Felix Awards

On the morning before the Oscars, Emily (segundo) suggested we all write skits and act them out for awards before the actual show. The response was tepid, especially in the over 50 crowd.

"Isn't that more like the Tonys?" someone asked.

"Let's make films then," she pivoted neatly.

And with that, some of us were in. Treat embraced the challenge right away, enlisting both his parents and Emily as cast members in his brooding black and white film. His filmmaking entertained us as we took a three mile walk around our little peninsula that afternoon. Watching him pull his actors aside and direct them in front of ruined log cabins, swamps, beaches, abandoned boats, and No Trespassing signs was hilarious. Victor's approach was more subtle: from time to time he would fall behind the group, walking slowly with his phone pointed at odd ditches and bare trees.

I think others of us had good intentions; I know I spent some time filming and dramatically reading the extremely detailed rental house guidelines, but when the award show came on, there were only 2 movies for the jury in our first annual film festival.

Oh. my. god! Did we laugh and ooh and ah!

Treat's film, Major, was a droll, tragicomic narrative of a French pirate and a devastated coastal community, poignantly punctuated by the missing title character. Victor's movie was entitled Hague after the tiny town we were in, and it was an exquisite kaleidoscope portrait of so many beautiful images that we had all walked right past the whole weekend.

When the end credits rolled, there was a moment of stunned silence, and then genuine applause. Personally, I was speechless. Made and edited in one day, the movies were rough, but they were diamonds.

Team Colors

It was in the spirit of wringing every last bit of fun out of our weekend that Treat and I dragged out the cornhole set this morning. Even though the day had dawned dry for the first time we had been down on the Northern Neck, the yard was still a soggy morass, and the wind was a little bit brisk, so we set it up on the covered back deck of the river house we were staying in.

The boards were homemade from plywood and 2x4s with a couple of bolts and wingnuts to fasten the folding legs. They were painted burgundy and gold, and we found a faded set of bean bags that matched. "Redskins colors," I noted, as we took our places.

It wasn't a competitive game. To begin with, there were only three bean bags of each color, and then when Victor wanted to join, we each gave him one of our sets, and he played for both sides.

"You said these were Redskins colors," Treat said, "but I think they're Gryffindor!"

"Or Virginia Tech," Victor added.

"You cannot distract me with this useless thought exercise," I told them through dramatically gritted teeth and then tossed my red bag way short.

"Yes we can!" Treat said, sliding his yellow bean bag over the board and off the deck. "Your brain works exactly the same as ours! You know you're thinking of other red and yellow things right now."

"No I'm not!" I replied, cheering Victor as he landed the red bag on the board. "Except... Lucy is red and Rosie and Sonic are yellow! Go Lucy!"

"Lemons are yellow and strawberries are red," Treat responded. "Go lemons!"

"I love lemons!" I scowled. "But bananas are yellow and cherries are red, and cherries are much better than bananas. Go cherries!"

"What about pineapple and pomegranate?" asked Victor, "or mango and passion fruit?"

"Easy for you," I said, "you have both colors!"

Herstory

It's not just our own history that has occupied us this weekend. Yesterday we spent a couple of hours out of the rain and into a tiny local history museum in one of the nearby villages on the Northern Neck peninsula. Upon entering, we were greeted by a women who looked for all the world like the faded hippie she later proudly proclaimed herself to be.

Wire granny glasses rounded blue eyes that wrinkled on the sides when she smiled, which was often. Her reddish-brown hair was dusted in gray, and even the earth tones of her Indian-print tunic and ankle-length skirt were muted. "Am I expecting you?" she asked. "Are you teachers? Should I recognize one of you?" When she reached out and gave me a little one-armed side hug, we knew we were in for an adventure.

Over the next hour or so, she regaled us with stories of the heroes and villains of the town, enlisting the members of our group to act out some of the more dramatic scenes. Interspersed were tales of her own life and the personal journey that led her to that place and that moment. There were props and books and photographs to enhance her version of local history. Along the way, we found out that she was an Eccles scholar at UVa, like Bill, and she actually knew Emily's brother Chris, from the days when he lived about 45 minutes north.

