March 2, 2022
In like a lion
Águas de Março
Rachael and I ended the day at Cinema 21 viewing The Worst Person in the World, a Danish dramedy (Did you know this is regarded as a word now? It’s new to us.) that we can highly recommend. It’s the second film we’ve seen since returning home - last week we saw Parallel Mothers, Pedro Almodóvar’s latest creation. It’s still on the strange side seeing a film in a theater: we have to display our vaccination credentials and wear masks when not eating or drinking, and attendance is sparse. It’s wonderful though even like this. We both love movies, and they’ve been a core element of our lives ever since we met.
The credits rolled at the end of last night’s film with a familiar song I couldn’t quite place. Sung in English by a voice I couldn’t place either, it wasn’t until we neared the car that we both remembered it was a bossa nova, presumably a Jobim tune. Back at the apartment I brought up the playlist for the film and was startled by it. The song is Waters of March, an anglicized version of the Portuguese original, Águas de Março. The singer though completely took me by surprise: Art Garfunkel!
So I brought up a few Jobim versions of the song on YouTube, but none of them sounded like the song I remembered either. Wikipedia eventually led me to it though. The original has been covered maybe a hundred times by different artists in different languages. The one I’ve come to know best is a French version (Les Eau de Mars), by Stacey Kent.
Which reminds me. It’s not just film that’s been missing from our lives these last two years. There’s live music. Maybe one of these years I’ll get to hear Stacey Kent live again.
In Like a Lion
Things are due to finally dry out again tomorrow, but for yesterday and today we both stayed close to shelter. Still no biking but today was surprisingly busy, social and worth remembering; and as Rachael commented afterwards, it was the most society she’s seen in a day since we returned home.
It began with our current normal - I slipped out for coffee at seven, generously leaving Rachael the use of the exercycle. Soon after I returned we drove down through a downpour to Sellwood to visit our good friends the Grumbys who are in town for a few days. I’m sure it’s the last time we’ll see them before we leave the country (less than two weeks now!). It’s amazing to us to think that we likely won’t reunite until winter.
| Heart | 6 | Comment | 2 | Link |
Next up on the day’s agenda? Haircut! It’s still pouring when Rachael steps out for her pre-departure pruning, but her salon is directly across the street. There’s quite a change when she returns, as you can see by comparing with the photo above. Now we’re really almost deadly to depart!
Next up, a trip down to our bank to meet with Elizabeth. We share a safe deposit box, and she’s decided that she’d like her son Stewart to have access to the box also in case there’s a family emergency and we’re not around. We can add him, but all the current owners need to be present to sign off on it. I think the situation with mom has us all thinking more about making sure our affairs are in order.
After that, Rachael goes grocery shopping while Elizabeth and I walk around the corner to her apartment so I can help her set up her new iPad. She’s a bit tentative and uncertain with technology (those old folks!) and needs help restoring her NYT account and figuring out how to set up fingerprint recognition. And, we have to pick up our last shipment of prescription meds that arrived today. We’ve been stockpiling a nine month supply, and now that we’ve got them corralled we’re going to break them into thirds and leave a couple of boxes of supplies with Elizabeth to mail to us along the journey.
And finally, the film. And finally too, we assume, an end to the rains for a while at least. Back on the bikes tomorrow!
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 9 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 8 |
I *think* I should be able to top mine up shortly before departure, providing me with a supply that should be more than adequate for the time I plan to be on the road. It's something I'll raise with my GP next week when I see her.
If I can't, I'll have to have the "Okay, what are my options?" conversation, as in "What happens if I run out and can't get refills while on the road?" Nothing I take, so far as I am aware, is so vital to sustaining life that missing it for a time would be fatal or even have serious long term adverse consequences but I want her backing on that assumption.
2 years ago
2 years ago
We could do better by carrying them with us on the flight over and shipping them forward from there. Eurosender (the best option we’ve found, and what we’ll use for shipping our suitcases forward) is 60 euros to France and about twice that to England. Neither one really makes sense to us so we’re scrapping the idea. We’ll just carry the essentials with us.
2 years ago
2 years ago
Anything that I might need that is of garden variety, commonplace nature can be bought when / as needed. No need to spend energy carrying it around until it's needed, nor to spend money shipping it ahead.
What about camp stove fuel? (Or are you non-campers?) You certainly could not ship that to yourself no matter the cost. I chose my particular stove in part because it supposedly burns either camp fuel (might be hard to find) or ordinary gasoline (which should be much easier to come by). Trying it with gas is still on my "experiments to do" list but it works really well with camp fuel.
2 years ago
2 years ago
Racpat
2 years ago
Looking forward to keeping in touch through the journals and seeing your smiling faces later this year.
2 years ago