Movies 06

This is a movie list, not a best of the year list, or a best in the world list, it's simply a list of some of the movies I saw in 2006 which stuck with me. Kat told me my list could include anything I wanted it too, (Ryan's did.) Some were released a very long time ago. Such is my life. Not only am I a late bloomer, I'm a busy lady and I don't always see movies the year they first arrive in theatres or in DVD. Also, this year has meant a lot of traveling with a movie and sometimes, I just want to read a book when I have a little downtime. I saw many children's movies this year, (Fried Worms, Millions..) for research purposes, so that was an issue, too.

Enough excuses, in no particular order, here goes:


The New World - I borrowed this from Kat while I was taking care of Pork Chop. It's simply beautiful. I'd like to own it so I can just turn it on without sound and watch it as I'm going about my day.

Monster House - This movie made me laugh out loud. The kids seem like kids I know or knew once. I love the opening, as the little girl rides her trike and sings "Hello fence, Hello, sky, Hello grass". Chowder reminds me of my cousins, and my brother when they were awkward 10- year-olds, I was there, too, we were all awkward, and that's the beauty of Monster House, a movie where kids are kids and monsters are real.

Invincible/The Descent - I list these together because I saw them on a "double feature" day.
Invincible made me love Mark Wahlberg even more. He's as sexy as they come and he's a fine actor. The others are good too. The photography is beautiful and the soundtrack is perfect.
The Descent is a great creepy cave movie with funny white cave people-monsters. There's some great claustrophobic cave shots, some very confusing story lines and some gruesome deaths. Still, it works.

Wheel of Time - I love Herzog's portrait of the Buddhists creating a "wheel of time" out of sand as part of an ordination ceremony. Years ago in Seattle, I took Ace to see visiting monks creating sand mandalas. They were intricate, detailed, and perfect. When they were completed, they poured them into Puget Sound. Impermanence.


Grizzly Man - Again, I love Herzog and I loved this film. I loved seeing Timothy's shots of the bears, and I'll never forget the images of the silver foxes, or the way Herzog lingered on his subjects as they got less comfortable, and more nervous and then said the thing they thought they shouldn't say.

Shut up and Sing - I loved this look at the chicks. Nicely done.

Babel - Beautifully shot, great story.


Overrated but loved it:
The Departed
Friends with Money


Movies I'm still planning to see:
Science of Sleep
Sherrybaby
The Queen
Little Children
Blood Diamond
The Pursuit of Happyness
The Last King of Scotland
The Proposition
Volver
Don't come knocking - Yes, I still have a thing for Wim.

The Movies I didn't like:
Nacho Libre


Movies everyone said I should see, but I can't bring myself to:
Borat


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Resolutions - for OTHER people

I love this from Powell's books blogger, Brockman:

INTERMISSION WITH BROCKMAN, BLOGMASTER:

Rather than find things to improve about myself, I like to ring in the New Year by making lists of resolutions for the special people in my life, to help them pinpoint and fix the qualities that aren't so great about them.

Herewith, my resolutions:

TO ADRIAN:
1. Pay less attention to conversations across the room that have nothing to do with you. Try to chime in with your unsolicited opinion as close to never as possible.
2. Wear flattering clothes that fit your body type. 'Nuff said.

TO DUSTIN:
Nothing kills a punchline like a cogent analysis (i.e. "That's so funny because it exposes the folly of our social compacts..."). Please don't ruin it for the rest of us.

TO NOAH:
You're 35 and still living in your parents' house while trying to decide what to do with your life. Guess what: it's half over already. Do anything.

TO LINDA:
Fifteen years ago, getting drunk every night was called "being young and wild." Now it's called "alcoholism."

TO ROBERT, CLINT, TOBY, AND MISSY:
Seinfeld has been off the air for a decade now. You can stop finding constant parallels between your lives and the hilarious misadventures of Jerry and Co.

TO DANIELLE:
Cigarettes are totally rebellious when you steal them. If you actually give money to the huge billionaire tobacco companies, however, you're not a rebel. Also, you're starting to sound like Harvey Fierstein. Time to quit.

C'mon, readers, fess up ˜ you've got armfuls of resolutions you'd just love to give the people in your life! Send 'em to me at brockman@powells.com so I can snicker at your secret cruelty. And Happy New Year!

