Canada by Richard Ford

This is the story of how 15-year-old Dell Parsons's life was derailed and permanently changed by a single, spectacularly uncharacteristic act by his mother and father: a barely planned and ineptly executed bank robbery.  It is essentially about the consequences of a sudden tragic rupture in the fabric of an ordinary family life.

 The narrator, Dell Parsons, now a retired English teacher, looks back with a kind of bemused detachment on the unlikely events that unmoored him from his ordinary life and pitched him headlong into an uncertain future. From the start, it is apparent that this is someone trying to make sense of the past. What is important here is not the event, but its long aftermath.

The book is divided into three parts. The first, concerning the crime and its immediate fallout, is set in the mid-to-late 1950s in Great Falls, the Montana town that Ford has used as a backdrop in some previous stories. The second describes Dell's clandestine flight to an even more downbeat town just over the border in Canada and his new life as a kind of odd-job boy for a mysterious American fellow exile, Arthur Reminger. The third and final part of the book, a short postscript set in the recent past, mostly concerns Dell's visit to his estranged sister, Berner, who is living – and dying from a terminal illness – in Minneapolis. There are several moments in the book where Dell seems on the verge of some great epiphany, but arrives instead at a smaller understanding of the strange trajectory of his younger life. He spent the rest of his life wrestling with what happened that was beyond his control, puzzling to stay positive and afloat, but ultimately misunderstanding the world his father chose and having that misunderstanding become his life.The faults of the father are passed on to the son. The older Dell, though, who guides us though the strange jolts in his life calmly, step by step, does not so much misunderstand the world as keep it at a safe distance, so justifiably wary is he of the sudden, cataclysmic turn it may take. This strategy seems to have worked and, by the end of the book, he seems a remarkably accepting, even contented, individual.

Moroccan Berbers

No trip to Morocco would be complete without an examination of the native culture.  There are two things that I wish that I had done on my recent trip and spending more time in the mountains, learning more about Berber culture is one of those things.  I did manage to come home with a Berber rug, but that just whetted my taste.

Berber history goes back to prehistoric times-- their culture has been around for at least 4000 years or maybe more. Calling themselves Amazigh, the proud raiders, they fought against the Romans, Arab, and French invaders. Even though the Romans and others have tried to colonize the Berber people, they have managed to preserve their own language and culture and in reality were never beaten!
Berber language is primarily oral in nature, although they have had their own writing system for more than 2500 years. Modern Moroccan Arabic is strongly influenced by the native Berber language.

They are a cafe au lait skinned people and have been called by many names: Libyans by the ancient Greeks, Numbians by the Romans, and Moors by medieval Europe.  Islam came to the Berbers in the ninth and tenth centuries. Prior to then, most Berbers across Africa were Christian or Jewish. Two great Islamic Berber dynasties, Almoravids and Almohads, ruled large parts of Spain and northwest Africa.  Today, most of the twenty-seven million Moroccans are either Berbers, Arabs, or Moors (people of Berber/Arab decent). Their ancestors became the Almoravids and Almohads that built the mighty Moorish empire that ruled Spain, Portugal and Northern African.

There are many of today’s Berbers who continue to live in the mountains of Morocco while the Arabs and Moors live in the cities, though it is very common these days to see Berbers running, owning and operating small shops and other commerce endeavors.
Stories have characterized Berbers as nomads using camels to cross the Sahara desert. Most today are farmers of the mountains and valleys in Morocco. They were traders in the earlier days. Berber’s long recorded influence affected commerce by establishing trading routes between the West African and the Sub-Saharan region. They transported goods from beyond the Sahara desert to the Northern Moroccan cities. Merchants were considered in a higher class than the farmers, however, through history the roles have mostly been reversed.  Think about a mountain visit if you are going to Morocco to learn more about this ancient culture.

The Lego Movie (2013)

To love this movie it really helps to have been a long term fan of Legos over the past 20+ years.  And I think that you are likely to either love the movie or be left wondering why other people loved it so much. 

