Happy Easter! I hope the Easter Bunny has filled your basket with an abundance of goodies. 🐥
{Brach’s Easter Candy Parade Advertisement, 1960 HERE // Pinned HERE}
Year: 2021 (page 1 of 2)
Hello, April! We’re ready for the Easter Bunny to visit us and see what is tucked into our basket come Easter morn. We’re ready for the sunlight to change hue and the days to deepen. We’re ready for the golden shadows that welcome in evening when the world starts to quiet again.
We’re ready for the warmer days you will bring and the bulbs and branches in blooms, dotting the landscape around us in menagerie of colour, like a painter’s palette.
We’re ready for the chance to picnic on the beach and leave the windows open longer before the evening chill sets in. We’re ready for strolls at dusk along the water and up through the gardens. We’re ready for spring to continue to be ushered forth, we’re ready for this next season to continue to bloom and grow. And we’re ready to see where you take us next.
I am fully aware that we are no longer in the season of Christmas; in fact we are just about to flip the calendar over to April. This is a post I had been working on in the weeks leading up to December, but as with many things these past few months, some pots have to move to the back burner and this was a pot that got moved and turned to low. However, we are currently in the season of Lent and as “fish” is still playing a prominent role and my love for Christmas doesn’t begin and end in December, I’ve rationally reasoned that I can just slip this in under the wire and so I’m running with that.
More than a year ago now, back in late October of 2019, I was scanning through YouTube in search of a clip for a piece I was writing. A movie trailer popped up in the suggested list and I was amused by the title, so I clicked on it. Before the trailer even finished, I knew this was a film that I had to see. I showed it to Mr. Michie that evening and he was in complete agreement. So, one Friday night, curled up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn between us we watched it. We laughed, we cried, we recognised these characters in front of us and then we watched it again and after that we watched it again and after that… well you get the drift.
We discerned after our first screening, but that thought became more solidified with each successive viewing, that we would be making our family watch this over the Christmas holidays when we were all together (*This was Pre-Covid when we could move freely). One side of my family is loud, crazy and Italian. All of our events revolve around food, but doesn’t everyone’s? This movie resonated with me, it spoke to my soul. I know these people, I know this town, I understood Tony’s reservations about letting someone else peer into the idiosyncrasies of his family. Every family has their own dynamic and letting someone else have entry into that world is a very personal thing, it’s a baring of your soul.
One, evening after Christmas day, by the twinkle of the lights on the tree, we sat everyone down and pressed PLAY. The rest, as they say, is history. Like us, they were hooked. It has truly become one of my parent’s favourite movies of the past year. So much so, that they have bought it, watched it repeatedly and told everyone else about it. This movie isn’t a secret that you keep to yourself. Personally, I’ve watched this movie in parts here or there, or fast forwarded to a favourite scene at some point almost every day of 2020, that’s still happening in 2021. It has been one of the many things that has gotten us through this current period with humour.
Feast of the Seven Fishes, is a charming, comically and tenderly crafted story with a lot of heart and soul. I feel that I know each of the characters. The clothes, the cars and the sets are perfect, down to the tiniest detail. The grandparent’s house is inviting and cozy, you believe this family truly lives there, it’s like being at your actual Nonni’s house. The Christmas tablecloth draped over the small dinette set in the kitchen, the angel card stuck on the avocado hued fridge and the ceramic tree with it’s jewelled toned lights glowing on the counter are all the little touches that seamlessly work to enhance and flesh out each scene alongside an outstanding ensemble of actors. Like a real family, their expressions say more at times than their words do.
Robert Tinnell has written a story about life, home, family, relationships, good food and the people you meet along your journey. I don’t care if you come form a crazy Catholic Italian family or not, this movie will speak to you. At its heart, it is simply about family and everyone can relate to that.
Do yourself a favour and go watch this movie!
Boun Natale!
The following are two conversations I found interesting, you might too:
Conversations with the cast and director of Feast of the Seven Fishes
The FEAST Podcast: A conversation with director Robert Tinnell
🍀 Happy St. Patrick’s Day! 🍀
May your day be fair and may all the golden luck, rainbows and good wishes be with you today!
