We
had a really great Sawhain party last night here at the Homestead, with
two attending. Good food, some music, a wood fire. Can't be beat.
Then came the new Celtic year Tarot readings. We have our new year
cards, as well as selections for each cross quarter. Readings are
usually based on awareness, what might be possible to strive for, as
well as guidance toward any goals selected. I'll publish my year card
shortly, but it is a Grail card and I am quite pleased with it, and it
will remind me to keep to the true path again this year.
We
took our annual pilgrimage to a cemetery this afternoon. We started
out at a new cafe for us in beautiful downtown Harrow, a small farming
town several miles southeast of the Homestead. From there we moved on
to Colchester, pretty much the most southerly mainland community in
Canada. There is a small cemetery there atop a bluff overlooking Lake
Erie, and they have some pretty old tombstones, as well as plenty of
trees and a very lovely small chapel. Here are some recent pics,
including some from today's walk.
Mural on a cafe wall, downtown Amherstburg, from the previous
Sunday. Deb orders some caffeine. The sun glass images refer to an
amusement park that once dominated the summer scene in Amherstburg, but
is now long gone and replaced by.... an exclusive housing project.
King's Navy Yard Park, downtown Amherstburg, facing the Detroit River as it opens into Lake Erie.
Navy Yard Park. All three above images were taken last weekend.
Colchester Beach and Harbour, overlooking Lake Erie today.
A lonely looking Colchester Beach.
A pair of birch trees in full autumn splendour.
Umbrella in hand, Deb walks towards a bench overlooking the lake.
Lake Erie with small light to guide boats into the harbour. 
The Colchester Cemetery and small on-site chapel. 
Colchester cemetery, with Lake Erie in the background.
In
piano news, as reported in today's title I have been chopping away at
my newest repertoire now for six months. There have been interruptions
in the practice routine, of course, with two trips to Sudbury, one to
Toronto, and various medical days. But things are chugging along, and I
hope to be ready in six weeks. I played through the whole program this
morning and it went rather well. Soon I will take it on the road and
place the pieces on the beloved Fazioli piano of Dr. Seski, if he is
kind enough to once again allow me to do so. After tweaking that a bit I
will move on to play in for Jim P. in Chatham, on his 9' Steinway.
After that it should be time to invite some friends over to hear the
program. I have cut way back on the memorization this time, and will
use music for the entire first half (all harpsichord) and for the final
two pieces on the second half (Philip Glass pieces).
In movie news there are two to report. Invention is
a film that defines the term "quirky", and thus attracts our attention
and interest. From 2024 and directed by Courtney Stephens we watch a
young woman come to terms with her father's death. He was a doctor who
was heavily into quack medicine, and the only thing he left her was the
patent to his invention. The invention is an enigma, and is supposed to
induce a type of trance healing that calms the mind and soothes the
body. She hardly knew her father, but comes to learn things about him
as she navigates life after his death. It's a very personal film, but
manages to express a lot through its often narrow focus. The daughter
meets with people who knew her father, and very few of them have
flattering views to report, other than he was very smart. His progress
with his machine was hampered by his conspiracy beliefs, as he trusted
no one to help him get it to market. As a result the entire project
crashed and burned. Is the patent a valuable thing? Should she pursue
it further, for her father's sake and her own? Though she is quite
stoic throughout much of the movie, her emotions finally get the better
of her, helping her in her decision of what to do with this thing. The
film is as odd as they come, a good enough reason to recommend it. But
it's quite transfixing to watch, too, as we explore the background of
this near genius man who attempted, and failed, to get rich while
helping others.
A quirky but fascinating film now showing on Mubi. We also watched Ken Russell's 1980 filming of Altered States,
from a novel by Paddy Chayefsky (Deb is currently reading the novel; I
will, too). Though we have seen the film many times, it's one we like
to return to every few years. Both the novel and the film are loosely
based on actual experiments done on people in isolation tanks, though
things carry a bit further than those experiments ever did. With
effects trying to compete with 2001: A Space Odyssey (they
don't), and a story that more or less goes wildly off the rails, it's
still a film that we are drawn to, mostly because William Hurt's
character is willing to sacrifice everything for his search for what's
out there. Despite being a complete fool, one has to admire the guy for
pushing things to the absolute limit. An intellectual science fiction
film is still a very rare thing, and though this film goes well beyond
what is even remotely possible in the physical sense, we still know so
little about what is inside our minds that all of the evolutionary
retrograding that happens physically and emotionally to Hurt could
possibly happen, at least within our own minds. Always an experience to
watch, this is a film I recommend highly to SF fans.
The film has recently left the Criterion Channel.
Mapman Mike
