Weblog 177

June 28, 2009~ 12:00am
Nothing flavors life as much as one's passions. Every time I hear someone has an intense interest in something, my heart leaps for them. Joys found in a special field of study- the more offbeat the better- cannot be explained, but it makes the difference between boredom, and life with a kind of ......sparkle.

I'd never heard of 'mycology ' (which is the study of mushrooms) until this year when my daughter threw herself right into it!

I've always associated mushrooms with fairies and moonlight...magic and written lore... (as well as the makings of a mighty fine gravy, to boot.)



I can't help but think of Alice in Wonderland meeting the mushroom-seated Cheshire Cat... so they've always seemed magical to me -appearing overnight- sprouting mysteriously.

Holly has not only taken up this hobby with great elan, she's passed her enthusiasm along to her children, who, young as they are, dove right in- impassioned too- and it's fun to watch.



There's Holly and Kay, busily preparing the day's finds they'd culled from the mossy ground in and around Cooper's Rock, West Virginia, on a day-trip last week when the cousins were visiting. That evening after dinner, Holly bought out the woven baskets with waxed paper bags full of specimens. Kay had found the 'Witch's Hat' all by herself, and was very excited, so this was Kay's contribution to the exhibit.



(It figures Kay would have spotted that one.) I've never known a child more obsessed with witches in my life! LOL!!!-- so that was perfect, and it delighted me. Soon the whole table was an array of the day's finds, properly labeled and laid out.



Even the tricky ones, which Holly would have to delve a bit deeper to correctly identify with spore prints, a lovely artwork straight out of nature that leaves a fingerprint of the fanned and delicate mushroom vents from under the cap.





Holly takes the kiddoes with her when she meets with the Western Pennsylvania Mushroom Club - and Bill can identify several varieties with their Latin names, so he's already gotten his '10'er button. LOL!! All in all, it's a great way to stay in touch with nature, to be in awe of its infinite variety, to witness the endless surprises and beauties there are to behold all around us, and we barely notice.

It may be fungus, but it's living -- often beautiful -- always available for anyone with an eye for collecting and discovery. (Plus, I'm a firm believer in "the family who walks together, talks together" - so mushroom hunting is perfect.)

We need focused interests, and the more uncommon the better. It makes us aware of minutiae we'd otherwise pass by and never appreciate, so 'Viva la 'Shroom'!' (And I still think fairies use them as chairs. Moonlight + mushrooms = fairies.)



Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed. I'm sure he waited patiently along moonlit silvery paths anticipating the wee folk, with chairs neatly arranged in circles, ready for their arrival. Even with science.... ya gotta believe in magic.




June 28, 2009~ 2:15pm
We rented 'Notes On A Scandal', and watched it last night... and I can't think of two actresses with more formidable talent to bring to the table and duke it out than Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett.



Dench was terribly creepy in her role as repressed, controlling and totally evil lesbian confidante to the much younger Blanchett-- discontented and at loose ends with her life, her image, and her marriage to a much older man.

They're both teachers in a rowdy English school, and foolishly...disastrously, Blanchett begins an affair with a 15 year old student in her art class. Dench does her worst in blackmailing her friend, thrusting her against her will into a forced friendship that Dench records daily in her diary. Her performance is so convincing, you can't help but want to wash after seeing her on screen for just a short while, and maybe throwing her under a bus to rid Blanchett's life of that damnable, crusty predator.

But what surprised me most of all, was Cate's ability, through acting genius alone, to make her character totally vulnerable and sympathetic to the viewer, despite her abhorrent moral choices. Ordinarily I would find such a role and such a person easily dismissed for their complete irresponsiblity, but Cate Blanchett was able to tug at the heart strings, fleshing out her role into a real, complex, and broken person not easily written off.



The ridiculous name of 'Sheba' suits her character perfectly. She had, from the start of her life with her breathtaking beauty, a cross to bear: one that made others think of her as ornament.. as frosting, no cake. A mother who hates her, a father who adored her, but who died young -- a flight into an early marriage to her teacher in college, much older- ('daddy' again?) -and then the birth of a Down syndrome child, who both exhausts her and claims all the attention in her marriage so that Sheba remains a lost thing, searching for 'something'. The wrong something comes along, a 15 year old boy who idolizes her. She makes a tragic error in judgment and is caught by the spider, Dench.

This is in many ways an ugly film, but it's fascinating character study, and certainly worth watching. These two great ladies of film grapple with a story that could easily have become 'soap opera', but their ability to inhabit their roles as complex, real people, transform this film into a drama not easily forgotten.





***

(Return To Weekly Archives)