FINALLY!!  After having read the book several months ago, I had the opportunity to see The Help with a friend yesterday!  Loved it!  It was bittersweet.  Both joyful and heartbreaking.  I really loved seeing Cicily Tyson in the movie too! The movie evoked a multitude of emotions from days gone by.  A time when I was barely nine years old.  An elementary school student.  A few years before we became latchkey kids.  My family was not a prejudice one.  In fact, our attitudes were probably more along the lines of Celia Foote and her husband (from the movie!) ... grateful, appreciative and eager to hear about the goings on of each others' day to day lives.

After returning to Mobile from living in Andalusia, both of my parents were faced with working outside the home full time with four young daughters either in grade school or diapers.  Our Mattie worked for my parents for several years.  I'm not certain how long she was an important aspect of our daily lives.  She was there with the younger girls while me and my older sister attended school.  Eventually we were all attending school during the day and returning home in the mid afternoon to find Mattie waiting at the door.  I remember a couple of summers with Mattie, before I started summer-long visits with my grandparents in Florida. A few times during summer break, Mattie's grandaughter (who was around our ages) would come for the day!  What fun we had playing games all day!  Among the fun, we had one quiet play hour during the day.....when Mattie's "story" was on!  I remember Mattie keeping us entertained, fed and encouraged!

I know Mattie cared for us as much as Abilene cared for May Mobley in the movie.  My younger sister, Tammy, proved to be quite a handful. She began locking herself in bathrooms and hiding outside.  Poor Mattie was a basket case worrying about Tammy's safety.  If I recall correctly, the final straw was when Tammy had hidden outside and snuck back in while Mattie was out there looking for her.  She locked Mattie out of the house that day.  My mom was furious!  Not with Mattie though!  Mattie was so shaken by the possibility of Tammy being harmed or hurt during some of her antics!   To the best of my recollection that's how Mattie came to leave our family and move on.  : (   

Back to the movie now!  It amazed me how much little Mae Mobley reminded me of my granbaby girl!  I was already missing her and the weekend hadn't even began.  Abilene told that sweet child often "You is Kind. You is smart. You is important."   What better way to encourage a child ... of any age?!

Wrapped up in the emotions of the movie, there was an ugliness about it.  The racial bias.  The racial slurs.  The distrust.  That's stuff that turns my stomach.  The haughtiness, think-your-too-good attitude nauseates me.  I'm not talking necessarily attitudes across colors either.  Some folks are just that way, regardless of race, status or address.  It saddens me that some people can't see the pain they cause and justify their reasons with the "it's the way I was brought up" statement.  How safe that must feel to them.  I can think of a few people deserving more than two slices of Minnie's terrible awful chocolate pie ... for such attitudes.  Thank God for grace. Bless their heart(s).  I know.  I know.  I said it.  Fortunately, I'm not a passive-aggressive individual.  

The part of the movie that really moved me to tears was near the end when Skeeter's mom faced down Hilly on the front porch and then told Skeet how proud she was of her.  Hug your kids today!  Hug someone and let them know how proud you are of them!!!  Quite often the words of encouragement or affirmations you need to hear from a particular someone is exactly what they need to hear from you, whether it's your mom, your child, your spouse, your friend, your boss or your neighbor.

You must be the change you want to see in the world.  Mahatma Ghandi

Amazon Order Arrrived!

My End of Summer Reading List!

When I was a teen I had a "Vision Board" hanging in my room. When I married, we had a dream/goal notebook. You know! Where you collect pictures of things you want to accomplish or acquire (car, home, job, boat, travel). I woke up this morning thinking of all the things I'd like to accomplish. Not running marathons or becoming an artist (oops! done that one) or developing a cure for disease, but simply those things that get lodged in my mind while perusing home and garden, cooking and travel magazines, websites and blogs. Inspiration which leads to playing in the dirt, tweaking my living space, trying new recipes and planning a trip! I do not have the physical endurance to accomplish all I dream, however, I can occasionally hire someone to do the grunt work! Perhaps, these vision will allow some level of healing to my physical body. Dream it! Visualize it! Make it happen!Visiting Italy is on my bucket list!  
 

