getting the hankies out

oh my goodness – I didn’t expect that – so many tears, I won’t say in case some of you are going to catch up.  I thought that she might have lost her fingers and then resided to the country, but they have made everything so dramatic in recent episodes, that I should have guessed.   I have cried at most of this season’s episodes.  I love ‘Call the Midwife’, its a great piece of social history without all the terror and violence portrayed in Hollywood movies.

I also went to see Laydbird – a coming of age film that also reveals the trials and tribulations of a mother and daughter relationship.  I definitely saw myself in this depiction;  mothers and daughters have a very different balance to fathers and daughters, but there is also a very special love and bond that I think can never disappear, even if you think that the relationship is not great.  its an enjoyable film that really picks up on real life issues.  I think that Saoirse Ronan is a first class actor.

here are a couple of my latest cards.

moonlight

so we finally got to see this film, ‘moonlight’- at first i found it disturbing – bullying and violence are not what i like to see, but towards the end, the film was SO tender – the cinematography reminded me of ‘in the mood for love’ by Wong Kar Wai – the colour and hand held camera were poetic essays of life.  the acting is what really struck me most , so the film is definitely high on my recommendation list.

the harvest moon at padstow, one of the images from my book stolen glimpses;  there is also a print available in Brixton Circus.

i also watched the last episode in the series of ‘call the midwife’ – although its a bit cheesy and always weepy, its such a good social history lesson of a period of britain to which i was born into.  how times have changed for women – can’t wait for the next series.  to make me even more broody, i shot some pictures of my friends baby Tomio, what a darling!

 

 

 

its true by federico garcia lorca

it was a surprise to hear this moving and poignant poem recited at the end of the recent ‘Call the Midwife’ episode – such beautiful words.

It’s True
Ay, the pain it costs me
to love you as I love you!

For love of you, the air, it hurts,
and my heart,
and my hat, they hurt me.

Who would buy it from me,
this ribbon I am holding,
and this sadness of cotton,
white, for making handkerchiefs with?

Ay, the pain it costs me
to love you as I love you!

Federico Garcia Lorca

Lorca was renowned for using symbols in his writings – here are a few that he used often and their meanings.

The moon: it’s the most common symbol in Lorca’s works. It often means death, but it can also signify erotism, fertility, sterility or beauty.
Water: running water means life, vitality, but still water means death.
Blood: represents life, but spilled blood means death. It also symbolizes fertility and sex.
The horse (and its rider): quite frequent in Lorca’s texts, it’s related to death, life and men’s erotism.
Grasses: signify death.
Metals: their dominant meaning is death. Metals always appear as weapons, which always bring tragedy.

new life

is it just me or has ‘call the midwife’ got even more emotional this series?  i have been in tears watching it and can’t believe that it was only 50 years ago that we had such harsh social stigmas.

i was lucky to photograph amelie and charlotte – less than a month old – beauty in life – a precious bonding moment that just grows stronger and stronger…..

scottsborough boys

call the midwife, australian kids.

went to see the scottsboro boys – its a musical, but quite unsettling in that it addresses the appalling injustice and racial discrimination of a group of young boys in the 1930’s in the deep south of America, but is set around an hour and half of uplifting dance, song and black humour.  What i love with these productions is the awareness of serious issues to a wider audience.   on another issue, i cried at the end of this week’s call the midwife – to think that it was only 50 years ago that children were living in such bad circumstances, and even more so when i heard the story about how we shipped them off to Australia in search of better lives, but most of them ended up as cheap labour – and to think that this continued for several years.   our children today have so much more awareness, and yet we still live with threat to our freedom of speech and thought.

 

 

 

dallas buyers club

quite enjoyed this film, dallas buyers club,  which is based on a true story;  matthew mcconaughey is convincing as a man diagnosed as HIV positive with only 30 days to live and his struggle to survive by finding alternative treatments.   again there are scenes of drugs, sex and wild living – like wolf on wall street, these 2 films were set in the 1980’s, my prime years in my youth –  and somehow, i seemed to miss all of that.

caught up on call the midwife – my favourite series on TV at the moment – the last episode had me in tears – it was bad enough that Jenny’s boyfriend lost his foot in an accident, but then to die was just too emotional for me!  i love watching life in the 1950’s on the streets, the clothes, the simple homes, the sense of community, the strong  family ties – such a contrast to madmen, which is also set in the 1950/60’s.   what is prominent in both series though is how life as a female is stereotyped into domesticity.   as a child of the sixties, i remember the washing lines, the silver cross prams and the mums always sweeping outside the front door.  by the way, i have almost caught up with all the series of madmen now, just a few more episodes of series 6.  i highly recommend buying the whole box set for somebody who has time on their hands!