{Image: Showing some Irish pride, Helaine Lender holds an oversized shamrock bagel a few days before the St. Patrick’s Day parade in 1967. Lender also got in the spirit of things with a traditional hat and pipe for St. Patty’s Day. (David Mclane/New York Daily News) // Pinned HERE}
Hello, March. February brought us the first flush of bulbs pushing up from the earth and bursting into bloom. The world around us has slowly been polka-dotted with the whites and purples of crocuses and the eruption of saffron painted daffodils. We’re ready for you to usher more pops of colour into the landscape.
We’re ready to spend more days in the sunshine and for dusk to take a dash longer to arrive before the curtains close on the day. We’re ready for more chances to picnic outdoors and for longer evening walks. We’re ready for St. Patrick’s Day, where my Nana’s Irish Soda bread will grace our table.
However, we’re not quite ready for our rhythm to change with the latest government announcement that all children will return to school in one fell swoop on the eighth. Selfishly, I will miss the opportunity that this time has afforded us (Mr Michie and I) to work around one another again. I will dearly miss being able to pop out of one room, while on a break, and see Mr. Michie’s beautiful face working in another. That has been a gift that I have cherished.
We are blessed during this time to still have a roof over our heads, food on our table and jobs when so many others are not in the same circumstances. I think it’s easy to say during this time, that we’re all in the same boat. But, in actuality, we’re not. We’re all in the same fleet, but each of us face different challenges in our own boats. We should strive to be physically, mentally and emotionally aware of that. We are navigating these waters as best we can.
So, let us continue to live in the moment and not let the small things pass us by. Let’s celebrate the coming of spring and welcome her with open arms.
{Image by Barbara Dziadosz found HERE // Pinned HERE}
“True love is the greatest thing, in the world — except for a nice MLT — mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomato is ripe.”
Billy Crystal as Miracle Max,The Princess Bride, 1987
I hope wherever you are today that you are surrounded by LOVE in all its many shapes and forms. 💖
Happy Lunar New Year!
May this year bring us all good fortune!🧧
About this pattern: “For this design, we took inspiration from the Eastern styles prevalent in the Aesthetic Movement, as referenced by the Geffrye Museum’s 1890 drawing room. Lucky Lantern features tasseled Chinese lanterns, decorated with pine, plum and bamboo – known as Suihan Sanyou, or the Three Friends of Winter. These three symbols – 松竹梅 (sōng zhú méi) – are revered in Eastern culture, as they flourish in cold weather, and therefore symbolise strength in adversity.” – Mini Moderns
{Image: “Lucky Lantern” pattern in Harvest Orange found via Mini Moderns // Pinned HERE}
A long stroll this morning took me down to the seafront and along the shore where the pebbles were covered in snow. Then, up to my favourite set of beach huts; their vibrant colours standing out in illuminating contrast against the white frosting; icicles dripping from the edges of their roofs.
Stealing myself against the cold, my feet carried me further to a favourite stopping place. I stood on my tiptoes to gaze over the stone wall to see if the goats were up and out of their little hut. To my surprise, they were out playing in the snow. I paused and enjoyed the moment; lost in the calm serenity of the winter morning; as the goats romped about in their field.
All the while, pillow sized snowflakes were softly landing on my hat and shoulders. It was magic. In that moment I felt blessed. I walked back home with Patti Page singing in my ear and a heart full of happiness for all the beauty around me. It was a good start to the week!
Hello February! We’re ready for hot chocolate swirled with whipped cream on still frosty mornings; the world around us turning pink, white and red in the celebration of L-O-V-E that you bring on the 14th.
We’re ready for more nights spent eating popcorn and watching old movies together. And we’re ready for cold nights where we eat breakfast for dinner by candlelight and listen to albums on the stereo. We’re ready for that much needed downtime in this whirlwind; for those quiet moments to savour books that we have been greedily devouring.
We’re ready to continue cherishing these slower winter days where we watch, little by little, the sun stay out a bit longer each day. We’re ready to see those first glimmers of spring: bulbs sprouting up inch by inch and buds forming on trees, soon to burst forth in the coming months.
We’re not wishing away this slower pace. Rather, we’re enjoying the stillness and the reflective mood that the final month of winter offers, before spring comes into full bloom.
February, this year you take us full circle to the cusp that we were standing on last year before madness descended. And we have found our way each month and we shall continue to do the same through your days and weeks. We will persist in finding the pleasure in the little things. We will continue to dream, to laugh and to breathe in the world around us.
We’re ready for you February.
{“Dear Frost” by Lore Pemberton // Pinned HERE}