one of the bonuses of being a kindy teacher
is that i always have a snack at the ready
should anything happen along my way home.
—
the road to enlightenment is long and difficult,
and you should try not to forget snacks and magazines.
-annie lamott
there is so much strength and emotion
packed into this 70 minute little film
i am left not knowing exactly what to say.
directed by claude bars
a joint swiss/french
stop-motion animation creation
later re-voiced in english
with unforgettable characters
so tiny
yet larger than life
their huge eyes
mirror their huge troubles, emotions, lives
their fight for survival
and their desperate search to find a way
to open their wounded hearts once again.
it is a testament to the resilience of the human heart
and the power of love and friendship in the face of adversity.
—
(French: Ma vie de Courgette; also titled My Life as a Zucchini), was screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. This is the second adaptation of Gilles Paris’ 2002 novel Autobiographie d’une Courgette, as there was a French live-action television film adaptation called C’est mieux la vie quand on est grand which aired in 2007. The film was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Film at the 89th Academy Awards but lost to Zootopia. It was also selected as the Swiss entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards, making the December shortlist.
—
“the empty swing set reminds us of this–
that bad won’t be bad forever,
and what is good can sometimes last a long, long time. ”
-jacqueline woodson
—
note: while this film is animated, it may be too emotional and scary for young children to experience, due to some of the characters and issues addressed within.
—
credits: universal studios, wikipedia, cannes film festival
“without debate, without criticism
no administration and no country can succeed
and no republic can survive.”
― john f. kennedy
—
photo credit: national archives
me – “can you tell about what you wrote?”
kinder – “look up at the top.
the brown part is the idea mark.
all the rest are the ideas.”
i thought this to be brilliant
and perhaps should be our newest form of punctuation.
move over semicolon; the idea mark is here to stay!
—
“words are but the signs of ideas.”
-samuel johnson
the priests saw the funny side of it all
Pub bosses have apologized after asking a group of trainee priests to leave their Cardiff venue, mistaking them for a stag party in fancy dress.The seven Roman Catholic seminarians had gone to The City Arms to toast Father Peter McClaren’s ordination when they were asked to move on.
Assistant manager Matt Morgan said they received a free round of drinks when the situation was explained.”They were all dressed in their black and white clothes,” he said.”The staff thought they were a stag. We do have quite a few issues on the weekends with parties wearing fancy dress so it is our policy to turn them away.”
six of the priests who were turned away
Father Michael Doyle, who knows the group, said the seven went to the pub on Quay Street to celebrate the ordination at the nearby Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral of St David. The pub was a favourite of his colleagues including the Archbishop of Cardiff, George Stack.”They arrived at The City Arms and were dressed wearing the clerical collar,” he said.
“The doorman said something along the lines of, ‘Sorry gents, we have a policy of no fancy dress and no stag dos’. “The students had started to leave when they were approached by the bar manager. “He basically said, ‘you’re real, aren’t you?’,” said Fr Doyle.”He invited them back in and when they walked back in the entire pub burst into a round of applause, and they had a free round off The City Arms.”
Fr Doyle said the group stayed at the pub most of the afternoon chatting to customers.
Mr Morgan said the priests were “all great sports and saw the funny side of the situation”.
A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Cardiff added: “We’d like to thank The City Arms for being good sports through all of this and their kind gesture to our seminarians.”
the priests enjoyed a few pints in the pub at the end
—
“any band that doesn’t have a sense of humor has a little bit of a problem.”
-jens lekman, swedish musician
—
credits: wales news service, j. lloyd, the city arms
happy lunar new year – the year of the dog.
—
“you can tell by the kindness of a dog how a human should be.”
-captain beefheart
—
image credit: google images – vintage
when i was 7 or 8 years old
my father came home
from his job at the ad agency
with a new pet for our family
and it just happened to be a baby alligator.
he was not more than 9 or 10 inches long
in a small box and cute as could be
i was really excited
and pictured myself playing with him and his friends
(just as in the vintage postcard above)
i thought he would just fit right in
with my family
in our colonial house
in the suburbs
though, there were a few ‘glitches’ with this scenario.
i had my alligator for a few days and i was very excited to have my friends in my class meet him. when the big day came for show and tell, i carefully carried him in his little cardboard box, climbed onto the bus, and jerry and i headed off to school. i remember it was a bit chilly that day, but i didn’t know anything about natural alligator habitats, so i didn’t think much of the weather. i was bursting with excitement.
i put my box on my desk and when i was called up for the big reveal, i opened by box, only to find that jerry lewis had passed away on the way to school and was now stiff as a board. i couldn’t believe it and i felt so sad for him. looking back, i’m sure that any baby alligator given away in a promotion, was not long for this world, but i had hoped that we would be together for a long while. my teacher was very nice about it, and helped me wrap up his box and i rode home that day on the bus with jerry, ready to have a funeral for him. i learned so many life lessons from my short time with jerry lewis. – r.i.p.
(not me, or jerry, but how i imagined us at show and tell)
—
” i go where the action is.”
-jerry lewis
“write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”
-ralph waldo emerson
happy valentine’s day
—
-‘dried reeds’ created by roadsworth, montreal, canada
the kinders begin the process of digging out their cars
and clearing the road after the storm.
—
“it is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.”
-lucius annaeus seneca
what adventures do you keep coming back to, time and time again?
—
image credit: book riot
I didn't have my glasses on.... 