Movies, Winter

Three months of March

75 Comments

For most Mainers, March is the worst month of the year. After the long dark cold of December, January, and February, what we would like is a softening, some sign of spring. Instead, what we traditionally get is wet heavy snow, sometimes lots of it, followed by snowbanks packed with pebbles and dirt and then worst of all, at the end of the month, thick, dirty, oozing Mud. And, yes, I intended the capitalization. In March in Maine, Mud is a force of nature to be reckoned with. I have lost a shoe in the mud going out to the compost bin.

This winter, it feels as though we have had three months of March, with so little snow that some outside events in the area have been canceled. This February, we’ve had mud. The chickadees are singing their spring song, and friends have spotted red-wing black birds. Really? In February? So it seems.

Readers, fair warning: This does not look as though it’s going to be a good year for Snow-Gauge Clif. More about that next week.

Here is what our backyard looks like right now.

So many pine cones had dropped that I decided to go outside to gather them for kindling for our wood furnace down cellar.

How to cap this odd month? With a trip to Absolem to meet friends for drinks. My drink, which is featured below, was a delicious blueberry cider.

What will March bring? We shall see.

Watching

Drive-Away Dolls
Directed by Ethan Coen

Ethan Coen is one half of the talented Coen brothers team—the other brother is Joel—and together they have made and directed terrific movies such as Fargo, No Country for Old Men, and The Big Lebowski.

Recently, they have parted ways creatively. Joel Coen would go on to direct a striking version of Macbeth. Ethan has given us Drive-Away Dolls, a stinker of film that leads me to conclude that Joel was the talented brother of the team, and whatever Ethan might have contributed was guided and controlled by his older brother.

The plot is a classic Coen brothers set-up and should have been fun: Two young women, an odd couple, decide to go on a road trip and hook-up with a company that allows them to drive a car for free to Florida. In the trunk is a brief case hidden with the spare tire, and it turns out the women were given the wrong car. A bickering pair of gangsters come after the women, and what mostly ensues is explicit sex, lame jokes, and a stupid denouement, which all come together to make the movie seem far longer than its 1 hour and 24 minutes runtime. However, in all fairness, I must add that some people at the cinema were laughing away at jokes we thought were lame. Even though the jokes left us cold, they tickled the funny  bones of other folks.

I decided to write about this movie for two reasons: One, to warn fans of the Coen brothers what they are going to get if they decide to go to Drive-Away Dolls and are expecting a quirky, snappy movie reminiscent of the brothers’ past films. And two, if readers do decide to go see this movie, I would be very interested in reading what you think about it. Did you love it or hate it?

I enjoy reading opposing views as much as I enjoy reading views that match mine. So do let me know what you think of the movie if you see it and have a chance to leave a comment.

 

 

 

75 thoughts on “Three months of March”

  1. Gosh – that is so little snow compared to what I usually see! Are you having rain instead?

    Good ‘warning’ about the movie. I saw The Guardian gave it 4/5 stars. Maybe I need to see it now!

  2. Same weather here. I was outside this afternoon without a coat picking up pine cones while walking in some muddy spots. I haven’t seen the movie and don’t think I will. You are right though that opposing opinions are very interesting.

  3. Our snow is all gone and we’re supposed to have 55 degree weather this week; but at least the nights will be below freezing so we should get a good sap run.
    Mud season here we come.
    But, we all know this can turn on a dime.

  4. I was thinking the other day about our annual snow gauge Clif, and wondering if like many winter traditions, this year it’s not going to happen. After this week’s warm temps, I wonder if there will be any snow left in our yard, even north-facing. Rather unsettling.

  5. As strange as our winter’s been, now that it’s about to be March, I hope the trend continues. I can do without our usual mid-March blizzard!!

  6. Doesn’t look like you got much snow up there Laurie. Winter here has been a continual swing of the pendulum. The mountains seem to have a good bit of it, though I am ready for spring down here in the foothills. Some trees do seem to be blooming a bit early though.

    I’ve never seen Drive-Away Dolls. A friend sent us the “Firefly” series on DVD, category “space western”. It is not Star Trek, but is unusual, entertaining, and well cast. even the cats like it. 🙂

  7. I am sorry about the uncertain nature of your winter. It is upsetting if you can’t rely on familiar weather patterns. You don’t know where you are.

  8. The weather has been very odd this winter. We have had rain, rain and more rain and no snow at all (so far!). Poor snow-gauge Clif! On stand-by all winter and never deployed!

    1. Weird, weird weather. And, if I am not mistaken, you were the one who coined the moniker “Snow-Gauge Clif.” Loved it the moment I read it, and his appearance is noted all around the world. Sad that he might be out of a job this year.

      2. Yes it was me! I have been reading that some of this weird weather is due to the undersea volcanic eruption near Tonga in January 2022. So much water was shot up into the stratosphere that we are likely to suffer odd weather for some years.

  9. Just thinking about all the mud and snow makes my toes curl. I love to look at snow but not have to deal with it. Pine cones … here they burn very hot and give off sap, which causes the flu in the chimney to oil up. We only use them for fire starters. But our do look different.

    The cider looks delicious.

  12. Sorry to hear about your muddy months. Everybody’s “new normals” are anything but! This week, we have had temperatures 15 to 20 degrees above normal, wind, and the first two wildfires of the season. 😦

  13. The weather is topsy-turvy all over it seems. We have endured some very, very hot days this summer and yet, as I write this, the temperature is on 9’C!

