Month: January 2010

I am my own avatar

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Tony took me to the movies last week. We saw Avatar. Being at the movies and other “crowd” situations always gives me the feeling of having stepped into 1984 or some such pessimistic future where the faceless masses surrender their emotions and opinions to be manipulated by the Powers That Be. The effect was vastly heightened by the whole crowd wearing identical yellow glasses.

And the movie? I’d describe both the storyline and feel of it as Star Wars: Episode 2 meets Princess Mononoke. Yes, the digital animation is amazing, and I feel obligated to mention it, as I am told it was terribly expensive.… Read more

Spring is the mischief in her

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

We have two goats. Sweet Betsy, as her name implies, is a patient, gentle creature who trip-traps tidily to the milking stand and back. While Sweet Betsy is the intelligent one who jailbreaks them periodically from every fastener we put on their gate (she’s currently working on a combination lock), she does sedately allow herself to be returned to her pen when discovered truant.

Not so Hershey. Her flighty mind is not fitted for the painstaking care of opening fences. But once she has escaped, she prances like one possessed. I amble in her general direction with my rope, speaking to her calmly as if we were friends.… Read more

Let’s toast the new year with bubbly milk

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Dawn points, and another day
Prepares for heat and silence. Out at sea the dawn wind
Wrinkles and slides. I am here
Or there, or elsewhere. In my beginning.
T.S. Eliot

I don’t remember ever being so glad to say goodbye to a year. Let 2009 be over, and let the bells ring in a brave new year. Last year at this time, we had just postponed our flight back home to Italy, our possessions had been in storage for nearly a year, we were moving into yet another furnished condo, and our business was weeks away from failure. I guess anyone but I could have seen disaster in the wings.… Read more