Plus I will keep while I watch more of the classics...and others.  Isn't it great that I have so much time to just do what I want every day.  Today I get my hair cut and will take Sadie for a long walk.  It will be in the high sixties and seventies all week!!!  Spring is here...for now and thanks to Mitch and Matt my yard is beautiful and ready to enjoy.

When Matt came to pick up Mitch and saw the ninety plus bags of yard waste he said we needed to get rid of it and was the waste dump open?  It was till noon!!!  Matt is very decisive and they immediately cleaned out Matt's nice big Suburban and I drove to town for some cash.  The waste dump is just three plus miles down the road but it took four loads and lots of effort and mess and their precious time.  I am so appreciative of Matt and Mitch to do this for me.  I would have had to put the bags out for the garbage dump at $2 a bag and it would have taken almost a year!!!  If only I had a truck!!  Anyway I cannot give enough praise to Matt and Mitch for all their effort and Mitch had cleaned up the yard so beautifully while he was here.  Matt reminded me just  before he left that he is only two hours away and if I needed anything to call!!!  Nice to know when I am all alone up here, thanks Matt.