My movie debut!

Well, it sure was fun to watch a movie with me in it! I had an extremely small part as an extra in the HBO movie, You Don't Know Jack, and finally got to see it yesterday. There I was in a movie, on TV! And it was a movie I'm really proud to be part of. How cool is that?

Even if I wasn't in it I would have enjoyed watching this movie. It's a high-quality production with great actors and a compelling topic. It was also especially interesting to me because it took place in Detroit and many of the settings were familiar.

Here's a great little HBO promo that features the actors talking about their roles and some of the actual characters, including Jack Kevorkian.


Behind The Scenes

Friday Favorite Photo: Spring 1949

This photo of my mother was taken in Cambridge, England when she was 18 years old. It's one of a series of three photos that were taken the same day. On the back of this one she's written: "Me with horse. Cambridge, Spring 1949."

I never knew my mother because she was killed in an auto accident when I was an infant. Taken in by a childless couple who never told me I wasn't biologically their daughter, I discovered the truth when I was twelve.

Over the years I've had to piece together what I know about my mother's life from photographs, letters, documents, and the few family stories I've heard.

I especially love the three little photographs taken in Cambridge because they depict what I assume was a happy day in my mother's young life, and because she's written on the back of them:


"This was taken the day Pauline and I went to Cambridge. The horse nearly got my primroses!"

"Pauline's and my day in Cambridge. We have just been picking primroses in a wood. The country side was pretty and fresh after London."



Born in England, my mother spent most of her girlhood, the years of WWII, apart from her family. She and her siblings were sent to the safety of the country for "the duration." When she was 19 she traveled to the United States with a military family as their nanny - which is how I came to be born here.

This picture makes me wonder what led my mother and her friend, Pauline, to travel to Cambridge that Sping day in 1949. Did they have some business to attend to, were they visiting someone, or was it just a lark? I'll never know & I'm sure it's not important, but I'm glad she was photographed that day.

Galileo

Today is the day (in 1633) that Galileo stood trial before the Roman Inquisition to defend the publication of his book about the Copernican view of the universe.

This revolutionary idea (that the Earth and other celestial objects revolved around the sun) was at odds with the understanding - legitimized by the church - that Earth was the center.

The pope condemned Galileo to imprisonment, banned his book from publication, and forbid him to speak or write on the mobility of the Earth or stability of the Sun. It wasn't until 1822 that the church's ban on Galileo's book was lifted. And it wasn't until 1992 that the church expressed regret and acknowledged it's errors concerning Galileo. (Funny how a guy who is supposedly infallible could actually be wrong.)

Spring Bouquet

This is the first bouquet of the year from our new garden. I've never had hyacinths before - how nice they look with the daffodils. Our yard has a lot of potential, but needs a lot of work. I feel the fever coming on to be out there digging in the dirt, but there are too many other priorities right now.

Friday Favorite Photo: Easter 1960

Here I am at the age of five, all dressed up for Easter. My dress is flipped up behind me because that was my idea of being really fancy. There are a couple of photos of me as a little girl with my dress flipped up like this. I felt very princess-like with my finery displayed about me.

Just look at that satisfied expression on my face. I'm wearing a pretty new dress, my hair has been cut and curled, and I've been given a giant basket of candy.

I don't celebrate Easter now, but sure loved it when I was a kid. It was all about me!