Comfy, Cozy Cinema: Kiki’s Delivery Service and a Comfy, Cozy Giveaway

Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are watching Comfy, Cozy movies this September and October and this week we watched Kiki’s Delivery Service, a Studio Ghibli animated movie.

We are also announcing a very fun and exciting giveaway for a comfy, cozy gift basket which you can enter to win at the giveaway link at the bottom of this post!

Kiki’s Delivery Service was released in 1989 in Japan by Hayao Miyazaki, a Japanese animator and filmmaker, and was based on a book called Witches Express Delivery Service.

The movie was animated by Studio Ghibli (which Miyazaki was a founder of) for Tokuma Shoten, Yamato Transport, and the Nippon Television Network.

According to information online, “The English dub was produced by Streamline Pictures for Japan Airlines international flights in 1989. Walt Disney Pictures produced an English dub in 1997, which became the first film under a deal between Tokuma and Disney to be released in English. It was released to home media in 1998.”

This was a very sweet movie with little action but a lot of heart.

First the background – Kiki is a witch and the tradition is that witches leave home at the age of 13 and travel away from their family for a year to learn what their skill in life is.

Kiki’s mother insists she take her old, reliable broomstick so Kiki flies off into the night with her all black cat JiJi and finds a small town to settle in. She ends up living with a baker and starts a delivery service – delivering packages with the use of her broom.

The bakery is owned by Osono and her husband, Fukuo, who are expecting a child.

Kiki also meets a friend – a boy named Tombo who wants to be her friend more than she wants to be his for most of the movie. Tombo likes to invent things – especially things with the potential to fly. At one point he invites Kiki to his aviation club but Kiki gets wrapped up in deliveries and gets caught in a rainstorm. This causes her to become very sick but Osono nurses her back to health and then pretends to have a delivery sent to Tombo so Kiki can see him and apologize.

During her first delivery, Kiki loses the toy she’s supposed to deliver and then she and her cat – who talks by the way – work to find a way to get it back to the child it belongs to.

Much of the movie is like this – just little stories or adventures that aren’t very exciting in some ways, but are calming and sweet.

It isn’t until more than halfway through the movie that more conflict arises because Kiki seems to be losing her powers, which she first notices when she can no longer understand JiJi.

Studio Ghibli is the design studio for many Japanese animated movies. Later many of these movies are dubbed into English and sometimes feature well-known American actors. In the one I watched (which was the Disney dubbed one from 1997) Kiki was voiced by Kiersten Dunst and the cat was voiced by Phil Hartman.

Kiki’s Delivery Service focuses on themes of independence and finding your place in this world.

It was the first Studio Ghibli film to find commercial success soon after being released – earning $31 million.

I wasn’t as swept up in this one as in previous Studio Ghibli films but as it continued it grew on me. It was a very quiet film and some of the Studio Ghibli films have a little more action so I wasn’t ready for it to be so toned down. Once I got into the story, though, I enjoyed it. The scenery and art, as in all Studio Ghibli films, was really beautiful.

I was rooting for Kiki – especially once she lost her powers and seemed confused about her next step.

While the makers of the movie and critics said the movie focuses on themes of maturity and independence, I also saw a strong theme of friendship, family, and trust.

Have you ever seen this one? What did you think?

Read Erin’s impressions of the movie here: https://crackercrumblife.com/2024/10/03/comfy-cozy-cinema-kikis-delivery-service/

Coming up next week will be the 1945 version of Blithe Spirit.

Feel free to link up your own impressions of the movies at our link-ups. The links close at the end of the week but feel free to leave your blog post on future link-ups, even if it is for another movie.

Also, Erin and I are announcing our Comfy, Cozy Gift Basket Giveaway today.

I’m just going to copy what Erin wrote to share here because I am lazy *wink*: “We have some fun little goodies to be sent off to one winner, with more surprises to be added as well! We want to celebrate the season and this is just one way we would like to do that this year.

You can enter anytime between today and October 15th, and the winner will be announced on our blogs on Thursday, October 17th. Please enter via Rafflecopter and it is only open to those 18 or older living in the US.” You can enter here: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/3614a4fa2/?

