GO, GO, GO...

Right now and rent Invictus!!!! It is the most inspiring and uplifting movie of the year!! The title of the movie is from a Victorian poem by William Ernest Henry and means "unconquered." Nelson Mandela read and kept the poem in his pocket during his difficult years in prison

Invictus
by William Ernest Henry

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.


The first half of the movie, like many of Clint Eastwood's films, is slow but the acting is outstanding and the last scenes of the movie, with panoramic shots of the cheering crowds in the massive stadium and the inspiring poem read in the background, will send chills through your body. If the story were fiction viewers would no doubt say that such a feat could never occur. It is therefore so remarkable that it is true. South African Pride!!

Interview with the real Francois Pienaar, the captain of the Springboks.



Matt Damon on a bicycle, gliding above scenic ocean views in Cape Town. It's a beautiful thing. When he meets Francois Pienaar, the beast of a rugby player he portrays in the movie, he jokingly says to him "Well, I look bigger on screen." .




After years of division, the collapse of Apartheid brought decades of anger to the streets in the form of brutal violence and destruction. The Sprinbok's motto-"One Team, One Country"- was meant to unite the people.

TGIF!!

(This was written a few weeks ago while Daniel was away in California, but for some reason I didn't post it.)

This week Frodo and I had lots of alone time. I could tell him I loved him as many times as I wanted without Daniel getting jealous. Hehehe.

Here is a funny anecdote about one of my kiddos at school:

Today during one of my first grade classes one of my students started screaming bloody murder after his front tooth fell out and started spewing blood onto the desk. "I can't go to the clinic, don't make me go to the clinic." He firmly attached his arms to my hips and did not let go until I had told him about twelve times that I would not be sending him to the clinic.

"I think I'm going to puke," said one kid with a penchant for melodrama, looking down at the blood on his folder.

After the tooth stopped bleeding he calmed down significantly. "Ohhhhhh," he said as he sighed a breath of relief. " I can just tell my dad I was eating a cookie and my tooth fell out."

I'm not sure what terrified him so much. The blood, the thought of getting sent home to his dad, or the clinic. Oh well. The beauty of children is that they generally recover quickly.

Going to take dogs out now. Daniel gets back tonight.