SATURDAY POTPOURRI: NOSTALGIA, MOVIES, & BOOKS — MARCH 9

I’ve been feeling nostalgic lately, so I scrolled through my albums again and found these photos from way back in the day….and created this collage for Facebook.

The first shot is of my four children in 1977:  Easter.  We were living in an English stucco house in one of the quirkiest neighborhoods in our city.  I remember loving the house, but soon bored of the neighborhood.

The second shot was later that year, taken in Solvang.  Loved that little village.

And here’s an earlier shot of me with my daughter:  October 1976.

That was another shot in the English stucco house.  There was a bay window in the dining room and French doors leading out to a side porch.  There was also a huge attic that we always planned to turn into a bedroom/playroom, etc.

But moved on before we did anything to it.

Watching movies is another thing I do when I’m feeling nostalgic, and nothing takes me back more than Hitchcock movies.  And I’d been wanting to see this new one about Hitchcock and his wife, and the making of Psycho.  So I watched it last night.

Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren were really good.

Today I’m reading another Jane Green book:  Promises to Keep.  Her books always manage to captivate me…so I’m eager to get back to it.

Over at my Saturday Snapshot post today, I featured my visit to a cozy library that is in the suburb where I used to live….Here’s a glimpse:

What does your day look like?  A getaway, cozy dinners, movies?

HUMP DAY POTPOURRI: A BLAST FROM THE PAST — MARCH 7

Mid-week again!  What happened to Monday and Tuesday?

Ah, yes, Monday was that day I was chasing down a book lost in the post office.  I was also running errands.

Tuesday was too windy to do much except stay indoors unless absolutely necessary.

But I did go to the mailbox, and found a lovely book from the seventies, reprinted and re-released a couple of months ago.

Marge Piercy was our favorite back in the day.  The first book of hers I read was called Small Changes.  We read it collectively, as a book club/consciousness-raising group.  That book changed our lives.  We talked about the characters, the issues, and tried to apply the ideals to our lives.

“Marge Piercy is a raw, tough, willfull, magnificent novelist.”
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
Set against the early days of the modern feminist movement, SMALL CHANGES tells the story of sensual Miriam Berg, who trades her doctorate for marriage and security, but still hungers for a life of her own and shy, frightened Beth who is running from the life Miriam seeks and into a new world of different ideas and a different kind of love…..

We went on to read many other books by this author, and I even enjoyed several of her memoirs.

Sleeping with Cats is a peek into the author’s life, from childhood on; I can totally picture her world as she fills the pages with beautiful prose.

Marge Piercy, a writer who is highly praised as both a poet and a novelist, turns her gaze inward as she shares her thoughts on life and explores her development as a woman and writer. She pays tribute to the one loving constant that has offered her comfort and meaning even as the faces and events in her life have changed — her beloved cats.

With searing honesty, Piercy tells of her strained childhood growing up in a religiously split, working-class family in Detroit. She examines her myriad friendships and relationships, including two painful early marriages, and reveals their effects on her creativity and career. More than a reminiscence of things past, however, Sleeping With Cats is also a celebration of the present and the future, as Piercy shares her views on aging, creativity, and finding a lasting and improbable love with a man fourteen years younger than herself.

A chronicle of the turbulent and exciting journey of one artist’s life, Sleeping With Cats is a deeply intimate, unforgettable story.

***

Now…onto my mailbox yesterday.  Dance the Eagle to Sleep is one I somehow missed back then.  So when I was doing a scroll through Piercy’s author page on Amazon and discovered it, of course I had to order it!

Originally published in 1970, Marge Piercy’s second novel follows the lives of four teenagers in a near-future society as they rebel against a military draft and “the system.” The occupation of Franklin High School begins, and with it, the open rebellion of America’s youth against their channeled, unrewarding lives and the self-serving, plastic society that directs them. From the disillusionment and alienation of the young at the center of the revolt to their attempts to build a visionary new society, the nationwide following they gain, and the brutally complete repression that inevitably follows, this is a future fiction without a drop of fantasy. As driving, violent, and nuanced today as it was 40 years ago, this anniversary edition includes a new introduction by the author reflecting unapologetically on the novel and the times from which it emerged.

Now you know why I’m feeling nostalgic.  Of course I’ll have to reread Small Changes and Sleeping with Cats.  And some of the others I have by this author.

What authors do you enjoy so much that you get goosebumps when you hear about something they’ve written?  Something you missed along the way, or something you have to reread?

I’m going to curl up and read for the rest of the week!

My favorite reading spot!

And here’s another I’m reading today:

I should finish this one this morning!

What are you reading now?

SUNDAY POTPOURRI: NOSTALGIA — FEB. 19

SUNDAY MORNING TREATS

I love Sunday mornings!  As I think back to my years in the “trenches,” as I like to dub my career in social work, I didn’t really enjoy Sunday.   Sunday was like the dark tunnel that led directly to Monday and a return to the stress of my life.

It’s not that I hated my work.  Most of the time, I really felt fulfilled with the opportunity to make a difference.  But so often, the obstacles (rules, laws) seemingly interfered and kept most of us frustrated and stressed out.

Now that I’m “retired” and free-lancing as a writer/blogger, I love Sundays…and even Mondays.

There’s a real freedom in this new life.  The only downside…well, you know what that would be:  knowing that there are many more years behind me than ahead of me.

Lest I wax gloomy here, let’s turn our attention to the nostalgic moments I’m enjoying.  Check out my Sunday Salon post.

On my DVR, I have some movies from the past.  Vertigo is one I haven’t seen for many years.

It’s on my DVR…and I can’t wait!

Then I’ve started watching a movie from the seventies, just to reflect on how things were then…and how they are now.

An Unmarried Woman, starring Jill Clayburgh, came to the theaters around the same time that my second marriage was ending.  Forever after, I would think of my own life when I watched it.

But not so much anymore.

Isn’t it great that time and distance render certain events…neutral?

My situation was completely different than the woman in this film.  For one thing, I wanted out of the marriage.

Despite this fact, though, there was a certain nostalgia for the life I had been accustomed to.  There are always feelings of regret, of loss, of “what-if.”

This morning I am sipping a Mimosa for the first time all week.  In my vow to make healthier choices, I am limiting myself…yes, I know I have that “guilty pleasures” blog, Chocolate & Mimosas, but moderation doesn’t mean I don’t still enjoy these things.

Maybe moderation brings MORE enjoyment to the choices I make.

What do you love to do on Sundays?  Do you feel nostalgic for certain times in your life?  What books or movies bring up these feelings?