Three women and a concierge. All residents of the Alexander, a historic apartment building in downtown Atlanta. Each with their own story and set of problems.

Indebted to her husband for his generosity and financial support, Samantha Davis lives a life of routine and self-imposed expectations. Each morning, she wakes up and renews “her vow to make Jonathan Davis happy, his life smooth, and his confidence in his choice of her unshaken.” In addition to the beauty maintenance and hours of volunteer work, Samantha also includes a “much-dreaded-but-never-complained-about weekly lunch with her mother-in-law. Which would last exactly one hour but would feel more like three.”

Claire Walker is seeking a fresh start. In between “sixteen years of single parenthood on a shoestring” and caring for aging parents, Claire managed to write two Highland romances. After her daughter left her college, Claire sold her house and rented a studio apartment in the luxury high-rise. She gave herself exactly one year to write the breakout novel that would launch her career to the next level.

Divorced with two children, Brooke MacKenzie struggles with daily sadness and frustration as she watches her plastic surgeon husband take up residence with his reconstructed new girlfriend in another apartment of the Alexander.

Under normal circumstances, these women would never meet, let alone become friends. But with Edward Parker’s gentle prodding, they meet on Sunday evenings for weekly screenings of Downton Abbey, the period drama that has sparked a worldwide frenzy. I enjoyed revisiting many of the episodes and watching as the women peeled back facades and forged friendships.

Some of my favorite scenes from While We Were Watching Downton Abbey…

“When the doors slid open, she nodded as regally as she could and then swept out of the elevator, channeling not just Scarlett O’Hara, but Downton Abbey’s Countess Cora, Lady Mary, and the dowager countess all rolled into one.

“He allowed himself to wonder why he’d turned being a concierge into the god-damned Holy Grail. Just like Downton Abbey’s Carson and even Mrs. Hughes, he’d given everything up in the service of others. How could he let all those sacrifices be for naught?”

An excellent read and beautiful tribute to the transformative power of friendship.

The novel opens with two short definitive statements. “Parsifal is dead. That is the end of the story.” Unique but not unexpected from best-selling author Ann Patchett.

In The Magician’s Assistant, Parsifal turns out to be a gay magician, successful rug merchant and AIDS sufferer who has just died of a ruptured aneurysm while holding hands with Sabine, his assistant and wife of less than a year. Shock intermingles with grief as Sabine discovers the rude surprise delivered posthumously in Parsifal’s will: His mother and two sisters whom he always spoke of as dead are alive and well in Nebraska.

Lonely and paralyzed with grief, Sabine becomes involved with the Fetters women. She leave sunny California and ventures out to the bleak, wintry plains of the Midwest. There, she peels back the layers of her late husband’s life and starts her own healing process. At night, she is visited in her dreams by Phan, Parsifal’s Vietnamese lover, who provides guidance and reports on the afterlife.

As the members of Parsifal’s family seek her help, she realizes that she is no longer just an assistant. Using her new-found strength and confidence, she is able to work her own brand of magic and unchain her husband’s family from a painful past. Dot, Parsifal’s mother, often comments on her ability: “I don’t mean to compare, but you’re a lot better at this magic stuff than he ever was…you’ve got something extra.”

Published over fifteen years ago, The Magician’s Assistant addresses several social issues, among them homosexuality and abuse, that are still relevant today.

Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can
disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to
every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel like there is
something in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your
optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best,
and expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others
as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on the
greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give
every living person you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself
that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, and too
strong for fear, and too happy to permit the
presence of trouble.

 
Christian D. Larson wrote The Optimist Creed in 1912.

But I couldn’t resist a film with such heavyweights as Robert DeNiro, Susan Sarandon, Diane Keaton and Robin Williams. And while I agree it wasn’t the best film of the season, it certainly wasn’t the worst wedding comedy on record.

The Big Wedding is based on the Swiss/French film, Mon Frère Se Marie, released in 2006. In the original film, the adopted Vietnamese son of a well-to-do divorced Swiss couple is preparing to marry. The son’s biological mother, long out of the picture, travels to unite with her son for the wedding. To appease the traditional Vietnamese mother, the entire wedding party pretends the adoptive parents are still married.

In The Big Wedding, adopted son (Ben Barnes) is Colombian and has two siblings: an attorney with marital problems (Katherine Heigl) and a doctor saving his virginity for marriage (Topher Grace). The virtuous Catholic mother (Patricia Rae) arrives with her other child, the sexually precocious Nuria (Ana Ayora). Add in Robin Williams as Father Moinighan to officiate the ceremony and all the ingredients for a chaotic farce are in place.

At barely ninety minutes, the film does not require a major time commitment. But I would wait for the DVD.

“No!” cried Margery. “I want proof.”

The vet opened a side door and in came a tabby cat and a Labrador retriever. They each sniffed the bird, then shook their heads sadly.

“Okay,” said Margery. “How much do I owe you?

“That will be $300. Originally it would have been $25, but that was before the cat scan and lab report.”

Source: Georgia M. Stephenson, Readers Digest

*********************************************

A man is scrambling eggs when his wife walks into the kitchen.

“Careful,” she cries. “Careful! You’re cooking too many at once. Too many! Scramble them! Now! We need more butter. They’re going to stick! Careful! Now scramble them again! Hurry up! Are you crazy? Don’t forget to salt them. You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt! The salt!”

The man turns and asks, “What’s wrong with you?”