 

One review I read likened the movie to Mel Brooks doing a spoof on 'Toy Story', and there is some merit to that analogy.  The story revolves around the tension between the two approaches to legos--either you get the kit and follow the instructions to the letter or you make stuff up as you go along.  In my house, each new box of Legos got made by-the-book one time and one time only.  After a suitable period of use, it then ended up in a sizable tub of Legos from other sets acquired over the years and then all of these parts would be routinely assembled into creations that combined Lego pieces from all eras.  The Arctic igloo would find itself on a pirate ship.  The figures would have mix and match wardrobes.  A Viking axe might be part of a construction worker's ensemble.  It is that spirit of creativity that is being advocated for in the movie, with an uptight Will Ferrell presenting the opposing point of view (he is a fan of Super Gluing the finished product together so that it would remain in perpetuity in the form that it was designed to be in).  So if you love Lego's and what they meant to either you or your children (versus the parent who cursed them because they scatter everywhere and are particualrly painful when stepped on in bare feet), then you are likely to overlook the wooden characters and over the top pop songs and enjoy yourself.

Tanning Leather the Old Fashioned Way, Morocco

This enormous rooftop leather tanning and dying operation is a sight to behold.  Located right in the center of the medina in Fes, it is a craft that is still done the way that it was hundreds of years ago.  When you enter the building you are handed a sprig of mint to hold under your nose should the smell of the pigeon excrement that is used to dye the leather prove overwhelming, but in reality, the area is so large that you hardly notice the smell.  Well, almost.

The thing that I learned that day, besided the fact that I definitely did not appreciate the work invovled in dying leather and that I am blessed not to have this as my job, was that I really find goat skin incredibly soft and supple.  I did not make a purchase that day, but I filed that information away for some future time when I might be able to use it.

Maya Angelou's Buttermilk Biscuits

RIP Maya Angelou.  You are an inspiration to those who have suffered trauma, and you have offered words of wisdom on how to manage that.  I was surprised to learn that you were also a passionate cook.  May your memory be a blessing, and may your biscuits nourish both body and soul.

Buttermilk Biscuits
Makes 24
4 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
6 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup lard
2 cups buttermilk
All-purpose flour, if needed
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Sift 4 cups of flour with salt, baking powder and baking soda. Cut in lard until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Add buttermilk and stir until dough leaves side of bowl.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth. Roll out to ½-inch thickness, and cut into 2-inch rounds with a biscuit cutter or water glass. (If using a glass, turn it upside down, dust rim in flour, then cut biscuits.)
4. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 20-25 minutes, or until biscuits are golden brown.

The Monuments Men (2013)

The movie is based on a book that chronicled the work of real people who labored to salvage the thousands of works of art that were looted by the Nazis during WWII.  They were a band  of mostly middle-aged men and a few women who interrupted careers as historians, architects, museum curators and professors to mitigate combat damage. They were called  the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section of the Allies, and they found and recovered countless artworks stolen by the Nazis.
The movie got mixed reviews but I very much enjoyed it--there is a balance between the horrors of what the Germans did during the war and the men who risked their lives to save Europe's art heritage for future generations to enjoy.

The Allies knew of the salt mine at Altaussee thanks to a toothache--this is portrayed in the movie and is based on a true event. Two months earlier, Posey (one of the monuments men, played by Bill Murray)  was in the ancient city of Trier in eastern Germany with Kirstein (another of the band) and needed treatment. The dentist he found introduced him to his son-in-law, who was hoping to earn safe passage for his family to Paris, even though he had helped Herman Goering, Hitler’s second-in-command, steal trainload after trainload of art. The son-in-in-law told them the location of Goering's collection as well as Hitler's stash at Altaussee.

Hitler claimed Altaussee as the perfect hideaway for loot intended for his Linz museum. The complex series of tunnels had been mined by the same families for 3,000 years, as Stout (George Clooney) noted in his journal.  When Stout arrived there on May 21, 1945, shortly after hostilities ended, he chronicled the contents based on Nazi records: 6,577 paintings, 2,300 drawings or watercolors, 954 prints, 137 pieces of sculpture, 129 pieces of arms and armor, 79 baskets of objects, 484 cases of objects thought to be archives, 78 pieces of furniture, 122 tapestries, 1,200-1,700 cases apparently books or similar, and 283 cases contents completely unknown. The Nazis had built elaborate storage shelving and a conservation workshop deep within the mine, where the main chambers were more than a mile inside the mountain.  The work of these brave souls was largely fogotten, and kudos to Clooney for telling their story.




