Erin's Journals

Well, here we are, one day closer to the weekend and one day after the Oscar Nominations were announced for another year. Since I totally didn’t get Roma, which was honoured with 10 nominations yesterday (my earlier review here, if you’re interested), I thought maybe I’d have better luck with the film which tied Roma for 10 noms, The Favourite. 
 
I try hard not to go into a film knowing too much about it; had I done so, I could easily have ruined the experience of The Wife, whose starring turn by Glenn Close should finally win her Best Actress (on her 7th nomination) on Sunday, February 24.
 
Here’s what I knew about The Favourite going in: a rather libidinous royal (played by Olivia Colman, soon to be Queen Elizabeth II on TV’s The Crown) is wooed and swayed by two younger courtiers – fellow Oscar nominees Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone, who are both trying to earn her favour through intimacy. I could expect, I believed, a rollicking and rrrrrribald comedy.
 
One journal visitor told me that she and her husband were prompted to leave (or nearly leave) the theatre mid-movie. Now that is something I’ve never done: gotten up and left a film. I’d have to be in the wrong theatre or have chosen a totally inappropriate film in order to gather up my coat, purse and snacks and leave my $13 seat behind. So, I knew we weren’t going to do that.
 
We paid our discount Tuesday $7 ($8.30 with online booking fee, which is stupid ’cause we’re doing the work here) and off we went last evening; popcorn and peanut M&Ms for supper once again. It’s good to be a grown-up.
 

 
The film is set in the 18th century; the central figure, Queen Anne, is the last of the ruling Stuarts. Beset by ailments and able to trust few, as she rules in war on the field and conflict in the palace, she finds herself the unwitting flag in a game of tug o’ war between her controling lady-in-waiting (Weisz) and a conniving, grasping, seemingly angelic scullery maid (Stone) who moves stealthily up the palace ladder.
 
There’s plenty of planning and intrigue but NO ENDING. The film just goes black in the midst of a scene that seems to paint that truly “you can’t always get what you want,” whether you’re “to the manor born” or you let nothing get in the way of your goal. Everyone pays a price for everything we have.
 
At least…I think that’s the message? Like almost every skit on Saturday Night Live, this film (which had glints of humour but far fewer laughs than an episode of SNL) simply went black without wrapping up any loose ends. It reminded me of Roma in that way, too. It just ends. (But do stick around for The Favourite‘s credits; they’re truly the most annoying post-film graphics I’ve ever seen. Like an eye chart, only less legible and with a far shorter window for viewing each slide.)
 
I didn’t dislike The Favourite, but there’s no way I can recommend it – or at least, not all of it. It needed an ending. We invested far too much in the Lady, the Queen, the maid and the members of parliament just to have it go to a black screen.
 
If that’s art, I’ll take mine paint-by-number. You, too, Roma.
 
Talk to you here tomorrow.
 

There’s that old saying about taking lemons and turning them into lemonade and while I’m all in favour of the sentiment of it – making something sweet out of a sour situation – around here, the lemons go into hot water and start our day. And we’re thrilled that they grow on a tree near a house that’s undergoing renos, so we’re helping ourselves to the dark yellow, sweet fruit that would otherwise go to waste.
 

 
The above are Meyer lemons – thought to be a cross between a citron and a mandarin/pomelo hybrid. They’re sweet enough that they can alter a lemon meringue pie recipe (cutting the need for sugar) and they make for a lovely morning drink. (While the jury of internet know-it-alls seems to be out on whether lemon juice is a good cleanse, Rob and I figure it can’t hurt and it’s a great way to prime our taste buds for a great cup of coffee!)
 
Yesterday, our dog walk came after quite a ferocious wind storm. We were delighted to come across an orange tree that had shed so much fruit (the origins of the word “windfall,” I’m told) that the cloth bag we’d brought (for just such a possibility) came in very handy. 
 

 
But right next to that tree was one bearing the strangest looking fruit I’ve seen down here in California. What on earth was this bumpy mess?
 

