Flowers, Movies, Spring

Almost Summer

68 Comments

In Maine, Spring isn’t quite over, but we are edging ever closer to summer.

The view from my living room window shows how the trees are almost in full leaf.

Green, green, green is the predominant color in my yard.

Minerva, our guard cat, watches over the garden.

I always complain that I have one of the worst yards in Winthrop in which to garden. These sweet speckled violets prove my point. Once they were in the bed featured in the picture above. Did they like it there? They did not. Even though the conditions seemed just right in the bed, the violets abandoned ship to take up residency on the lawn.

By the side of our house, we also have traditional violets that look especially fetching alongside the beloved ferns.

I’m still busy with gardening and will be for the next couple of weeks. It looks as though I won’t be able to accomplish all that I set out to do with composting and fertilizing.  I am seriously considering letting the leaves stay in the hosta beds for natural composting and fertilizing. After all, to quote my friend Jim, those hostas are as tough as a bag of hammers.

Anyway, we shall see.

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Watching

Movies

Pressure, with Brendan Fraser and Andrew Scott

In the United States, Memorial Day was on Monday, May 25. Memorial Day is not only a time to remember loved ones who have passed, but also to honor the service and sacrifice of those who are and were in the armed forces.

Therefore, when we saw that the movie Pressure was playing at our local Regal Cinema on Monday, May 25, we figured this was the perfect day to see it.

Pressure is a movie about the weather. Specifically, what the weather would be like when the Allies planned to invade Normandy on June 5, 1944, also known as D-Day. (I expect most readers are at least familiar with the broad outlines of what happened on D-Day, and that no spoiler warnings are necessary.)

General Dwight D. Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser), an American, commanded the Allied forces, and his concern about the weather was warranted. Bad weather would make landing impossible, thus putting the whole invasion in jeopardy. But postponing the event also had its perils, not the least of which was that crucial information might be leaked to the Germans.

Enter the meteorologists—James Stagg (Andrew Scott), a prickly Scotsman, and Irving Krick (Chris Messina), an overconfident American. (Is there any other kind?) The movie opens seventy-two hours before the planned invasion on June 5. Krick, going by the weather in the past, predicts that the day will be sunny and calm. Stagg, receiving reports of storms approaching Great Britain and France, thinks otherwise.

The decision to attack on June 5 or to postpone the invasion is the central tension of the movie, and Pressure does a terrific job of ratcheting up this conflict. We all know the outcome, yet I was still on the edge of my seat as Stagg and Krick fought about the weather, and Eisenhower had to decide what to do.

Andrew Scott and Chris Messina were perfectly cast as the feuding meteorologists. The stakes couldn’t have been higher, and I was sympathetic with both men. Unfortunately, Brendan Fraser’s volatile performance as Eisenhower was not quite as good. I have read that Eisenhower took pride in being calm and measured, in not having meltdowns under pressure, which must have been considerable in the lead-up to D-Day.

Still, the movie is very much worth seeing, a timely reminder of the courage and wisdom our leaders displayed when the outcome of the war lay in balance.

Once upon a time, we had great leaders who did the right thing. Perhaps, someday, we will have them again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

68 thoughts on “Almost Summer”

  4. Aww I love those glorious, lush greens Laurie, everything looks so full of life! 🌿💚 xxx

  6. Once again you reminded me of northern things I miss. We had violets around our house in Virginia, but not here in Texas. I definitely want to see “Pressure,” having been to Normandy (and then, the next day, watching “The Longest Day.”) What a time that was. Tomorrow I’m going to see “The Sheep Detectives,” so I’ll let you know if it’s “Gromit-y” enough for me. I agree about leaving the leaves.

    1. Violets are so lovely!

      That was quite a time indeed. And to think that the weather played such a huge part in D-Day.

      Let me know what you thought about those Sheep Detectives. 😉

      1. I liked The Sheep Detectives, especially the sheep! I found the murder mystery a bit too convoluted. I had to leave for a bit because I was coughing, but my friends told me how Sebastian died–glad I missed it. One thing I found distracting was the variety of accents. The sheep (Lily et al) had so many different accents. Julia Louis Dreyfuss, American, some of the others sounded Welsh or Scottish. Never did find out what “this country” was, although the money had a pound note sign. Emma Thompson was underused, IMO. I’m probably overanalyzing.

        Overall I enjoyed it but would not put in quite in the Wallace and Gromit pantheon! Aardman reigns!

      2. There certainly was a variety of accents. The movie was fun, and I enjoyed it, but it’s not quite in the Wallace and Gromit pantheon, as you noted. Aardman does indeed reign.

  8. Oh, my! You’ve finally offered up a film that non-film-going me would love to see. I’ve read innumerable books about various great storms, some including sailing and others not, but I’ve never considered the role weather played in this part of our history. It won’t be on a streaming service until the theater releases are over, but I’ll keep it in mind.

