Monthly Archives: March 2023

The Escape – Fin

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And we returned to life as we knew it..

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Today the rain fell. After turning my skin the shade of baked ham, and staring at teal blue waters, and counting all the different cactus breeds… the rain fell.

Since the moment we had arrived the roar of jet planes would thunder overhead every few hours. Like that niggling feeling in the back of your mind. Like that sensation that this is simply a looking glass world. Backwards. And bright, and carefree, and so so distant.

And then the rain we left behind finally catches up. Falling down, soaking into our clothes like cold, ghostly hands trying to pull us back.

To what..

I had felt like a leaf, floating on the surface of the water. Free. Unburdened of all the weight, and the pain, and the loneliness on the otherside of the glass.

A mortal dancing in the Spring Court, finally being called back to the real world.

And as the rain falls, it drags the color from the world and washes it away, down the sidewalk. The weight grips my shoulders as the damp creeps in…

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Tonight is the New Moon. A time for new beginnings.

Maybe I will walk off the plane and I will be new.

Maybe I will have a heart, full and open.

Maybe I will step back through the looking glass and

The Escape – Day 6

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And it was a glorious day..

And we went to the Zoo!

Squirrels!

Meerkats doing The Meerkat..

Giraffes being all long and awkward..

Tortie butts and stuff..

Big Cats..

Wild Dogs..

And animals that look dead..

The sun might not have been out in full force..

And we may have travelled to Australia through a raging storm..

Rejuvinated with a Shamrock Shake and a medium Murder Fries..

Did not get a nap..

Dressed up and found a back room in deep Italy..

(Forgot to take pictures. Fresh made Bucatini)

$20 glass of hella delicious Pinot Grisio..

Topped it off with a double scoop of Pomegranate Chip and Chocolate Icecream..

At some point the sun must have come out..

But it was a glorious day..

The Escape – Day 3

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What do I see…

Something Pink..

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Something Red..

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Something Green..

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Something Silver..

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Something Black..

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And all kinds of colors..

The Escape – Day 2

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It rained…

Not the kind of rain we get up North. But this was rain enough to wet my chair, bring steam up from the hot tub, darken the cement, and slow time down.

We all woke early, sipped coffee, gathered in the livingroom to have quiet, coffee, and reading.

I did not read. I ate toast and sipped on coffee. There was no jam, nor any real butter. And stared out the window at the bright, but wet morning. Missing my cat…

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The day called for homework, and so homework I did.

I did homework while the rest of the family went off to explore the town.

I did homework while the sky threatened to brighten.

I did homework…

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By the time the family had returned the sun was in full form. The clouds, sharp puffs from the heavens, seemed to have dusted off their dancing shoes as they moved out of the way.

So we went to a movie.

A movie that marries the very epitome of Ridiculous, with all the glory of Amazing. It was disgusting, and beautiful. Confusing, and meaningful.

“That was magical…” someone breathed in the darkened theater as the credits rolled.

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With the homework set aside, and still swirling on a movie hangover, we decided to go find some food.

I had missed lunch.

So I ordered a half a roast chicken.

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It was disgusting.

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There was more homework to be done. But it was quickly finished.

And topped the night off with my toes in the hot tub..

The Escape – Day 1.5

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Palm Springs

Welcome to Palm Springs!

Where the Silvers flock to golf…

Where you can have your weed delivered, and your margaritas brought in buckets…

And sanitary napkin pads are really just pink doggy poo bags…

Cuz Vacation!

The Escape – Day 1

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Air Travel Fun

In the movie Love Actually, Hugh Grant speaks knowingly about Love while the screen plays a montage of happy scenes of love…

All taking place in Airports.

I would like to think it was Love that was going through my head the entire hour it took me to get through airport security. Love that moved me forwards when the TSA agents snapped and barked orders at us. Love that drew my lips up when the child in his mother’s arms leaned over and screamed in my ear…

Love Actually came out two decades ago. It came out after 9/11, and yet I maintain that airports are quite possibly the least loving places I can think of.

People with their phones glued to their noses. People gathered around the outlet stations like cavemen around fire. People power walking with the intensity of a marathon runner and the spacial awareness of an elephant. Has anyone ever heard the words, “sorry,” or “excuse me,” uttered in an airport?