 

 
We assumed it was probably a grapefruit; they grow plentifully on neighbours’ trees as well. So when I got home, I had no hopes that it was something I’d be able to eat (a prescription I take forbids grapefruit) and Rob was resigned to having to eat one of his less favourite fruits. 
 

 
Imagine our delight when I cut it open and tasted it: this was no grapefruit! It was indeed a lemon. A great big, sour lemon. In fact, it is a citron – the very fruit used in making a Meyers lemon. When I looked up the Meyers lemon online for this journal, there it was: a picture of the bumpy yellow fruit that had made us scratch our heads.
 

 
We were able to get quite a bit of juice from this bitter baby and we’ll be having some first thing tomorrow. 
 
In the meantime, while I’m always glad to learn new things and experience new foods, I still wonder who the first person was to crack open an oyster and say, “Hmmm…I bet this will taste good.” Ugh. It’s a wonder people have survived, huh? 
 
Here’s to taking lemons – or citrons – and making, not just lemonade or pie, but a journal. You have a great day and we’ll be back with you tomorrow. Pucker up!
 

Hey there – hope you had a gentle weekend and managed to do some cocooning. We did, although it wasn’t our intention.
 
On Friday, celebrating a sunny day, we were outside and I decided to rearrange the garbage cans (yes, my life is just that exciting. Next up: sock drawer). While standing in loose fitting loafers, on a hill of gravel, I somehow rolled my ankle and went down on the driveway. There was no outward damage: some scrapes on my hands where I (thankfully) broke my fall. The problem – aside from that rolled left ankle – is the right knee, which bent inward (towards the other leg) at an angle that the body isn’t quite meant to achieve.
 
When Rob came out from the house, I had caught my breath and taken inventory. No blood, nothing broken. Phew! He helped pull me to my feet and off we went on our little outing, a drive to nearby Rancho Mirage for dinner.
 
Overall, I felt fine and grateful not to have hurt the ankle I sprained so badly about ten years ago when I hit a wall on Rob’s motorcycle/scooter while learning to drive it – something I gave up immediately, as I felt it was God saying, “Oh, no you don’t.” I cancelled my lessons at Humber (which were to start that weekend) and spent a few days on crutches due to those right ankle and knee injuries.
 
Anyway, Saturday was the Women’s March in L.A.. A bus left Palm Springs at 7 am taking everyone to the march, which was to wrap up with performances and speeches. Having been wildly inspired last year in Seattle when we took part, I was hoping to add to our experience L.A.-style this year. But, alas, not to be. I wouldn’t have been able to walk far on my bum knee.
 
Yesterday, this picture popped up in my Facebook memories from last year.
 

 
We’d driven to Seattle to see comic Lewis Black, and as luck would have it, we fit in the matinee for an August Wilson play as well. The 2018 Women’s March coincided with those highlights and we were not only grateful to have taken part, but marvelled along the way what Lauren would have said! I mean, we had never marched in protest or support of anything during her lifetime. 
 
Why march? Why as parents and grandparents? See the quote above. That’s why. Because women’s rights are human rights. Because any equality or progress that we have made over the last century is due to women who stood up and were heard, and those sacrifices and that bravery can never ever be taken for granted or forgotten.
 
I liken it to the “what’s wrong with being friends with ‘Russher’?” question that tRump and his ilk have asked since questions of collusion began to arise before the 2016 election even took place. I liken it to the MAGA-hatted gang of Kentucky Catholic high school thugs who intimidated, mocked and threatened Native American Nathan Phillips of the Omaha tribe – a Vietnam vet at that – at a march on Friday. (One of the most prominent boys’ mothers blamed “Black Muslims” for intimidating her boy. I kid you not.)
 
We are bound to repeat history if we do not remember it – and what better way to remember than to make our voices heard?
 
On this day honouring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. here in the U.S., we remember and salute those who have sacrificed to bring awareness to inequality, unfairness or outright illegal practices. Whether it’s Canada’s own Viola Desmond or Dr. King himself, Nathan Phillips on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial or a Women’s March in Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square, we have a right and an obligation to stand up and be heard, lest that right be taken away. If the past two years here in the U.S. have taught us anything, it’s that the future holds no guarantees.
 