Book Review/Recommendation: Trouble Shooter by Louis L’Amour

On October 2, 2024 By Lisa R. HowelerIn book reviews, books and reading, everyday musings3 Comments

Book Title: Trouble Shooter (A Hopalong Cassidy book)

Author: Louis L’Amour

Genre: Western

Description:

Hopalong Cassidy is one of the most enduring and popular heroes in frontier fiction. His legendary exploits in books, movies, and on television have blazed a mythic and unforgettable trail across the American West. Now, in the last of four Hopalong Cassidy novels written by Louis L’Amour, the immortal saddleman rides againthis time into a lonely valley of danger and death.

Hopalong Cassidy has received an urgent message from the dead. Answering an urgent appeal for help from fellow cowpuncher Pete Melford, he rides in only to discover that his old friends has been murdered and the ranch Pete left to his niece, Cindy Blair, had vanished without a trace. Hopalong may have arrived too late to save Pete, but his sense of loyalty and honor demands that he find that cold-blooded killers and return to Cindy what is rightfully hers.

Colonel Justin Tradwar, criminal kingpin of the town of Kachina, is the owner of the sprawling Box T ranch, and he has built his empire with a shrewd and ruthless determination. In search of Pete’s killers and Cindy’s ranch, Hopalong signs on at the Box T, promising to help get Tradway’s wild cattle out of the rattler-infested brush. But in the land of mesquite and black chaparral, Cassidy confronts a mystery as hellish as it is hauntinga bloody trail that leads to the strange and forbidding Babylon plateau, to $60,000 in stolen gold, and to a showdown with an outlaw who has already cheated death once… and is determined to do it again.

My Thoughts:

Trouble Shooter by Louis L’Amour was not listed under L’Amour’s name when it first came out in 1951. Instead, it was released under the name Clarence E. Mulford, the original creator of Hopalong Cassidy, the main character of the book. When Mulford retired, he asked L’Amour to carry on Hopalong’s tradition in four novels, which included Trouble Shooter, The Rustlers of West Fork, The Trail to Seven Pines, and the Riders of High Rock.

The books were published on L’Amour’s name in the 1990s when they were re-released.

I ended up liking Trouble Shooter a lot more than I thought I would when I first started it. Once I realized that the book was written in the style of another writer and that it was written in the 1950s, I began to adjust to the style of writing and storytelling. I found myself pulled into the story a bit more as it went along, despite the old style of writing, which included what writers call “head hopping.” This is where the thoughts of each character involved in a scene are shared instead of the point of view being from just the one character. This can get a little bit confusing but L’Amour didn’t over do it.

The way the sentences were structured threw me off at times but I thought the prose really was well-written. I wasn’t as interested in the lengthy description of Hopalong Cassidy climbing a mountain or riding long distances in the middle of nowhere and would have loved for the female characters to have been flushed out a bit more, but I still liked the overall story.

I didn’t expect the ending to take such a dark turn since most of the book was mild when it came to the discussions of violence. There was very little to no descriptions of violence at all and any descriptions offered were very surface level. There were no obscenities in the book and no sex at all – not even hinted at.

This was definitely a stripped back Western. There were some descriptions but none of them went on for pages. There were some slow parts for me but I wanted to know the answer to the mystery introduced in the beginning so I kept reading.

A couple of lines I enjoyed and thought were well-written:

“Hopalong Cassidy had drawn his gun as he always drew, with flashing, incredible speed. Once his hand was empty, then filled, and the gun blasting death.”

“The heat was a living thing, and he touched his lips only a little with the water in his canteen, then pushed on. Dust devils danced across a vast, empty distance marked by nothing but the trail of two riders. And then out of the north came another trail, a trail of several riders that moved in and obliterated the trail they followed.”

“Through the storm clouds the afternoon sun sent streaks of cathedral light across the sky and first spattering of drops fell, dappling the ground and making the dust jump.”

“Even if he isn’t dead, he might have reformed, and if a man has reformed, I’d have to judge him according to what he is now, but I’d advise him to keep his name to himself.”

If you would like to read more about Louis L’Amour, you can do so here:

https://louislamour.com/aboutlouis/biography.htm

Top Ten Tuesday: 8 books I Read Because of the Hype — and 2 I avoided because of the hype

On October 1, 2024October 1, 2024 By Lisa R. HowelerIn books and reading, top-ten-tuesday28 Comments

|| Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. ||

Today’s topic is: Books I Read/Avoided Because of the Hype (and did you make the right choice?)

For this one, I decided to share eight books I read because of the hype and two I avoided.