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The whole point of the ungodly slog through hell, to be barked at to go back because you didn’t take your belt off, and then barked at again because you didn’t take your computer out of your bag, and then be barked at to keep moving because you’re holding up the line… is in effect, for our safety.

And who doesn’t feel extraordinarily safe at the airport?

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This sign was on the wall, in the ramp, where you are past the point of no return. If you have come this far and you suspect someone is trafficking another someone, by this point, they have already made it to freedom.

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This was another encouraging sight. To know that should this giant tanker of gas decide to explode, there is at least a fire extinguisher..

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And then my favorite…

So much happiness in these pictoral guides to what to do if the plane is going down.

And the lavatory.

A: Why are you in the loo while the plane is going down?

B: Are they subtly making assumptions as to why you are in the loo by providing 2 oxygen masks?

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Airplane travel skepticism, never more succinctly explained than by Jack Whitehall…

The Escape – Day .5

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The Murder Hotel

What was meant to be an easy night before hitting the skies towards better times, became something much, much different.

We drove in from the rain, to this lonely, darkened hotel.

The long, dark hallways leaving us half expecting a boy on a plastic tricycle to come racing towards us.

We stand outside the locked door. Access denied to us. Cold, tired, and eager to be out of the hall. But unsure of what might be lingering in this room, barring us from entry.

Across the hall the news blaring through the door, the Do Not Disturb sign dangling from the handle. Who was in there? Was the blaring TV some sort of deterrent from what was inside? Was that the faint odor of rotting flesh?

Our door is never opened. The door across the hall is never opened. The news blares on, and the body inside remains undisturbed.

We are given another room.

The elevator points down, ready to take us… to Hell? The walls are covered in some sort of blood splatter, plastic protector. The door remains open despite repeated button pushing. I swear I hear someone limping down the hall dragging a hatchet with them. I slam my finger on the “door close” button and it immediately starts a high pitched wail, like the scream of prior elevator victims.

To our relief, the doors close.

When we finally enter a room, safe from whatever moved up and down the dark hallway, we breathe a sigh of relief once the door chain is in place. Father jokingly says we can place a chair infront of it for added protection.

Protection from what? Protection from whatever prowled the halls.

But maybe the danger was already in the room with us…

The Banshees of Inisherin

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So here’s the thing, has anyone legitimately seen and Irish movie that wasn’t somehow heartbreaking. And don’t say Leap Year, because I mean a proper Irish movie.
Previously, in 2008, these two actors, Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell had been in a movie together.  A comedy. This movie did not have the sort of American humor that slaps you in the face. This movie had the UK humor that is just so clever.
But, this film was not a comedy, so don’t go into it expecting to have a good laugh. This film revolves around two men, the moody Colm, played by Gleeson, and the confused Pádraic, played by Farrell. Once best friends, Colm suddenly wakes up one morning and decides and doesn’t like Pádraic anymore. His reasoning, while sound, is also abrupt and not very nice. But the question is: what do you do when a person is not serving any purpose in your life. Living on the small Irish island of Inisherin, Colm realizes he has done nothing with his life to leave behind. His fear is doing nothing to be remembered by.
The film questions the meaning of friendship and kindness. And despair that spirals so deep, you wonder if it is possible to come out. The lengths one will take to cut someone from their life just to be able to find themselves.

All Quiet on the Western Front

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I remember the impact this book had on me after I read it some 20 years ago. Opening my eyes to the acknowledgement that every conflict has multiple sides.
The plot follows a young man, Paul, a German so eager to fight for his country that he forges his enlistment papers. But he and his trio of young friends are unprepared for what they walk into. War is not the romanticized idea they thought it was. The young soldiers are thrown into a bloody battle between the Germans and the French.
While the battle between the sides is unmerciful, the reality is that the soldiers on each side are the same. Though they speak different languages, they both have homes, wives, and families. This is emphasized after Paul kills a Frenchman up close and has to watch him die. Neither side truly hates one another. One of Paul’s friends runs off with a trio of young French women for a quick tryst. This idea also the entire premise of the true story film from 2005 Joyeax Noel, when the Germans, French, and Scottish all cease fire on Christmas morning. The soldiers indescriminately play soccer, drink together, and sing songs.
This film was not breath taking, and it has been made before. But it dove deep into the comradery and the emotional toll this war had on it’s soldiers. And for me, served as a reminder that even though you may not speak the language, ascribe to the same religion, or have the same color skin, each side of a conflict still involves human beings.