March for those who did so in the past, but with your eyes on the future. I don’t know where Rob and I will be next year, but we’ll be looking for a march. 
 
Have a gentle Monday and we’ll be back with you tomorrow.
 

Ah, the weekend. As you settle in for another cold one, we’re hoping to come out of a week’s worth of rain. Yes, the rains you’ve been hearing about in LA – just two hours’ drive from us – beat snow and wind chills and I am not looking for pity! But truly this is weather we could have had for free in Victoria. Oh, well. We’re still finding snowbirding to agree with us for the most part, even though we’re in total work mode almost all of the time – but in all the best ways! Writing, recording and writing some more. All good.
 
Speaking of writing, an event in OTTAWA has been confirmed! If you or someone you know who might benefit from Mourning Has Broken lives in the National Capital Region, please feel free to share this link and I’ll see you – and/or them – on the 28th!
 
So, before the busyness of February kicks in here, and this being a January weekend for us all, may I offer a few suggestions as we hunker down together for a few days? With yesterday being the former First Lady’s birthday, it reminded me of a cherished Christmas present from my sister-in-law Sue: Michelle Obama’s autobiography.
 
Sue gave it to us, along with the most unique bookmark: a new Canadian ten dollar bill featuring another pioneering woman of colour, Viola Desmond, a black Nova Scotia businesswoman who took a stand at a segregated movie theatre in 1946 and, in so doing, became an icon for the civil rights movement. Thank you, Sue – and thank you Michelle and Viola. A perfect backdrop to the upcoming Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday. 
 

 
If you’d like to catch up on a movie or two before the Oscar nominations come down in the coming week, or in light of the Golden Globes last weekend, boy, do I have a suggestion for you: The Wife.
 

 
Before we saw it this week, I thought that Lady Gaga was a shoo-in for the Best Actress Oscar for her debut role in A Star is Born. (Truly, Bradley Cooper has pulled off a huge coup as the director of this first-timer and he deserves to get a statue for his work.) But after seeing Glenn Close in this defining role as the woman in the shadow of her husband’s Nobel Prize-winning writing work (and the twists that come as the story unfolds) I’m convinced that this is a performance that deserves all of the accolades. All of them. AJAC Car of the Year – I don’t care. Give her all of them.
 
At the risk of unforgivably giving anything away, I can’t tell you much about this story – adapted from the novel by Meg Wolitzer – except to tell you that it’s rich, deep and extremely compelling. The film itself has conflict but no violence; there’s no nudity or horror – just an excellent story well told and performed with deftness and authenticity. See The Wife if you – like me – lament the lack of movies without superheroes or a cacophony of special effects marring or augmenting a narrative. 
 
Have a cozy weekend and thank you for spending time with me here every day. I’ll be back with you Monday.
 

Today: details on an evening Up Close and Personal CHFI appearance that you can win chances to attend. I’ll share that with you below. But first…
 
They say that “ignorance is bliss” but I’m afraid it’s been less than blissful not to know just how the book business works. An overwhelmingly positive experience, I’d like to show you just the stumbles and learning opportunities I’ve experienced.
 
I didn’t have to write a book and shop it around – or I just wouldn’t have done it. Doing a little digging (thanks to medium.com) I learned that 1% of all first-time authors who submit a manuscript are published. I’d put myself in a far, far smaller fraction of lucky writers who had a publisher come to them and say, “I think you’ve got a book in you…” and I will always, always be grateful to Iris Tupholme at HarperCollins for being in the audience of CityLine that day. It was a fluke encounter and, yes, I think Lauren had a little something to do with it. 
 
I was given basic instructions on how the book should go (don’t write in chronological order, as that’s not how you would tell an interesting story at a party) and went from there. Or I was supposed to; for a few months I dragged my feet. Eventually, Iris gently asked if I wanted a ghost writer. That was enough to get my butt in gear and I said, “No! I can do this!” and eventually, with the help of Rob and a team of incredible editors, we did.
 