His wife calmly replies, “I wanted to show you what it feels like when I’m driving and you’re in the passenger seat.”

Source: Readers’ Digest

*********************************************

A college professor couldn’t help but notice that one of his students was late to class for the third time that week. Before class ended, he went around the room asking questions about the day’s lecture. He made sure to pick on the tardy student.

“And who was it that developed the theories behind communism?” the professor asked.

“I don’t know,” the student said.

“If you came to class on time, Mr. Reebs, you would know,” the professor said.

“That’s not true,” the student replied. “I never pay attention anyway!”

Source: Aha Jokes

Having recently discovered Ann Patchett’s wonderful novels, I was pleasantly surprised to learn she had also written a stirring essay based on her commencement address at Sarah Lawrence College.

Less than one hundred pages in length, What Now? can easily be read in one sitting. Using anecdotes from her own life, Patchett offers many simple truths and life lessons that will inspire anyone at a crossroads, not just newly-minted graduates.

As a recent retiree, I recall facing the What Now? question many times during the year before and after my official retirement. I could easily identify with the relief that Patchett experienced when she finally received a college acceptance letter. And I agree that having an answer to that annoying question was even more meaningful than the actual acceptance itself.

I was amused by the incident that led to an unexpected encounter and friendship with Alice Ilchman, the president of Sarah Lawrence College. And Patchett’s comment: “Sometimes circumstances at hand force us to be braver than we actually are, and so we knock on doors and ask for assistance. Sometimes not having any idea where we are going works out better than we could possibly have imagined.”

While Patchett appreciated the education she received from Sarah Lawrence and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she was also grateful to the nuns who taught her throughout her elementary and secondary years. So many wonderful descriptions: “Receiving an education is a little like a garden snake swallowing a chicken egg: it’s in you but takes awhile to digest”; “I learned modesty, humility and how to make a decent white sauce”; “In a world that is flooded with children’s leadership camps and grown-up leadership seminars and bestselling books on leadership, I count myself as fortunate to have been taught a thing or two about following.”

The road to best-selling author is never a linear one. In Ann Patchett’s case, she “batted around like a shuttlecock after graduation” and when she ran out of money, took a job as a line cook. Getting fired, graduate school and more detours until she realized that “What Now is always going to be a work in progress.”

On December 26, 2004, a tsunami struck Southeast Asia killing over 230,000 people in fourteen countries. Images of that huge wave coming out of nowhere have been imprinted into our collective memories.

In The Impossible, director Juan Antonio Bayona focuses on the real life survival story of Maria Belon. Naomi Watts delivers an outstanding performance as the British doctor on vacation with her husband Henry (Ewan McGregor) and sons Lucas (Tom Holland), Thomas (Samuel Joslin) and Simon (Oaklee Pendergast). I was impressed by all the actors, especially Holland who captured the bravery and determination of Maria’s eldest son. I am surprised he wasn’t nominated for an Oscar.

In the opening scenes, we meet and get to know the central characters. The siblings squabble on the airplane. Henry shares his workplace issues. Maria offers to resume her medical practice. And then we watch, fascinated, as the wind picks up, a page is ripped from Maria’s book, Lucas chases his ball, and birds fly quickly away. Palm trees start falling and then the huge wave descends.

At first unsure about the film’s direction, Bayona wanted to focus on Maria’s heroics. But while speaking with Maria, she stressed that it was all due to luck.“If anything I did was heroic, what would that mean for the others who weren’t so lucky?”

Inspirational and uplifting!

Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river?

Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air

An armful of white blossoms,

A perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned

into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies,

Biting the air with its black beak?

Did you hear it, fluting and whistling

A shrill dark music – like the rain pelting the trees – like a waterfall

Knifing down the black ledges?

And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds -

A white cross streaming across the sky, its feet

Like black leaves, its wings like the stretching light of the river?

And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything?

And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?

And have you changed your life?

Border Collie: Just one. Then I’ll replace any wiring that’s not up to code.

Rottweiler: Make me!

Lab: Oh, me, me! Pleeease let me change the light bulb! Can I? Huh? Huh?

Dachshund: You know I can’t reach that stupid lamp!

Malamute: Let the Border Collie do it. You can feed me while he’s busy.

Jack Russell Terrier: I’ll just pop it in while I’m bouncing off the walls.

Greyhound: It isn’t moving. Who cares?

Cocker Spaniel: Why change it? I can still pee on the carpet in the dark.

Mastiff: Screw it yourself! I’m not afraid of the dark…

Doberman: While it’s out, I’ll just take a nap on the couch.

Boxer: Who needs light? I can still play with my squeaky toys in the dark.

Pointer: I see it, there it is, there it is, right here!

Chihuahua: Yo quiero Taco Bulb?

Australian Shepherd: First, I’ll put all the light bulbs in a little circle…

Old English Sheep Dog: Light bulb? That thing I just ate was a light bulb?

Basset Hound: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….

Westie: Dogs to not change light bulbs. People change light bulbs I am not one of THEM so how long before I can expect my light again?

Poodle: I’ll just blow in the Border Collie’s ear and he’ll do it. By the time he finishes rewiring the house, my nails will be dry.

Golden Retriever: The sun is shining. The day is young. We’ve got our whole lives ahead of us, and you’re inside worrying about a stupid burned-out bulb?

Source: Aha Jokes

Nico–Photographed by Christina Guidoccio