My technical genius friend Bruce has just set up wireless internet here – so I’m sitting in the backyard as I type. Earlier he Skyped our mutual friend Chris in Vancouver; they both have webcams so Bruce was walking around the house carrying his computer and gossiping with Chris on the screen. Recently I decided to look for a Belgian friend I last saw in 1964 and found her instantly on Google and Facebook, though she hasn’t written back yet. I can’t get over these extraordinary innovations, which bring the whole world to our kitchen table. Though I still don’t know how they cram all those tunes into that tiny iPod thingy. With a special funnel?
I am heartsick that Stephane Dion’s misunderstanding of several badly-phrased questions has renewed doubts about his leadership abilities. Can one tiny mistake decide the future of a country? The thought makes me ill.
However, on a cheerier note, Bruce took me to a preview of “The Sound of Music” last night, starring the lovely young woman who won the televised competition. There are some casting oddities – Captain von Trapp is old enough to be Maria’s father and the eldest Trapp daughter is too old and tall for the role – but the fresh and pretty Maria is lively, honest, open – in a word, adorable. I’d forgotten how gorgeous the music is and how important the story – not only the importance of standing up to Nazis, but about the necessity for joy and song and play and loving your children. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
But I am enjoying even more sitting in my garden writing to you, my unknown readers, while the sparrows chatter nearby in the ivy and at the feeder, and the sun shines on my face. In the midst of two ghastly, terrifying election campaigns, let us take time for these moments of sheer pleasure, especially when the weather is so helpful. And many thanks, many thanks, many thanks, for the health of my family and friends, and your health, and my own.
And thanks to Bruce for this magic.