Before our stories diverged she gave each of us a hug and a kiss, then we zipped up our raincoats and stepped back into the present, through the mud, and out to lunch. 

Friday Night Lights

It was crazy-hectic packing up and getting out of town for a weekend away on a Friday evening. Dashing home from school after making sub plans during the deafening din of Anime Club, we threw 3 days of clothes and toiletries into our duffles, packed the cooler with essentials (beer, coffee cream, and ragout for dinner) and then huffed all our stuff out to the car.

The map app confirmed what I already knew-- it was rush hour in DC, but I obediently piloted the car into the gleam of brake lights and stop and go traffic, along the twinkling tree-lined streets of Old Town, and under the incandescent gauntlet of lights lining the Wilson Bridge, and past the pulsing red, white and blue of the Capital Wheel, and down through the suburban glow of Fort Washington and Waldorf.

When at last the roads cleared, we found ourselves on country roads so dark we almost (almost!) missed the starless glimmer of city nights we were accustomed to. Along shadowed farm fields, over unlit bridges, and finally onto a pitch-dark rutted dirt road, we drove on. And at the end of the trip there was warm light spilling from the windows of a house and family and fun waiting within.

28 Day Warranty

It’s always hard to leave the beach, and today it was especially difficult since

our brand new car wouldn’t start!

Half of our group was already gone when the nifty trick of simply placing my foot on the brake and pushing the button yielded no results, not even the click click of the key in the ignition. There was no explanation on the  fancy screen; it too remained blank and powerless.

How could a 4 week old battery be dead? You ask. We asked the same, but luckily my nephews had jumper cables, and  after considerable searching I found the hood release. By then a work crew had arrived to replace a deck on the house and the others in our party had returned. Once connected , power immediately returned to the dash and display, and a few tries later the engine turned over.

We all agreed I should keep it running until we got home, and we made it without further mishap. It’s starting just fine now, and I have a courtesy visit already scheduled with the dealer for Saturday. You bet we’re going to have a few things to discuss. 

Just, Wow

When it comes to vacations, especially those involving rental homes, I am usually sooo organized. But this time? Getting organized for our Oscar weekend away was extremely challenging for me. Maybe it was the wind, or trying to coordinate with all our far-flung folks, or the little head cold I was battling, but I pulled out of my parking lot with a full car which was lacking a few essentials. Oh, we made do without the cumin, the coffee grinder, and the tinder and kindling, but when it came to the actual Oscar ballots, well... the pool must go on.

Problem solvers that we are, I grabbed my phone and packed up my laptop for an extra measure and headed north to the nearest town and its office supply store. Once in the copy section, I must have looked a little lost, because a clerk hailed me from behind the counter. "Do you have some questions, ma'am?"

"I need to print a file from my phone, or computer," I told her somewhat helplessly, "what's the best way?"

"You can email it to that address," she gestured with her thumb over her shoulder, "and then follow the prompts on the copy machine."

What! I was shocked at this amazing technology. I did as she suggested and then stepped to the machine. What awaited me there was even more amazing. I could actually connect to my Google drive and print any document there.

Mind?

Blown!

Ballots?

Printed!

In color, no less.

Star Bright

Time with family is wonderful, and yet... coordinating 10 people and 3 dogs can be a challenge. Still, we are nothing if not a congenial bunch, and so we hatched a plan that included activities and options for everyone. We all explored Leonardtown had a fun lunch in a restaurant in a converted Victorian home. After some shopping and coffee, we split into two groups, half heading home to walk the beach with the dogs, and the other half off to explore thrift shops and discounters and pick up some groceries. Back home again, we snapped into action as a cooperative team, some building a fire, others putting out snacks and drinks, and some starting dinner. At one point, my part of the well-oiled machine involved going out to the car to fetch a bag that had been inadvertently behind. Closing the door purposefully behind me, I strode to the car and then paused midstep to look up at the night sky. Oh! The stars! How they shine out here! All the hectic energy of the day drained away beneath them. The warm light of the house beckoned me, and with a full heart and light step, I headed back inside.