Christmas memory

In the bustle of Christmas, the 1,000 piece puzzle we always try to finish in two days, the rich food, the football games on television, here's what I love most:

• getting time to visit with my Dad and hear his stories and have him insist on getting the truck out to help me look for the horse cause it's cold and windy
• finding the box of Granny's knitting needles and yarn and dividing it up, then having my niece teach me a bit about knitting
• my mom's cooking
• time with friends from far away and hearing their new music, their new stories, seeing their beautiful faces
  
• the train set around the tree that stays on the track most of the time
• my Dad's crazy Christmas decorations
• a fire in the fireplace
• visiting with the friendly calves, Inky and Britney who run up to us in the front yard for snacks and scratches on the forehead (soon they'll be full grown cows and it won't be so cute, but for now...what the heck)
• going on a long ride on Dakota in the brisk cold late afternoon, all through the pasture with Bubba the donkey following along behind us - not wanting to be left behind - and watching the sky turn to a soft dusky orange and feeling grateful and happy
• coming back inside and making cocoa from scratch and standing in front of the fireplace to warm up

Leo forever

Dogs like Leo often go unnoticed. They might start their life in danger, but they spend them forever grateful, aware and dedicated to their family. That was Leo.

I think it was 2001 when I got a call from a woman who rescues a lot of dogs. I was just starting to think about volunteering with the animal shelter in Austin, I'd left my name somewhere, that's how it starts. I didn't know what I was getting in to when I said, "Sure, let me grab my coat and shoes on and I'll meet you there." Someone had found a litter of puppies under their shed, put them in a cardboard box and left them in a field across the street from their house. The pups didn't have their eyes open, there were 8 of them, the mother dog was nowhere to be found and we were due for a rare November ice storm that night.

We each picked out 4 pups, completely randomly. Lucky me, Leo ended up in my basket, along with three other pups, Lulu, Clarence, and Dobbie. I picked up syringes and puppy formula on the way home and set them up in the spare bedroom.
That first night I just tried to keep their tummy's full. All four would wake starving, and one by one, I'd squirt formula in them, until they seemed content. (Here's Leo at 5 weeks.) Somehow we made it through that first night.
The next day we met back at the original location with two puppies and a trap. Our plan was to use the puppies to lure the Mom into the trap and take them all somewhere together until we could figure something else out. The field backed up to a greenbelt and we could see the Mother dog lurking in the distance. We hid, moved further away, but she stayed away. We waited until it was dark again and getting colder, then picked up the pups and the trap and called it a day.

So it began. Somehow Leo and his litter mates, Lulu, Clarence, Dobbie, Twyla Jean, Bear, Harry and Kodiak, all survived puppy hood. For me, it meant, messy, constant care. Everyone thought I was nuts, but like most times when people think I'm nuts, I disagreed. Leaving them in that field wasn't an option, the vet confirmed that, and I wasn't going to take them to the shelter or make them a problem for someone else. I knew it was something I was supposed to do, just that one time, so I did it.

The pups soon graduated from syringes and puppy formula to real baby bottles, and goat milk. A kindergarten class who heard about them made the puppies a project and donated bottles, blankets and cans of dog food. Still, the care of 4 puppies was at times overwhelming. I was recovering from my third surgery and the work gave me something meaningful to do, it was nice to give my attention to something besides my own injury. It was also good physical therapy. As I filled bottles and held puppies and chased them down and cleaned up after them, my arm got a steady gentle workout. So did my heart. I couldn't get too down and sad about myself when I had 4 waddling pups in the house, all learning to bark and wag at the same time, it was fun and it was crazy. All that puppy breath was good therapy.

One by one they found homes, but it was slow going. They weren't pretty. They were all different.

Lulu, who looked like a boston terrier/boxer mix was the cutest. She was adopted twice and returned each time. The third time was the charm and she now lives down the street.



Dobbie found a home with a college professor. He turned out to be a sort of miniature German Shepard looking dog. Very cute, smart and playful.




Clarence found a home, but quickly came back with a severe case of demodectic mange. It's brought on by stress and a compromised immune system, and is common in orphaned pups. We treated him and he seemed to get better until he went out for the day with another possible adopter only to come home with a severe outbreak. He never recovered and had to be put to sleep. This broke my heart, of course.

But, I had Leo and Leo was a lot of dog. Leo was smart and in tune. He knew people and he knew his job. He was calm, and loved to chase sticks and balls, but when you needed him, when you were having a bad day, or for me, when I was sick of being injured and feeling like an invalid, he'd be there by my side. He understood. Again, people may think I'm nuts, and I don't really don't care. Remember when you were a kid, when it was so easy to believe that your dog (or cat) completely understood you, when they had an unexplainable ability to sympathize and listen? Leo had that for me, cynical injured adult that I was.

