TheBanyanTree: Just an Inch . . .

[Margaret R. Kramer]

OK, the weather people said just an inch of snow today as we’re on the
northern edge of a winter storm heading towards Chicago.  So far, the snow
has been very light, but greasy enough to slick up the roads.  I’m wondering
if I’ll have to get up early and shovel tomorrow.  A pre-dawn date with the
shovel and snowblower has almost become part of my morning routine.  At
least, my neighbor is home now and I won’t have to shovel her sidewalks.

I hit the gym again this morning.  They had taken out some equipment when I
was there yesterday.  New equipment was in its place this morning.  A few
people were complaining, as they couldn’t watch TV because the new equipment
was placed too far under the TVs for them to see the screens.  We have TVs,
but no radio reception in this gym, because it’s underground.  So, if you
don’t have an MP3 player or tune in to a TV channel, you’re kind of out of
luck for sound other than grunting.  The gym does have a MTV type track
playing in the background, but the music is not that great.  Grunting
actually sounds better.

The gym was more crowded than I thought it would be.  But, some New Year’s
resolutions people are starting early, I think.  They’re the ones who wonder
around from treadmill to stair climber to weight machines and to stationary
bikes with lost looks on their faces.  Sometimes they come in packs for
safety and giggle their way through their confusion.  I can sympathize, I
was there once, too.  Most of these resolutions people will be gone in three
weeks tops, never to be seen again, except maybe for a few days next
December.

I went home and got ready for my next field trip.  I wanted to see the
Georgia O’Keefe collection at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

I love Georgia O’Keefe.  I love the simplicity and the color of her
paintings.  I couldn’t wait to see them.  And the exhibition was well worth
it.  There were none of her famous flower paintings, but there were several
examples of her pelvis bone paintings, a sculpture, rock paintings, and a
few paintings she did at the end of her life; she lived to be 98 years old.
She was going blind from macular degeneration, but even those feeble efforts
were elegant and beautiful.

After seeing the exhibition, I wandered through some of the rooms at the
MIA.  I saw Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and American artifacts.  I only
scratched the surface of what the Institute offers.  I could spend a whole
week there and not see everything.

Ray and I watched Brokeback Mountain the other night.  I’ve had it sitting
on my bookshelf for almost a year, so I thought I’d better watch it.
Watching two men have sex isn’t one of my sexual triggers, in fact, I
thought those early scenes were kind of disgusting, but they made sense as
the movie flowed along.  The sex became almost secondary as these two men
continued on with an affair for over 20 years.  The two were certainly in
love, and maybe in another time, it wouldn’t have mattered if they lived
together and ran a ranch or whatever.

I think it was sad that their relationship didn’t benefit either one of
them.  One ended up alone in a dirty trailer and the other had a bizarre
accident.  Kind of like Romeo and Juliet, I guess.

But I did think the movie was too long, especially up front, and didn’t
establish why did these guys fell in love.  I kept wondering what was their
bond?  One of them was definitely bisexual while the other was more
heterosexual, but that didn’t matter really, it just added some interesting
twists to the plot.

Anyway, it was a good movie for me, not the best I’ve seen, not even in the
top 20, but a good movie nonetheless.  Ray didn’t like it much.  I guess he
likes his cowboys to be with women like Miss Kitty from Gunsmoke and not
Festus or Doc Holliday.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com

A Christmas candle is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away.
~Eva Logue