March Miracle

As the years pass and the kids in our family grow up, Oscar weekend at the beach becomes an increasingly complicated affair. This year, our getaway is for 10 people and three dogs, and although the fabulous bay house we have rented is a little less than two hours from home, the overall logistics of our gathering included a flight from Minnesota and one from Florida, a road trip from Western Massachusetts, trading the second half of a double shift at the last minute, and a three car caravan through the gusting winds of Winter Storm Riley. With so many moving pieces, it seems like sheer luck that 9 out of 10 of us are here, with one boy left to arrive tomorrow. Sure, the wind is howling and the surf is pounding (all the better to stir up those shark teeth and sea glass), but inside we are together and warm, with sixty-four hours of mini-vacation to look forward to.

Head v. Heart

Every year we face the same dilemma: enter the Oscar pool using strategy and conventional wisdom, or vote for the films and performances you have loved. Oh, there is certainly money and bragging rights at stake, but after seeing so many movies in a relatively short time, it's hard not to support the ones that made you laugh, or cry, or think, and hope that they touched the members of the academy in the same way, too.

This year Bill finally pulled the trigger on what we have been considering for a long time-- he filled out two ballots-- one for his head and one for his heart. As for me, as I looked over my ballot this evening I realized how fond I really was of so many of the nominees, and for this year, at least, my head and my heart were not the conflict.

And in the end? It was a riveting race until the final award was announced. Bill's heart was never a contender, but his head edged us all out.

But it was close!

Congrats on the two-fer, Bill!

UPDATE 12:10 AM: After that stunning reversal of the best picture award, there was a change in our results as well! Victor ended up tied with Bill, because his heart made him pick Moonlight.

Where in the World

I often torture myself trying to guess where in the world all those gorgeous, screen-saving landscapes on my Amazon Fire might possibly be located.Vietnam? New Zealand? Switzerland? Alaska? And I was doing that exact thing this evening as we all relaxed in the great room of our Oscar-weekend beach rental. A rare February thunderstorm boomed overhead and rain swished hard down the roof while Josh and I threw out place names to match the scenes gliding across the TV screen.

"I wish they would just tell us where they are so we could know if we were right!" I complained. "I'm going to write Amazon and ask them to do that! Wouldn't that be a fun game?"

"Well," interjected Victor, "there is a game that is similar to that. It's called GeoGuessr and it uses Google maps to basically drop you down in the middle of somewhere and make you guess your location."

Well, it wasn't long before we had that app up on the big screen collectively scrubbing every detail of the image to try to figure out just where in the world it might be. Look at the lines on the road! What does that sign say? What sort of plants are those? What color is the soil? What kind of car is that? What about the architecture?

Oh, the pictures weren't nearly as pretty, but the game was a lot of fun. Our results varied from as far off as we could possibly be (for the record that is only half-way around the world!) to within 33 yards.

AND? We always knew where it was in the end!

Exits and Entrances

Taking advantage of the beach cruiser bikes that were included in our rental house, Emily, Heidi, and I pedaled out the rutted clay road yesterday morning. Our destination was the northernmost spit of land on our little peninsula, but the way was not direct. We meandered around a little pond and through a horse farm before we even made it to the main road. At one point we rounded a little bend, flustering a half dozen vultures feeding on a deer carcass by the side of the road. A few held their ground as we rolled by, and I could neither unsee the long stretchy piece of gore one was pulling from the gut, nor unsmell the sharp stench, but those unpleasantries were joined by an abiding appreciation for the role of the scavenger, especially when half an hour later on our return trip we pedaled by four times as many vultures and the indisputable calculus that over half the deer was gone. 