I was pretty used to the idea of him being my dog, when I got a call from one of my favorite people in the world, my friend Meg in Seattle. Meg had just lost her dog of many years to cancer. She saw Leo's picture and she said it was crazy, but she knew he was supposed to be her dog. I wouldn't have sent Leo off to anyone else in the world, but this was Meg. I had three dogs at the time, Keni, Cowgirl and Molly, who had just showed up and made herself at home. Still, it was so hard to let him go.

I got a crate and Meg got Leo a ticket on Continental airlines. I took him to the cargo area, did all the paperwork and we waited for the plane. Leo seemed ready to go, he got right in his crate when I asked him to. When thye picked up his crate with a frontloader, he didn't make a peep. He trusted me. He had a layover in Minnesota of all places, so I called and somehow they let me talk to the guy in charge of animals who broke the rules and let Leo out of his crate and remarked on how scary he looked but what a "fine dog" he was.



Meg picked Leo up in Seattle with her then boyfriend and her daughter.
She said Leo looked up at her and wagged. Believe it or not, it happened that way. Here he is in Meg's little car riding home from the airport.
Maybe he isn't "pretty" but who needs pretty when you have so much presence?



Leo was the main dog at the Broadway Performance Hall, running the place, with Meg's help. He was there for Maddie's high school graduation and to check out Meg's new boyfriend, Dan, and later serve as "best dog" at their wedding with his bright blue bow tie.




When Meg and Dan bought a cabin and some land north of Seattle, they took Leo with them and they all had a wonderful time, as you can see:








I saw him for the first time since I put him on the plane when I went to Seattle for the screening. He remembered me. He came up to me and licked my face as if to say, "Hi, good to see you and I'm staying with Meg." It was only a couple of weeks later that Meg told me he was ill. He had developed an inability to digest proteins. They tried everything, even feeding him dog food with rabbit meat, but there was nothing to be done. Leo went from 80 lbs to 60 and kept getting sicker and finally last Tuesday night, they helped him pass on.

Meg called him her familiar, he was always by her side, in tune with her, just there, her friend and companion. To those of you who are rolling your eyes right now, maybe you'll know what I'm talking about some day. Maybe you'll meet a Leo of your own. He''ll show up when you think you have no time or room for him, he'll require you to open up a bit and do some work, and then one day, he will be right by your side before you knew you needed him.

I guess I needed a lot of words to let Leo go and mourn and celebrate him. I may have tended to him when he needed me, but he was there for me. He was just a dog from the woods, just a funny looking, sometime scary looking, crazy about his sticks, rabbit chasing, creek swimming, soulful dog with a whole lot of friends..

a Dress a Day

My favorite new blog. I'm going to start something like it. I'm going to copycat it with shoes or books or something. Just watch me. Maybe chairs or lawn furniture. I will, too.
or maybe just toys...

jumping off bridges - Best of Fest 2006 - GreenCine

Jonathan Marlow of Greencine lists jumping off bridges as 1 of 20 Worthy Undistributed Films from 2006.

Congrats also to Bryan, Jake and Megan, Cassidy Kids and Todd, The Guatemalan Handshake).

We're crossing our fingers and toes that Todd will be bringing The Guatemalan Handshake to Austin next Spring.

two new favorites

Post Secrets - An ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.

Rocket Boom - I know Joanne and I would be bff.

disappearing culture

My search for the snake collector is over. He's likely living in a nursing home, or has passed to the big snake farm in the sky. It's sad I didn't get to meet him first. This is why we're moving forward on Roadside Texas. One day all the snake collectors and Corn Museums may be replaced by outlet malls.

Film Survey from Tractor Facts

1) Does film best tell the truth (Godard) or tell lies (De Palma) at 24
frames per second?: Lies that help us with the truth. (Even documentaries are just a collection of real moments (truth) moved around to make a brand new story (lies).)

2) Ideal pairing of actors/actresses to play on-screen siblings: Adam Sandler and Jason Biggs

3) Favorite special effects moment: House of flying daggers - flying through the bamboo

4) Matt Damon or George Clooney?: George. He loves animals and travel, we have similar dating patterns and he has a villa in Italy.

