Opua: quite
Opua: quite
Rowed ashore this Monday morning. I have to remind myself because I watched parts of college football games yesterday via Slingbox, which made the whole day feel like Saturday. Riggers said they would come out to the mooring and install the babystay, which they did. THE HAWKE OF TUONELA is again fully rigged and, as far I can can tell, there is only one reason why I can’t go sailing: the weather. This afternoon is beautiful: clear blue sky with a few clouds near the horizon, but there are only two hours of daylight left, and, unfortunately, those clouds are on the leading edge of a low. The forecast isn’t terrible, but some rain is predicted until Friday. I’ll see what it looks like tomorrow morning.
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The sun is near the Equator and temperatures are equalizing. The past three days Evanston and Auckland have both had highs in the low 60s F and lows in the low to mid-50s. We are going to continue as we have, while Evanston is due to go back to near 80º F; but within a few weeks New Zealand will be the warmer. And then it will almost be time for me to fly from the warmer place to the colder for the third time this year.
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I don’t know that I fully expressed how much I enjoyed Saturday’s walk.
This place is as beautiful ashore as on the water, and I enjoy walking up and down the hills almost as much as the sailing. Boston has hills, but we lived only a block from the Bunker Hill Monument, so I used to climb its 300 interior steps once a week for the exercise and the view. Evanston doesn’t even have a suspicion of a hill. Carol and I often walk over to the lake and back, which is pleasant, but doesn’t compare with walking here. I enjoy using my aging body. My legs felt the hill.
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Recently I’ve watched two movies about three people.
In the British film, SEPARATE LIES, the three are a successful London barrister who has bought a country home, his wife, and her lover.
The movie’s opening scene shows an elderly man riding a bicycle on a country lane being struck by a hit and run driver.
The movie is an interesting, intelligent examination of moral ambiguity because most of the lies are not self-serving and the driver of the vehicle wants from the beginning to tell the truth.
The acting is excellent by people whose faces are familiar to me though not their names.
Most movies are for children. This one is for adults.
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IN HER SHOES stars Cameron Diaz, and I expected it to resemble SOMETHING ABOUT MARY. Rarely has a movie so exceeded my expectation.
The three people here are two adult sisters and the grandmother whom they had not known since their mother’s suicide. This is a woman’s movie. The men are only props. The Cameron Diaz character is dyslexic and one feels, at times, great sympathy for her.
Funny, emotional, and concludes with a poem by e.e. cummings. A big surprise and well worth seeing.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007