First, the ones I read because of the hype:

How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristin Perin

It was the hype on Netgalley that hooked me on this one. Reviewers were calling it the Knives Out of mystery books so I decided to give it a go and I ended up really enjoying it – with the exception of a couple issues and two unnecessary swear words.

The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett

I’ve heard a lot about this book over the years and had seen the movie years ago so figured I needed to give it a try. I ended up enjoying it but wanted more from the ending.

Little Women by Louisa Mae Alcott

I think I got sick of women gushing about this book and having no idea what they were talking about. I’d seen a few versions of the movie but never read the book. Now that I have I think the book lived up to the hype. I fell in love with the book and plan to re-read it each Christmas season now.

Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne

I’ve heard a lot about this classic book over the years, but, again, never read it. I finally did that last year as part of my son’s English curriculum and ended up feeling like the book did live up to the hype.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

After all of my family fell all over these movies and my much, much older brother read it in high school or college or whatever (I can’t remember. It was sooo long ago.), I figured I’d better try it too. I didn’t think I was going to make it because of all the tree descriptions but I ended up falling in love with the characters and, in the end, the book. I can’t read to read the other two installments.

The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kipp by Sara Brunsvold

This was huge in Christian Fiction circles when it came out.

I think the hype is warranted for this one but I’ve never been able to actually finish it. Not because it isn’t good but because the topic is heavy and I have older parents and I’m struggling with that so the topic of an elderly woman with a terminal illness is a hard one for me to read. I do plan to finish it though.

The Mistletoe Countess by Pepper Basham

In this instance, I didn’t make the right choice for me. I found the main characters irritating, the marriage of convenience trope ridiculous, and the suggestive comments about the sex the morning after really uncomfortable, even though they weren’t graphic. This was a Christian fiction book and this book and the reaction of Christian readers to it, was particularly grating to me because I was condemned for a kiss scene in one of my books by Christian readers but they had no issues with this author’s main character being giddy over getting to have sex with the man she was “forced” to marry and then daydreaming about their night together the next morning for a full page and a half.

It was weird to me but I’ve learned there are as many hypocritical Christian fiction readers out there as there are crooked politicians. It’s weird the things Christian Fiction readers will embrace and the things they will reject. It seems to change every other month or so. I have just never understood the readers of that genre and their absolute love for marriage of convenience books.

That trope is so disgusting to me – being forced to marry someone you don’t love and then supposedly falling in love with that person. I mean what cheap thrill do these women get out of that? I have no earthly idea.

The Mysterious Affair of Styles by Agatha Christie

I had heard a lot about this first Poirot book within the cozy mystery reader circle over the years and so when my husband suggested it, I decided to give it a go. I ended up really liking it but not liking the antisemitism buried in some places. Great story, but Agatah had some issues there, which is something I wrote about on the blog earlier this year.

Two books I avoided because of the hype:

50 Shades of Gray

Yes, this self-proclaimed prude tried this book because I had NO idea what it was about. I barely made it into it when it hit me what was going on and the book was returned to Amazon for a full refund and I never touched it again. Sex is one thing. Abuse and domination is another and I do not read those kinds of books at all.

Fourth Wing

I know. I know. But ….just not my thing. Not a fantasy or a smut reader so I avoided it. So many people loved this book and if you did – that’s awesome. It’s just not my thing. That’s all!

What are some of the books you read or avoided because of the hype?

Book Review/Recommendation: An Assassination On The Agenda

On September 30, 2024September 30, 2024 By Lisa R. HowelerIn book reviews, books and reading4 Comments

I love the Lady Hardcastle Mysteries and once again I was not disappointed. An Assassination On The Agenda is the eleventh book in the series and released earlier this year.

Description:

July 1912. Lady Hardcastle and her tenacious lady’s maid, Florence Armstrong, are enjoying a convivial gathering at the home of their dear friends, the Farley-Strouds. The only fly in the idyllic ointment seems to be the lack of musical entertainment for the forthcoming summer party—until, that is, Lady Hardcastle’s brother Harry calls with news of a murder.

Harry dispatches them to Bristol on behalf of the Secret Service Bureau, with instructions to prevent the local police from uncovering too much about the victim. It seems an intriguing mystery—all the more so when they find a connection between the killer and an impending visit from an Austrian trade delegation, set to feature a very important guest…

Summoned to London to help with some very important security arrangements, the intrepid duo will have to navigate sceptical bureaucrats, Cockney gangsters and shadowy men in distinctive hats in their attempts to foil an explosive—and internationally significant—threat.

