Monday Morning Musings:
A Cold Morning ©️Merril D. Smith, 2021Beneath grey sky, the river rushes
with icy determination,
listen, it calls
and the gulls squawk at intruding clans,
then soar in silvered colony at eagle’s wide-winged span
The geese and small gulls don’t like the larger black-winged gulls. Delaware River at Red Bank Battlefield ©️Merril D. Smith, 2021
circling, I watch
for signs of color, signs of spring
secrets buried beneath the snow,
waiting, for light
no candles, just cake,
dinner, and wine, hearts entwined
we paint love
and drink poetry
the days still mostly grey–but getting brighter.
Delaware River at sunrise ©️Merril D. Smith 2021Merril’s Movie/TV Club:
It’s still a pandemic, and we still haven’t gone anywhere. Since we can’t go anywhere right now, we had a Valentines/Birthday paint date for my husband’s birthday. I ordered it from the Clay Studio in Philadelphia. The package contained acrylic paints and brushes, clay candy dishes, Mod podge, chocolate from Shane’s Confectionary, and a scented candle. We supplied the adult beverages. He put his birthday crown on for our Friday night virtual Shabbas.
It was snowing and sleeting on his birthday, but we got Indian food over the weekend and watched the Netflix movie, I Care a Lot. The movie stars Rosamund Pike, who is excellent as the cool and totally amoral professional guardian. The other actors are equally excellent. The movie is chilling and somewhat terrifying in that it depicts how easily elderly or incapacitated people can have their lives and assets controlled by unscrupulous people. I wasn’t sure if I would like the movie, but as despicable as Pike’s character is, it’s hard to look away.
We also watched a Spanish mystery series on Netflix, The Mess you Leave Behind. It’s a stand-alone series with eight episodes. Raquel takes a teaching post in a small town in Galicia where her husband grew up, and everyone knows everyone, and everyone is called by their first name. She soon begins investigating the circumstances of her predecessor’s death. The series skillfully interweaves the two timelines. We liked the series, even though we laughed at how the teachers in this school only seem to teach one class each.
Yesterday and today: Merril's historical musings 
Oooo, purrrr – love the keyboard assistant image! Or perhaps keyboard INsistant would be a better description?
Thank you! He follows me everywhere. 😀
Lovely musings.
Funny, I suggested the Rosamund Pike movie for this Friday. Will be between that and “The Dig”. Or something completely different depending on our mood! LOL
What a fun project to do. Love it.
Thank you so much, Dale.
Rosamund Pike is excellent, but I can see where a lot of people would be turned off by the movie.
The project really was fun. A nice change, and we still have leftover paint, so maybe I’ll do some more painting. 😀
She’s got the perfect stony face and dead eyes to play a villain…
I might look into getting myself such a kit to let my creative juices flow…
Yes, she does. And you know, you’ve met people like her who have the surface charm, but are really awful people.
There are probably places in your area that have art projects to go.
It’s actually hard to ever feel anything towards her. She’s a fine actress but even when she smiles, it does not reach her eyes. Makes you wonder.
I did go to a ceramics joint where you sat, painted, and returned until your piece was done and then they fired it for you. Called it a Ceramic Cafe. Unfortunately, the one right near my house closed a couple of years ago. The other one (if it’s still open) is a good car drive away.
I haven’t noticed her enough to comment. She was excellent in this though. 😀
There are ceramics places like that around here, too. The Clay Studio mailed this to me. I don’t know if they’ll ship it to Canada, or if it’s worth it to you, but here’s the link: https://public.theclaystudio.org/public/shop/item/38080/%20The%20Clay%20Studio/Handmade%20Date%20Night%20at%20Home%20Kit
I signed up for Sundance for free and watched that mini 10-minute-per-episode series called “State of the Union” with her. And saw her in “Gone Girl” – she’s not always so nice…😉
I’ll check it out. Who knows?
I saw an article about that show, but I haven’t seen it. Maybe if I can sign up for free. . . I didn’t see Gone Girl. I so hated the book characters.
I kept seeing it announced on FB so I finally signed up. And cancelled the next day 😉
I didn’t like the movie characters, either.
😀
Love your artwork! I started I Care A lot last night but turned it off rather quickly as I could tell I wasn’t in the mood, lol. I do plant to watch it.
Your photos are stunning, as usual! I enjoy them so much.
Thank you so much, Charlotte! It was a fun project. You can tell my husband and I have very different artistic styles. 😀 (And that I didn’t get the family visual artist gene.)
I was surprised that I actually did like the movie. You might like the mystery series.
Beautiful Monday musings, Merril. And your photographs…wow! They are gorgeous. I saw the cake on Instagram and my mouth started to water. It looks so delicious! I love the shot of “Mick” wearing his crown. Happy birthday!
Thanks so much, Jill. I’m glad you liked the photos, and the cake was very good, though if I baked it for my own birthday, it would be chocolate. 😀
LOVE-ly, Merril! Thanks for all this, including the Netflix movie suggestion.
Thanks so much, Marian, and you’re welcome.
What a wonderful time you must have had! I love it!
Painting the candy dishes, you mean? Yes, it was a fun project. 😀 Before the pandemic, we did a date night at the studio where we got use the pottery wheel.
Oh, that sounds so fun. I could never get the gardener to do that. In fact, I’ve been mentioning stuff like that occasionally to see if I can wear him down, but he’s so stubborn. Years ago he enjoyed making little Italian mosaics, but with his eyesight and his SLAC wrist he couldn’t do that any longer.
Oh, that’s too bad. Making mosaics sounds fun.
Despite not going anywhere or doing anything, you seem to see and do a lot! Your pictures look so cold! I hope it warms up soon.
Thank you! I keep my eyes open. 😀
Yes, it’s been cold–though I think we’re going to have highs in the 40s and close to 50. It’s just grey and dreary right now.
I’ll cross fingers for you too 🙂
Beautiful! Love the line about spring…’secrets buried beneath the snow.’ Love that photo as well.
Thank you very much, Linda!
You may not be able to get out much, but you can still muse in verse nd photography. My Valentine birthday wishes
Thank you very much, Derrick.
Beautiful color and light in your photos as always. And you and your husband manage as usual to bring color and light into your home. I like your assistant too. (K)
Thanks so much, Kerfe! You know I like light and color–and my assistant. 😀
Simply lovely photos Merril, those buds such a bright pop of colour. Happy celebrations were clearly the order of the day. Thanks for the Netflix suggestions, will follow up ..
Thank you very much, Susan!
Happy belated birthday wishes to your husband! His cake looks very good–and what a fun painting project to do together! Your river was in a changable Monday mood, but as enticing as ever.
Thank you very much, Liz. The cake was good, and the project was fun.
I think all the river photos were from days during the previous week.
You’re welcome, Merril. I’ll consider last week’s photos with this Monday’s Musings a bit of poetic license.
I always post the photos from the past week. I couldn’t possibly do all that on one Monday morning! 😀