a new gauntlet tossed

I've noticed that my considerably younger friends - millennials, not boomers - tend to approach challenges far differently than yours truly.  Give them something without a lot of directions, just an idea of what needs to be accomplished, and they tend to be off & running.  They don't blink an eye at having a car's manual on a cd or the manual for a new computer online.

AKA - things that tend to send me into massive bouts of stress & feeling massively stupid.

Okay, Ive GOT to get up & seriously running with the ins & outs & 'round abouts of today's social media, which means understanding what the heck is meant by a Facebook Page, how to tweet, what's an Instagram, how to Skype, even how to blog in a fashion that actually tries to attract readers rather than just posting without any intentionally enticing bells or whistles.

I want someone who's a real person giving me real time on real devices.  Except, no one's stepped up to the plate, just direct me to do non-human sources or suggest whipping through Youtube.  

So, what finally made me tumble to how truly pathetic I am about being bold, getting waaay outside my comfort zone, setting an example for my own older friends by taking a page out of my younger ones' playbooks & just making the leap??  Realizing I haven't a clue about how to download photos from my camera to my laptop, from my laptop to my e-mail.  I have two weeks' worth of pics from Bryn Athyn Bounty Farm Market to sent to Nina so she can post them on Facebook AND I HAVEN'T SENT THEM BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN AFRAID OF SIMPLE, BASIC TECHNOLOGY.

Am hereby tossing down the gauntlet.  Will learn how to download my photos by the end of tomorrow, Wednesday June 1.  Time to be bold, go outside my comfort zone, do what can be done rather than accept wimpy limitations.  It's badass time.  

 

Life's two great forces

Love & fear.  And fear is only an illusion.  Which leaves love as not only life's great force, but also it's only reality.

All is love.  Everything else - most especially fear - is mere illusion.

One of the great wisdoms that took me 60+ years to confirm, to fully embrace & enthusiastically live.  What fresh WOW insights will the coming  years bring?  Looking forward with a full heart & wild curiosity to discover!

Let the wonders unfold...

HAROLD & MAUDE - May Film Fest

A flick that went from failure to fabled.  A dud when it first screened, within ten years Harold and Maude found a quirky cadre of devoted fans that grew into legions. 

Harold & Maude is about the absurd yet fabulous pairing of a barely out of his teens young man & a gypsy-at-heart, shoot-for-the-moon octogenarian.  

1. 

Although Bud Cort was forever typecast as the brooding 20-year old, he doesn’t seem to care – small price to pay for a) starring in an ageless cult classic & b) playing a love interest of the FABULOUS Ruth Gordon - taking pride in talking about the off-beat story behind the story, his pairing with a Hollywood great, the small tales of an ultimately mega hit.

It earns its spot as the final pick of the o2e May Film Fest with its balance of light & dark, gallows humor & love of life, worldly wisdom & romantic innocence which obliterate the lines that typically separate us - class, gender & age.  And then there is the unforgettable soundtrack by Cat Stevens (recommended by Elton John, who’d turned down the gig).


Wonderful scene ~  The pair is in a daisy field. Maude says: "You know Harold, I'd like to come back as a sunflower most of all. They're so big and hearty. What would you like to come back as?" Harold responds by saying "One of these" (meaning one of the daisies). Maude asks, "How come?" and he replies, "Because they're all alike."

"Oh no, Harold," she protests. "They're not all alike! You see, some grow to the left, some to the right, some have even lost petals, all SORTS of observer able differences . . . You see, Harold, I feel that much of the world's sadness comes from someone who is this" (she picks a daisy from the field) -- "but yet ALLOWS themselves to be treated as that" (gesturing to the entire field of daisies).

To which I say, "Yes, yes & YES!"

 

YOUNG@HEART - May Film Fest

It was a tough call - was seriously tempted to make this marvelous film the closing feature of the o2e May Film Fest.  It's that good. 

Would love to screen this movie for every adult in the good ol' USA.  It's all about bustin' out of boundaries - ones we put on ourselves as we age upward, ones society places on its "golden oldies."  

The Young at Heart Chorus, centered in Western Massachusetts, takes 20+ singers, ranging in age from 70s to 90s, and forges them into a remarkable ensemble that's performed around the world.  

Their music mixes the serious with the seriously funny, great selections mixed with a lot of heart & humor.  The music I expected wasn't what they delivered  - did NOT see R&B, rock & even punk coming.  But what the film really delivers is an unforgettable tribute to friendship, creativity, inspiration & blowing up expectations.

Young@Heart:  Watch it ~ remember it ~ LIVE it!