Acceptance Speech

We are away at the beach for our traditional Oscar party weekend, and to be honest, although we have spent the last 30 hours trying to put as positive as possible a spin on it, the house we have this time just doesn't measure up to past rentals. It's puzzling, because we are using the same company, but after being spoiled by smart renovations and stylish furnishings for the last two years, we were disappointed to find a chopped up three-level place with shabby furniture and a so-so equipped kitchen. Far from allowing it to spoil our weekend, the four of us have spent the day improvising and innovating our way around such obstacles as a dishwasher rack with falling off wheels (scouring the drawers for missing parts and rubber bands), no charcoal lighter (a brown paper bag and tin foil  fashioned into a chimney), and creating a sand sifter from an olive container. We have certainly congratulated ourselves plenty for our ingenuity, but in the spirit of the weekend...

I would like to thank my mother, who always taught us that no matter what the problem is, if you use your imagination and know-how, you can figure out a way over, under, or around any obstacles and fix what needs to be. (Waves golden statuette in the air and exits stage right as the orchestra swells.)

Golden Boy

Here we are in the grip of Oscar fever. Our ballots are filled and a fine dinner prepared-- a yummy spread of tapas with shrimp, lamb chops, patatas bravas, roasted peppers, roasted beets, pea salad, mini pizzas, and a couple of nice spinach dishes-- we have settled in to graze and celebrity-watch the red carpet pre-show.

Of course that means a lot of commercials, and so in between our chatter about dresses and hair, who looks gold and who looks old, we also talk about those in our party who are missing this party, especially Victor and Treat. Just a few minutes ago, there was a promo for the Disney show Once Upon a Time where Cruella Daville, Ursula, and Maleficent were trying to convince a pretty blond to turn evil.

Their conversation brought to mind a long ago movie-inspired scene from my own life. More than ten years ago, on a lovely summer evening Riley, Eric, and Treat were all out on the front lawn playing with light sabers. Before the epic battle began, there was a pause and Eric said, "Wait! We can't all be Jedis. Someone's gotta be the enemy."

Without hesitation, Treat volunteered. "I'll go to the dark side!" he cried eagerly.

That's our Treatie-bird.

Dogsta Paradise

Sand, water, and snow?

What a good idea!

Deep Freeze

We're rushing around getting organized for our annual Oscar holiday weekend. This year, like last, we're renting a place on the Chesapeake Bay. The idea came to me a couple of years ago when after taking the Monday after the ceremony off, we woke to nearly 70 degrees at the end of February.

Such a day cried out for a road trip and so we put the dog in the car and headed east. That day, we rolled up our pants and splashed through amazingly temperate tidal pools as we walked the sandy shore of North Beach. We should do this every year! I thought, and a couple of Oscars later, we found a place in Scotland, MD to spend the weekend.

Last year, the weather wasn't too bad when we arrived on Saturday, and we spent the late afternoon beach combing for fossils and sea glass. It seemed impossible that they were predicting snow for the next night, and we joked about being stranded in such a place. Truth be told, we did have a bit of a harrowing ride home, but it all turned out fine-- just part of the adventure.

Tonight we're preparing for our long weekend away in record cold temperatures with some more wintery weather threatening tomorrow, but I can't get upset. There will be a warm house right on the beach with plenty of firewood when we get there, and I don't even have to find room in the freezer for the extra stuff I got at the grocery store this afternoon. It's all chillin' in the car, ready to beat the storm in the morning.

Test of Time

"Was this nominated for any Oscars?" Josh asked.

We were spending a snowy afternoon watching The Sixth Sense. After spending three hours driving home from our awesome Oscar-party-at-the-beach through winter storm "Titan," and some more significant time on the phone trying to figure out if Josh's bus was running (those Greyhound folks are cagey when the weather turns... a crackling fire hot enough to pop corn and a movie seemed like a great idea.

