Shirley Valentine is one of my favorite movies of all time. I watched it again last night, and, as always, came away from it feeling uplifted – time hasn’t dated the movie at all, perhaps because it’s about something that’s simply timeless.

On its surface, the movie (and the award-winning play from which the movie was adapted) is about Shirley Bradshaw, a middle-aged housewife living a stagnant, loveless life, and the choices she makes during a two-week vacation in Greece.

But at its core, it’s about remembering who we really are – and reminding us that in every moment, the choice to be who we really are is always there, no matter what conventional wisdom might dictate.

There are lines in this movie that always make me cry. For example, when Shirley’s sitting on the beach by the ocean, and she’s thinking about why we get all this life, when it can’t be used – “That’s where Shirley Valentine disappeared to. She got lost in all this unused life.” Or the scene where she says, “I used to be the mother. I used to be the wife. But now I’m Shirley Valentine again.”

And I always feel so good when the movie is over; my dreams become real again, alive, beckoning. Everything shimmers with the brightness of possibility.

“I’ve fallen in love with the idea of living”, Shirley says, and that’s what this movie does for me, and a little bit more – it reminds me to fall in love with myself, with the me I really am.

It’s the same feeling I get after reading an Elizabeth Berg novel.

Have you watched Shirley Valentine, either the movie or the play? What are some of your favorite “comfort movies”?

No related posts.

Not very original, I know, but I can’t believe how this week has just flown by. I seem to be caught up in a routine of eating, drinking, reading and relaxing, not necessarily in that order.

My husband is on his way back from the fish market right now, with fresh lobster and deep fried clams, and I finally managed to snatch my netbook out of the hands of my daughter, so the time feels perfect for blogging.

This Week’s Reads

After finishing The Strain, by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan, on my first full day here in Nova Scotia, I decided the atmosphere was perfect for some L.M. Montgomery – we aren’t that far away from P.E,I., and the sand beach near us has red sand in it, which reminded me of the Island. I have almost all of Montgomery’s works on my netbook in ebook format, so I decided to re-read The Blue Castle, one of my favorite Montgomery works. Unlike Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon, The Blue Castle is the story of an adult heroine, Valancy Stirling. It’s a wonderful Cinderella tale, and I’ve read and re-read it many times. I’d forgotten that it’s set in the Muskokas in Ontario, rather than P.E.I., so I will probably read Emily of New Moon sometime this week just to get my Island fix.

After The Blue Castle, I started Jim Butcher’s Storm Front, Book 1 of the Dresden Files series. I’m about halfway through – I love the concept of a wizard detective in current-day Boston, and it’s a fun book, but it wasn’t quite fitting my mood, so I also started listening to Hell Hole, by Chris Grabenstein, the fourth book in the John Ceepak and Danny Boyle series. I am quite addicted to this series now, and finished Hell Hole yesterday while we were at Crescent Beach in Lockeport, N.S.. Jeff Woodman, who narrates the series, is a superb narrator, and if you’re wanting to get started with audiobooks and like mysteries, I’d definitely recommend the audio version of this series. Just make sure you start with the first book in the series, Tilt-a-Whirl, not because each book doesn’t stand on its own, but mainly because characters from previous books do show up again (or not, as the case may be), which can give clues to the mysteries in the previous books.

Rounding up my reading for the week, I also started Wayne Dyer’s Excuses Begone!. It’s a great read so far; I like in particular its emphasis not on our feelings or desires, but on our identity.

Movies, Movies, Movies

It’s turning out to be movie night for the family every night here at the beach cottage – there’s just something really nice about gathering together after a great seafood dinner to watch movies (especially since it’s pretty bug-heavy outside at night).

So far, we’ve watched Music & Lyrics, The Dark Knight, Dirty Dancing, Miss Congeniality, Disturbia, He’s Just Not That Into You, and Gone in 60 Seconds. My older son did excuse himself to play the Sims 3 on the nights we watched Dirty Dancing and He’s Just Not That Into You, but otherwise our movie nights have been perfect family time (the little one was in bed, of course).

Writing (Or Not)

I think I must have been dreaming when I last blogged that I was thinking about writing 6,000 words a day! The only writing I’ve done so far has been in my journal; not only has it been tough to lay my hands on my netbook, but the ergonometric keyboard I brought along in order to, well, write, isn’t working very well – the “o” and the “b” keys don’t work at all.

And really, the days have been so lazy and idyllic, I just haven’t felt like doing much except (have I mentioned?) eating, drinking and reading.

Pictures!

I finally started remembering to bring my camera with me when we went on our our outings, which have been mainly to beaches so far, although next week we plan on heading out for day trips to Yarmouth and Mahone Bay. A visit to Peggy’s Cove is also planned, although the days are slipping by so fast, I’m not sure we’ll have time to do everything on our list.

The beaches here in Nova Scotia are just gorgeous – many of them are white sand beaches, and if it weren’t for the weather, you’d think you were in the Caribbean. I don’t actually like to swim, and I love cool, windy weather, so it’s been perfect for me. While they’ve been calling for clouds and rain every day we’ve been here, the weather has been beautiful and sunny  so far (just not particularly hot).

Sandy Point Lighthouse Beach

Red Sands at Sandy Point

Dylan & Daddy at Crescent Beach, Lockeport

Oops! Forgot My Sand Bucket!

Beautiful White Sands

Bit of Sand Beach at Our Beach Cottage

View from the Side of the House

Related posts:

1. Comfort Reads (42nd Bookworms Carnival)
2. Back from Holidays!
3. Holiday Mode, The Strain, and Writing
4. Camping (Gulp …)
5. [TSS] On the South Shores of Nova Scotia