Toto

Anyone remember that film?

It was filmed in 1981, was Henry Fonda’s last film, and also starred Katharine Hepburn and Jane Fonda.

I watched it with my boys tonight.

It’s a beautiful film.  It’s about the relationship between a father and his adult daughter.  There’s lots of other stuff going on too, but that’s the main theme.

And when I watched it in my twenties and thirties, it echoed my own relationship with my father.

But when I watched it this evening, in my forties, as well as bawling my eyes out for the past, I realised that, finally, I am my father’s friend.  My relationship with him has turned around.  I don’t long for something that is missing.  I treasure all that is there and accept both of us for exactly who we are.

Very profound.

There is also a “just thirteen” year old boy in the film.  A boys whose divorced father has him for the summer, but who dumps him with people that he has only known for a few hours for a whole month while he goes off to Europe.

The boy struggles with his feelings of abandonment.  Something that my boys could relate to.

It’s a slow film.  Filled with emotion rather than action.

Toto was riveted.  But, as the credits rolled, Boo said “I don’t see the point of that film.  Nothing much happened.”.

So, I have taken away all electronic games for all but one hour a day for the remainder of the holidays and have given them the task of reading the entire “Swallows and Amazons” and “Moomin” series of books.  These were my favourite books as a child, and I still have my very own childhood copies for my own boys to explore.

They need to understand that slow and imaginative can be fun.  I think.

What do you think?  Are my expectations too high?

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The wedding was all that was to be expected.  A big, fun, rollicking country celebration that began in the morning and carried on long into the evening.

Hopefully there will be some lovely pics.  Conditions were not prime.  It was almost 40˙celsius in the shade, and my speedlight kept overheating.  Fingers crossed that most of the important pics are okay.  I will share when I have edited.

I am still shattered from the journey.  It was about 5 1/2 hours drive each way.

Also, my thighs are in AGONY from the crouching and kneeling and leaning and climbing that was required to try to get the good wedding “shots” without being in everyone’s way.  Not an easy task!!

My boys deserve a huge reward for their behaviour over the entire weekend.  They were amazing.  The three of us were crammed together in such close quarters for the entire time, and they were beyond well behaved.  They were also surrounded by “strange” and unfamiliar adults who wanted to know their story and they spoke clearly, looked everyone in the eye, answered questions politely and pretty much blew me away with their mature behaviour.

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We have only a few days left before our annual beach holiday.

Today we saw “Did you hear about the Morgans?”.  What a waste of money!!  The storyline had good potential, but fell flat at every turn, imho.

Tomorrow we’re gathering all of their school gear for the new year.  And then we’ll find other fun, less expensive, ways to fill in our time.

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How are you filling in the last gasp of the long Aussie summer school holidays?

Or, for my northern hemisphere readers… How are you coping with the sudden cold spell?

xoxoxo