The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

This year, for the first time ever, I had read 5 of the 6 finalists for the Booker Prize before it was announced--but as fate would have it, the sixth one, this book, won.  It is an epic novel, 900 pages in all, that details a murder mystery that is convoluted from begining to end, and a cautionary tale about love and greed.

It is 1866, and Walter Moody has come to make his fortune upon the New Zealand goldfields. On arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of twelve local men, who have met in secret to discuss a series of unsolved crimes. A wealthy man has vanished, a woman who has worked as a protitute and is an opium addict has tried to end her life, and an enormous fortune has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon drawn into the mystery: a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and exquisitely patterned as the night sky.  It is simply told but the scope of the deception and the intrigue is slowly rolled out in extenisve detail, leaving the reader with sympathies towards some and recognition of the venal qualities of man in others.  The author is a word smith of the highest order, and while the book is long, one is disappointed that there isn't more when it is done.

Moroccan Cauliflower

I love Paula Wolfert's new book "The Food of Morocco".  The photos are very reminiscent of place, and I am looking forward to doing more of the food.

This is a modification of her recipe so that the whoel thing can be done roasted rather than on the stove top.


1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cauliflower, divided into florets
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 can diced tomatoes
2 tsp. paprika
1 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds--crushed with pestle
1 tsp. kosher salt
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp. chopped parsley
1 tsp. preserved lemons, minced
1/4 cup olives, pitted and chopped small

Toss everything but the parseley in a roasting pan (olive oil last), roast in 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes, depending on how carmelized you want the cauliflower to be and serve.



The Headless Woman (2008)

I watched this movie because it was required viewing for a Film Analysis class--the theme of the week was how sound and image can be synergistic in a movie, becoming bigger or more dramatic than the sum of their parts--and that definitely fits with this movie.  The opening scene is hard to follow because people are talking the way they normally do--all at once--so it was hard to follow just one thread of the conversation because there were several occurring all at the same time. 

This is no action movie.  In fact, there is remarkably little dialogue to go off.  Rain is a consistent theme throughout the movie, and that you can hear loud an clear.  People are a little trickier.  The movie takes place in a somewhat desolate Argentinian town.  The central character, Verónica (María Onetto), a middle-age woman who runs a dental clinic with her brother, is a big fish in a small pond.  Her house is small, but it is filled with servants.  The people around her afford her a bit of shelter from the real world.

The story revolves around Verónica’s brief meltdown after her involvement in a possible hit-and-run accident. In the movie’s opening shot, four boys with a dog cavort in a roadside canal along a nearly deserted rural highway as an approaching car is heard.  After that, Verónica barely speaks.  She is in an almost fugue state for quite some time, with people around her answering questions posed to her, seeming not to notice that she hasn't said a word herself and looks persistently bewildered.  When she does come around a bit, she finds that there is very little evidence of the accident--no dead bodies, no medical reports from her ER visit, no x-rays--we saw it happen, but did it really?

There are sexual liaisons that seemingly add little to the plot--Verónica has a fling with Juan Manuel (Daniel Genoud), a cousin of her husband, Marcos (César Bordón). A lesbian niece, recovering from hepatitis, is unrequitedly besotted with her.   What it comes down to is that while Verónica is not acting like herself at all, her family and servants continue her life around her without her.  By movie's end, she is starting to work again, even as she reamins functionally mute.  The end.
                           

Wind Sculpture by Anthony Howe

I have always loved sculture that moves.  My favorite part of the movie Twister was the sculpture by Evan Lewis seen in Aunt Meg's yard.  I love how the wind brings out the grace of the sculture in a three dimentional way.  I also love that the speed of the wind changes the sculpture.  This work of Anthony Howe's is spectacular--he calls it 'Octo', but it reminds me more of the movement that jelly fish make as they move through the water.  It is peaceful and mesmerizing and beautiful all at the same time.