  14. Sorry to read about your muddy March coming up. The example of losing your shoe in the mud says it all. Lots of trouble!
    It seems amazing to think snow gauge Clif might be unemployed this winter, Clif has been doing that job since I started blogging! Some things shouldn’t change!

    1. Yes, lots of trouble. We shall see about Snow-Gauge Clif. Must say, it doesn’t look good. Rain is in the forecast. Snow-Gauge Clif has become quite the tradition for a lot of years.

  15. I’ve been trying to get out for a bit in the afternoons and read some, just because the sunshine feels good. Two days ago, there were around 8 (maybe 12) robins foraging, amicably. Today, there were two robins, getting all territorial with each other, ruffling feathers, etc. I remember thinking, they’re getting ready for March.

  16. Oh yes we share similar weather. I wish the temperature stays over the zero mark until the gathered snow around the corners have fully melted else it will create more problems.

    We were discussing about how the climate is changing across the globe in our online book club.

  17. That shoe-sucking image really shows the nature of the mud. The film review is insightful and useful. I am often struck by the stupidity of some inappropriate laughter in cinemas. I enjoyed No Country for Old Men.

  18. We have had an unusually mild and unusually wet winter too. Mud everywhere. I have come close to leaving a welly boot behind several times when I have sunk deep into it. I hope you get warm dry days with sun very soon.

  19. I well remember the March mud in Iowa, and the great sucking sound that came along with trying to get across a thawing field. Mud rooms were exactly that: a way to keep the worst of the mud from getting into the house. Of course, the season we sometimes called the March melt is a lot more satisfying if there’s actually snow to melt away. The thought of events being cancelled because of a lack of snow is something I’d never considered before.

  21. We’ve been slogging through some intense Mud too, Laurie, and we won’t see the end of it for a while. (Not to self – get out the mop today). Ugh. Well, I hope you get through March into fairer weather with minimal mopping. Enjoy the birds!

  23. Hi, Laurie – We’ve also had a weird winter with no snow except in January, and very little rain throughout. I was sure we were going to have an early spring — and then yesterday – BAM! – snow and cold! Good grief!!

  24. Weather patterns are crazy here too. I know things have been a bit odd for many tears, but this winter has been particularly odd, lots and lots of rain, howling gales but almost no snow. It’s an El Niño year, of course, so hopefully next year normality will make a comeback and we’ll get a REAL winter.

    1. On National Public Radio, I heard that while El Nino is responsible for some of the warm weather, it doesn’t account for all of it. Climate change is exacerbating the situation. I think this must be true. We have had other El Nino years, but never a winter this warm.

      1. Agreed. It’s been crazy here for years (“the new normal”) but just that little bit crazier this time round due to El Nino. Sadly, I suspect things will get even worse.

  25. It certainly has been a weird winter. We got out our snowshoes only once this year, and the lake never froze. I shudder to think how hot this summer in Maine is going to be.

    1. You could always make the leap to streaming. 😉 So many good shows and movies to watch. We even have a free streaming service courtesy of our library, and this service offers many independent movies.

  27. Laurie, I’m so sorry to read your tale of MUD in place of snow. It’s worrying and disappointing. I’ll miss the Snow-Gauge Clif updates, and I imagine he’s missing them, too. Your drink looks divine, though I’ve never had hard cider. It’s interesting to note the differences between the Coen brothers. Long live Netflix, our favorite go-to for winter movies and shows.

    1. Many thanks! Yes, it seems that Snow-Gauge Clif’s employment will be brief this year. If you ever do see Drive-Away Dolls, then I would be interested in hearing your take. Yes, long live Netflix and other streaming services, too.

  28. Come to Texas for whiplash season. It was 90+ yesterday, and the low tonight is supposed to be about 39. We go through winter, summer, more winter, and maybe some spring this time of year. But no Mud!! (It’s dry and we need rain, though. But not Mud!)

  29. It surely is a different kind of a year! We put our lawn chairs out on our porch they other day, and sat in the 50 degree sunshine for a bit. Of course today it is only thirty, and last night it even snowed a touch.
    Regarding movies: I started watching the first few episodes of Monsieur Spade on Acorn. Great photography and some good acting (I like Clive Owen) –but oh my the violence and the tricky plot! I finally gave it up….

    1. We gave up on Monsieur Spade, too. It wasn’t so much because of the violence but rather because there were too many characters that were hardly shown but were important to the plot. TV is a visual medium, and I wanted to see them more. Perhaps the series should have been longer so the plot could have been fleshed out more. But Clive Owen was fantastic. Disappointing that series fizzled.

  30. Three months of March and Mud does not sound good!!! We’ve somehow skipped March and April and moved on to May and June this week. Definitely looks like it’s going to be a short snow gauge season for Clif. I just read about Drive-Away Dolls this week and was looking forward to its release. I loved Joel’s version of MacBeth after their split and I’ll definitely mention it in on my blog once it arrives on streaming. The blueberry cider sounds wonderful!🙂

  31. Laurie, I empathize with you and all that nasty MUD! On cold, sunny days, there’s no problem sending Monk out to play in the yard because I know his feet won’t be caked in mud. Not so when it rains. Invariably, he finds every speck of mud available … and opts to bring it in to me. Ugh!

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