My thoughts:

Once again, the pairing of Lad Hardcastle and her partner in solving crime, her maid Florence “Flo” Armstrong was the breeding ground for early 1900s humor and entertainment.

In this installment we see the two women, already known to be spies and operatives for the British government in the past sent on yet another mission. This time they are summoned from their country home to Bristol and their goal is to find out about a group of men who may be trying to commit an assassination that will start a war.

We see Lady Hardcastle’s brother Harry and sister-in-law Lavinia (nicknamed Jake) again in this book and as usual I love the bantering between the siblings, which fits in nicely with the bantering between employee and employer, though Lady Hardcastle always treats Flo as her equal.

I read this one on my Kindle but when I had to do dishes or drive somewhere I listened to it on Audible with amazing narration by Elizabeth Knowelden, who is the narrator for most, if not all the other Lady Hardcastle books on Audible.

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book but was not asked to give anything other than my honest opinion. Let’s be honest, I was going to read this book even if a complimentary copy had not been provided to me.

Book review: A Simple Deduction

On September 30, 2024September 30, 2024 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings8 Comments

A Simple Deduction by Kristi Holl is part of the Amish Inn Mystery series published by Annie’s Fiction.

The series is written by different authors but features the same characters and location.

Description:

Liz is offering something new, A Sherlock Holmes weekend. She asks for help from a magician to pickpocket the participants and then give the items to Liz for safekeeping. But more possessions start to disappear even with people locking their doors. Liz needs the help of all her sidekicks to solves this mystery.

My thoughts:

I have read two other books in the series before this one and when I started this one, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it as well as the other two books written by Rachael O’Phillips. Once I got into it, though, I was swept up in the mystery and wanted to know what had happened.

In this book, Liz Eckhardt, the main character, hosts a mystery weekend at her Amish-themed inn. Liz isn’t Amish herself but her mother was before leaving the order and her friends are as well.

Her friends Sadie and Mary Ann own a sewing supply shop that they run out of the other side of the inn, renting the space from Liz.

In this story, Liz is caught up in her planned mystery and also some thefts that happen that are unrelated to the mystery weekend.

She has six guests staying at her inn and thinks that they will have a nice weekend but when personalities clash and possessions of the guests start disappearing, she has a bad feeling things aren’t going to go as well as she hoped.

I felt like I was able to get to know Liz and her friends better in the other two books. In this book her character felt very flat for the majority of the book. I wanted to know a little bit more about her as a person – her likes and dislikes, etc. but I didn’t really get that until halfway through.

It turned out to be fine, though, because I became more interested in the mystery itself and still found Liz and her friends likable. I would have liked there to have been more of Sadie and Mary Ann like there were in previous books, but again, I still enjoyed the book.

This was a very clean cozy mystery with some prayer mentioned, but no faith message at all other than some mention of forgiveness.

Sunday Bookends: Remembering Maggie Smith, reading the same books, and some blog posts I enjoyed recently

On September 28, 2024September 29, 2024 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends31 Comments

It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

What a weird coincidence this week that Erin (Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs) and I watched a movie with Maggie Smith and a day after we posted out those she passed away. We had watched Ladies in Lavender with her and Judi Dench and wrote about it and then that night I was thinking how upset Judi would be when Maggie passed away. I also wondered which “dame” would actually pass away first – I thought it might be Joan Plowright.

The next morning Erin texted me to tell me that Maggie had died and I honestly felt like I had lost a friend. I haven’t even watched her very much in things like Downton Abbey or Harry Potter (though I did watch Harry Potter with the kids just recently). I stopped watching Downton when they killed Matthew off. It ticked me off so bad I refused to watch the show again.

I’ve seen Maggie in a few movies since then, though, and just sort of fell in love with her spunk and attitude, but also a tenderness I saw in her.

I’m slightly ashamed to admit that I cried more over her death than the death of my mother-in-law the week before – partially because I had more sentimental connection with Maggie – whom I’ve never met – that my husband’s mother. That’s a very long, sad story that I won’t go into here.