5) What is the movie you've encouraged more people to see than any other?" Wings of Desire

6) Favorite film of 1934: City Lights

7) Your favorite movie theater: The Paramount in Austin, In Seattle, I like the Neptune.

8) Jean Arthur or Irene Dunne?" Irene Dunne

9) Favorite film made for children: chitty chitty

10) Favorite Martin Scorsese Movie: King of Comedy

11) Favorite film about children: Stand by Me

12) Favorite film of 1954: I love 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but this was a hard one.

13) Favorite screenplay written by a writer more famous for literature than
screenplays: Paris Texas (Sam Shepard)

14) Walter Matthau or Jack Lemmon?: Walter Matthau

15) Favorite character name: Harry Lime?

16) Favorite screenplay adapted from a work of great literature, either by
the author himself or by someone else: To Kill a Mockingbird

17) Favorite film of 1974: The Sting (74)

18) Joan Severance or Shannon Tweed?: Who?

19) jackass: the movie-- yes or no?; no

20) Favorite John Cassavetes Movie: Woman Under the Influence

21) First R-rated movie you ever saw: The Deer hunter

22) Favorite X-rated film (remember that, while your answer may well be a famous or not-so-famous hard-core film, the "X" rating was once also a legitimate rating that did not necessarily connote pornography: I don't know...

23) Best film of 1994: that was a busy year...Philadelphia?

24) Describe a moment in a movie that made you weep: I cry easily in movies, especially in ones about animals.

25) Ewan McGregor or Ewan Bremner?: McGregor

26) One of your favorite line readings (not necessarily one of your favorite lines) from this or any year
Sticking to this year: Almost anything said by the actor who played the chubby red headed kid, Chowder, in Monster House:
Chowder: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm not going inside *that* house!
Jenny:(his crush) I say it's worth a shot.
Chowder: [quickly] Yes I agree. Let's do it.
or
Chowder: All right, vacuum cleaner dummy, I'm setting you down on the lawn. Don't be scared, that's not how you were trained.
[slight pause]
Chowder: I love you, vacuum cleaner dummy.

27) What, if any, element in a film, upon your hearing of its inclusion beforehand, would most likely prejudice you against seeing that film or keeping an open mind about it?: frat boys

28) Favorite Terry Gilliam Movie: The Fisher King

29) Jean Smart or Annie Potts?: Annie

30) Is it possible to know with any certainty if you could like or love someone based partially on their taste in movies? If so, what film might be a potential relationship deal-breaker for you, or the one that might just seal that deal?: If they only liked films where everyone talked in rhymes and there was no story, I doubt they would be much fun to hang out with. If someone doesn't like Wings of Desire, on any level, I don't think we'd have much in common (it has Peter Falk, who doesn't like Peter Falk?)

objects on the side of the road and Roy's kolaches...

The stretch of I-35 between here and Waxachachie might be mostly empty pastures and outlet malls, but I still find it oddly beautiful at times. Then again, I'm a 6th generation native Texan and I cut my state a lot of slack in the beauty department. Of course Larry McMurtry, also a native of the state, calls I-35 the ugliest interstate in the whole wide world. Maybe he missed a few things, maybe he's not looking as closely as he could, maybe he didn't see Bruco?

Bruco is a giant caterpillar made of geodesic domes. Bruco is where all the magic happens at the Monolithic Dome Research Center in downtown Italy, Texas. Just turn left at the Alien Space Ship restaurant, which is still for rent if anyone is interested, and you will find a little road that leads you right up to the dome home community.

I stopped in there for a bit on Monday morning. There is a sweet little network of little dome homes with carports and Christmas lights and fenced yards. Some were all fancied up with special facades for a Spanish or cape code style dome, others were just little round houses. The President's house looks like an Italian Villa that is made out of domes. It actually works pretty well. The domes will be one of the stops on the Roadside Texas series tour. I'm excited.

On down the road, I stopped in West for Kolaches. My neighbors always take care of the dogs and cats when I'm out and they love the cream cheese kolaches. I picked up a half dozen cream cheese Kolaches for my neighbors and a warm poppyseed Kolache to go.

When I arrived in Austin, I unloaded the car, let the dogs in and I guess I was just road weary and I let my guard down. I left my stuff in a pile the couch and just started puttering a bit. I knew something was up when Roy Bean was looking really happy and Cowgirl was looking really guilty. Cowgirl often gets guilt transference. If something "bad" happens, she takes it on, she feels it, she puts herself in the scapegoat role, though I tell her all the time that she's a damn good dog.