Fast forward to the end of 2018. The short list of book signings and appearances (and long list of media visits) begins to take shape. Someone tells me on FB or Twitter that they see Mourning Has Broken: Love, Loss and Reclaiming Joy is available for pre-sale ahead of its February 26 2019 release, on Amazon. Yippee! (I later learn that of course it’s available at HarperCollins.ca – which I should have assumed.)
 
Then January, and actual dates and times arrive. And I learn that if you are coming to a book signing, you need to buy the book there. A visitor tells me that she was in Chapters Indigo in Oshawa on Monday and was told that they’ll have my book for sale on its release date, February 26. She was also advised that she should buy the book that day, go in early (before the actual appearance and signing on the 27th) and she’ll be placed in a group and informed of the time. Also, to bring the book and receipt when she goes.
 
I’m not entirely sure what this all means, but I’m hoping you do. Again, I just put words together – not events. But if you have questions, I’ll ask you to call the store. And I’m sorry not to know more.
 
What to tell people who pre-ordered: “Sorry, you can’t come?” My intention is to meet, hug and sign for whomever wants it, but I understand fully that the reason a book store holds a book signing is to sell books. Duh! If you’ve pre-ordered, it’s unlikely you’ll receive your copy in time to have me sign it (if that’s what you want), especially for the events prior to February 26th.
 
So here’s what I’m going to suggest: if you’ve pre-ordered, you might try to find someone who might want to buy it from you, then perhaps you could buy another at the book signing event. I know that is probably impractical and not very bright, but I don’t know what else to suggest. Just know that I’ll be doing everything I can to make this right, all along the way. The last thing I want to do is upset anyone who has been supportive of our little family and this great big book. So we’ll beg forgiveness or permission, but I have to put the rules (not mine) out there for you. 
 
For anyone who’s been wondering why I’m not doing a Toronto appearance per se, I can tell you that there has been something in the works through my – and your – favourite radio station.
 
It’s a website-only promotion for now (meaning you’ll hear about it next month), but I can tell you that morning goddess Maureen Holloway will be interviewing me in the intimate confines of the Rogers Theatre at 1 Ted Rogers Way. It will be from 7-9 pm on February 26 and if you’re not there, excerpts will air on the morning show the next day. Thanks to the radio family and friends at CHFI who made this possible. And of course there will be book signings! Here’s a link.
 
While the two Oakville and two Uxbridge appearances are now sold out, there may also be another appearance in the works, but I’m not at liberty to mention it yet. I’m hoping to have more details, but please click LIKE on my Facebook page for instant updates or just go to the What’s Up section of this website. I’ll be updating that – including those media appearances if you care to know – on both spots. I’m not 100% on Instagram, as you have to have a picture (and how many times can I post a book cover?) and of course I’ll keep you abreast on Twitter too @erindavis. 
 
So that’s where I am. Getting a nosebleed from this learning curve and trying not to cause too much upset along the way. All I know is that I have had just the most amazing support and kindness, from you and from the HarperCollins publicist, Melissa Nowakowski. She’s been terrific and so hard working that I want to send her flowers every day.
 
Also, from a more personal standpoint, if you’ve emailed me of late and haven’t yet received a response, it’s because I’m working on a recording project. I’m having to prioritize my time and, trust me, if you’ve written about loss or are seeking some perspective or advice, I have tagged it in red and am answering as soon as I can have a few quiet moments. Your emails and notes have always meant a lot to me. When I click Like on your FB comments, I mean it. And I’ll often respond when I can, as well. Please know I read every one.
 
Also, with FB, if you haven’t yet hit LIKE, you may be on the dormant one (with the whiteout picture). Just go to the right one and click LIKE and anytime there’s an update, you’ll get it immediately.
 
Gee, I’m sorry for all of the info and minutiae here. I hope even a bit of it is helpful. As I’ve said, there’s so much to learn and, in its way, this has been the most challenging part of an already grueling (but satisfying) journey. Stay with me. As my longtime employer Ted Rogers always said, “The best is yet to come.” 
 
Have a peaceful day and thank you.