Eat Pray Love and Under the Tuscan Sun are two of my favorite books/movies! I'm not sure when I first felt a longing to visit Italy, but I do know these  movies ignited a deep desire!  Tuscany is the geographical centre and cultural heart of Italy.  I loved the movie.....the countryside Bramasole Villa renovations, the scenery, the gardens, the food, the "family" Frances (Diane Lane) realized she had formed from a group of eclectic friends, despite language barriers.  The same goes for Liz (Julia Roberts) in Eat, Pray, Love.  She developed "family" dining at the Italian table!  The closest I've come to Italy is our local Italian restaurants and visiting the Bellagio in Vegas! Wow! Had gelato! OMG! I can only imagine what it would taste like in Italy!


I love, love, love the simplicity of Italian food! I am a drizzler .... olive oil that is! On everything! I love sipping a glass of wine while cooking dinner. Tuscan cooking is wholesome and hearty and made from local fresh ingredients according to the seasons. Pasta is not a traditional dish, though it would be used along with wild game. Soup is a Tuscan staple, particularly rich bean soups laced with the excellent local olive oil (nearly all the wine estates also make their own extra virgin olive oil), crostini (little toasts) with liver and anchovy paste and fresh tomatoes are also popular.     http://www.winetours.co.uk/destinations/view/53/tuscany

Speaking of Vision Boards!  Have you visited the Pinterest  site?!!  OMG!  It's like a page-ripping magazine-aholic on crack!!!!

Timothy Kavanaugh. Get to know him!

I love, love, love this series by Jan Karon! I began reading The Mitford Series over seven years ago. Fell in love with them. I lost over half my hardback collection when our home flooded during Hurricane Katrina. Fortunately, I recently found most of them online. Still looking for At Home in Mitford and A Light in the Window to complete the collection again. In the Company of Strangers is the second in the Father Tim Series. So far I'm not disappointed. Some of the characters crack me up. Some of the chapters bring me to tears. All of Father Tim's anecdotes and scriptural references are encouraging. A Continual Feast, which is reminiscent of a journal Father Tim would have kept, is one of my favorite books. Father Tim falls in line right behind my favorite pastor, Jeff Spiller, of Christ United Methodist Church. There's also ample conversations surrounding food and I was thrilled to come across the Mitford Cookbook with recipes for Puny's Cornbread, Uncle Billy's Sweet Potato Pie and Esther's Orange Marmalade Layer Cake. A dear friend of mine made all our neighbors this cake for Christmas one year. It was to die for!!! (hint hint). Pick up any of the series and start reading....doesn't matter where you join the family in Mitford. Although, after you read one you'll want to stop and start reading at the beginning!

"If we are going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed; you cannot drink grapes." from a Father Tim sermon]

The Shack

Two roads diverged in the middle of my life,
I heard a wise man say,
I took the road less traveled by
and that's made the difference
every night and every day.
Larry Norman (with apologies to Robert Frost)

The Shack by William P. Young

Highly recommended!!

YES! I loved, loved, loved this movie!

I loved the movie! Eat Pray Love was grand! The scenery was beautiful! If you didn't like it and haven't read the book......read the book and see the movie again. There's a lot from the book not included. It's worth the read.

The message for me? Same as I got from the book both times I read it. For me it was about forgiveness. Not just forgiving others, but forgiving yourself. Forgiving yourself for holding back...for eating something you love and gaining that extra few pounds...for hanging on to the past...for judging others when we don't understand their culture, their religion, their views...for not living life with passion for everything. I needed reminded that we all matter and there's more to life than climbing the corporate ladder and trying to be recognized for something. That need perhaps is more a need to be affirmed and appreciated for whatever we contribute. To serve others is well and good. We all should want to make life better for the other person. But there comes a point ... call it burn out or whatever, that we need to regroup, find our center of balance, and toss caution to the wind, all the while feeling comfortable in our fat jeans!

From the Movie: “There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how I’m going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts.”

I am a better person when I have less on my plate ~ Elizabeth Gilbert