R's rue

The final scene of the film Hostiles is one of the most powerful, I think,  in recent times. PTSD sufferer Christian Bale is saying goodbye to the woman ( Rosamund Pike)  and child he saved from an Indian attack  and now finally after a whole lifetime of abuse he has the option to join her ( and salvation ) or carry on hating his Indian foes and perpetuating his hatred for ever ....at the very last minute he quietly chooses salvation, and I remember leaving the cinema after I had witnessed this , elated and rather hopeful How many choices do we all have that actually shape our lives for the better like this  Answers on a postcard please. from Going Gently https://ift.tt/3pLfvMt

The late Barbara Windsor in "Carry On Nursing" I am living a pretty solitary life because of COVID restrictions - always trying to stay safe. Before there was conversation, laughter, people to meet, things to do. COVID has stolen most of that away and you feel it more in these winter months as the virus continues to rage. My main Sunday highlight was a walk down to our local "Sainsburys" convenience store. There I purchased a four pint carton of semi-skimmed milk and a pack of pork sausages. Then I walked back home. Whoopee-doo! The second highlight was making the evening meal while listening to Chelsea v Manchester City on the radio. I  grilled two pork chops and prepared delicious potatoes-dauphinoise  with Brussel sprouts, apple sauce and gravy. Dessert was homemade apple pie with vanilla custard. Ordinary things have become more significant than they used to be. Life has shrunk. Over in America, Trump has been taped trying to bully  Georgia's Secretar...

Tier 4 has gotten  me into some awful ways . My day off and after walking the girls at 8am, it was back to bed until midday. Not good and a very bad habit to get into. I’ve chided myself for it this afternoon and had a brisk and very cold walk on the beach in way of penance.   When I returned home I roasted a lamb shank and made Yorkshire puddings from scratch.  When they were cooked crisp, I shredded the lamb and filled them and added proper gravy made luxurious with cranberry jelly. I ate my lunch watching How The West Was Won  Mary won the lottery and had the bones all to herself I washed my uniforms for the week and read several chapters of The lost Language Of Cranes before falling asleep in my armchair. from Going Gently https://ift.tt/38bsfX0

Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) Frank Sinatra was a man of many parts. Like The Laughing Horse Blogger of the Year 2020, Sinatra lived a full life. He drank the wine and he heard the music. I was lying in bed the other morning when the radio DJ played Sinatra's "It Was a Very Good Year (When I Was Seventeen)". A difficult song, rendered so effortlessly. He delivered it with nostalgic echoes from his own life woven into the lyrics. I might have posted that song with this blogpost but instead I have chosen "Ol' Man River". It is said that when Martin Luther King Jr heard Sinatra singing this song live in concert, he wept. Though Frank Sinatra was a drinker, a womanizer, a gambler, a film star, a man who hob-nobbed with presidents and underworld criminals, he was also fiercely anti-racist. Undoubtedly, his early life in a poor Italian immigrant community in New Jersey, made him understand what it is like to be excluded - on the outside. He didn't just think ...