This is an extraordinary movie that tackles some very deep issues while having a fairy tale quality.  It's a shame that it probably won't attract people under 60; it should.  You couldn't find 4 American actresses to play these parts, because their faces wouldn't move, or be real. … Read full post »

Yes, I went in search of the May Moon. It is the closest moon to earth.  It is the flower moon. I'm becoming a moon child. I'll drink May wine, sing a May song, and dance under the light of the full moon.

I went out in the night… Read full post »

Our neighbors across the street just moved out.  Time is like a wheel, going around too fast, until you fall off.  When we moved in, those neighbors were already there. Their daughter babysat my two young sons, ages 7 and 4.  How time flies.  Their daughter is now in her… Read full post »

Camille Grammer just announced she has quit the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.  She gave some reasons that sounded a little phony, the real reason may be that she got a 5 million dollar settlement from her ex, Kelsey, and doesn't need the money.  I'm quitting the show too!  If you'v… Read full post »

I just finished a wonderful double dose of Mr. Rogers.  I saw the new DVD,  MISTER ROGERS & ME, written and directed by Benjamin Wagner, and I read the book, THE SIMPLE FAITH OF MR. ROGERS: SPIRITUAL INSIGHTS FROM THE WORLD'S MOST BELOVED NEIGHBOR, by Amy Hollingsworth.  Wow!… Read full post »

  Happy Spring!  It was one year ago in March that I discovered Open Salon.  What a find!  It is the right place to be. This is a community of talented, artistic, and generous writers. I have written 25 blogs this year. I have been a writer of poetry and… Read full post »

We simply said, "I'm not going to take it anymore!"  That's after Joe and I flew to San Francisco from New Jersey.  At Newark Airport they treated us like prisoners going into lock up. I was put in a full body scanner.  The door closed.  I got claustrophobic and moved… Read full post »

I have to watch it in another room, because my husband gets so mad, hearing these guys repeat the same substanceless mantras:  no taxes will mean more jobs, Obama is doing everything wrong and besides, he hates America and isn't a real American, only Christians need apply, money, money, money, o… Read full post »

For many, Christmas is a nightmare.  Either because they work themselves into a frazzle feeling they have to do all sorts of perfectionist Martha Stewart gyrations or they'll die, or because they can't get bad memories of crashing chandeliers out of their psyches and the mere mention of Chr… Read full post »

I've reached the tipping point.  There's excess and there's excess!!  I originally started watching the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, because L.A. is my hometown and I wanted to see if Bravo could capture the quintessential L.A. Princess culture.  But there is an obliviousness on t… Read full post »

The sky is a cathedral

The trees reflected in water, stained glass

Water falls on rocks, refreshing the soul

Thoreau was right

All worries fall to the ground like leaves

My eyes follow a tiny bird

who flys free

to the top of a tree

Take a walk… Read full post »

Trees burst into flame

illuminated from within

Leaves float in the water

moving into the unknown

The Fall is brilliant

with crisp air

and anticipation

Holding on to life

A fire in the belly

Trees that protect us

from floods and fear… Read full post »

Beware women in groups!  Last night's episode (10/10/11) was a chilling example of high school bad girls gone amuck.  While it looked like the daggers were coming from the Richards sisters, and they were, I think the really scary one, from a psycopathic perspective, was Dana.  She's a… Read full post »

WATER ON ROCK, A POST 911 POEM

               Water on rock

               light on water

     … Read full post »

SEPTEMBER/REMEMBERING 911

                    September combines life and death

                    The garden… Read full post »

 Hummingbirds are so magical.  I would never take them for granted, though growing up in L.A., I was used to seeing them hover over me, as I lay on the grass looking up at the fucshia bush and dreaming my young girl dreams.

It was only after I had moved to… Read full post »

Blame is being splashed all around like paint balls, because of the suicide, death by hanging, of Russell Armstrong, from THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS.  A lot of the blame is aimed at Andy Cohen, as well as Reality TV, as a concept.

The first reality TV show that followed… Read full post »

The critics are wrong.  They fall into their own cliches.  They think they are sophisticated.  But they don't always think.  ZOOKEEPER  was wonderful.  I read more than one review that dissed the movie because the animals talked. The implication was that that is cor… Read full post »

We're having a heat wave!  I don't have central air conditioning, but do have air conditioners in most rooms.  But the hall has nothing and it is hot, hot, hot!  Am I spoiled to complain that it is impossible walking through the hall?  We had a standing fan in there, but… Read full post »

I thought I might escape the lures of Big Brother 13, since I actually started to tire of B.B. last time around (I've watched all 13).  I thought I might be able to escape, like I broke the chains with American Idol.  But when I saw Julie and heard her voice, and… Read full post »

I love Irises!  Because they are like fluffy dresses, made of chiffon.  Frou frou. Gossamer sleeves waving in the breeze.  And there is no place to see them, no better place on the planet than the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens in Montclair, NJ.    

No wonder the Gree… Read full post »

I just saw EVERYTHING MUST GO.  It is an exquisite screenplay adaptation of an exquisite Raymond Carver story.  Will Ferrell is Oscar worthy, though the timing is wrong for that.  I am amused and annoyed that reviewers think that they have to persuade Will Ferrell fans to giv… Read full post »

I love tea. There is nothing more soothing or lovely than a nice cup of tea.  I was introduced to tea, by an English woman, a friend of my parents, who looked like Deborah Kerr.  She radiated the same loveliness, too, and just as Deborah was so kind to the children in… Read full post »

It's hard to say what endears a person to a TV show.  Why did I love Brothers & Sisters so much?  Was it because I'm originally from Southern California, and though you can take the girl out of California, you can't take California out of the girl?  Or is it that… Read full post »

Now that Comcast has bought NBC, they are going to pour money into the network, to bring up the ratings.  But money is not what makes great TV.

Great TV is based on alchemy.  It happens when it happens, and it doesn't happen when it flops.  Great TV inexplicably tunes into… Read full post »