The box of Kolaches had a tear in one side, a tear just the shape of Roy Bean's smile. With Roy, now happy and bouncing around the house, and Cowgirl, almost collapsing in guilt, I picked up the box and looked inside. There was one damp blueberry cream cheesekolache left that Roy couldn't get to in time. Roy was sent outside. Cowgirl got a bit of the last kolache and Keni, who didn't really know what happened, got a dog biscuit. All was well again, and the neighbors understood, of course.

Last night, I was taken out for dinner. Just down the street from the restaurant is a house full of lights, and lighted objects, and animated Christmas toys, including a tiny Santa Claus that climbs up and down a ladder to hang Christmas lights. When the home owner told me to "get on up there and push some buttons and make them all dance and move and all", I took him up on it. The man's heart is all over the yard, meticulous and fun and colorful, silly and somehow electrically stable.

A good day, a good night and not just for Roy Bean.

happy birthday Ace!

Annalise celebrates her 19th birthday today. She was barely 2 years old when she told me she planned to be a singer when she grew up.

She's done it.

When she was in 5th grade, she showed everyone in the audience at the Summit K-12 talent show, about 400 kids and parents, that she had a great voice along with the confidence and gumption to deal with adversity, when the sound system broke, forcing her to step up to the mic and sing her song acappella, on pitch and in tune. Now she's playing guitar and writing her own songs. She's smart and passionate, has a sense of adventure, knows how to budget her time and money and she's an incredibly hard worker. Oh and she's beautiful too. Yeah, you bet I'm proud, you would be too.

Music takes us out of the actual and whispers to us dim secrets that startle our wonder as to who we are, and for what, whence, and whereto.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Country music is three chords and the truth.
Harlan Howard

the film grrls

This morning there was a gathering of local women filmmakers, right here on Rosedale Avenue. There were editors, writers, directors, producers. Some of us make tv shows, some make documentaries, others are into narratives and a few do all of the above.

We talked about our project status, distribution, the good and not so good parts of indie filmmaking, how to get funding, how do your work even when you don't get funding and we kvetched a bit, too.

We told our stories, listened to each other, and nodded in agreement, a lot. We've all been "there".

I don't when people started using the word grrls for girls...but sometimes it just fits, like today, with the film grrls.

my grandfather

During my 10 mile run this morning, I was thinking a lot about my grandfather and some of the things he used to tell me. He died 12 years ago, and I don't care if it sounds crazy, but yeah, we still talk. He was a tiny man, barely 5'3" with a twinkle in his eye and a spring in his step.

He loved to read and I have several of his books here in my house including, Kundera's, The Art of the Novel, The Complete Works of Eudora Welty, The Writer's Handbook from 1988, The complete poems of Robert Service, and The Mier Expedition Diary, among many others. I still have a dog eared copy of Volume 1 of the American Heritage New Illustrated History of the United States, The New World that he gave me many many years ago. He thought everyone should know their history.

He passed the CPA exam on the first try, and only years later did he get his college degree by taking a class at a time, mainly literature and writing courses. He loved it when I worked on the literature titles at Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

He was too short to serve in WWII and he had too many kids by then, so he became a master cartographer. My grandmother's cousin, Audie Murphy, brought enough WWII action to the family anyway, I guess.

Here's some of the things I remember my grandfather telling me:

On what you want to do with your life:
"You can do anything you want as long as you're willing to work for it. You have to sit down and do it though, dreams will get you thinking, hard work will get you there, just love what you do and bring honor to everything you put out in the world."

On travel:
"Go, go and see the world. You'll find it's bigger than you thought and smaller than you thought at the same time. Be friendly and respect everyone you meet."

on family:
"Make us proud and know we'll always love you no matter what, no matter what."

On love:
"Life is going to throw you some curves, if you're going to be with someone on those curves, they need to be sweet to you, if they can't be sweet to you, it's gonna make things a lot harder, so don't even start off with 'em."

That's what I was thinking about during my run.

officer friendly - not so much

I had a brush with the law today, friends.
Yes, Kat, my partner in crime and I were together on this one.

Trouble makers, that's us. Always thumbing our noses at authority, challenging the social order, flaunting our freedoms.

We were trying to figure out where to park at ACC Riverside campus. We were due to speak at a class soon and were confused by the parking situation. We saw a police officer, "He can help us!"

That's when the trouble started, in an almost empty ACC parking lot, not many people, not much danger lurking, not that we can see anyway.