I was looking for clips of Maggie to share on Instagram since I had a clip of her and Judi and Joan Plowright from Tea With the Dames go viral last year on my Instagram, when I remembered I had seen that she’d been on The Carol Burnett Show one time.

If you want to see that clip, I’ll share it below in my What I’ve Been Watching section.

I’m really hoping to watch an Agatha Christie movie with Maggie that I just learned about Friday as well.

What I/we’ve been Reading

I was working on the third book in my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series last week so I didn’t read as much as I could have.

Therefore I am still reading the same books I was reading – Move Your Blooming Corpse by DE Ireland and Kristen by Dawn Klinge, but have added The Secret at Red Gate Farm, a Nancy Drew to the mix.

I finished nothing! Nothing, people! See above. *wink*

Murder Handcrafted by Isabella Alan (An Amish Quilt Shop Mystery)

The Cat Who Brought Down the House by Lilian Jackson Braun

The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood

Little Miss and I are reading The Four Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright via Hoopla.

The Husband is reading Fear and Loathing On the Campaign Trail 1972 by Hunter S. Thompson

The Boy is listening to Beowulf and a book of short stories.

What We watched/are Watching

Last week I rewatched most of Ladies in Lavender to write about it for our Comfy, Cozy Cinema, since I’ve seen it before.

I mentioned above that I enjoyed watching Maggie Smith and Judi Dench in the movie and then the next day Maggie passed away. It was heartbreaking.

Erin and I have a few movies with either Judi or Maggie or both in it on our Comfy, Cozy Cinema this time around and I swear we didn’t do it on purpose. We both chose movies on our own and then whittled the list down, not even thinking about who was starring in them. We both even forgot about Judi and Maggie being in a couple of the movies.

This weekend I’ve been watching some clips of Maggie from various shows or interviews, including this one from The Carol Burnett Show:

I had no idea Maggie sang until I saw this clip with her and Carol on YouTube:

I have also been continuing to watch Lovejoy, an old British show that sometime has a mystery and sometimes just a conman story. I hated how this series ended so I’ve watched it before but seem to have forgotten some of the episodes so I am rewatching them. This is a show my husband always watched and turned me on to.

What I’m Writing

Gladwynn Shakes The Family Tree, of course.

On the blog I shared:

What I’m Listening To

Ever Faithful by Karen Barnett on Hoopla

Photos from Last Week

Recent Blog Posts I Enjoyed

|| Review: Hillbilly Elegy by Stray Thoughts ||

(I appreciated this non-partisan and just straight review of J.D. Vance’s book. Not a fan of him as a politician but I’m also not a fan of any politician at this time.)

|| Words for Wednesday: Confined by Mama’s Empty Nest ||

(Boy, could I relate to this one.)

|| His Encouragement by Christian Fiction Girl ||

(A great reminder of God’s faithfulness during challenging times. )

|| Book Review: Cassie, Apron Strings Book Eight by Leslie’s LIbrary Escape ||

(This one is a little biased on my part, but this was a really nice review of my book Cassie.)

Now it’s your turn

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

Fiction Friday: Interview with Kristen author Dawn Klinge

On September 27, 2024September 26, 2024 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings3 Comments

Today for Fiction Friday I am interviewing Dawn Klinge who has a new book out. Kristen is the ninth book in the Apron Strings Book Series, a multi-author series I am also a part of.

Each book can be read as a standalone with the only connecting factor being an old-fashioned cookery (recipe) book called Mrs. Canfield’s Cookery Book. Each book takes place in a decade from 1920 to 2020.

Dawn’s book takes place in 2002.

First, a little about the book:

Kristen Borstad has always taken the scenic route through life. It’s 2002; fresh out of university with a master’s degree in English literature, she returns to the cozy ambiance of the local bookshop she’s worked at throughout college.

When the bookshop’s owner presents Kristen with an opportunity to take charge for a few months, she accepts. As she delves into the daily responsibilities, Kristen begins to discover her passion for the job.

Amidst the book-lined shelves, Kristen hires an employee who ignites a flame within her heart. As their friendship blossoms, Kristen grapples with conflicting emotions, unsure if the love she’s found is just a delightful distraction or a signpost pointing her toward the future she truly desires.

Will Kristen realize that her dreams have been waiting for her right in front of her eyes? Or will she continue her quest for fulfillment, forever searching for what might already be within her grasp?