      1. Here’s another memory for you. When I was in grade school, I wore an “I Like Ike” button during his presidential campaign. Such a long time ago!

  9. Absolutely beautiful greens we rarely see Down Under where the rather dull green of the eucalypts is par for the course. Must try and find your film for an unusual reason > after WWII my father was the Supply Officer of an Estonian 4000 person refugee camp in the US zone of Germany – often had to go to the HQ where General Eisenhower naturally was ‘boss cocky’ at the time- he took a look, smiled at a kid being amidst all that and always placed me next to him for lunch – I absolutely adored the guy . . . gorgeous memories to have 🙂 !

    1. Green, green, green around our home by the edge of the woods.

      My goodness, what an exciting life you have lived! Have you ever thought of writing about your time during and after World War II?

      1. Don’t know about ‘exciting’ – a lot of it was very frightening and unwanted! I have chapters in two composite books written in Estonian and German by Estonian refugee kids . . . never thought I was important enough to write it all down, but now sometimes help Masters and Doctorate students in various Scandinavian universities writing about WWII history – not many of our age left 🙂 !

      2. Oh, yes! Frightening. Probably terrifying. I did not mean exciting in a good way. Sorry not to be more clear. I think the stories of everyday people are very important. Hope you will record, as best you can remember, your experiences.

  11. You write excellent reviews, Laurie. You chose a great movie for Memorial Day.

    Violets have a mind of their own in my experience. It’s hard to fight nature. Your surrounding woods are gorgeous and how lucky to have a guardian cat to stand watch.

    1. Thanks so much! Yes, a perfect movie for Memorial Day. And, as you know, I have a thing for World War II.

      Minerva takes her duties seriously. 😉

  12. Good garden pictures and a fascinating review of what looks an excellent film. “Perhaps, someday, we will have them again.” is an important hope

  13. I LOVE violets in the lawn. Husband? Not so much. He puts together a program to kill them. I know they will continue spreading regardless. I will never tell him I brought them with me when I moved here (with him) in 1992 from my garden at my old house. The violets have spread to the neighbor’s backyard as well. Quite a huge, healthy patch over there. (LOL)

    I trust that we will someday have leaders who are real leaders. Maybe not in my lifetime. But someday.

    1. I, too, like violets on the lawn. Just wish some had stayed in the garden bed.

      I hope we both live to see the days when we have good leaders. And to think that Eisenhower was a Republican.

    1. I am behind in my gardening, too. Not going to get everything done that I wanted, but that’s just the way it is. Ah, well…everything looks lush, and that is something.

  17. Your garden truly is wonderful and very green! I understand that you choose to spend lois of time there.

  19. “Once upon a time, we had great leaders who did the right thing. Perhaps, someday, we will have them again.” Amen to that!

  21. Minerva looks very much at home there!
    I hope you manage to everything done in garden before the heat kicks in. It’s sweltering over here right now!

    1. Minerva has guarded the yard for many years and has done such a good job. So far, it hasn’t been too hot, and may it stay that way. I hope your heat wave is over soon. It’s made the news here across the pond.

  23. “Violets in the garden” sounds like the title to a whimsical story about thinking outside the box and resilience in the face of other’s ideas of who/where we should be 🙂

    “Once upon a time, we had great leaders who did the right thing. Perhaps, someday, we will have them again.” And so it shall be!

  26. Thank you for your review of “Pressure.” The story of the meteorologists has fascinated me, and I’m delighted there’s a film about it. I also like your idea of leaving the leaves among the hard-as-hammers hostas. I did that among my ferns last fall and almost thought I had mulched! And good luck with those rascally violets. . . .

    1. Pressure is very much worth seeing, even if Fraser’s portrayal of Eisenhower seemed off.

      Next spring, I will let the leaves stay among the hostas and see what happens. The suspense never ends at our home on the edge of the woods. 😉

  27. That’s a lovely shade garden. We have too much full sun for violets, the poor things burn right up.
    Though not today. I swear it feels like winter again with this wind.

    1. Many thanks! And, I, of course, long for full sun so I can have gardens in glorious bloom. However, over the years I have come to appreciate my shade gardens. And, yes, very cold today. I was going to do some planting but it was just too darned cold.

      1. I’d like to have a bit of both. But our woods are down below our house and we’re pretty open up top. It’s great in the winter, but gets pretty hot in August.
        I was going to paint our shed today but it was too darn windy.

  28. I remember violets from back east. They were everywhere, along roadsides, streams, lawns. The speckled ones especially beautiful.

    Our weather has been oscillating, like yours – hot and cold, and windy.

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  30. Your garden looks so pretty Laurie! I, too, have plants which grow where they damn well choose! And, like you, I yearn for leaders who are statesmen not self-serving politicians.

    1. Many thanks! Because of so much shade, much of it dry, hostas are the backbone of the front garden. I have learned to love them. As for leaders…hoo, boy! The situation here continues to confound and dismay.

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