EASTER THOUGHTS
As a child, I grew up going to Sunday School and celebrating Easter in church. Spring usually meant a new dress, but always a new spring coat. Spring coats then were pastel colors, pale blue, yellow, or pink. Made of lightweight wool, you wore it over a pretty dress along with a fancy hat to church on Palm Sunday and Easter. Of course, our parents also gave us Easter baskets. Fake straw ones with jellybeans, Peeps chicks, and little foil wrapped chocolate eggs nestled in the grass. If you were fortunate, a good-sized cream-filled Cadbury’s egg was a bonus.
Today, I welcome the coming of Easter as a sign of spring—rebirth and renewal—with a lifting of the spirits if the winter has been long and cold. In Florida, we have some version of spring all year, but there is still something wondrous about warmer temperatures, more late light, and the bursting forth of blossoms.
RECENT VIEWING
FROTHY CONFECTION
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (Amazon Prime)
Based on the novel, Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris, by Paul Gallico and published in 1958, the latest movie version is a delight. It’s fun and full of fashion without being too silly or overdone. There are moments of poignancy midst Ada Harris’s dreams of a different life.
Lesley Manville plays cleaning woman Ada Harris, a hardworking woman who dreams of owning a beautiful gown (preferably one by Dior) and whose husband never returned from the Second World War. Nor was he declared dead, and so she is ever hopeful. Ada saves her coins and when she receives an unexpected windfall, she trots herself to Paris and brazenly bursts into Christian Dior’s atelier. She’s a memorable character, full of spunk, and perhaps her dream will come true. In the 1992 film, Angela Lansbury was Ada Harris.
SPYCRAFT
A Spy among Friends (MGM+)
The Chief Penguin and I read several very positive reviews of A Spy among Friends about notorious double agent Kim Philby. Hence, we sprang for the 7-day free trial of MGM+ through Amazon Prime to watch the series. It’s six parts and we are halfway in. Based on a nonfiction work by Ben Macintyre, it unwinds slowly going back and forth in time. Philby is seen primarily through the eyes of friend and fellow spy, Nick Elliott, who is being interrogated about his knowledge of Philby’s activities over their 23-year friendship. Guy Pearce is Philby and Damian Lewis is superb in the role of Elliott. Recommended!
Note: Flower photos and header photo from JWFarrington.