Josh chose the flick. Years ago, when he and Treat were 8 or 9, and Riley was only a few years older, we spent a rainy August afternoon on Lake Erie baking cookies and watching movies. We had The Sixth Sense with us, along with some Star Wars and Pixar classics. "How about this one?" I asked.

I guess I was thinking about what a good movie it is and, of course, the epic twist, and perhaps my mouth was ahead of my brain. I back-pedaled. "It's kind of scary, though, we could watch something else."

"I saw part of it once," Josh chimed in. "It will make your eyes bleed!"

We ended up watching it, and although no one was scarred for life, I'm not sure any of us really enjoyed it, at least not fully. Today was a different story, though.

"I think it was nominated for a bunch," I said, skimming back across all those Oscar parties, then diving as deep as I could into the one 14 years ago. "Let's look it up."

It turns out that The Sixth Sense was shut out that year, despite nods for best supporting actor and actress, directing, original screenplay, and best picture. In many of the categories, including the top honors, it came up short to American Beauty. "What were they thinking?" I sighed.

A little while later, I wiped a tear as the credits rolled, and flipped to the onscreen guide for a suitable follow up. Believe it or not? American Beauty was playing. "Let's watch that," said Josh. 

"Really?" I shot him a skeptical look.

"Yeah!" he answered. "I heard it's better than The Sixth Sense!"

AND that lasted for maybe 10 minutes.

Quandary.com

So that big storm that's on its way? Sleet, ice, snow, stay off the roads and all that? Well it has hit at what some might say is an inconvenient time for us. We're supposed to pack up and go home tomorrow, but if the forecast holds, that might be impossible.

All day we've wrestled individually and collectively with this dilemma. Of course the responsible thing would have been to head home this afternoon to ensure that we would be safely there before the weather hits, but that plan would have made us miss the very thing we came down here for-- our Oscar party!

So, we've decided to hunker down here, bay side, and deal with the conditions that greet us when we rise in the morning. If we need stay an extra day? So be it. If we can get home? We will. School has already been canceled and we have plenty of firewood and food-- let the ceremony begin!

Let Evening Come

It wasn't long after the car was unpacked and our rooms chosen that we hit the beach. This year we decided to kick our Oscar Party up a notch and rent a place on the Chesapeake Bay just a couple of hours from home. The day had been sunny, but by the time we arrived it was growing late, and the light on the beach was almost as blue as the water.

This area is known for sea glass and fossils, and as much as I wanted to stretch my legs and walk briskly enough into the wind to warm away its chill, the long stretches of pristine sand and the piles of polished pebbles, broken shells, and other treasures were too tempting for me to simply stroll past. The dogs ran up and back at least ten times while I walked slowly, head bent, eyes scouring those caches deposited by the bay. 

I know better. Such a walk is never relaxing;  I can't shake the certainty that I'm missing something, and the truth is, I am missing something, something that sharpest eyes in the world wouldn't help me find.

The Gang's All Here

It's our traditional Oscar weekend-- only made sweeter by the presence of Riley and Josh. I love the movies; going is one of my favorite things to do, but they can't compare to the company we'll keep tomorrow night.

Winter Break

A happy confluence of events today: our annual post-Oscar night holiday and 66 degrees in February made the beach an irresistible destination. Sometimes it's easy to forget how close we live to the Chesapeake Bay and its fascinating, fossil-filled western shore, but at 10:30 on a regular Monday morning, believe me, you can get there in waaaay under an hour.

We started our day at Brownie's Beach, a little public park that at this time of the year has free parking. We had the place all to ourselves as we beachcombed and boardwalked our way up and back to the town of Chesapeake Beach, with a wet and happy dog and a couple of pieces of sea glass to show for it. Next it was on to North Beach, a classic shore town that, although most places were shuttered for the season, had quite a few happy people playing by the water and strolling on the boardwalk.

It was one of those days I know I'll look back on for the rest of my life and remember the literally golden glow of the winter sun as it warmed the sand and the water.