Join Kristen on a tender and uplifting journey as she navigates the crossroads of life, faith, and love. In this heartwarming tale, discover the extraordinary potential that lies within embracing the present and opening one’s heart to the unanticipated blessings of life’s sweetest surprises.

Now a little interview with Dawn:

1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Writing has been a source of joy since childhood, but for years, I hesitated to call myself a writer. It wasn’t until fifteen years ago that I finally mustered the courage to claim that title, though in truth, my path had always been quietly preparing me for a life dedicated to storytelling.

I experienced the thrill of seeing my words in print at the age of eight when I entered a children’s magazine contest and was delighted to see my story about a teddy bear named Growly published. At the time, I began telling others I wanted to be an author—until the practical voices of adults warned me about the difficulties of making a living from writing.

Though I considered studying history after high school, I followed a more practical path and earned a degree in special education, teaching at the elementary level for several years. Yet writing remained a quiet but persistent calling. About eighteen years ago, I started a blog that reignited my desire to write for an audience. It became a creative outlet where I experimented with voice and tone, receiving feedback from readers and honing my skills. These years spent writing nonfiction for platforms like Grown and Flown and Crosswalk gave me my first taste of working with editors, an experience that built my confidence and prepared me to pursue my true passion: writing fiction.

Despite knowing the challenges of fiction writing, I understood that I had to write. It’s an integral part of who I am. As an avid reader, I’ve always recognized the power of stories to inspire and positively influence others. With my deep love for history and research, I naturally gravitated toward historical fiction, where I could blend rich historical settings with compelling characters. This passion led me to self-publish several historical romance novels: Sorrento Girl, Biltmore Girl, and Palmer Girl. I have also experimented with writing contemporary romantic fiction with my books America’s Favorite Christmastown and Kristen.

Currently, I am enrolled in Oxford University’s Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing program, where I’ve had the opportunity to explore various forms of writing, including short fiction, life writing, screenplays, and stage plays.

2. What is your latest book about? Who are the main characters and when and where does it take place?

My latest book, Kristen, is about a young woman learning what it means to rest as a beloved child of God. She’s an achiever who has been looking in the wrong places for approval, and now, right out of college, she’s at a crossroads, trying to decide what’s next. The story takes place in 2002 in the small town of Moscow, Idaho.

3. Did you learn anything about writing or yourself as you were writing the book?

I’m still undergoing the same journey I put in front of Kristen. I saw a lot of myself in this character. Learning to balance being and doing in my spiritual life is a lifelong pursuit.

5. Where can readers find out more about you and your projects?

Website: www.dawnklinge.com

Substack: https://dawnklinge.substack.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dawnklinge/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=693168274

Thank you to Dawn for taking the time to answer these questions.

You can find Kristen here: https://www.amazon.com/Kristen-Apron-Strings-Book-Nine-ebook/dp/B0D2JNGKYT/

Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot: Come Link Up With Us!

On September 26, 2024September 26, 2024 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings7 Comments

Welcome to another Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot hosted by Marsha in the Middle, Melynda from Scratch Made Food & DYI Homemade Household, Sue from Women Living Well After 50, and me. Look for the link party to go live on Thursdays at 9:30pm EDT.

This is a blog link-up where we not only allow you to share your past posts but we encourage it. So share away!

Last week’s most clicked link was:

|| Four-Step Halloween Entranceway by Thrifting Wonderland ||

And my highlights for the week:

|| An Ode to Summer and Strawberries Tablescape by Life is Better Lakeside ||

|| A Visit to Grantchester by From This Side of The Pond ||

|| Why I Still Wear Black by Is This Mutton ||

I’m so glad you are here and participating in our weekly link-up of family-friendly, fun, educational, interesting, crafty, fashionable, and whatever else posts. I hope you’ll tell your followers about our post (feel free to copy and paste the graphic) and visit the blogs in the link-up.

Now it is your turn to link up your favorite posts. They can be fashion, lifestyle, DIY, food, etc. All we ask is that they be family-friendly. You can link up posts from last week or even from years ago. You can share up to three links each week.

We are always looking for additional hosts so let us know if you want to help out and we are also looking for more links from fashion bloggers so let your fashion bloggers know!

Also, please take the time to visit the other blogs on the link-up and meet some new bloggers!

