The Life of Pi - a mystery to me

The tiger on the lifeboat in "The Life of Pi"

 

I couldn't wait to see "The Life of Pi." I hadn't read the book, but I had seen the trailer featuring a tiger and a whale - that's all I needed.

I saw the movie with my husband and we both enjoyed the story-within-a-story about the boy stranded on a lifeboat with an adult Bengal tiger.

However, we are still both scratching our heads about the symbolism alluded to in the story-outside-the-story that enveloped that tale.

50 Reasons my Daughter is Grateful to be Car-less

Anna (second from left) in Uganda

My daughter, Anna Rose Sweet, is addicted to travel. Her blog post, "50 Reasons I'm Grateful to be Car-less", recently got special notice in WordPress. She had almost 800 viewers in one day!

Read it! You will be moved.

How did we ever raise our kids? "Parental Guidance" sounds like a page from real life

Marisa Tomei, Billy Crystal, Bette Midler, Tom Everett Scott and kids in "Parental Guidance"

So. I was sitting with a bunch of friends my age - all of us grandmothers. We were talking about old-school punishment. One woman remembered being advised to spank with a wooden spoon that had a hole in it "to cut down on wind resistance."

 

The conversation evolved to today's parenting styles.

 

One person in the group told a story about being corrected by her children re: how to handle the grandchildren. "They told me not to praise them," she said. "That's a bad thing now."

We started laughing, and the examples flowed from there.

Spielberg's "Lincoln" - better than Sominex

Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln

Everyone is going to say "Lincoln" is a great movie, but I saw it last night and I have to say it's better than Sominex.

A screenwriting friend of mine, Patricia Fox, complained to me about Spielberg years ago. I didn't know what she meant. But now I do.

From Beethoven to Gotye: great melody + SIMPLE arrangement = great listening experience!

Gotye & Kimbra

Beethoven

Music and writing have a lot in common. This is what I tell my writing students: writing will be full of life if it has Clarity, Brevity, Simplicity, and ZIP!

I love music. For me, the same rules apply - especially the SIMPLICITY part. If you've got a great melody, don't bury it in mush. I hate overproduced music.

If an already-good melody is produced with simplicity, the result is something I never get tired of listening to. There are so many examples....

Prescription for Happiness Found at an Eagle Court of Honor

Jon Skipper at his Eagle scout ceremony

On November 11, Veteran's Day, I had the privilege of witnessing an Eagle Scout Court of Honor for the first time in my life. The Eagle was Jonathan Skipper, the son of friends Walt and Irene Skipper. For his Eagle project, when he was still in eighth grade, Jon organized a spaghetti dinner fundraiser to benefit HOPE Network for Single Mothers, a charity I founded in 1982. Jon's efforts resulted in a gain of 31 new Pack n' Play portable cribs, dozens of diapers, sleep sacks, crib bedding, mailing supplies, and donations to benefit families headed by single mothers in the Greater Milwaukee area - a total value of nearly $5,000. John enlisted other scouts in the effort. The cribs and safe sleep education may well save lives in Milwaukee, where there has been a rash of deaths from unsafe sleep environments.

Cakelike carrot bread with frosting but not all the guilt

frosted carrot cake image from the Web

My favorite cake is carrot cake, and my sweet pal Karen Cluppert made one for my birthday Saturday. It tasted good, especially baked with the love of a friend who would go to the trouble to make it! Below is the recipe that Karen adapted to be less guilt-producing than most carrot cakes. 

Karen says: "This is really carrot bread, so it's a little heavier than a cake might be. And I substituted olive oil and a little coconut oil for the vegetable oil. The vegetable oil recipe is delicious."