💗 Happy Valentine’s Day! 💗
I hope your day is filled with love in all its many shapes and forms. xo
{Dorothy Hart, 1940s | Pinned HERE}
💗 Happy Valentine’s Day! 💗
I hope your day is filled with love in all its many shapes and forms. xo
{Dorothy Hart, 1940s | Pinned HERE}
🎄 Merry Christmas! 🎄
May this season fill you with love and light. And may you be surrounded by family, friends, laughter and warmth today and always.
Warmest wishes to you all. x
{Rosemary Clooney, 1952 // Pinned HERE}
🦃 Gobble! Gobble! 🦃
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope this year finds you surrounded by family and friends, love, warmth, good food and laughter. x
{Vintage Thanksgiving Post Card pinned HERE}
Hello, August. We’re waiting to see what you bring us. July ended with a bit of a nip to the air and we’re hoping that you bring warmer days and calmer waters our way, because we’re ready for early morning swims and hot coffee on the beach from our thermos.
We’re ready for bowls of fresh watermelon for lunch and early morning walks up to the nature reserve when the world is quiet. We’re ready for days spent reading our books and finishing our jigsaw puzzle and drinking sweet tea and feasting on sugar cookies as an afternoon snack as the breeze blows through the windows.
We’re ready to stay up late watching old movies and playing scrabble. We’re ready to eat our weight in fresh corn on the cob from the green grocers and cheeseburgers loaded with slices of heirloom tomatoes and to gobble up fruit cobblers with a heaping scoop of homemade ice cream on top.
But, mostly we’re ready for a chance to catch our breath and to just be.
{Sand Shark Bar, Janet Hill Studio}
Hello, July! We’re ready for you to bring warmer weather our way and keep the rain at bay for just a little bit. We’re ready for early morning coffee on the beach when the world is quiet and we can go swimming and have the water all to ourselves. We’re ready for homemade ice cream after dinner and dancing around the kitchen to the ‘60s music groove we’re in at the moment.
We’re ready for school to come to a close for the year and the chance to stay up late watching old movies on the projector and eating popcorn and making ice cream floats. We’re ready for our annual Christmas in July party and this year it might last more than a day, it might be an entire weekend of Christmas music playing and Christmas movie watching and Christmas feasting and just general Christmas happiness.
We’re ready to devour more books while sitting on the beach and then lazily strolling up to the house to make cheeseburgers that have thick slices of heirloom tomatoes sitting on top of the melting cheese and fresh corn on the cob smothered in butter.
We’re ready for all that you bring and we hope it is filled with love and laughter and light.
{Slim Aarons / Getty Images: Mrs. Charles Rogers sits on a submerged bar stool in the Villa Vera Spa & Racquet Club pool, Acapulco, Mexico, January 1961 // Pinned HERE}
Hello, June! We’re ready for the closing of the day to take longer to come. We’re ready for breakfast on the beach with hot coffee and croissants and then diving into the water with the cool rush of the waves beating against our skin.
We’re ready for date nights with the windows open and dusk falling as we watch a double feature projected on our old screen while we share a bowl of popcorn. We’re ready for BLTs stuffed with the first heirloom tomatoes of the season that are pouring into the green grocer’s stand with crunchy salty potato chips and sweet iced tea.
We’re ready for evening strolls and quiet star filled nights and making dinner together while 1960s beach music fills the air and we dance and laugh and live.
{Slim Aarons, “Oberon’s Lunch”, Acapulco, 1966 // Pinned HERE}
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, love, good food and the people you meet along your journey. I don’t care if you come from 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
“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. 💖