Surviving the February Blahs

Right about now everyone starts to get really impatient with winter.  Snow just isn't that interesting like it was back in December, when the promise of a white Christmas made everyone smile.  The groundhog here said 6 weeks until spring, but it seems it was just a tease.  We got two days of 50+ degree weather, all the snow melted, then wham!  An ice storm slapped us down again.

Thank goodness for snow days, Valentine's Day, and President's Day.  Between the three of them and the short month, February doesn't drag on.  Here are some things we did to cheer up during the dark days.

Valentine's Day.  We always set up a card making station.  This year my 7 year old really got into it.  I think she used every foam heart she had on this one valentine for her dear friend Andrew who she doesn't get to see too often. 

 

 

Knitting with friends and with movies.  Occasionally, my friends will set up a knitting night, where we all bring projects, drink tea (or wine) and eat goodies.  After a particularly stressful week, I sat around and caught up with friends and the sweater I keep meaning to work on for my daughter, from the fabulously colorful and cheery book, Knitting with Color. 

 

 

 A special dinner.  My husband and I usually go out on Valentine's but this year our babysitter moved, so we didn't have a date.  I decided to include the kids and with the help of The Family Dinner book I mentioned last month, we set a pretty table in green and pink.  A retro tablecloth of Florida (where we went for Christmas), along with some yummy red foods helped alot.  My daughter chose the table settings, I used my seafoam green new bowls from Anthropologie, and we opened the cards and presents we got for one another and went around the table and said what we like about one another (another idea from the book).  My daughter claimed it was the best Valentine's day ever.  The meal was delicious, healthy and somewhat indulgent, while at the same time safe for my son who is allergic to eggs, peanuts and dairy.  We ate salmon, lemony red Swiss chard, roasted potatoes, and salad with dried cherries, feta (for us) and pine nuts.  Dessert was shortbread hearts dipped in dark chocolate, and lemon and raspberry sorbet in sparkling cider.  YUM!

 

 

  

Movies.  Again.  If you get a chance to see "The Illusionist", an animated French film by the directors of the award winning "Triplets of Belleville," on the big screen, go!  The screenplay is originally by Jacques Tati.  It is a tribute to the old Music Hall days of yore in Europe and England.  It stars an aging magician,who travels from Paris, to London, then up to Edinboro, Scotland to pursue his dying art.  It is a bittersweet homage, and takes place in 1959.  When we first see him, he has to follow a Beatles/Buddy Holly type of band whose screaming fans desert the theater when our character comes onto the stage.  Things kind of go downhill from there.  But the other star of the film is the scenery, drawn so achingly beautiful, you wish you could melt into the scene.  Because of this film, I've decided that I must see Edinboro before I die, I had no idea how breathtaking it is, especially in the sensitively drawn images we see on film.

Speech, Fear and the Movies

I took my 7th grade son to see "The Kings Speech" yesterday.  Even though it has a "R" rating, it is no worse than Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings.  In fact, it is much more mild.  The only reason for the R rating is a couple bad words, that are used to help the King get over his fear of those words.

Something I've realized after watching this movie is that really, everything comes down to self-confidence.  You can have money, power and fame, but without confidence, none of it matters.  That's the essence of the movie. 

It got me thinking about public speaking.  I'm lucky that my son is taking a public speaking elective at his school, taught by another mom who volunteers.  This mom happens to be a national debate champion, which is why I forced him to take the class.  He enjoys it, because she is so funny and so interesting.  I figure middle school is the time to do this, before all of the self-confidence dries up or is stifled out of kids.  In middle school kids are still willing to try new things. 

Plus, these days young adults are so lacking in social graces because they've been glued to their screens and phones and texts, never looking up to see how their words affect others.  In "The King's Speech," the King and his crew were befuddled by the "new" technology of the radio.  Talk about fear!  And they weren't even being filmed!  The King could get away with having a personal coach on the radio, but in today's multi-media society it just wouldn't fly. 

Our children grew up with TV, grew up ON TV (if their parents videotaped them), even put themselves on TV (Youtube).  They don't fear the screen, but they DO fear the real life public speaking.  Hiding behind a screen allows them to be separate from the real experience, where your heart races, you see people staring at you and you get an actual physical, audible response to what you are saying.  That's a lot more responsibility than dashing off a few words on a screen and clicking SEND. 

On another topic, I've started a fabulously fancy pair of gloves from Kristin Nicholas' Color by Kristin.  She really is the queen of color.  I'm also working on a sweater for my 7 year old daughter from this book and using my own colors. 

Color like this is very cheering on the drab, winter days in Cleveland.  Like the bright colors the Canadians paint their barns to ward off the endless white, I choose knitting projects that bring cheery color back into my life.