Comfy, Cozy Cinema: Ladies in Lavender

On September 26, 2024September 26, 2024 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Comfy Cozy Cinema 2024, everyday musings, Movie Impresssions8 Comments

Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are watching Comfy, Cozy movies this September and October and this week we are discussing Ladies in Lavender.

Ladies in Lavender stars Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. It was released in 2004 and was written and directed by Charles Dance, who is also a well-known British actor (Game of Thrones). It was his directorial debut. The screenplay that Dance wrote, according to information online, is based on a short story by the same name written by William Locke in 1908. I also thought it was interesting to find out that a play based on the movie was later developed.

I watched it on Amazon Prime for free (with a membership) but it is also free on Peacock, Tubi, the Roku Channel, and PlutoTV.

Janet (Maggie Smith) and Ursula Widdington (Judi Dench) are spinster sisters living in a small coastal English town. Their life is pretty slow and mundane from what we can tell at first. They clean and knit and have tea but not much else.

One morning Ursula is looking out her upstairs window when she sees a man on the beach. She and her sister run to him and with the help of the local doctor bring him inside. They believe he’s been washed up from a shipwreck of some sort.

As they nurse him back to health they realize he doesn’t speak English. After some effort they discover he speaks Polish and his name is Andrea (Daniel César Martín Brühl González – A German/Spanish actor who is known to comic book fans as Helmut Zemo/Baron Zemo).

Since this is right before World War II this makes the people in the small town a bit anxious when they learn of where he’s from later on. It doesn’t help that there is also a woman living in the area who speaks German. This puts everyone on edge but at the same time, people begin to like Andrea when he is able to move around.

First, he is nursed back to health by Janet and Ursula and Ursula teaches him some English.

At one point Janet is playing piano downstairs. Andrea has been upstairs recovering and when he hears the music he covers his ears and asks for it to stop. Janet has a book of German and knows a few words so she finds a way to communicate with him and learns he loves music but prefers the violin. So the ladies find the local fiddler player who plays a few tunes for the recovering Andrea. We can tell that Andrea is trying to be polite but that he’s not excited by the man’s inferior performance. He asks if he can play the fiddle and ends up kicking a much more polished and classical version of the folk song out, which tells us he is an accomplished violinist.

I won’t lie – I did worry that this movie was going to go a bit weird at one point because Andrea had to stay with the sisters while he recovered and Ursula became very infatuated with him but it didn’t go where I worried it would.

To explain a bit without giving too much away – Judi Dench’s character becomes enamored with Andrea and though she knows she’s too old for him she sort of imagines what it would like to be younger and be able to fall in love with him.

Both she and her sister really become attached to him but more in a matronly way for Maggie Smith’s character. They both want to take care of him. He brings such happiness and love into their lonely lives. He brightens their otherwise mundane existence and reveals to them experiences they never had – being wives and mothers.

They are afraid he will leave them when they see his talent and they see the German woman, who is also an artist, speaking to him and becoming friends with him.

This is a very artistic movie with beautiful scenery, superb acting, and a sweet story. I wouldn’t say it is the best movie I’ve ever seen as if feels like there was more that could have been done with some of the characters – especially Andrea who I would have liked to know more about in regards to his background and upbringing.

Still, I enjoyed this one and find it a very comfy, cozy watch since the characters are so endearing. The sisters are caring and sweet in their own ways and the housekeeper is very funny. She’s a bit rough on the edges but even she becomes attached to Andrea.

The short story that the movie was based on was first published in Collier’s magazine and later included in a book of other short stories by Locke called Faraway Stories in 1916.

Dance said Smith and Dench were the only ones considered for the roles and if he had not been able to get them, he wouldn’t have made the movie. He asked them when they were in a play together and accepted the offer without even seeing the script.

This was González’s first English-speaking movie. I also thought it was very interesting that he did not play the violin in the movie. Instead, it was the famous violinist Joshua Bell.

I thought it was interesting that we chose this as a comfy, cozy movie for this year and a New York Times critic said of the movie “[Dench and Smith] sink into their roles as comfortably as house cats burrowing into a down quilt on a windswept, rainy night… This amiably far-fetched film… heralds the return of the Comfy Movie…”

To read Erin’s take on the movie, click here:https://crackercrumblife.com/2024/09/26/comfy-cozy-cinema-ladies-in-lavender/

Next up on our Comfy, Cozy Cinema is Kiki’s Delivery Service.

And here is a list of the rest of the movies we are watching through November.

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