I pulled next to the patrol car, rolled my window down and said, "Hi there, Can you help us? We aren't sure where to park, we're here to speak at a class and..."

He was chewing. Chewing and glaring.

Officer: You just broke the law. Did you know that? You passed a vehicle on the right side and that is in violation of traffic code.

Me: I'm sorry. I wanted to ask you a question. I'm sorry.

Officer: Well, (smirk in his voice) I can help you with that, but first I need to let you know that passing on the right is against the law for a reason. (something about traffic codes and all again.)

Me: I didn't mean to break the law.

Officer: Park. Go in that building and sign in. BRING YOUR LICENSE PLATE NUMBER if you don't, you WILL GET A VIOLATION, I promise you that.

Me: Okay, Thank you sir. (weak smile)

I looked at Kat, I try hard to not laugh, I laugh when I'm tense and I'm starting to see how funny all this is, but I can feel the officer staring at me and my window is still down.

(Kat and I confer quietly.)
Me: Do I back up? I can't pass him on the right more, he might arrest me.
Kat: Maybe back up like you're going to park, then quick turn around and leave?

That's what we did. We didn't sign in, we didn't park in the lot. We parked on the street.

Watch out for unhappy cops. Somewhere at ACC Riverside, there is a cop who really wants to be a cowboy or a rockstar, maybe even a detective. He's not happy, we can tell you that.

on not making it all okay

I wasn't home last night. I was sleeping in a big room with about 6 other women. It was a freeze night and the emergency shelters were open and I put my name on the list of people to call if needed.

I am passionate about this: Everyone, every soul on the planet should have a safe, comfortable place to sleep at night. I also think society should figure out a way for every law abiding person (and I count among that group anyone who has already done any time if they had time to do) should have a room of their own, a nice quilt, a good dog (or cat) and healthy food.

Still, when I left the house to go for my shift, after bringing in the cats, and getting the dogs situated, I felt a deep, restless sadness. I wasn't sure if I should go at all, actually.

I'm not new to working with the homeless. I've been volunteering at a local day shelter for about 4 years. I love my friends there. I tell people it's because they are honest, and they don't bullshit, at least not about the big things. My homeless friends have no time for pretense. They've already lost so much, pretending it's all gonna be okay would be stupid. It might not be okay; it might never be as okay as it was, or as it could be. A person can't always be working on finding the better job, the cheaper place to live, or trying to mend relationships so they can go back home. We don't pretend it's simple, because it's isn't simple. We talk about possibilities and we talk about resources and sometimes we just play checkers and make stupid jokes. They remind me of something that is taking me years to learn and which I still have to work on: You can’t fix what isn’t yours to fix, no matter how bad you want to.

Back to last night, this particular emergency shelter is only open to homeless women and I can't help but feel sad and a bit hopeless when I talk to the women. Many of them have stories of abuse, of being tossed out and landing hard. Many have lost their children, which is something you probably never get over. Of course we're all culpable for our actions and our choices, but the truth is, a bad choice will come at very high cost for the ladies. Some of those choices will leave a person with, as John Steinbeck put it "a God sized hole in your heart."

We had a small group and when I arrived for my overnight shift, the few who were there were asleep. The volunteers slept in shifts so someone would always be awake to let anyone else in who need a warm place for the night. I didn't have to be on duty until around 4 a.m, so I crawled in my sleeping bag at 10 and read myself to sleep with a flashlight.

When I woke up for my shift, the sun was just barely coming up. I looked through the fogged up windows at the cold, empty downtown streets. No one should be out on a cold night like last night. I started the coffee a little after 5 and everyone else slowly began waking up.

We chatted through breakfast. We talked about our kids, about our loves and our pets. They told us they were sorry there weren't more of them in the shelter, it seemed like so much trouble for us to open up the place and make dinner and disrupt our own lives for such a small group. We told them, if there were just one of you, it would be worth it. This is where we want to be.

It was a nice morning.

I can't say the feeling of sadness left me as I went home. If anything, I was more aware of my tendency to want to make everything better. This wasn’t the morning for that, though. Maybe the trick is to be content with what you can do, with the small gestures. Sometimes you have to leave it at that. You really just do.

little Theo

One highlight of going to NY was meeting little Theo, Clare and Rich's brand new baby boy. Clare sent these pictures from our potluck brunch. (Theo fell asleep in my arms and that was just fine with me.)