Saturday, 3 May: Skulduggery in the Tudor court

A public holiday on 1 May was the perfect excuse for a good movie. The novel by Phillipa Gregory, "The other Boleyn girl" has been made into a sumptous historical drama. And the dastardly deeds of Henry VIII and his court make today's politicians look quite mild. In spite of knowing the horrible history of the Tudors pretty well, my friend and I were on the edge of our seats as the tragic story of Anne Boleyn and her sister, Mary unfolded. I don't believe there is a painting of Anne, so Henry's next unfortunate wife will have to do. This is Jane Seymour to whom Henry was engaged the day after Anne was beheaded. How is that for a love life? She bore his only legitimate son and died 12 days later. How fortunate we are to live in the 21st century in a free society in which women can make their own choices! If you haven't seen the movie, I recommend it. Every scene is like a painting from Holbein.

On a lighter note, here is Gal and that smelly old shoe!

And a miscellaneous bunch of Thatchwick blossoms in the rusty watering can.

Early this morning I sped off in my car to the nursery (some 15 km away) before the Saturday traffic hit the roads and came home with a bootful (please, translate if you live in the US!) of plants: bright orange calendulas for colour, foxgloves, more plectranthus Mons lavender which thrives under the trees and some bargain crysanths in pink and cerise.

Wednesday, 26 March: An inspiring movie

Tuesday night is half-price at the movies at my local mall. Yesterday evening friends and I were inspired by the unusual French movie: The diving bell and the butterfly. A true story, it relates how a former editor, Jean Dominique, editor of the French fashion mag, Elle, suffered a massive stroke while only in his early forties. It left him totally paralysed except for his left eyelid which he could blink! His speech therapist devised a code for communication using the letters of the alphabet. Watching him carefully, she repeated the letters one by one; he blinked at the letter he wanted to use and literally spelled out his sentences. In this way he dictated a short memoir which was published 10 days before his death from pneumonia. It is a most moving story and proved to me once more the ability of the human spirit to triumph against great odds. The diving bell was a symbol to Jean Dominique of his physical state, trapped in a speechless, seemingly useless body and the butterfly was the ability of his imagination and memory to transcend his suffering and create something beautiful.

We may not have experienced anything as remarkable as this story but I am sure you recognise the 'bounce back' factor! I love what Paul said in his second letter to the Corinthians (ch 4 verse 9): "We are struck down but not destroyed." How many times have you felt like that?

And to illustrate my point, I took a quick photo of a patch of common garden flowers, African marigolds. These little flowers grow everywhere in gardens over here. You can treat them badly but they just keep on producing these cheery little orange-gold flowers and they seed themselves everywhere, bringing colour to the most neglected garden. They are a symbol of resilience!